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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What I am most interested in is what LNS has to say about the role of CO in this whole scandal.
No matter what LNS decides, CO’s position is hopelessly compromised and he cannot be permitted to continue in office – most especially when he is a key figure should RFC launch an appeal.
This may be difficult but what kind of time scale are we expecting for a verdict on this?
A month?
Two?
More?
NatKnow, this is the key issue when it comes to openness and transparency. The SFA president’s position rides on it.
Tim Malone Will Tell, I thought HMRC were given right to appeal? If not, it is a formality.
thomthethim, “intact” is open to interpretation. They appear far from intact to me as they are. It doesn’t really matter what condition they are in after the hearing as long as the Commission deals with matter fairly.
Celtic’s actions throughout this matter have been clear. They stood alone for long enough in rejecting an accommodation of Craig Whyte’s plan.
Sipsini, we’ll see.
ArranmoreBhoyLXV11, depends on where you view these matter from. The SPL voted against Craig Whyte’s plan and the SFL voted against giving the phoenix club an elevated position – both against much expectation on these comments pages.
Kilbowie Kelt, 90.
time for change, tempering expectations? My expectations are clearly that the Commission will uphold the SPL charge and punish accordingly. This expectation contrasts greatly with far less expectations from others.
How on earth is this tempered?
Paul
I’m waiting for a claim from Traynor that ebt details were registered in invisible ink as a jape.
A bit of administrative banter.
If the SPL enquiry finds that they fielded incorrectly registered players, will the SFA look at the same for Scottish Cup matches? Will UEFA look at the same for games in their competitions?
Yes.
Some say it can’t happen.
That’s what Lance Armstrong used to think.
EmeraldBee, it’s worth remembering that the SPL have established their position and are leading the case against Rangers.
Auldheid, aye.
I hope the title stripping happens to give a message to all cllubs that the rules need to be followed.
If we are to be the dominant team in Scottish football for the next decade or so the trophies may just be shared around a wee bit more evenly.
They usually are when we are the top side in Scotland. Celtic can be beaten by anyone on a bad day.
That’s why we love the club. It’s a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows.
LB
Paul67 will the commision give its result at the end of the week,or will this run on for a few months?
Rangers Supporters Trust statement on re-construction
The Rangers Supporters Trust are disappointed but unsurprised that the SPL clubs have decided to show total disregard to football supporters, and vote through a reconstruction proposal which has serious question marks over it’s (sic) viability.
At the moment there is no sponsor and there are serious concerns over the future of the current broadcasting deal. Back in October Neil Doncaster reported that the SPL was adapting remarkably well without Rangers. Given this prosperity, one would question the need to rush the proposal through for the beginning of next season, especially when there are so many unanswered questions.
We can only hope that our fellow SFL clubs are able to display the integrity, transparency and common sense so sadly lacking from their SPL counterparts, and treat this proposal with the same level of contempt as the SPL have shown football supporters.
In the summer the directors of many SPL clubs stated how important it was to listen to fans – yet there would appear to be an almost universal rejection amongst fans of all clubs against 12-12-18.
We also note statements in recent times from the Dundee United Chairman and the Celtic CEO concerning the unsuitability changing of the rules of a competition during a season.
FOR INFO –
“You can’t ignore fans. Any business which ignores its customers is doomed to fail”. Stephen Thompson, Dundee United. 9th June 2012.
“However the league must not be compromised by changing the rules during the course of the competition and these decisions should not be made on an ad-hoc basis.”
Peter Lawwell, Celtic, 22 April 2008
One of the key aspects of this Commission of Inquiry is the unimpeachable character of the panel members. A top Law Lord and two QCs expert in the administration of Sports Law presents a formidable professional line up.
Whatever the decision, irrespective of how surprising or counter-intuitive it may appear, it will be grounded in a depth of expertise that few would be sufficiently conceited to dispute.
I’ll not be one of them.
If it’s left to the SPL to dish out punishments it could take a long time. They still haven’t completed their “investigation” into sectarian chanting and singing at Ibrox almost one year ago.
Paul67
Don’t think your granny will be too happy at you blabbin her age,wummin are very
protective of this date,just givin you the heads up.hh
I expect, nay DEMAND, that justice be done!
…but I wont hold my breath!
If they are found guilty and money is redistributed, where is that money supposed to come from – thin air?!
However, I am an optimist by nature even during the dark days of the early-mid 1990s!
Off with their heads I say!
HH!!
Great article Paul67 agree wholeheartedly, unfortunately I don’t share the confidence in the system. Hope I am wrong.
quantum @ 12 22.
Prize money redistributed . ?
The Italian Authorities ruled that an ex Napoli goalkeeper was guilty of match fixing . The relevant result allowed Sampdoria to qualifyfor and play in the relevant Europa League. In consequence they received money from UEFA.[ and another club did not]
When asked to comment on the obvious implications —UEFA said —– [ I paraphrase ] It’s too complicated / too late to do anything now
Paul 67…………Just before Christmas you alluded to the fact you were ‘doing a piece’ on CO. I went on hols, did I miss it?
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Who’s going to appeal? The charge is against oldco, they are in liquidation, nothing to be gained or lost there.
Titles lost/not lost will mean nothing to a newco claiming history of a dead entitiy, they’ll still claim titles even if these are struck out by SFA. When you’re claiming something dead, then it surely doesn’t matter how dead it is. just died, long time dead, dead and buried.
I’m also expecting a rash of “haven’t they been punished enough?” type stories in the MSM, with another wee Chick leading the charge. Sorry did I say chick, I’m sure ther was meant to be a D in there somewhere.
HH
cmon Lord Smith you know it makes sense.
And whilst i am on
in lenny WE trust.
had mince for my dinner last night , then when catching up with the blog felt as though i was having seconds.
So we lost at the midden again, but ffs thats no reason to bin the manager his assistant and his assistants assistant is it.
now if we were out of Europe , never got any points in the champions league and werent top of the spl then maybe JUST maybe lucky cody would have a point.
But even if all of the above had happened , i for one believe that NFL after all hes had to put up with should be our manager until he feels its time to go.
A we litmus test for you.
ask any sevconian you know who they hate/detest most at Celtic just now.
one or two might go for PL but when you ask them if they are sure i bet you a pound to a penny they opt for NFL.
So he must be doing alright if you deed mob dont like him.
getarealitycheckcody.csc.
Also if SPL are to dish out the punishment, then surely the newco are outside their scope of influence, being an SFL team.
HH
Is LNS’s tribunal sitting in private or are the press and public allowed to attend?
weeminger
12:25 on
29 January, 2013
I suspect the LNS commission will issue a verdict more or less in line with what we expect. It’s the inevitable appeal to the SFA that I’m worried about.
……………
Who would appeal?
Rangers are dead and if The Rangers appeal they will be legally admitting they are one and the same company/club and the floodgates will be opened to their creditors.
TBB,
for me, it would take that amount of legal fire power to find an excuse for them too
Although the FTT decision is not binding on this enquiry and were looking at this from a different perspective I think as the FTT stands at present is good for Deadco. Waters have beeen muddied sufficiently to allow fudging which I expect to happen
I’m concerned at the speed of the decision that Hearts were not in breach of the League Cup rules when fielding an ineligible player against ICT at the weekend. That does not bode well. This sets a contemporary precedent that the rules are NOT the rules. They can be bent.
No matter the findings of the LNS I fear that there will be no punishment.
PeterScarff
Either they informed the football authorities accurately about player remuneration or they didn’t. What the tax authorities did or didn’t receive or should or shouldn’t have received is a parallel matter of no consequence to LNS.
Swordfish, not 100% sure but I expect verdict within the week.
voguepunter, you have a point.
The Idiot, thanks.
Bawsman, don’t recall that. I think we need to wait on the Commission.
Jeezo!
Just come on the news here – Holland has a new king Billy!
The old b**t has abdicated to make way for her son – William Alexander apparently!
HH!!
Being a bit more serious but watching for the invisible ink gag reverberating round twitterland as a truth peddled by the desperate, for me a verdict of guilty will be a killer regardless of the football consequences.
The defense from Ibrox is that they have done nothing wrong legally, that ebts follow the rules with the moral aspect buried.
Even with a guilty verdict I expect the line of technical error to be pushed because admitting wrong is the one hurdle they cannot jump to join the rest of the human race.
A guilty verdict regardless of football and financial consequences makes it official that they cheated.
They will find that hard to cope with and it undermines their whole “victim” stance that has filled Ibrox. It could have far reaching consequences for what they become.
For us Celts it is simply confirmation of what we have all suspected all our lives but which branded us paranoid. We would stand vindicated of that charge.
A guilty charge will confirm the truth for us, for them I’m not sure they can handle the truth.
The problem is that the SFA are run almost exclusively to make sure “their” team take priority over all else.
Witness their own rules being bent, broken or conveniently ignored to make thems journey up to their rightful place.
Peat, smith and C.O’s appointments are no coincidence.
I would hope that any report from an independent commision would highlight
– How long this went on (10 years or more)
– What the rule breaches were,
– Whose responsability was it to ensure the rules were followed a) for the club b) for the SPL
– What impact did these breaches have on other clubs? ( Loss of revenue, European places etc)
– What rule changes have occurred to make it impossible for the same thing to happen again.
We would then move to punishments and who should be punished.
This could be –
– The club ( SPL has no jurusdiction over the company)
– The office bearers of the club
– The office bearers at the SPL.
Unfortunately as this is an SPL enquiry and not and SFA enquiry the SFA cannot be held to task for any wrong doing in this.
Wonder why they wanted to step back and become the appelate body?
@GrahamSpiers
After last 30 mins on here its scary to think of NimmoSmith finding against Rangers. Next, the Womens Rural with their vile anti-RFC agenda.
The implication of a guilty verdict is the SFA were either incompetent or complicit, that must rule them out as appelate :o)
HH
Thanks Paul..
Lets cut to the chase…
LORD NIMMO, what team do you support And what school did you attend ..
Only joking your lordship….
Banter….
Truth will out …
Canamalar
If LNS does what we hope and expect, pressure must come onto the SFA immediately to investigate Scottish Cup matches, including finals. See how the SFA likes them apples.
Paul
After reading jabbas statement on the official walking dead website ( link from bbc http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21242267 ) I find sharing your sense of optimism that justice will be done difficult.
Even now the arrogance and contempt they show the rest of Scottish football is palpable. They have absolutely no shame nor ever will. Their bullying of the authorities is there for all to see in jabbas statement. Still they profess ruin of football if they are punished, still they claim innocence in their actions with zero remorse and even less ownership in the cause of the destruction of both their previous incarnation and the wider Scottish game.
It is abundantly clear from this statement , correction, threat, that they will never accept any form of punishment, title stripping, financial or other and will continue to deny both to themselves and the wider Scottish football community their self induced guilt.
They have parked their final line of tanks, called up their best mercernaries within the sfa and the masonic institutions for the last battle. This judgement will tell us everything. Either the rhebels have won or the cheating and masonic influence will continue. If they win, we will never have a fair playing field in Scotland.
A line in the statement caught my eye. I can’t figure if it is an error or if it is some kind of cryptic message to the powers that be.
That, too, is a crucial topic but if commonsense isn’t denied entry to the meeting rooms Rangers will come up.And the correct course of action should then be signalled
IF this commission doesn’t punish Rangers as expected do Celtic finally make a move?
Paul67, the time for Celtic to show their hand must be approaching.
Peter Lawwell must realise that if Rangers are not punished and are allowed to continue on as they are that the fans of Celtic will demand that the club make some sort of effort to ask questions from the SPL/SFA.
LB
Personally Paul, I think you are being very naive . The penalties you are suggesting against the old club, in my humble opinion will simply not happen! This is the establishment club that we are talking about and not Spartans. Who would dare pass such a condemnation against the people!
There will be trouble ahead if you are in any way correct!