SPL Commission, where are we?

897

We’ve not really discussed the enormous political and disciplinary matters hanging over Scottish football since before our Champions League campaign got underway but it moves to the fore today, as the SPL Commission, headed by Lord Nimmo Smith, sits to consider charges levelled by the league against former member, Rangers FC.  The Commission is expected to conclude by the end of this week.

Rangers are charged with improperly registering players by allowing footballers to enter into contractually binding agreements to receive money in connection with the game, directly or indirectly, without registering these agreements with the SPL or the SFA.

Playing an improperly registering footballer voids the result of a match, no matter how innocuous the registration impropriety is, as Spartans discovered 14 months ago to their cost.  They saw their Scottish Cup win over Culter overturned because a player’s registration form was dated only once, not twice as required.

As well as being awarded a 0-3 defeat, the improper registration of players will cost the offending club any prize money ‘won’ and will result in a disciplinary measure being imposed.  Spartans were fined £4000, approximately 20% of their annual income, and were suspended from the competition for 12 months.  A steep tariff for leaving a box on a form empty and fielding a player in one game of football.

Lots of speculation has centred on the so-called ‘stripping of titles’ but in the event the Commission upholds the charge the voiding of results will happen as a matter of consequence; it should not subject to speculation.  What is more interesting is the size of prize money the league would seek to reclaim, and redistribute, and any penalty imposed by the Commission.

SPL teams receive prize money based on their final league position, funded by the league’s TV deal, which for teams finishing in the top two positions is well in excess of £1m each year.  Any ‘stripping of titles’ is likely to be a headline grabber, but the repayment of prize money and disciplinary measures will be far more significant, for some.

Sir David Murray, who owned Rangers throughout the period of alleged improper registration of players, insists the club registered all contractually binding payments players received in connection with playing football.  SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, was an executive director of Rangers for some of the period under investigation and may have been responsible for some registrations.

Charles Green rejected an offer to limit the consequences of the charge being upheld in return for his company (then called Sevco 5088 Ltd) acquiring the SFA membership vacated by Rangers.  We will soon discover if he is master of the Cunning Plan or an over-ambitious gambler.

I expect calls for SPL and SFA rules to be upheld without fear or favour to be met.
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  1. Jobo

     

    The Tortoise Eleven could score against that Aston Villa

     

    Non existent defense

     

    It looks like PL was hood winked into that Job he certainly

     

    has his work cut out to keep them up although the way

     

    they are playing it looks like the Coco Cola First Division

     

    for them and that (Div 1) division is not an easy division

     

    to get out of once your in said division a lot of tricky opponents

     

    in that League as well

  2. …………….unanimous……….

     

     

    Guilty, on all counts……….

     

     

    Take them down………”

  3. Always remember Billy Connelly telling the story of going to CP in the 50s and standing in front of a ghuy who had a voice like a foghorn that could stop shipping sailing up the Clyde.

     

     

    B…..O…..A…..B…..Y E…..V…..A…..N…..ZZZZZ!!!

     

     

    HH!!

  4. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    celtic mac

     

     

    20:20 on 29 January, 2013

     

    Tallybhoy

     

     

     

    Celtic Park is Paradise…..and……Paradise is Celtic Park………. Where’s the debate…LOL

  5. Jobo Baldie

     

     

    So basically 3 new players can be added and 3 removed as long as the 3 new players havnt played in any CL or Uefa group matches and also meet the requirements of List A & List B..ie 8 players etc

     

     

    List A

     

     

    18.08 No club may have more than 25 players on List A during the season. As a

     

    minimum, eight places are reserved exclusively for “locally trained players”

     

    and no club may have more than four “association-trained players” listed on

     

    these eight places on List A. List A must specify at least eight players who

     

    qualify as being “locally trained”, as well as whether they are “club-trained” or

     

    “association-trained”. The possible combinations that enable clubs to comply

     

    with the List A requirements are set out in Annex VIII.

     

     

    18.09 A “locally trained player” is either a “club-trained player” or an “associationtrained

     

    player”.

     

     

    18.10 A “club-trained player” is a player who, between the age of 15 (or the start of

     

    the season during which he turns 15) and 21 (or the end of the season during

     

    which he turns 21), and irrespective of his nationality and age, has been

     

    registered with his current club for a period, continuous or not, of three entire

     

    seasons (i.e. a period starting with the first official match of the relevant

     

    national championship and ending with the last official match of that relevant

     

    national championship) or of 36 months.

     

     

    18.11 An “association-trained player” is a player who, between the age of 15 (or the

     

    start of the season during which the player turns 15) and 21 (or the end of

     

    the season during which the player turns 21), and irrespective of his

     

    nationality and age, has been registered with a club or with other clubs

     

    affiliated to the same association as that of his current club for a period,

     

    continuous or not, of three entire seasons or of 36 months.

     

     

    18.12 If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players in its squad, then the

     

    maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly.

     

     

    List B

     

     

    18.16 Each club is entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B

     

    during the season. The list must be submitted by no later than 24.00 CET on

     

    the day before the match in question.

     

     

    18.17 A player may be registered on List B if he is born on or after 1 January 1990

     

    and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted

     

    period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with

     

    UEFA. Players aged 16 may be registered on List B if they have been

     

    registered with

  6. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    Think Paul Lambert was asked to to the same as Gordon Strachan was asked, in a tougher environment, hard lesson only learned by experience, I like the way he is handling it, not moaning about restrictions just trying to deal with what he’s got.

  7. Taken from my Clubs facebook page from the John Thomson committee via the CSA

     

     

    An invite from the John Thomson memorial committee

     

     

    As discussed earlier tonight we would like to invite any of your members the opportunity to visit John Thomson’s graveside before (or after) the Raith Rovers game on Sunday 3rd February.

     

    As you know John’s grave is less than 5 miles from Starks Park and most of your members will be passing Cardenden on their way to Kirkcaldy.

     

    We would also be happy to show fans around our John Thomson Hall of Fame which is only 2 minutes from the cemetery. If anyone wants to see Hall of Fame we will lay on tea’s / coffee and sausage rolls etc before they head to Kirkcaldy.

  8. Lazio v Juve – HT 0-0 (Juve looking the more likely to score).

     

     

    Will need to if they want to go through – Pirlo and Lichsteiner on the bench.

  9. Jobo Baldie

     

     

    We can sign Russell & Mackay Steven and not need to remove anyone from our A list as they qualify as locally trained players, something we currently lack hence the plethora of youngster on the B list who’ve hardly played in the first team.

     

     

    Mulgrew and Forrest are our first team squad player who are club trained, Brown, McGeouch and Watt our locally trained. The rest are made up from U20 players.

     

     

    http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/clubs/club=50050/index.html

  10. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    kayal33,

     

    in another two years maybe, this is his what, second year as an SPL player and his stand out performances have stood out, nae consistency, we’ve got tons of them :o)

  11. Paul George & Bahrudin Atajic on the scoresheet again for the U’20’s, these 2 bhoys are making a charge for the first team.

  12. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18148818

     

     

    Think this about covers the case for the prosecution, plenty proof of side letters handed over by the helpful polis who raided ibrox chasing the Boumsong fiddle.

     

     

     

    It also lists the names of people where the BBC has seen evidence that they received side-letters – a promise to make contributions to their individual sub-trusts.

  13. 83 minutes.

     

     

    Kilmarnock player sent off for a challenge on Paul George.

     

     

    Paul seems in pain and limps off for treatment.

     

     

    Hope all is well with that young mhan, who has had a very frustrating year.

     

     

    Still 1.3 us.

  14. Personally I think the EBT debacle was nothing more than an over sight, an administrative error.

     

    Time to forgive and forget, move on for the sake of Scottish football.

  15. kikinthenakas

     

    20:33 on

     

    29 January, 2013

     

    Eh ……. Naw…….Irish Independant in wee headline error

     

     

    http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/former-celtic-star-jackie-mcnamara-set-to-be-named-new-motherwell-boss-3369836.html

     

     

    kikinthenakas

     

     

    Where was that journalist writing said story down @ his old local

     

    watering hole with 500 pints of the black nectar floating around in

     

    his brain inform him that there is nearly one hundred mile location

     

    difference to wee Jacky’s new employer try nearly one hundred

     

    miles north east to the city of discovery not steel river town which

     

    is similar to the Chris Rea song although he is referring to

     

    Middlesbrough in his song and not a town nearly twenty miles

     

    south of Glasgow called Motherwell

  16. Bawsman

     

     

    20:43 on 29 January, 2013

     

     

    Paul George is a cracking prospect.

     

     

    Ive said on here before we were at a CQN day hosted by Burnley78 about 5 years ago (Ithink) and George Mcluskey came in. I asked him who was the players to watch out for coming through as he was a coach with the young players he said the obvious 1 was the boy who went to the Chelsea (Ferez?) but he said young Paul would go on to great things.. the usual caveat of not getting involved in vodka and bad wummin was put forward

  17. Young Paul just back after a broken leg v Rangers. These hammer throwers destroy a lot of decent prospects getting a chance :-(

  18. Great article Paul, we will never let them forget their crimes to Scotland & Scottish Football also sporting integrity if there was ever a thing in Scottish football to start with.

     

     

    Their walls are crumbling.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  19. In last season’s Next Gen Series tournament when we played Barca, their coach said that the 2 Celtic players who impressed him the most were Tony Watt and Paul George.

     

     

    HH!!

  20. Greenlion2

     

    20:47 on

     

    29 January, 2013

     

     

    I went to Manchester last summer and watched our emerging youth rip Man City a new one. Paul was the best player (by a distance) on the park, Tony Watt was in the side too.

  21. BSR,

     

     

    I wisnae me.

     

     

    My voice would hardly have broken then, but I do remember the cry and it wasn’t just one guy.

     

     

    With all the wonderful players we had, it is amazing how few trophies we won.

     

     

    Not really , I suppose. We were skillful and entertaining but too attack minded perhaps and inconsistant.

  22. Valentine’s Day

     

     

    19:07 on 29 January, 2013

     

     

    Off topic…….Sean Fallon’s death has sparked a lot of talk

     

    off Tully, Fernie, and such other’s but don’t recall any post’s

     

    about my old man’s hero Bobby Evans.

     

     

    ************************************************

     

     

    I dont intend to cause a fight on here about a former player but my old man was always very uncomplimentary about Bobby Evans as he firmly believed that Bobby Evans didnt always give 100% in the Celtic cause.

     

     

    My dad maintained that BE was one of the few players that the club never welcomed back into the ground after he left, even after he suffered serious injury as they were aware of his activities.

     

     

    Sorry to be so cryptic but I do not believe the detail of what I am hinting at should be posted on an open forum.

  23. Full time. We win 1.3. Well played Bhoys.

     

     

    Bit nasty at Den Bosch versus AZ in the Dutch Cup.

  24. Celtic Football Club ‏@celticfc

     

    Full time: Kilmarnock 1 (Slater 15 pen) Celtic 3 (Watt 16, George 29, Atajic 76) Celtic stay top of the league.

  25. GL2

     

     

    Think I went home with a more expensive coat than I arrived with that day.

     

     

    But Gordon_J still speaks to me:o)

  26. TET

     

     

    Juve have a wee player who has featured in these cup games that could cause us problems – Jack O’Reeney (one of the bhoys put me right on the Itlian spelling). :-)

     

     

    Plays in a Mathews (wing-back) position – this lad is dangerous. However would expect Lichsteiner to get the nod. They are playing one of their young strikers tonight (alongside Vucinic) – small, lightweight – the type to give our CBs a difficult time. Confirmed that Anelka has got the Juve no.18 shirt.

     

     

    Juve need to score to erase Lazio away goal – will be interesting to see if Pirlo gets thrown on around the 60min mark.

     

     

    Juve out to 6/4 in ‘in-play’ – will get better around 65-70mins.

  27. Den Bosch fans accused of racist chanting at Jozy Altidore. The ref stopped the game, but seems to have started it again. My Dutch isn’t very good, even at 140 characters a time.

     

     

    Trouble with Twitter is people write things like: “I’m no fan of Altidore, but this is deplorable,” as though their being a fan of the player or not has any bearing on the matter. Drives me nuts. All those people should be made to listen to the George Orwell discussion on Start The Week yesterday and made to answer questions about it afterwards and get one year’s community service for every question they get wrong. In Yorkshire. That’ll learn them.

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