You have been presented with a narrative that we should collapse the Scottish Premier League this summer and have the SFA register a new, two-division, league system to resolve the problems inherent in having too many bodies running our game. This is complete nonsense.
Those pushing for a SPL 2 are, perhaps with good intentions, trying to pull a deal together to reduce the impact of the demise of Rangers FC buy allowing a phoenix the chance to gain entry into the league structure two levels higher than what they now face.
It’s a stupid proposal.
As things stand, there is no chance of a Newco getting access to the SPL next season. Despite Neil Doncaster heavily advocating the notion, the idea is simply undeliverable. Our club has been committed to opposing the proposition from the beginning, while many others now realise they have to observe the strong feelings of their own supporters on the matter.
Doncaster should have realised this was a campaign he could not win before he boxed himself into a corner over it. SPL 2 is an attempt to address the ‘No to Newco’ concerns while bringing the income some in the game hope Newco will deliver.
The unnamed SFA source who briefed the BBC on this topic last week made no reference whatsoever to Newco, their focus was all on the administrative challenges of having multiple bodies in charge of the game, but this was disingenuous. If there was a prospect of Newco getting into the SPL we would not be having this debate.
Tell us the truth, be honest, and these random, ill-considered, notions will perhaps be received in a better light.
The hope is that fans of the former club, Rangers, bring their cash along to watch Newco, which would play SPL 2 football next season and would be subject to whatever penalties the various independent bodies impose for years to come for the illegal actions of Rangers. This would allow Newco to claim the history of Rangers, would perhaps maintain the existing BSkyB TV deal and would meet the ‘No to Newco’ demands.
There are several huge obstacles to overcome. The SFA will soon instruct Lord Carloway’s Appellate Panel to consider a new punishment for ‘Rangers’ for misdeeds during the Craig Whyte era. I expect him to suspend the ‘club’ for 12 months. A new independent judicial panel will consider the case against ‘Rangers’ for subverting our game for over a decade through the illegal registration of players. If/when the First Tier Tribunal finds against Rangers a fresh wave of charges will be brought against any club claiming to hold that identity – as a guide, think of the punishments for the Craig Whyte era multiplied by 12.
These three independent judicial panels will destroy whatever is left of what we used to call ‘Rangers’ and there is nothing the football authorities can do about it.
Sevco, who own Ibrox and have applied for SPL access, already face an enormous challenge to meet trading costs for a year, even in the SPL, never mind a lower league (as Dave King correctly concluded). They are prime candidates for another insolvency event any time soon. Best of all, a Celtic fan has now bid for the assets (more on this later)!
Even if Newco overcame these enormous challenges, the SFA and SPL executives, having realised they cannot convince fans of 11 clubs to hold their noses and put up with a Newco-Rangers, will now try to convince former Rangers fans to cough up cash to support a Newco that will be rendered impotent by the most severe penalties in the history of our game.
I cannot see former Rangers fans accepting their role as cannon fodder for St Mirren, Motherwell and (cough) Kilmarnock in a league where the Mighty Celtic romp home by 30 points.
I don’t have an objection in principle to a two-league SPL but plan it properly, don’t allow knee-jerk reactions to dictate thinking. There’s no point in us getting paranoid about this, it’s not some attempt to help the remnants of ‘Rangers’, it’s just a stupid proposal from people who have yet to see the big picture.
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jimmic
Whats there to be paranoid about?
This hearing can only make it worse for them and perhaps better for the creditors if duff n duffer loose their fees for example
An excerpt from McKenna’s article in The New Statesman:
…Another source of income had to be found. It duly presented itself in the unlikely figure of Paul Baxendale-Walker, a former solicitor who had begun to produce (and appear in) his own pornographic films. Baxendale-Walker introduced Murray to an offshore tax arrangement called employee benefit trusts (EBTs). The structure of these vehicles is simple – a company places money into an offshore trust which is then divided into sub-trusts in the name of nominated employees. In Rangers’ case, these included 60 of its highest-paid players and senior executives…
Pure class: Produced AND starred in his own porno films- he just sounds like the sort of multi-talented, reliable, honest guy of upstanding moral integrity you would pay for advice.
Queen Victoria would have choked on here fish and chips.
Churchill would have crashed his Roller off the road.
Maggie T will be choking on her afternoon high tea in Belgravia.
The White Cliffs will be crashing into the sea…with the news of the establishment clubs abominations. How very un-British!
Nae wonder Joanna Lumley gave him a double dunt, the big heave-ho, the sharp elbow…that particular Knight of the realm his goat nae class!
hmiki67 on 22 June, 2012 at 12:10 said:
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC05YwDUmVg
Gerrit,right,Miki
Hernando,pal.
Fernando was Abba.
;-0
From the Book of Hun
Last Chapter.
Surprise! I Was Playing “Devil’s Advocate” All Along!
It can happen: you may reach the point where, in spite of expertly using all of these tactics, you’re suddenly struck by the discomfiting notion that maybe the Marginalised People™, uh, have a point.
This doesn’t feel very good for any Privileged Person®. It’s highly uncomfortable for a start-off, the sensation you may be wrong about something. But even worse, it may mean you have to endure the humiliation of admitting that!!
But never fear, for all is not lost! You can still worm your way out of this one!
Simply say:
“It was all a social experiment!”
This makes it okay, you see! Not only does it imply to the Marginalised People™ you’re really not the ignorant, obnoxious bigot you might be beginning to realise you are, you successfully communicate to them that you are that insensitive, that arrogant and that much of a douchebag you would take very real and serious issues that affect their lives and treat them as nothing more than a theoretical discussion for your own detached amusement!
In this way you cover your arse whilst affirming your privilege!
Cheers to those who answered the technicals.
When are the Assoc. of CSCs voting on a boycott of clubs who vote for a newco?
Painful as this obviously is for Rangers supporters, I suspect the turmoil that has been caused is vital to Scottish Footballs survival
I read the obituary today of Teddy Scott. It made for humbling reading. What a wonderful character, and the perfect example of why football in Scotland is a precious thing. I have no doubt that every club has its own “Teddy Scott” . My own club has Danny Mcgrain and John Clark, who although both gained more fame than Teddy as players, are from the same stock.
Their values are the ones we need moving forward. These men didn’t get into football to benefit from a dodgy tax scheme and an even dodgier owner. Shysters like David Murray aren’t fit to be mentioned in the same context as a Teddy Scott
Aberdeen achieved wonders through the personality talent and application of a group of honest Scotsmen. What we need now is an overdose of Teddy Scott values
I feel a little more hopeful this morning about our sport. I sense a return to traditional values . Rangers need to find their own Teddy Scott’s . They will need to look hard, as none of the characters who have been hanging around Ibrox for the last 20 years polluting our game, are the answer
Long way to go, but if we use guys like Teddy Scott as our inspiration we will get there
Sinn Fein will make a decision on Friday about whether Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will meet the Queen during her visit to Northern Ireland next week.
Mr McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson have been invited to attend a Co-operation Ireland reception along with the Queen and Irish President Michael D Higgins.
The invitation is being discussed at a special Sinn Fein leadership meeting in Dublin.
A decision is expected on Friday afternoon.
In the past, Sinn Fein leaders have boycotted Royal visits to Ireland.
Mountblow tim on 22 June, 2012 at 11:38 said:
You are a lucky man. Thrice blessed.
Lord Hodge has seen prima facia evidence that there has been some sort of skullduggery going on with D@P and Whyte. CoS judges do not act on allegations made by tv programmes.
kitalba on 22 June, 2012 at 12:06 said:
Saint Stivs
Lantern’s are against the law in Australia.
—————————————–
stupid country that Australia, massive big skies and you cant send up a lantern.
ok, next time any of you are back home, do it then.
-)
new article posted.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 22 June, 2012 at 12:20 said:
>>>>>
Fernando is the ‘new’ Hernando!
But, mercy buckets for pointing out my disgracefully excited mistake.
HH!
:-)))))
Bye Bye Rangers
Yo ho ho, off we go
What do you know, it’s nine in a row
Bye bye Rangers
Celtic’s on the ball again, on the way to make it ten
Bye bye Rangers
You can talk about your great defenders
Sing and shout about your No Surrender
But let us give you this wee tip
We’ll be there for the league and the cup
Rangers bye bye
Yo ho ho, off we go
What do you know, it’s nine in a row
Bye bye Rangers
Celtic’s on the ball again, on the way to make it ten
Bye bye Rangers
You can talk about your great defenders
Sing and shout about your No Surrender
But let us give you this wee tip
We’ll be there for the league and the cup
Rangers bye bye
But let us give you this wee tip
We’ll be there for the league and the cup
Rangers bye bye
Imagine, your a loyal unionist imperialist, who knows their time is up, your club has died, and your sense of entitlement is being ignored by those who are not “ra people”
how could it get any worse.
oh aye
“Mam, please meet Mr Martin McGuinness”
hahahhahahahahahha
A Pound of Flesh.
A restructuring of the leagues was one outcome I always thought a possibility because
a) it is needed
b) it meets the need to punish
c) it recognises commercial reality without giving it the upper hand over sporting integrity..
There will be arguments about which is best (2×14) suits me although I’ve not gone into the alternatives, however the criteria should be what is the best construct and THEN how does a Newco get in.
However there is a danger here for clubs and supporters holding the moral high ground that they will lose it if they are seen to be demanding more than a pound of flesh..
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
The Merchant Of Venice Act 4, scene 1, 180–187
I appreciate some of the following are consequences rather than punishments but consider:
a) Rangers history is now so toxic and tainted they would be best to separate themselves from it and consign “dignity” to the same dustbin of history.
b) Rangers as was are stripped of titles won unfairly.
c) Newco cannot play in Europe for 3 years.
d) Most of the existing squad depart and they cannot sign similar either because they cannot afford it or accept the orginal Disciplinary sentence of no transfers.
e) They are barred from the SC for a season.
e) They are still saddled with paying off football debts including fines.
f) They are ordered to pay off small creditors up to a named value.
g) They are relegated to a lower division.
If all of these were to come about, the argument that they start at the very bottom will be portrayed as seeking more than a pound of flesh and the higher moral ground that gives the authority to demand justice will be lost.
I appreciate this may be unpalatable to some but in seeking more than a pound of flesh we risk becoming the very thing we despise.
There is a phrase in nuclear physics; a shake. It’s origins are found in the Manhattan Project. It is literally a derivation of “two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
In strictly technical terms, a shake is equal to ten nanoseconds – with a nanosecond being a billionth of a second. To understand the enormity of what this represents, consider that if a nonosecond could be “experienced” as a second, the second of which the one billion nanoseconds are made up would last some 37 years.
I first heard the term when reading a Tom Clancy novel, “The Sum of All Fears.” There is a chapter in that book called, I believe, “Three Shakes”, where he describes the detonation process of a nuclear bomb. The physics of the actual explosion are so complex it takes him four or five pages to outline them, and the description ends with the “creation” of a small ball of fire at the centre of the bomb, this being the precursor to all that will follow.
Clancy is very specific when he declares that at this point in time – some fifty “shakes” after the clock reaches zero – that there is no further activity in regards to the bomb unit itself. In a fraction of a second so slight it could not be measured in term the human body or mind can come to terms with in even the most basic sense, everything that was to happen has already happened ….
…. and all that remains is the dispersion of the physical forces set in motion.
Think on the Rangers crisis, and all that we have seen so far, in those terms for just a second, friends, because it dawned on me watching Sky Sports News earlier. We have had an unusual, and somewhat fortuitous, view through the bombcase. Time, for us, has shrunk. We are viewing the process nanosecond by nanosecond, and we have passed the point of detonation, the point where the bomb case itself has been breached by the expanding energy of the bomb …
But as yet, no physical effects are noticeable to the outside world.
In the novel, the bomb is inside a VCR taping unit, itself inside a van parked outside the Sky Dome Stadium in Denver. What we can see right now is a luminous ball of light and heat, which so far has not penetrated the external skin of the van. But the chain reaction is complete.
Rangers have suffered a ten point penalty in the league, and some indignity in being made a laughing stock. But their playing squad is intact. Their management team is still in place. Their stadium is still their own.
No actual damage – no real damage – has yet been done.
But the chain reaction is complete.
Think on that for a minute. Think on what is actually coming next. The nuclear example is actually a good one, but the truth of the matter is, right now that club is essentially untouched by these events. All the mock indignation, the suffering, the pain, the angst … and all of our joy, it has all taken place against the backdrop of a shambles. The real pain – the blinding flashing light followed by the all-consuming fireball – is still on its way. That’s a happy thought, isn’t it?
What happens next is the dispersion of the energy which has been unleashed.
Sit back and enjoy what’s coming next. That club is about to be … annihilated.
Tom, first of all i applaud your post in relation to your brothers, i wasnt brought up too far away from you and have 3 celtic supporting brothers who are dotted around the globe and i know what it is to celebrate all things celtic when we catch up. I too will raise a glass to your brother, them and others that day when the flag flies.
I am glad you have decided to bite as you call it and thats what makes cqn unique in that we all have differing views and hopefully from these views we are better informed as to every scenario that can play out. If it wasn’t for people questioning the status quo would we not have had the “internet bampots” showing the MSM how investigative journalism should work!!!
If i was to use the last year of GS reign where we should have flexed our muscle in relation to the supposed GOD and bought Fletcher, McCarthy in that “willo window”. The money from PL’s bonus would have bought McCarthy and when you look at the success of Fletcher 12 goals last season in the relegated team. DD said we would push on from when we won the league the year TB passed away. These were soundbites and I felt let down , we brought in TM and we know where that left us and took a chance on a rookie manager who if he “wasn’t one of our own” compared to GS who wasn’t celtic minded, he would have probably been shown the door for not winning the league last season and we were 45minutes from utter chaos again were we not?.
The situation was such a shambles that the board gambled we sold the family silver Aidan and any other saleable asset, luckily NL and Park did unearth some gems which is where we find ourselves today imo.
I wouldn’t mind clarification on the “people like me” are we drawing a comparison between a happy clapper and mind shafter Tom!!!. If Rangers had more “people or should that be ” we ara peepil like me” questioning what is going on then they wouldn’t be in the position they are in. We never found a happy medium between success on the pitch and balance sheet, and i thought we were lifting balance sheets on the first day of those 3 seasons rather than trophies!!!
We have a ceo who gets a bonus from spending less and cutting the wage bill, did that not go too far over 3 years and looked like four. Should season books not be less money if the product is less this season yet we have put up prices, thats a great reward for 4 seasons for the fans support.(maybe thats why we’re fans not customers).
Celtic by abstaining “as they risk alienating those fans who want a newco in DIV3 and those who want them in spl amongst our support” could this not be an option? Allow the other clubs to do the dirty work, who knows but that could also be a scenario.
I wrote on here before the last game against them that i would miss the games as i would find it difficult to find a match that has all I am looking for. What other matches will we have this next season when they are gone. I don’t think we are good enough for the CL group stages , yes i hope we do but how much better are we than the team that entered the Europa league last season?
can we have news about celtic football on here ,anything inside or around the stadium.please .even if its just rumours, this rangers stuff is getting me down,im only interested in celtic so whats the rumours anybody.oh i will say fraser foster can go ,he is taken to long to decide if he wants to play for us, i think there is better goalies out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Ftje-0Ag0&feature=related
SSN; Naiknees and Whittaker issue statement saying both now free agents.
The fun continues . . . .:D
Naicontract & Whitcontract
:-)
There is some scary shmappo going on over at Ranker Media about Naicontract and Whitcontract jumping the scuppered Sevco boat – one poster wants to stab them and another to kick then in the **** and jump on his (Naicontract’s) head.
I had to laugh at this scatalogical gem though;
“Posted Today, 03:35 PM
I’ve no interest in Naismith any longer and couldn’t care less where he plays or whether his career flops. He’s a cretin who has turned his back on the Club in its time of need. He will not be remembered fondly in the annuls of Rangers.”
Aye ,GIRUYF anus pal.