So much happened yesterday, I’ll be as brief as possible:
Newco Rangers sent their counsel to the Court of Session to protest Charles Green’s contract with the club, stating it should pay legal expenses, now crystallising ahead of his forthcoming criminal trial.
In opposing Green, James Wolffe QC raised various objections, but as is often the case when people speak on behalf of Newco, included an arbitrary insistence that Newco operated the same club as the now liquidated Rangers.
Green’s QC, Jonathan Brown, put his pit boots on before stating his client’s case, but tantalisingly, before lunch informed the court that he would return to the same club/new club debate later. And didn’t he. Brown explained that Sevco Scotland purchased the assets of Rangers, not the club itself, with poetic prose adding:
“The team are paid by Sevco, plat at a ground owned by Secvo, are trained by a manager who is employed by Sevco and fans buy tickets from Sevco. That is the business that is being carried on.”
Adding that Rangers were “a collection of assets”, “What if the players were sold to one person and Ibrox to antoher, where is the ‘club’ then?”
I had to look away from court reporter, James Dolman’s Twitter feed at this point. It was like watching an acquaintance being humiliated. Not something you want to see.
Lord Doherty will determine if Newco should pay Green’s costs in due course, but this will be soon, as Jonathan Brown noted, “the rainy day has arrived”.
This next bit is really important:
Soon after court ended, Dave King was out with a rambling statement on the Newco website. If it was designed to play to the galleries, it hit the spot. If it was designed to influence what happens to his club, or how others will regard his input, it was surely an horrendous mistake.
It was a hard day to be chairman of Rangers International FC PLC. The court hearing only happened because the club objected to its contract with Green, so the unedifying episode could easily have been avoided. Despite this, sometimes you have to shut your mouth.
Sure, some Newco fans love a bit of grandstanding, but you know what yesterday’s statement will achieve. If the objective of the statement was to convince other Scottish clubs not to consider disciplinary action against Sir David Murray, or oldco Rangers, for their actions, it was an almighty miscalculation.
Threats seldom work. This one is unlikely to curry favour: “If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football.”
In short:
Don’t threaten clubs you are trying to influence.
Don’t grandstand to your own fans if you are trying to influence other clubs.
Keep a poker face. Keep your mouth shut, even if it means taking grief from your fans for the lack of public reaction.
King’s statement also addressed the sporting advantage issue from what we now know was an unlawfully operated tax scheme. While the EBT scheme saved tens of millions of pounds, and King earlier intimated this did provide a sporting advantage, yesterday he insisted the advantage was financial, that the shareholders were “committed to providing funding to the club” and would have done so, if required.
Here’s the thing, in 2012 another King statement revealed, “I have made a claim of £20m on the basis of non-disclosure by the then chairman, David Murray, of Rangers true financial position as far back as 2000.”
That commitment to further shareholder funding seems predicated on some controversial information. According to King, of course. Controversial enough to launch a £20m claim, but not to inhibit investment.
For the war-chest hunters among you, if you read this article covering King’s 2012 statement, you’ll find a strong clue.
One other quick but important point:
Some media are attempting to portray questions of sporting advantage as Rangers being punished for spending money they could afford, a travesty, as so many other clubs have done likewise.
This must surely be a deliberate attempt to misunderstand the issue and manipulate the debate.
No one suggests Rangers should be punished for spending money they could not afford. The questions are straightforward:
Did Rangers break tax law, break SFA rules and break SPL rules, when contracting football players?
Did they disclose matters openly with authorities (in other words, inadvertently make mistakes), or did they conspire to subvert the rules by hiding incriminating information?
Spending like the Borgias? Time to move on. Conspiracy to subvert the rules? We have a problem.
Don’t be distracted by potential ramifications to these questions, they are irrelevant for now. We should consider no more than did they break all of the above rules, should any the rule breaking be interpreted as an oversight, or does evidence of conspiracy to subvert the rules exist?
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Darryl, Darryl…………………………Darryl…………………………..
Tic, Tic, Tic……………….Tock.
HHH.
Cowiebhoy-dearie me,you’ve not had your troubles to seek on this project.HH
Ooooops now got Tom Boyd, and see PfAyr is in his own wee blog :-)
Some of this might just cover it:
5. Obligations and Duties of Members
5.1 All members shall:-
(a) observe the principles of loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship in accordance
with the rules of fair play;
(b) be subject to and shall comply with these Articles and any statutes,
regulations, directives, codes, decisions and International Match Calendar
promulgated by the Board, the Professional Game Board, the NonProfessional
Game Board, the Judicial Panel Protocol, a Committee or subcommittee,
FIFA, UEFA or the Court of Arbitration for Sport;
(c) recognise and submit to the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport
as specified in the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes and the UEFA
Statutes;
(d) respect the Laws of the Game;
(e) refrain from engaging in any activity, practice or conduct which would
constitute an offence under sections 1, 2 or 6 of the Bribery Act 2010; and
(f) behave towards the Scottish FA and other members with the utmost good
faith.
Is Cap’n King at the helm of the (sinking) ship this weekend or is he raising funds for the war chest by working as a golf caddie in his South African homeland?
We should be told!
BRTH
——–
Best wishes to you and all who are sleeping out tonight.
Sitting having a coffee and my wife was telling me a story from her hairdressing appointment this morning. Previous customer works a Celtic Park and was part of the sleep out last year and involved in distributing to the needy.
Chapped on a door and was confronted by a man wearing full Rangers outfit. Explained they were from Celtic and the purpose of their visit.
He was ever so grateful and in tears as he accepted the gifts graciously.
Shows how far reaching the work you and all the others do is. It makes a difference.
My contribution is modest. My admiration is immense.
The clumpany
Great article.
How LNS Commission was compromised can be found in a series of SFM blogs.
That series with supporting evidence is now up on SFM..
http://www.sfm.scot/lns-a-summary/
It’s more of a book than a blog but the only conclusion that can be reached is that even before HMRC won it’s BTC appeal that compromised Commission should have been set aside. Now it simply cannot be allowed to remain a stain on the history of our game.
Those responsible must be identified and removed if still in positions in the game.
http://www.sfm.scot/lns-a-summary/
Just read an online article from ton boyd accusing molde of targeting big Jozo
What’s the chances of Tom getting a gig on BBC / sky / bt etc! !!!!!!
‘Chapped on a door and was confronted by a man wearing full Rangers outfit. ‘
-superCoisty I expect.
The ole gardenin’ work will dry up at this time of year.
So there isnt any rules/mechanism to strip titles?
Maybe someone from the sfa could point me to the rule/mechanism that allows a new
club to become a member, without 3 years accounts!!!
RULESARERULE CSC
Another great Clump.
The Clumpany good short article dealing with the tabloid “journo” David McCarthy. The source within Hampden needs to be someone with media links. The obvious suspect is former Rangers News journo Darryl Broadfoot as is the SFAs media guy. He is the normal go to guy for the tabloids looking for the Ibrox slant to their story. Job done…no surprise.
Celtic and other clubs who were cheated will ensure the titles are stripped. The more concerning aspect is that SFA is still a support mechanism for the Ibrox club. From Bryson , Broadfoot back to Ogilvie, George Peat to the exposed Dougie Dougie and Hugh Dallas nothing much has changed.
Can we see Regan as Broadfoot who is leaking these stories ? It should be a sacking offence that someone is briefing against established member clubs in favour of a new club run by a convicted criminal. Broadfoot needs to be put on the stand.
Bhoys, there’s no point in quoting the rules. You need to remember the overarching rule of Scottish football:
“These rules do not necessarily apply to any club with the word Rangers in its name.”
Cowiebhoy
Some great posts the day
Hail hail
The quality of our debates on ere
Makes the msm look like a comic book characters
A source close to my bedroom reckoned that there was no mechanism for getting me out of bed early this morning and there was certainly no appetite for sheet stripping.
DRrules
I don’t trust politicians who cannot speak in public without a script, especially a script written by someone else.
A well.
Gordon J,
Who would have thought a Rangers shareholders would need to use a Judicial Review to hold the SFA to their own rules.
I mean, normally they would just pick up the phone and sort it out quietly. Right?
cv
Lns = legal opinion.
Court of session = legal ruling.
Simple.
Cathedral View,
Maybe Mr Ashely just doesn’t know the right password or handshake?
Auldheid,
It annoys every time I read ‘Title Stripping’ described as some unjust punishment when it isn’t even a punishment but merely a consequence of cheating.
The debate is being framed to avoid talk of actual punishment.
cv
A quick scan of the rags in Morrisons,tucked away on page 11,Sevco player Nicky Clark arrested on Thursday for fighting with the transport polis
!!Bada Bing!!
A quick scan ………page 11………………how did you get on with the crossword……….
THis week’s CQN Coupon –
Lennybhoy – Accrington Stanley
The Token Tim – Braintree
Blantyretim – Chesterfield
Awalkacrosstherooftops – Peterhead
PFayr – Scunthorpe
Pogmathonyahun – Plymouth
Jobo Baldie – Cowdenbeath
Greenlion2 -Peterborough
Bet responsibly ;-)
Aye
Don’t follow our picks 8-)
Off the ball want to move on and say the cast majority of their callers suggest don’t talk about it. Only in Scotland. Hue and crystal stunning insight is to say every sport has cheating in it. Ruth Davidson says she doesn’t understand it.
Good ole racist Scotland.
It’s good to read our young players are making an impact in games involving various national age groups.
Does anyone know about Calvin Miller’s place in the set-ups? Given the write-ups he’s received during the past eighteen months, I’m surprised not to have him involved in Scotland’s under19’s or under21’s. Maybe he’s too young yet for those levels.
BCW-Mrs Bada was doing the shopping…….;)
Neganon2
Take what Shug & Greet say with a pinch of salt, they have never been interested in football, GK must have some eyesight he said he used to watch John Millar & Gerry Creaney playing across from his house, there is a park across from his house but it’s about 2 miles away from Coatdyke & Sikeside where the 2 players he mentioned would have been kicking a ball growing up, he also mentioned playing football…..he is having a laugh, their younger brother played football and has followed Celtic everywhere, Paul Sturrock & Trevor Brooking are the players they admired, aye very good…… Ruth Davidson is more believably talking about football than those two jokers
i’vehadtochangemyname on 14th November 2015 11:14 am
Can’t watch anymore of the scenes from Paris – so awful. Feel ashamed – I don’t even know who Islamic state are.
====================================================
George Orwell knew who they were some time ago…
James Doleman @jamesdoleman · 9m9 minutes ago
@CQN Hello, if you are going to lift my work word for word any chance of a credit?
:)
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/sevco-the-elephant-in-the-room/ …
3 retweets 6 likes
Reply
Retweeted
3
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6
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GFTB,
I used to call them shuggy and shout. I liked labour of love but that was it. One of them came across as a right pseud to me.
Also, winningcaptains,
I am getting pictures of two barely dressed young women ripping each others clothes off while one straddles the other.
I don’t want to see this. It’s not based on my browsing history as its a link to financial advice. I don’t gamble either yet plenty gambling links appear.
Please change the settings for the adverts that appear on this site, some of them are really inappropriate.
The Clumpany…
Just read your blog, you put things in laymans terms and pinpoint what is wrong with our corrupt set up. Keep on Clumping mate, yours is the first mail I open when I get home from the Hun infestation I work in :)
Morning All (Thoughts with all in Paris)
Shirley Bassey and the SFA
The suggestion that there is no mechanism to “strip” titles, ..contained within an anonymous quote, .. which is itself a part of an invented piece of propaganda on behalf of the “they’ve been punished enough” brigade – should raise a smile not our hackles.
In fact it is hysterically Orwellian – to paraphrase another blogger.
In such media nonsense – twisted exaggerations and outright lies compete for supremacy with complacent ignorance and closed minds.
Simply, if there was a mechanism to establish the LNS commission and hand out punishments in 2102 – then precisely the same mechanism exists today.
Further, the “there’s no mechanism” lobby would mean that nothing retrospective AT ALL is within the remitt of the SFA. The collective shoulder shrugging should embarrass them and those who peddle this behind the screen of anonymity in the media.
If an “independent commission” (the SFA’s words) into cheating on this scale is so compromised by the mendacity and collusion of SFA witnesses, such that it has only reduced transparency into the original affair – then that commission is now part of the problem.
Appearing to address an issue by setting up a commission, and then constraining the scope of that commission, and then ensuring that very relevant evidence is kept from that commission does NOT mean that the outcome of the commission has any serious credibility. To insist that it has only demonstrates the agenda of the conspirators.
Those same people have gambled for years that NO ONE would challenge their rule via the courts.
Those who push for their desired outcome in all of this (no further action at all) want SOME or ALL of these to apply
– that the LNS commission decision is binding
– that it cannot be reconvened
– that another commission cannot be convened
– that Rangers have been punished enough
– that the COS decision changes nothing
– that the positions of Bryson, Ogilvie, Regan and Doncaster are unaffected
– that vindictiveness and bigotry are motivating the calls for trophy stripping
– that NO sporting advantage was gained by cheating.
– that the SFA/SPFL are completely powerless to do anything because it “was in the past”
– that the intention of Five Way Agreement supercedes anything else
– that Scotland needs Rangers back in the SPFL
Actually, what Scottish Football needs back is sporting integrity, something that all the purveyors of bile do not include as part of their desired outcome.
As I finish, I am humming the tune of “Hey Big Spender” by Shirley Bassey with some satisfaction.
In my era, this song was always associated with that other form of stripping.
Seems very, very appropriate today.
Big Spenders being stripped.
HH
Oh, and a big thank you to James Doleman. Keep up the Hunskelping. HH
Anyway,to more important matters.An update on my superb suntan.From Deek Mc Innes,to Julio Iglesias,I have now become a shade darker than an even bigger phanny than the previous two mentioned.Des O”Connor.
And the sun continues to beat down.
Off now to to play in the finals of a Darts competition.I am in the last 4 with an English guy and 2 Turks.One of the Turks,rated no 3 in Turkey,has been wearing a Fenerbache top throughout the tournament,so tonight the Hoops are on.A busload with 30 supporters going with me.
I want the Fenerbache guy in the final.We will see.
BOYCOTT the semi final.Not mine,the Ross County one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
RWE,
Your last post is extremely well written, especially regarding the setting up and anemometers of the LNS commission.
Dharma Bam
Their younger brother is a really good musician and is Celtic daft, those two have (imo) no interest in football at all, but I suppose they are on promoting their stuff……like the rest of the media take it all with a pinch of salt !
As for the adverts I keep getting links to “cheerleaders” hopefully it’s because Miss GFTB keeps playing OMI song Cheerleader !