The premier business paper where Uefa is headquartered in Nyon, Tribune de Geneve, today ran an advert, paid for by public subscription, questioning the governance of Scottish football.
The advert asked readers to reference The Offshore Game report: Doing SFA for Fair Play and explained some of the issues governance, accountability and oversight in Scottish football. It reads:
“A report by The Offshore Game (TOG), an arm of The Tax Justice Network (TJN), has highlighted examples of poor SFA governance in respect of:
• A Commission established in 2012 by the Scottish Premier League to investigate the use of employee benefit trusts to reduce the tax paid to HMRC by an SFA member club where the SFA provided key testimony which is now being questioned.
• The processing of a UEFA Licence in 2011 by The SFA when Court Officers called to collect overdue tax from a member club between Champions League and Europa League qualifying games. Proving there were no overdue and unpaid taxes was a condition of granting then retaining a licence to compete in both UEFA competitions. The tax concerned was never paid!
• The SFA have neither commented on the TJN report nor attempted to address the issues it raises. The TJN has called for an independent review of the SFA to make it more accountable.
• A group of shareholders of Celtic PLC acting in terms of Resolution 12 of the Celtic PLC AGM of 2013, have been pressing the SFA for over two years for a satisfactory explanation of their administration of the UEFA licensing process in 2011. In the absence of any meaningful reply they have now taken up the case with the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.
The TOG report highlights the financial cost over a decade to the British Taxpayer in Millions of pounds. The cost to Scottish football in terms of the loss of trust placed in the SFA to govern the Scottish game with integrity is incalculable.
Football fans everywhere are invited to read this important report into the game in Scotland.”
Our game suffers from a perceived lack of oversight, accountability and governance; fundamental requirements in modern sport which have been painfully lacking across world football for decades. Uefa now have an opportunity to measure where Scottish football, and their own processes, are on these metrics.
619 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- »
Will UEFA investigate? Yes they will, Campbell Ogilvie will head up the investigation team. Sorry to be so negative guys but there are just so many of these people, everywhere you turn, there they are.
From bbc scottish gossip
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan insists the Scottish Football Association has nothing to fear over its handling of Rangers’ licence to play European football in season 2011/12 despite a group of Celtic shareholders having demanded answers on why the Ibrox outfit was allowed to compete in the Uefa Champions League that season despite having an outstanding tax payment owed. (The National)
Stuart Reagan 1st June 16 ” nothing to fear” joins illustrious company
Blatter: 30 May 15 – “I’ve nothing to fear”
Platini: 15 Feb 16 – “I fear nothing”
Regan: 1 Jun 16 – “nothing to fear”
Plus it is worth remembering below as well
@peter_klein61
@FrPaulStone by the way, it shouldn’t be overlooked that the original hiding of the wee tax liability happened before CW took over from SDM.
As a guy on Twitter just posted
Blatter may 30th 2015 : “I have nothing to fear”
Platini 15 Feb. 2016: “I fear nothing”
Regan June 1st 2016: ” nothing to fear”
MURDOCHAULDANDHAY
Touché :))
TWISTS N TURNS on 2ND JUNE 2016 7:38 AM
I really liked all of that.
Hail Hail
Twisty…………..
here, here……………………
HH
☯CarlJungleBhoy❋ @CarlJungleBhoy
Blatter: 30 May 15 – “I’ve nothing to fear”
Platini: 15 Feb 16 – “I fear nothing”
Regan: 1 Jun 16 – “nothing to fear”
Be afraid… #Res12
I read some comments on other websites laughing at the idea that the Res12 advert was published in English in a French-language Geneva newspaper. Having worked there for a number of years, I can assure everyone that English is the international business language – the number of international companies and NGO’s in the area is impressive. The Tribune de Geneve is also a respected newspaper – many companies in the Geneva area receive hard copies in their offices including UEFA.
I also had the opportunity on a few occasions to play against the (damn good) UEFA company team in the local league and everyone in that team spoke English regardless of their nationality – their back line was led by an Irishman incidentally.
U.E.F.A……………..Investigate………………?
Capone investigates organised crime.
It`s all a lot bigger than the S.F.A.
We should keep that Twitter post from jungle bhoy on every single page
I would like for the share holders who took this all the way to get a result here, but! When you see the likes of Hugh Dallas (a racist) getting a high up job at UEFA ? You have to take a step back and wonder how far that Masonic handshake goes, as most of you know I’m a glass half full guy, but with this corrupt cabal?
Bygod….
I sense unanimity .
Gaun yersels , lads.
RES12TANCE IS FUTILE
Bjorntheborg csc.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 2ND JUNE 2016 12:40 AM
Greenpinata,
Yyou never answered my question, should I tell my da to stop offering his opinion because he can’t get to Celtic Park anymore ?
———————————————————
I thought I had answered your question perfectly well. For the avoidanc of any doubt ; Of course your fathers opinion is equally valid, maybe more so given his experience.
Again we both know who I was refering to ie : The type of supporter who has the means, the ability, the finances, the fitness, the resourses , the geography and yet CHOOSES not to make the effort to actually get out and go to the games.
In these circumstances I will always take the opinion of a supporter who has actually watched our team over the supporter who has only listened to others describing the performance.
As the saying goes” Football without fans is nothing ”
To summerise: All Celtic fans are equal no matter where in the world they reside. I respect and much value the opinions of our sick , unfit and elderly supporters. I will always urge supporters to go to the games where practicability and physical circumstances allow.
HH.
Time for all fans of all clubs to stand and fight the institutional cheating that had gone on hear for over a hundred years and will continue for another hundred years if not stood up to
Hamiltontim
Wherefore art thou ?
Missing your input.
Morning champions….overcast here in North Hessen…
On hearing of the Revolution Raffle stroke CRC sweepie ……
Blatter may 30th 2015 : “I have nothing to fear”
Platini 15 Feb. 2016: “I fear nothing”
Regan June 1st 2016: ” nothing to fear”
Tickets on sale soon!!!!!
Braw.
Ffs don’t know what’s worse the predictive text or the spell checker.
How do people feel about strict liability?
Big Larkin nails it here for me..
SFAI’ve never seen a 500 pound elephant in a field never mind a room. I’m guessing Stewart Regan did today. The ongoing campaign by the requisitioners to bring Resolution 12 to a satisfactory conclusion came right into his front room today. With a crowd-funded advert in Swiss newspaper, attention swung onto Regan who had to answer questions on it and claimed the SFA had nothing to worry about.
I think he’s wrong.
In the sense of Resolution 12 and whether UEFA open a full investigation, I honestly don’t know if they will. I certainly know the Res 12 guys will provide them with information and I certainly know Celtic will follow that letter up with UEFA but as to whether UEFA act, I don’t think anyone knows right now. We do know the SFA have had the chance to act but have not done so.
Which is why the people have spoken and why they should be worried.
In this modern world, people can get together, form the same opinion, become a crowd and then put their opinion forward. This often makes it squeaky bum time for an arm of the establishment who aren’t overly keen on ordinary folk getting together and telling them they are not standing for their pish.
Whatever the issue, that has to be applauded. Especially when it’s not a fecking petition.
My own take is the big picture of this is that whether it is Resolution 12, EBT or financial doping, the fans need a line the sand where the cheats are properly punished and everyone can move on.
Brendan Rodgers appointment, no matter how good, doesn’t change that.
A word or two as well about the people who have got Resolution 12 this far. A collective of people has been working on this for years now. Celtic first wrote to the SFA regarding the matter on December 2nd, 2011. Throughout those years since, the Resolution 12 guys formed and did a lot of stuff the club, as a member of UEFA, could not and similarly, the club did a lot things, as a member of UEFA, the Resolution 12 guys could not. Neither group could have gotten this far alone I think all would agree.
Lots and lots of folk, myself included, have pushed the club to go public on this and it feels at times likes you’re trying to raise the Titanic. However there now seems to be a will within the club to do so. At long last.
Folk like me are only on the sidelines, the people who have pushed and shoved this issue to get this far are the ones who deserve the ultimate say on what goes out and when.
The rest of us have our popcorn ready and the image of Regan squirming was a lovely intro.
Some crowd that.
Paul
@paullarkin74
Having read back the blog I wish to express my support for the Res12 guys, WC, P67 and any others involved for all their great work.
HH
Just caught up with yesterday’s blog.
It was a bit fractious was it no?- I blame the extreme heat affecting oor peely-wally skins
Anyway – it seems to be simmering down now so I hope the bruises get tended too and we retain the services of most posters- they will be needed.
The response outwith CQN has been generally supportive. There was a much larger “Scottish Cringe” reaction by CQNrs and Celts generally to the Sunday Herald ad last year than there has been to this one. The sniffy, unthinking reaction of the “Only an Excuse” twitter guy (was it Rab Christie or Phil Differ?- certainly wasn’t Johnny Watson) was pretty much an outlier response this time. Even on The Huddleboard, a site I read regularly as a good gauge of Celtic fan opinion, was much more welcoming and supportive than it had been for the Herald ad, where the reaction was overwhelmingly of the “Only an Excuse” mode of “Whit a Riddy”, “This is mental” and “What do they hope to achieve apart from embarrassing us?” type.
That is what the 4 guys behind the Resolution, and their supporters, have had to face to get it to this stage. Med Tim’s post on the last page describes the various stages of harrumphing disrespect they have faced for being bothered to do anything.
And yet, yesterday, for the first time ever, we obtained coverage of the story behind the ad in several local papers and a defensive comment from Mr. Regan, who has previously refused to disclose official comment to any enquiry.
All of that was not mere Co-incidence.
Of course, no big prize has yet been won. The begrudgers could yet be proven ultimately correct, if the worm wriggles off the hook but, even if that is so, we are just back to the default position where we were before these guys tried their hand- the narrative of continuity was being accepted by the Scottish footballing authority and the Scottish media en mass, without exception.
The message for all the begrudgers and those that don’t get it is- It is better to have fought and lost than never to have fought at all.
I remain confident that we have breached their wall of silence and inaction in a significant way. How we play our hand from here on in is important. The SFA cannot be allowed to limit the terms of their investigation into themselves, if we get to that stage, and UEFA cannot be allowed to dismiss this as a small matter in an unimportant country. The irony will be that, in order to obtain these two outcomes, we are going to need media figures on our side again and this campaign will have to widen beyond its current small group. We could lose an element of control in order to have a bigger impact.
But, if it rolls out the way I am hoping, then the full credit will go to all the guys (not just the one or two that we like because their views, on other matters to do with the club, coincide with ours) who made the initial breach in this wall.
I remain committed to crediting all of them with what they are achieving and will achieve.
Back into work now.
COOLMORE MAFIA on 2ND JUNE 2016 8:45 AM
It’d be a lot more effective in curbing fan behaviour than the OBFA I think. If you thought that singing a wee ditty might cost your team the championship, I reckon you might not do it (and that’s a collective you).
Masty
Give him the heading, gets hits :))
http://www.hailhailmedia.com/the-resolution-12-crowd/
Morning all from a sunny South Ayrshire coast.
Have the tanks on the lawn opened fire yet?
HH!!
Tony
eHH?
Masty
Think TD is saying better to attach the link to the site to ensure a high number of hits ( as opposed to cut and paste the content)
Masty
The blog http it gets him hits, and helps his advertising bargaining to keep him going.
Aye what TWIST N TURNS said :))
Remember Masty, I’m away to Canada the morra, so if Yi phone me, and Yi don’t get an answer, you’ll know it me :))
Tanks on the lawn
Tanks on the marble staircase
The grand old duke of York he had ten thousand men……..
COOLMORE MAFIA on 2ND JUNE 2016 8:45 AM
How do people feel about strict liability?
——-
In principle, possibly a good force for curbing ‘unpleasant’ behaviour.
In a Scottish FA-led environment – no thanks! Why give your enemy a stick to beat you with?
System only works where the rule is applied evenly, without fear or favour. How remote are we from that position in the wee world of Scottish football?
HH
BGFC
Some great posts on this blog in the last 24 hours. CQN : A Celtic Place….
Oh Mr Regan, Mr Regan…..
Well done to The Res 12 crew and to Winning Captains for his part in this deal and as ever to our host Paul 67 for providing this platform.
” We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”
Masty I’ll be back on the 4th of July…. https://youtu.be/StDpLge_ITM
Tony
Ffs it’s me your talking to, just cause you sit on your arse all day and work it out, lol,
Tell ants and Dan uncle pat was asking for them and give the weans a cuddle, enjoy your holiday pal,
Got a bit side tracked on the blog last night so never got a chance to continue the Resolution 12 series of features.
Some good stuff to follow this morning so stay tuned.
Also we have an in depth and exclusive interview with Andy Lynch coming up next, which has been written by Paul Dykes.
Andy talks about Ronny, Tierney, Izzy, Commons, the Celtic defence and much more.
It’s a long feature so kettle on before starting to read. It will be up in half an hour and is well worth checking out.
EXPAT_CELT on 2ND JUNE 2016 8:36 AM
Ad in English.
I had some sevconian pushback on Twitter last night.
Some was a jibe that we hadn’t even used the right language!
Silly us. Should have been in Swiss. Personally I blame the schools for not teaching the Res12 guys that language.
HH jamesgang