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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A hertz fan handing a hun his erse.
I meant to reply to this post yesterday, but I was busy with other things. The main point I wished to pick up on was the pre Whyte period and the spending decisions made by Murray.
You highlighted the debt reduction in 3 years prior to Whyte’s takeover. I would like to take you back two or three years earlier.
SDM has just undertaken a £51M rights issue in 2005 that the fans had largely ignored and £49M of it was ultimately funded by Murray Group’s borrowings from Bank of Scotland. The following year a retail deal was signed with JJB which provided a further £18M up front. Rangers net debt was below £6M in 2006, but spending on players over the next three years saw the debt figure rise to £16M, then £21M then £31M, before Lloyds stepped in after taking over HBOS (Jan 2009) and put a halt to to the reckless spending.
The reduction in debt that you and Rangers sycophants in the media are fond of quoting was achieved off the back of a combination of Lloyds spending constraints and Champions League cash. It was unsustainable, and just as Celtic have experienced, without CL cash the club loses money.
You have acknowledged that there was a £10M structural deficit in the finances. How do you believe that hole should have been filled. Further borrowing?, Soft loans from RRM? A sugar daddy? A share issue? They have all been tried and failed, but then there has never been an appetite withing the Rangers fan base to reduce spending to match your income. Even now with emergency funding required next month, most Rangers fans are more interested in is who W & W will sign in the transfer window. It’s madness.
Murray sold out for £1, because Lloyds were unwilling to fund further shortfalls. He even went against the Independent Board he appointed, who recommended against selling to Whyte. Had Murray remained in situ in 2011, it would have been him who took the club into administration. His empire was collapsing around him and his only exit plan was to ditch the club onto a spiv and dump his other companies’ debts onto Lloyds.
You say the Big Tax Case was the biggest concern pre-Whyte. HMRC had been actively sniffing around since 2005 and when they got hold of the side letters in 2007 the writing was on the wall. What was Murray’s response? Like most other “self made millionaires” who profited by spending other peoples money, he went out and spent some more. What if he had directed that extra spending into getting a settlement with HMRC? Not with £10M, but maybe £25M, the outcome could have been so different. Murray’s years at Ibrox saw cumulative losses of an eye watering £147M, all funded by others (BoS, ENIC, JJB, & King’s tax dodges),
I’ll paint another scenario for you from 2011. McCoist negotiates his way past Malmo and Rangers again gets access to CL money. There would have been no need to withhold taxes. It could have been Whyte who initiated an IPO and who knows what might have happened after that.
Like most Rangers fans who have flitted in and out of JKB in recent years, you appear to have very selective views and interpretation of events and “facts” you quote, which suits a particular narrative rather than see the whole picture. I’d suggest that you read the accounts, tribunal and legal decisions in full, then you will be able to see the bigger picture more clearly.
FWIW, I hope that there are some guilty verdicts out of the forthcoming trials, but I fear that the typical Rangers fan’s response will be that of the victim and the misdemeanours of the 12 years previous to 2011 will be airbrushed into history. If Rangers fans had been willing to listen to the advice of others both inside and outside the club, then it may have been possible to avoid being taken in by the spivs, but no, Murray, Whtye, Green and King were all lauded up the marble staircase.
alan Brasilia ….fud
O.G.RAFFERTY on 15TH NOVEMBER 2015 4:49 PM
Interesting read from JJ.
Seem to indicate the the tax man is going after the individuals?
HH Dan
Got most of the bikes back that were stolen from sheds around the Cuperhead and Strawberry FIELD areas of Coatbridge last week
Vogue Punter (from earlier) – Jim Dobbin and Jim MCinally are the Celts in the picture but Paul McStay was part of that squad too- don’t know why he’s not in the picture.
What was the name of the guy who ran the rangers pools – challenged Murrays methods and got the tin tack. Went to Newcastle I think and slated Murray
TBJ
David Adam but don’t recall him going South.
Dan, 4:57 pm
I have a feeling that may well be the case
TBJ
Hugh Adam. They should have listened to the guy but they were in full supremacist mode and he was ridiculed.
Apologies Hugh Adam.
Nye
Who would go to dunoon to get married – obvious scam
TBJ…Celtic approached Charlie Adam to run our pools.
He knocked it back.
Oops… Hugh Adam…the other one was a gifted midfielder, according to the smsm.;)
TBJ…….I got married in Barrhead or Boirhied if you like,
a bit like RG I needed someone tae take care of me…..
…..or provide a cover……allegedly!!!!!!!
sftb
Cheers, saw McInally…then Dobbin after Roy c’s post .
Roy c mentioned Paul Chalmers ,may be number 9 permed hairdo
before the 80’s highlights kicked in …bit like my hair history :O) HH
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPY Birthday Mrs CRC
have a great night,
ps yer weans are a credit to you both
yer mhan is awwwwwwwright anawwwwww :)))))))
Nye Bevan
A genuine lol moment there :-)
Sips
Charlie Adam running the celtic pools – he couldn’t stash much cash in his sisters pants :)
Yeah I remember reading about hugh Adam and how he told Murray he was on the wrong track … think he knew minty was all about minty and could see the end game
If only they had listened to him …. indeed
Now here’s a question – How many huns do you think would admit they would rather they had followed Adams lead and not won 9 in a row and the glory days …
I think less than 1%
Roy C 5.18pm
When have they ever listened to anything that doesn’t suit their supremacist nature…..
Let them rot, “improperly registered” is the route to go
0-3
0-3
0-3
0-3
Nye
Myself and sips worked with a fair few jungle jims from borheed – i now work with only one and he’s a wee zombie naff
Gerryfaethebrig
I agree mate. Hugh McDonald alluded to that today on Radio Scotland, Interesting to hear him speak about a groundswell of support building to strip the titles from around Scotland.
HH
In his cracking novel ‘Maribou Stork Nightmares’ Irvine Welsh tells of a Hibs casual who undergoes drug trauma and ends up in a coma, having flashbacks, re-living childhood nightmares – one terrible memory in particular of family holidays to South Africa where he would be locked in a cellar and abused by his South African uncle, Richard.
I’ve always wondered who Irvine based that diabolical boy-molesting South African Uncle Richard character on. Any ideas? Anybody? ;))
Yep Hugh Adam and “because he broke ranks” (told the truth) didn’t the Scots man ??? (Think)
run a scandalous obituary. Remember this was a man who generated a tremendous amount of cash through the Rankers pools for them.
Now if he had run up debts of £140, stiffed 276 creditors, sold them for a £1 and got them liquidated he would have been lauded to the high heavens as an astute business man.
Shameless shower of sh# te Marks 1 and 2 (but same flys)
HH
That’s 140 mill btw
Gough asks when will the FFin’ witch hunt end:
——
“That it has to be said ,and repeatedly so, says more about the sheer lack of class in Scottish football .
The level of hatred toward our club is way beyond anything that would resemble a sporting rivalry.”
——
“Ooooft headshot Goughy.
If that doesn’t make the haters take a look at themselves, nothing will”
——
“It will never end Richard. The hate us because we are the best.”
——
” every word you wrote is true unlike the sh*te that is written every day and what we bombarded with on tv and radio. thank you!!”
——
“It won’t – it’ll slowly subside a bit if the SPFL draw a line under this affair (they are gonna let it rumble on IF WE LET THEM) but once we’re back in the Top Flight i’ll be expecting a lot of [Sevco] players to be injured, as the hatred has led to some of those shocking tackles on [Sevco] players.”
——
“That statement is a warning to shot and maybe something to do with the documents in Kings possession”
——
“They hate us because we have a Protestant History, nothing more. Tax, integrity, morality level playing field etc etc etc have nothing to do with it.”
——
“Hatred at this level causes all reason and financial common sense to fly out the window I’m afraid.”
——
“Gough could have asked if
Dermot paying wages out his own pocket was a financial advantage
The coop soft loans enable Celtic to put together a stronger squad a financial advantage
The lennoxtown initiative that payed Celtic back more than they payed for the training facility a financial advantage
The decision to award park head the commonwealth games and a massive upgrade of the stadium and surrounding area a financial advantage”
——
“Jealousy, nothing more nothing less. They hate us but deep down would love to be us”
——
“I wonder if there are some question marks regarding payments made to that 2003 team.
It just seemed to me to be a strange example for Gough to use.
Could this be a warning that if the Pandora box is opened we have no choice but to fight fire with fire.”
——
” My wee quiet mum used to say can never trust a catholic.”
——
“Over the past three decades insidious c[haps] in the media have done everything the can to demonise us, every society needs someone to blame, someone to hate and in the politically correct sh*tehole that is Scotland we are the only group people are allowed to hate, in fact not just allowed but encouraged.”
——
“I’d like to see a different high-profile player come out, one day at a time, with slightly different approaches…..get somebody like Nacho to talk about the perception of bigotry against Rangers amongst foreigners.”
——
“Their hatred for us is pure bigotry.
Yep for years Fenian agitators have called us sectarian, bigots, racists, the Establishment club ect. This in turn has turned the easily brainwashed fans of other clubs against us.
By agitators I mean the ones who work on radio, the papers, on TV and more recently bloggers and twitter. It’s been a campaign of pure hate.”
G ftb@5.33
Scrolling
Agree but what if Rankers 2012 the away team lol
Alan Brazil is a balloon.
…and shaped like one as well the last time I looked.
HH!!
Roy C
Dodgy Dave Mark 2’s statement the other day has hopefully galvanised other supporters, we know the press would love to make it an “old firm” thing…..they cheated everybody not just Celtic, in fact they cheated their own Queen…. Shug Keevins nearly broke rank the other night as his pay off was taxed 33% from the Daily Record, so our Shug must have got a few bob as the first £30k is tax free, think he let the mask slip there
Monaghan1900,
“It will never end Richard. The hate us because we are the best.”
Ha ha ha ha
This is a section of The Herald’s disgraceful obituary for Hugh Adam. After complaints from the family a second-more accurate and fitting one- was published a week later:
” The undercurrent of ill-feeling between the two men came to a head in June 1992 when Mr Adam refused Sir David’s request to resign from the Rangers Board. A bitterly-contested Extraordinary General Meeting was called at which Sir David forced through Mr Adam’s removal despite the opposition of many shareholders.
To general surprise Mr Adam returned to the Ibrox board 18 months later following a rapprochement with Sir David and would remain in charge of the Development Fund until retiring at the age of 70 in April 1996, although he remained on the football club board until September 2000.
He remained a critic of Sir David. The two men had never got on – and by 2002 the former Development Fund boss had sold his shares in the club and publicly denounced the Rangers owner, criticising his tenure of the club as reckless and a dictatorship, allegations he substantially repeated some seven years later. It had become clear that the relationship between the two men had become untenable. Many with some justification accused Mr Adam of having his own agenda. There was no doubt that the club’s level of liabilities was at times at an uncomfortable level – but it was the collapse of the banking world, something wholly outwith Sir David Murray’s control, and the merger firstly between the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax Building Society and later between HBOS and Lloyds Banking Group that created the real problems for Sir David and Rangers.
By the time of the slide into administration in February 2012 Sir David had sold the club – disastrously – to Craig Whyte. Mr Adam later gace a newspaper interview in which he accused Sir David of operating a dual contracts system in regard to employee benefit trust (EBT) payments to players and other employees.
Mr Adam offered no proof over his accusations – his opening comment to his interviewers of “my memory’s not what it used to be” perhaps saying it all. “
From the Sun….
” Like This
jintybear’s Photojintybear
Yesterday, 11:18 AM
According to the Sun newspaper. Couldn’t get a link but found this on Gersnet.
Nicky Clark spends a night in the cells
Rangers star Nicky Clark spent a night in cells after he was nicked over claims he rowed with cops.
The Ibrox striker, 24, appeared in court yesterday with his brother Gary, 27.
The pair, from West Lothian, were accused of struggling with British Transport Police at Queen Street Station on Thursday.
It was claimed they behaved in a threatening or abusive manner and resisted officers when they were were in the execution of their duty.
Gary was also charged with breach of the peace and carrying a knife.
The brothers, who appeared in private from custody at Glasgow Sheriff Court, made no plea or declaration.
They were bailed by Sheriff Bill Totten and are expected to return to court at a later date.
Prodigy Nicky was a product of Rangers youth academy before he was released, He played for Queen of the South where he scored a total of 40 goals in 45 games.
When he returned to Ibrox in 2013 on a three-year deal, he said: Rangers are the best club in Scotland in my eyes so Id find it hard to say no to them.
If Rangers say they want to sign you, you cant get much better than that.
His dad Sandy played for the club in the 1980s, grabbing 22 goals in 64 appearances.
Rangers declined to comment last night. “
CANAMALAR on 15TH NOVEMBER 2015 5:52 PM
“It will never end Richard. The hate us because we are the best.”
Ha ha ha ha
——
Wonder what he thinks they’re best at?
” My wee quiet mum used to say can never trust a catholic.”
LOL a wee quiet orange bassa….don’t need a heating allowance when
the bad fire gets ye.
Goodnight Timland.
The young MIss needs the laptop tae dae her
homework,her evil mother loves the telly on
a Sunday night,so I’m retreating tae the bedroom,
you lot be nice.
“As my quiet mum used to say. You can never trust a catholic”
Lovely.
;-)
If they are the away team its 3-0 to the honest team, my 0-3 is meant to show the reverse of any of their cheating gains
IMPROPERLY REGISTERED
If it’s good enough for Legia Warsaw in the CL it’s good enough for the cheats who cheated year after year after year after year
Just turned on CNN and people running around in Paris but no info yet.
Agent Monaghan
Holy sweet Jesus
Their stupidity really does know no bounds.