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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Just been barred again from the ex pat forum, one of these days they will suss it and no bother and just ignore me, that would be about 40 odd times I have been barred from it now.
I called them hun like ostriches today, I think it was the ostriches bit they objected to :-)
All they want to do is string up Muslims and anyone who blames the west for the ongoing problems, most of them also hate the Spanish, wtf they are doing here is beyond me, feckin morons ra lot o them.
What is the stars
If all goes well, the atmosphere will be even better than the last 20 or so minutes following Long’s goal aganst the World Champs. Hope the Craic is mighty tomorrow night and the hangovers awful!
Donald Park returns to the club “he holds dear” :-)
Ah, Huns and subtlety… when it comes to trying to hide something, they are like weans caught stealing toffee….
Wonder just how “dear” Park has found the Chateau Du Lait’s tenure?
Against, even!
TeT
Ask them if they want a house exchange to Clydebank. I would move to Spain for good tomorrow.
RWE
Thoughts and prayers
Would you buy a used car from a businessman who didn’t know the difference between administration and liquidation?
Or who didn’t comprehend the concept of incorporation?
And has trouble with proper registration?
As for relegation. . . . .
RWE
I wish you lots of strength during this difficult time. All the best to Mrs RWE.
Marshall Mathers could rework that last post of mine into a great Zombie rap!
Is he a Tim?
The French government’s response to the evil of the Paris tragedy has been to bomb a Syrian city.
The fools, the fools……
Beatbhoy
Grampa Mathers was a Scotsman. Eminem’s lyrics make me think he is a Jungle Jim.
Lana Del Rey was talking Celtic lately. Gorgeous supporters club! :)
DD
I’m sure you would :-)
They are brit huns, feckin idiots, and I love winding them up, canny help it, they actually live in a place with a name so so close to the bigot dome, a place called Albox, it’s 60% + brits, it’s about an hours drive from me, the Mrs likes to go there on occasion cos they have brit shops and a very good Indian eaterie, personally I can’t stand the place.
You could always save up and buy a cave, quite a few going for little money where I am, move in for less than £15k, or even less if you don’t mind a bit of work, less then £5k.
Or next time a wee holibob, you will be most welcome mi amigo.
HH
HT
Yip, it’s the first time the west have targeted daesh.
Fools is being kind.
HH
DD
Tim Shady!
TeT
Saving up for a cave amigo. ;))
TET
The fools part is the beginning of a famous quote but very irrelevant.
Beatbhoy
He wrote Stan for oor Bulgar genius. ;)
Eh *relevant*
That was always going to happen HT. The slaughter will go on for years. Every effort should be made to get all other warring partners to agree a ceasefire, ISIS itself will never agree.
Rumours
On Celtic Underground Twitter that Ming is about to do running away ?
Them rangers blogs the thing I find incredible is they debate tax avoidances tax cheating etc.
Then sign off
GSTQ
HAMILTON TIM
Throw discretion to the winds…
https://twitter.com/celticrumours/status/666001395611496448
HT
My daughter asked me today. “Dad, how do you stop a suicide bomber walking into a pub in Glasgow wi a backpack containing a bomb.”
It was a rhetorical question.
We can’t stop it.
DD
Did he write “Guilty Conscience” for Rangers (1872-2012) ??
Obviously I like being able to come on here,so won’t post a link to the track, brilliant though it is.
The killing in Paris is tragic, the killings the world over are tragic.
Tis the price the west will have to pay in the future.
The only people fighting Daesh/ISIS on the ground are Muslims (Kurds, Shia militia in Iraq and the Shia army in Syria).
All the West has done is to get rid of the two Muslim leaders who could have stopped Daesh/ISIS (Gadafi and Saddam) and then tried to get rid of Asad, who is the only leader organising a fightback.
The Turks are bombing the Kurds, the same Kurds who are fighting Daesh.
And then we provided arms to ISIS in Syria.
They are still getting western arms, paying for them with the oil money they are getting from the West, and with the financial help of their Sunni brothers in Saudi Arabia, who we are told is a great friend of the West against terrorism.
We do not have to like some of the Muslim leaders (Syria and Egypt) but as Saddam said, you may not like me, but you will like the alternative even less.
How right he was.
The only non Muslim country doing anything effective against ISIS/Daesh is our, apparent, arch enemy Putin.
It’s only about the money.
Corkcelt
It’s about governments and politics and greed and power. But most of all it’s about money.
Meanwhile, thousands die.
Hamiltontim
There aren’t too many other options to try to destroy these utter animals, before their next atrocity …….. I don’t think the word “fools” is appropriate here at all
The great war for civilisation is an amazing book by Robert fisk about the middle east.Traces the history of western power’s meddling in the region since the first world war and the break up of the ottoman empire. It’s crazy sad frightening stuff, that should be compulsory reading for every idiot western politician.
As you sew etc. ..
Baron Livingstone offski at the agm ?
Hello again all you young rebels.
Sorry to all of you for my absence, an amazing weekend with the
penininsula hoops and the last i remember was a mass huddle
and the loudest YNWA ever, and i’m still fragile even though i’m
using two hands to type there both on the one key.
I believe auld pisspot Paddy told TD67 he was the man with 12 of
our 14 but think you’ve got 4 subs Tony, would you like to take one
out and resubmit and well make a decision then.
A few lovely Irish girls from Donegal gave our club a visit and after
dancing to The Fields with a big flag depicting the Irish harp and all
the words of the song they presented it to our club to use for future
events, a beautiful gesture, so thank you Patricia and friends. i know
you will be lurking.
H.H Mick
67H
Evil men will do evil things. Governments give them reason and cause to express their evil.
SAINT STIVS on 15TH NOVEMBER 2015 10:57 PM
Are you the official Celtic Supporter approved ……doooohhhh
Approver
Stivs
No chance, sadly.
Just reading something else.
Is lord nimmo not even a real lord ?
Brings back memories of Widow Scallan’s
Hamiltonian
I gave up on politics long ago ……… but, there is no justification for slaughtering innocents ….. Those barstewards are just pure evil, and need to be destroyed