The SPL yesterday released a statement concerning the Employee Benefit Trust payment Celtic made in 2005 to Juninho, in response to what sounded like unfounded allegations made earlier this week.
The league noted, “we have seen reports regarding an EBT in relation to a former player of Celtic FC. The SPL has investigated the arrangements and documentation in that case and has determined that there is no evidence of any breach of SPL Rules”.
Many good employers have understood the benefit of assisting individual members of staff during times of crisis or personal hardship. One very practical way of doing this is to lend them money, which happens in businesses up and down the country every day. When the nature of these transactions involve either a company of sufficient size, a lengthy repayment period, or a high value loan, a formal structure is needed to establish the terms of the transaction, not only for the benefit of employer and employee, but also for the tax authorities – who authorise tax-free payments of this kind.
These tax rules were not established to allow wealthy individuals to escape their social duty.
Not long after Rangers first operated an Employee Benefit Trust Celtic were approached and offered consultancy to establish a similar scheme. The promised benefits were huge, vast quantities of cash would no longer go to HMRC and would be freed up to spend on new players.
Celtic were not convinced.
Loans would need to be repaid and if not, contractually binding transactions would need to be documented in accordance with SPL and SFA rules, and this very documentation would make them liable for tax. For Celtic, EBTs could only be used in limited circumstances, would be unable to deliver a significant impact on the business, and would introduce a further layer of professional costs.
“How can these work?” That was the question. How on earth can a club pay millions of pounds into a Trust none of which is contractual? Players, and their agents, like to have things written down. If you write it down and inform the authorities, you’re taxed on it. Celtic were not prepared to enter any written agreement and not declare it to their auditors, HMRC or the football authorities.
What was the cost of this principled stance?
In season 2004-05 former World Cup winner, Juninho, arrived at Celtic from Middlesbrough on a straightforward contract, his only contract with the club, which was correctly registered with the football authorities. He only lasted eight months before agreeing to terminate his deal. Celtic made a payment of around £750k into an EBT the player had from before his time at the club.
Celtic informed HMRC of the details of their EBT transaction with Juninho and were told this was regarded as income, not a loan, and that they would need to pay tax. Celtic then paid tax due on top of the £750k which went to Juninho. It was a pointless and expensive exercise for Celtic, but they dealt with it honestly and openly.
The club’s understandings of EBTs from five years earlier were confirmed, this was not a way to avoid taxation by filtering part of a player’s income away from PAYE. Board members of any other club which understood how to make this work were clearly a lot smarter than our guys. They were also able to buy players and win leagues while our board were hammered daily for their prudent values.
I bet directors at that other club are sounding pretty contrite now, humbled by the emerging news. There will be no self-serving vainglorious rabble rousing.
Far from Celtic being subject to criticism on this matter, scrutiny of their actions will only reveal the stark cost of following the rules when others don’t.
Congratulations to the campaigners who for 23 years sought Justice for the 96. We all watch the game in a safer environment because of the loss endured by the families bereaved at Hillsborough. Yesterday’s report condemns the actions of many: some senior police officers, sections of the media, one or two of who should never work in the industry again, and a former MP, whose actions were truly appalling, and who remains a knight of the realm, but those running the game, those responsible for Health and Safety standards, and various governments have a responsibility to bear.
Dangerous crushing inside and outside football grounds was a fact of life in the 1980s, including at the Janefield St entrance to Celtic Park.
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ElDiegoBhoy
21:39 on 13 September, 2012
Great stuff on TSFM today highlighting Green’s various fiascos down through the years.
Anything that guy touches fails and it’s not hard to find.
Read Paul McC’s blog for detail.
he doesn’t fail the Company does :-) win win
Lennon n Mc….Mjallby @21:36
Tell the hun Jesus never ripped off half of Jerusalem and tried to get away with it,his past miracles were also his own in the first place.
LoL!!
SPF
TET
Thanks, I will pass this on however if they travel by train and drink all day, I’ll translate for you when we meet. If the previous Barca trip is anything to go by I’ll struggle myself……
Are Kojo….And His Pal,Lou….
Still Makin’ Films Doon Californ-ia Way..?
Jist ,He Hisnae Been Aroon Oan The Blog For A Coupla Days….
Mebbies Lyin’ Low To Avoid The Attentions….
O’ Their ‘Fanatical’ Fans…..?
Hope Collie’s Keepin’ An Eye Oan The Real Estate Business….
Still Expectin’ A Mention In ‘The Wull’…
Tail’s A-Waggin’….
I heard some of the Disciples had side letters. Not sure how true it is though.
Steinreignedsupreme
ole James shoots from the hip, his readings this week jave been to the point..
Steinreignedsupreme
21:50 on 13 September, 2012
I heard some of the Disciples had side letters. Not sure how true it is though
certainly a few of them made their living off shore……do you think they declared the whole catch… two fish?? aye right
Eldiegobhoy ….thanks for this….posting text, just in case ………..
COULD CHARLIE GREEN’S RANGERS FLOAT TURN INTO A LEAD LIFEBELT? by Ecojon
Charlie Green has had a busy and slightly complex business history with many moves that have taken him into a number of business sectors. In view of the importance to Scottish Football of his stewardship of Rangers Football Club and his stated intention to float the club on the Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (AIM) I thought it might be of interest to look at his previous business history.
I emphasize the fact that that there are legal entities, which may have ceased trading or not achieved targets, whilst Charlie held a directorship implies no wrongdoing or lack of professionalism on his part whilst he was a director of any such organisation or, indeed, anyone else.
As Business Development Director of Manchester-based Texas Holdings Ltd (a privately owned conglomerate involved in a number of areas including property development and strategic investment services) Green was responsible for the acquisition by Texas of L. Gardner Group Plc, a West Midlands engineering group which was floated in November 1995. In March 2003 the Receivers were called in and the banks were reported to have lost £45 million in the collapse.
Green also orchestrated the purchase by Texas of a controlling stake in Sheffield United FC’s holding company and was responsible for its flotation in January 1997 and was chief exec until March 1998 and I think it’s fair to say that a significant section of the support were happy to wave him goodbye for a variety of financial and football reasons. However, I am leaving Green’s on and off-field footballing activities and his rag-trade dalliance to later posts so as not to over-complicate and muddy the issues.
The connection between Texas Holdings Ltd with L. Gardner Group Plc and Sheffield United FC’s holding company appeared in Annual Reports of Medical Solutions Plc which Green was a non-executive director of at flotation in 1999, becoming chief executive officer in February 2002 when the former CEO departed. Publicly available directorship records show that Charlie’s period as a director with Texas Holdings Ltd ran from April to October 1999 and from October 1998 to October 1999 with its letting subsidiary Peers Hunt Ltd.
However, by February 2002 Texas held almost 8% of the ordinary share capital of Medical Solutions which was ‘cash rich’ in 2002 with Green stating that 2003: ‘Is set to be a fast moving and rewarding year for the Group, which is well positioned for expansion.’
This duly followed in Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar in 2003 and 2004 but the 2004 Medical Solutions’ annual report described it as a ‘challenging year’ for the company, adding: ‘Having made significant investment into our operational capabilities in 2003, the level of revenue growth we anticipated did not materialise as quickly as we had hoped. This led to a drain on the Group’s cash resources.’
The disastrous state of the company, which hadn’t turned a profit for four years in a row, was publicly revealed in November 2004 with its value more than halved to £12 million and shares slumping 58% to close at 8.5p. Shareholders bombarded Medical Solutions HQ with phone calls angry at their losses as many bought shares earlier in the year at 35p when the company raised £2 million to fund expansion.
It was obvious that fresh money was urgently needed for survival and its jewel in the crown Dubai operation, bought only months before, faced being sold as: ‘A last ditch solution’.
Medical Solutions chief executive Charles Green – former Sheffield United FC boss – accepted his future was in doubt and stated: ‘f I get red carded at every meeting then I will be leaving anyway’ although he sought comfort in the scientist company chairman being supportive of his position.
Green, however, added: ‘We haven’t made any executive changes yet; we will be doing that and expect to make announcements in due course’.
The company acted swiftly and decisively and in January 2005 organised a share placement and offer and raised £5.7 million to stabilise the company. They then set about reversing the 2004 decline and by September 2005, Medical Solutions announced that CEO Green would be concentrating his efforts, for the foreseeable future, on the Group’s Dubai business with a view to maximising shareholder value and that his CEO duties would be assumed by the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Mr Green’s contract had a 12 month notice period and he left Medical Solutions in August 2006 with a £200,000 compensation package and the Dubai operation was disposed of three months later.
Medical Solutions accounts show the company made payments for fees to HFG Ltd, which Green and his ex-wife were directors of, amounting to £147,000 in 2003; £210,000 in 2004; and £39,375 in 2005 but in that year Green became a Medical Solutions employee and the arrangement ceased. The 2003 and 2004 amounts matched the figures shown in the Medical Solutions Directors’ Remuneration Report. HFG Ltd was incorporated in 2004 and struck-off and dissolved in 2009.
The company’s Directors’ Remuneration Report also shows that in 2002 and 2001 Medical Solutions made fee payments of £152,450 and £2,500 respectively to Searby Farming Company Ltd in respect of Green who, with his ex-wife, were both directors of the cereal growing company from February 2001 until February 2004.
In November 2009 Green became a director in Our Enterprise Haslar Limited but this was terminated in April 2010. Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of Camilla, was a fellow director in the project to develop and regenerate the former Royal Haslar military hospital in Gosport, near Portsmouth, which included building a veterans’ village on the site.
Asked about Charlie, Brigadier Parker Bowles expressed surprise at his interest in Rangers and said he seemed more interested in horse racing and added: “We were all a bit surprised when he left because he had been driving the business.”
In July 2010 Green became a director in Fort Blockhouse Partnership Limited but in February this year the process to voluntarily strike-off began and the company is now dissolved.
In October 2010 Green re-joined Formation Group PLC as a non-executive chair having previously been a director with and founder chairman of Formation when it was floated back in 1992.
But just over a year later in February 2012 Formation Group Plc announced Charlie’s resignation as non-executive chairman and director with immediate effect for ‘personal reasons’.
Quick as a flash Charlie was on his travels and almost immediately popped-up as the non-executive chairman of the Singapore-based and Bermuda registered mining investment firm Nova Resources Limited which he resigned from in early May 2012 to “pursue other business interests”.
We now know what these opportunities were but the big question is whether a Rangers share flotation will save the club or turn into a lead lifebelt?
wonkyradar
Mibbe but they couldny afford the debt either.
TSD
You will be liking what Julia Gillard, Oz PM said the other day I take it !!!
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000
———————————————————————————————-
I agree with almost everything you say, except, the cover up was directed from the highest level. There is no way that Thatcher et al didn’t know about the organised lies that were fed to the media. The Sun was as close to No:10 then as it is now. Those front line police officers should be ashamed of themselves, but there’s no way that they were acting without direction from the very top.
Cameron did all he could to distance the government of the day from the cover-up, the same man, a year ago, said that the Hillsborough families were ‘like a blind man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat that isn’t there’
Add to that Boris Johnston’s ‘wallowing in victimhood’ statements and his defence of the Sun, the reptiles gathered.
Thatcher was protecting her own, the police and Murdoch.
I hear Old Nick is excavating an even deeper circle of Hell for two.
Auldheid:
Anyone who has had an authentic religious experience will testify to its intense reality- it is of such an intensity that ‘everyday reality’ is almost a pale colourless imitation. That lifting of the ‘veil’ is essence of all mysticism. That coming back to the mundane after such a glimpse of true reality, transcending ego, beyond the samsara of the everyday, causes the person to experience the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. Mystics & Saints IMO prove the transcendental. Who else could do what a Gandhi, Francis of Assisi or Mother Theresa could without intense reality of the Divine?
If a person hasn’t had such an ecstatic experience then they are not qualified to debunk the spiritual dimension- its like trying to describe colour to a blind man.
Having to be brief due to the limitations of android.
PS
Have you read Gurdjieff?
I bought The book Downfall tonight in Waterstones EK it was on display.
The lady that served me said it is selling like hot cakes and they have not had any problems and I noticed a wee mention in it for Paul.
Auldheid 20:38 on 13 September, 2012
I saw the Overseas Season Ticket report you copied here on the official site.
While the idea is excellent I believe they have pitched the price too high.
st300 for a maximum of 4 games (SPL only) is pretty steep though the inclusion of Celtic TV (I presume the hi quality feed) makes it a little more realistic.
That said, I’ll probably buy one.
Hail Hail
Magnificentseven 21:53 on 13 September, 2012
“certainly a few of them made their living off shore……do you think they declared the whole catch… two fish?? aye right”
Judas said: “The Jerusalem Fishing Association has all the details on the catch. There is no case to answer.”
Steinreignedsupreme
22:12 on 13 September, 2012
Magnificentseven 21:53 on 13 September, 2012
“certainly a few of them made their living off shore……do you think they declared the whole catch… two fish?? aye right”
Judas said: “The Jerusalem Fishing Association has all the details on the catch. There is no case to answer.”
surely the “Sea Fishing Association”
Fry is a tit, he loves the idea of being an intellectual, but being an aggravating dick is not what it’s about! He’s often riding on the reputation of others’ ( Atkinson, Lawrie, Davies) but he doesn’t produce himself. There’s nothing wrong with being an atheist, in fact it’s quite a good thing!
After reading Paul mc conviles account of slabbery mouth greens track record,I’m confident that il be playing the last post to huns in work yet again:-))
Magnificentseven 22:16 on 13 September, 2012
Seemingly the Sea Fishing Association doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the crew.
How about that then!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWr0_zWaVzU
Fry is a crushing bore and his Chocolate Cream stinks the place out.
Steinreignedsupreme
22:19 on 13 September, 2012
Magnificentseven 22:16 on 13 September, 2012
Seemingly the Sea Fishing Association doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the crew.
no you are thinking of the “Sea Polution Liasion”
Auldheid:
According to science we are tnothing but an aggregation of mindless atoms and yet such an ‘aggregation’ can consciously question why an atom exists at all- what then is consciousness? The nature-origin-purpose of consciousness will totally revolutionise the human condition2- quantum physicists are already asking these types of questions.
TET….
I Thought It Was A Rather Harsh Move By Gillard
To Deport Summa,GCT…… And Kitalba
Bound To Each Other In Chains….
Especially With Ol’ GCT In The Middle….
Since He Needs Tae Get Up In The Middle O’ The Night….For A P*a…?
Still……With Them Having Been In Oz For Fully Seven Years…..
They Should Have Know That Forgettin’ Tae Send Yvonne Goolagong A Xmas Card Every Year….
In Atonement For Crimes Of The Colonial Era….
Is A Capital Offence.!
Punishable By Deportation….
Ignorance Is NO Excuse….
I Gather They Are Planning To Appeal Against Their Deportation….
On The Grounds That Their Lives Would Be Endangered…
If They Were Sent Back To A Violent And Unhealthy Place Like North Lanarkshire….
Kitalba Has Also Struck Up A Meaningful Relationship With A Family Of Orphaned Koalas….
Who Would Be Devastated If They Were Parted….
Mebbies Bold Canamalar Could Get Saint Julian To Issue A Plea Oan Their Behalf ?
Fingers Crossed….
for the 96
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4gc8BaBC3E
Magnificentseven 22:21 on 13 September, 2012
It’s all a tad confusing. What I do know is the Peoples Front of Sevco and the Sevco Peoples Front have issued a joint statement blaming Peter Lawwell.
Factory to close in NI with the loss of 800 jobs. Production to be moved to China. This company is owned by Caterpillar. They did the same at the Tannochside plant years ago.
Took 40million out of the pension fund bot new machinery then closed the plant a year or 2 later.
Not like the yanks to shaft you!!
BT
You have mail
Steinreignedsupreme
22:26 on 13 September, 2012
Magnificentseven 22:21 on 13 September, 2012
It’s all a tad confusing. What I do know is the Peoples Front of Sevco and the Sevco Peoples Front have issued a joint statement blaming Peter Lawwell.
and dont forget the UFH……….or NFL they are also to blame
SDM was duped by the MBB with WOTR
Jude…,
Is it the whole FGWilson plant .
TeT
replied, no problems…
Neil
Dont know report just said 800 jobs. A real blow!!
jude/canamalar
FG Wilson… it is..
My mates dad was one of the shop stewards over at Uddingston during the strike etc…
MIKI67
BADA BING
THE PRINCE OF GOALKEEPERS
TOOTING TIM
WEST WALES CELT
Thanks for the assistance,fellas.
he good news is I finally got through to MICROSOFT. The bad news is that my entire network,systems,connections,kitbag and caboodle were compromised.
Fortunately after three and a half hours,MICROSOFT have cleaned everything up,removed the TROJANS and backdoor applications,hacking tools,etc,which were embedded. But it certainly wasn’t cheap.
That should do it for the rest of my natural unless they hack MS too……
Canny wait for my shift to finish so I can cry into my beer.
TSD
What a thought…..
Cat took 40 mill out of the pension scheme as it was over funded and that gave them the right to take money from it.
It turned out it was not a very good Company Pension Scheme. Good for the company but not for the workers.
BMCUW
one of those trogens got to my Celtic whisky… o((
BT,
been over many times for generator testing, looks like the hard times will be returning soon, followed by polarisation followed by trouble.
Can’t help all the evil things happening around the world are carefully coordinated to ensure more wars.