Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson’s comments to yesterdays’ Herald are worthy of attention. During the summer, when United received a £1m bid from Rangers for David Goodwillie and Blackburn Rovers were hovering, Bank of Scotland, took an active part in the deliberations. Thompson told the Herald, “The bank wanted me to take £1.2m for him, but I said no to that. I had to stand up against the bank.”
Thompson more than doubled the money on offer for Goodwillie, allowing him to shave over £2m off their bank debt, but this exchange took place only a few months after the same bank told former Rangers chairman, Alastair Johnston, to accept the bid for the club from Motherwell born thousandaire Craig Whyte or the bank would demand same-day repayment of Rangers borrowings.
Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), are significantly exposed to Scottish football and required a taxpayer bail-out two years ago, so although their interference in the running of clubs could seem overbearing, we shouldn’t be surprised at it. It’s business, and if you are employed at LBG with a responsibility to your taxpayer-shareholder, it’s necessary business.
Fortunately, Celtic are free from such interference, as are Rangers, thanks to their aforementioned benefactor, but if a liquidation event at a large club threatened income streams to the league I would be amazed if the Bank didn’t use the ‘Vote Newo FC into the SPL or repay your borrowings immediately’ line.
Stephen Thompson, who sits on the SPL board, might not have a choice on whether or not to vote a Newco FC into the SPL ahead of 30 Scottish Football League clubs, but he and his fellow board members will be able to set the tariff on any exceptional league entry to what would become a financially privileged football franchise.
12 seasons of cumulative benefit from financial mis-dealings should result in 12 seasons of penury at whatever points rate the league calculate benefit was accrued. For one scenario I have in mind, around 15 points per season sounds fair, with an expunging from the records of any trophies ‘won’ by Financial Doping.
This is measured, deliverable, is in the power of the SPL board to impose, and sets a minimum moral hazard to inhibit future mis-deeds.
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ernie
“If however the SPL insists on allowing a newco huns into the SPL Celtic could approach UEFA and say that we weren’t prepared to be involved in a scheme which makes a mockery of their financial fair play policy and ask for their assistance in allowing us to join another league.”
Resignation without a guaranteed alternative route amounts to Russian Roulette mate.
Me dead? Pah!
I’m alive and well and challenging that Meryl Streep to a square go
BlantyreKev says:
13 January, 2012 at 09:55
‘Resignation without a guaranteed alternative route amounts to Russian Roulette mate’
Thankfully that didn’t deter Bob Kelly.
Participation in an SPL which is devoid of integrity?
I think I’d rather have the bullet. At least that would be an honourable way to go.
Celtic, founded on principle, ended on principle.
There are worse obituaries.
BlantyreKev says:
13 January, 2012 at 09:55
ernie
“If however the SPL insists on allowing a newco huns into the SPL Celtic could approach UEFA and say that we weren’t prepared to be involved in a scheme which makes a mockery of their financial fair play policy and ask for their assistance in allowing us to join another league.”
Resignation without a guaranteed alternative route amounts to Russian Roulette mate.
…….
We’d be dead anyway. No sane person would part with money to watch a game that was officially sanctioned to be rigged by its governing body!
greenjedi says:
13 January, 2012 at 10:01
If as many folk did stop supporting as has been suggested here, it would certainly make the business totally unsustainable. Unfortunately I suspect people’s resolve would only last a season or so. The pull of the club is too strong.
Ciao——-
Sunny , clear blue sky -it’s a lovely day -way down south .
Note the wee flurry of nostalgia [ not what it used to be ] -re Maestros / Cotton Club on Scott Street.
Never went to either but did frequent that space when it was The Glasgow Arts Lab / The Maryland.
The Glasgow Arts Lab was the scene of great gigs from the likes of Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank / The Maryland was a great place to get ” dug up ” about which part of the city you came from. The Maryland held ” Underground Nights ” where performances from the likes of Quintessence and Caravan [yawn] would be disrupted by the arrival of The Glasgow Drug Squad ” [ in the entertaining shape of Sgt Brown and his sidekick , Brenda] and some uniformed Plod , who would stop the gig , put the lights and proceed to search everyone who was there ..
Anybody go to The Phonograph ? —— Buchanan Street – near the Ivanhoe Hotel . Anyone go to the Flamingo ? [ not the safest of venues if you came from north of the river ]
Still waiting for the thousandaire to Liquidate the Huns [ it is what he does ] CSC –Way down south.
If Celtic do vote against newco, i can only see us being cast as the villain at the end game.
ragers are not the only spl club in financial trouble and these clubs will be looking at the travelling orcs “pound” as much needed revenue. there’s also this great TV deal!!! the ransom note of “old firm” ( hate that term ) games or no deal, will mean that with us voting against them is cutting off more revenue to these clubs.
The one club that i would hope would vote against them is St mirren. They have been maltreated over the last decade by the SPL/SFL and been forced to play exactly by the rules. a couple of seasons back they were forced to spend £300,000 on undersoil heating even though they were moving the following season. They also had to build another stand to comply with the 10,000 seated stadium rule, when the rules were bent to suit other clubs. My understanding is that they run their club within their means also………however, they will probably go for the hun pound also.
On the TV deal, how much is this worth to us per annum? i’m probably looking at this too simplistic, but £80m divided by 12 clubs divided by 5 years = 1.33m per annum, i would imagine we would get more, but is it really that great that we couldn’t sacrifice in the event, if th
weeminger
I’m not just talking about Celtic fans, I think fans of every club would walk away and their clubs would die quicker than us.
The Board must come out now and start demanding clarification of the rules as they stand right now and for them to be rewritten before, not after any liquidation events for any club!
ernie @ 9:59
The club may have been founded with the best of humanitarian principles at its heart (and these principles are remain a distinctive feature of the club’s ethos), but it very quickly moved to become a limited company and a hundred and twenty odd years down the line it is now well and trully run on commercial principles.
Talk is cheap, but if you were personally into Celtic to the tune of £20M-£30M, I imagine you might think twice about risking it all on a point of principle.
Could be wrong, of course.
And I fervently hope there is a satisfactory way of obtaining justice, without having to resort to what you suggest …
FF
Guys
You lobby UEFA, yes, FIFA, yes, the footballing G20 or whatever they’re called now, yes, and in the meantime attend your home games and no others, you kill the opposition, not yourself. Yours isn’t Celtic’s legacy to kill I’m afraid. You, me, the Board are only custodians, failing in your duty if you let it die, as the huns have. We won’t always like official policy, ot Board members or shareholders or players or ticket staff or stewards but the Club is much bigger than all of that and any issue with other teams cheating. How you deal with it needs courage and commitment, not honourable hari kari.
ernie lynch says:
13 January, 2012 at 09:59
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I’m not an advocatte of, anarchy or, unruliness or any hun-type behaviour but, I think that the ‘golden’ chance to alter the way that football is run in this country was missed by the Celtic hierarchy after the so-called shame game.
Celtic FC were summoned to a govt summit on the back of what ? 3 players getting booked ?
It’s at that point that, the hierarchy should have stood strong and, announced that they would be appearing in front of NO summit!
The authorities would have rounded on Celtic FC but, that would have been the ideal scenario for our former chairman, Dr John Ried to have produced his ‘dossier’ and, as a result, garnered world-wide publicity as to what exactly is going on in this country!
Hail! Hail!
weeminger says:
13 January, 2012 at 10:06
‘If as many folk did stop supporting as has been suggested here, it would certainly make the business totally unsustainable. Unfortunately I suspect people’s resolve would only last a season or so. The pull of the club is too strong.’
At the moment once people get out of the habit of going they lose interest. Ask any bus or ticket convener.
If a newco huns are allowed into the SPL the spell would be broken for a lot of fans, and it would be permanent.
thought that casino dreams in tatters story about the rotten lot might have been big news…all those jobs gone in hard times….seems not.
should have finished last bit by saying if they were to go then we would probably see more champions league money anyway!!!
PC67
Right i can just about take reading about the cheats 11 but get Margaret Thatcher off this blog!!
Hail hail
It is considered a great accomplishment to go down Niagra Falls in a wooden barrel…
Victor Wanyama can go UP Niagra Falls in a cardboard box!
Morning bhoys,, cooler as yet today,the sun is out but as ever hun free.
Re the talk of supporters walking away.
Take Aberdeen for example, I know many Dons supporters who have walked away due to the corruption within scottish football, newhunco in the spl would be the death of them.
South Of Tunis says:
13 January, 2012 at 10:08
‘in the entertaining shape of Sgt Brown’
Hovis ‘are you buying or selling’ Brown.
He’d be please to know that after what 30 or 40 years? the war on drugs is still being fought, to the financial betterment of most of the participants.
Weather update for motorway drivers.
language alert
pedrocaravanachio67
You think we’ll be cast as the villans of thePiece????
We are the most hated club throughout Scottish Football! They despise us, we are scum as far as they are concerned. Who gives a toss if weannoy them!
Victor Wanyama is part Cherokee!
this has nothing to do with ancestry… He once ate a Jeep for lunch
Ernie:
“At the moment once people get out of the habit of going they lose interest. Ask any bus or ticket convener.
There is a degree of truth in that but mate there are guys here in Australia who have season tickets from year to year and don’t step inside Paradise from year to year. I know that is also true for some guys in Dublin, London and New York too. I’m sure there are plenty that I don’t know about.
I’m beginning to vear towards Blantyre Kevs proposition. Not perfect but I am adverse to hurting what has been so kind to me. The club is not perfect, but I’m going to retract my ealier statement that if Celtic don’t do what ‘I’ WANT THEM TO DO, then I will stop putting my money into the club. But I will continue to do so with caveats and I will endorse and promote, every living minute, a bhoycott for the good of Celtic and every team that is fair and honest that plays in the same league as us.
Victor Wanyama was once on Wheel of Fortune.
He was 1st to spin…
For the next 29 mins the other contestants waited awkwardly for the wheel to stop!
ernie lynch says:
13 January, 2012 at 09:23
“Essentially what I’m saying is that if Celtic are party to a deal that allows a newco huns straight into the SPL they will cease to be the Celtic that I have supported since the 1960s.”
———————————————————————————————-
Ernie, I have a confession to make, which you probably picked up on last night in any case, I know very little about the Rangers’ tax case. Ive never been on the RTC site and it was only a matter of weeks ago that I learned what MBB stood for.
You see I’m just not that interested. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for those, including several esteemed posters on CQN, who have worked dilligently to ascertain what is actually happening and what the possible outcomes and repercussions could be. Clearly, they have been carrying out the work that the poor excuses for journalists should have been doing for at least the last 18 months. However, personally it only holds a passing interest at most.
Why don’t I have a greater interest you may well ask?
It’s simple really I’m just much more interested in Celtic than them. Now let me be absolutely clear, that does NOT make me more of a supporter than someone who lives in Australia, America etc who is unable to attend Celtic games. My da was a better Celtic man than I’ll ever be and he hardly attended a game in the last 20 years. It does NOT make me a better supporter than someone who as a result of financial priorities chooses to spend their money on life’s necessities. My mate is a better Celtic man than me and he’s hardly attended a game in the last 10 years.
You obviously love Celtic, it shines through like a beacon in your posts ernie. We just see things differently.
You proposed that it was foolish to express continued support of Celtic if a newco were reinstated, were Celtic PLC to be complicit in that process prior to any decisions or discussions. I believe that’s madness but it is an indication of your genuine concern that you should make, in my eyes, such a rash statement.
I will not stop following Celtic as a result of their cheating. I will not stop following Celtic even if our board are in some way responsible for a newco reinstatement, which is still very much hypothetical.
ernie, Lawell, Desmond et al aren’t Celtic Football Club, we are.
Ps If we do act in any way to support them getting straight back in I will still go but after each and every game at Parkhead I will be in the car park with my banner seeking their resignation.
Rosa Parks refused to get out of her seat because she was saving it for Victor!
Victor once bowled a 300 without a ball!
he wasn’t even in a bowling alley!
Most people have Chuck Norris on their pajamas. Chuck Norrish has Victor Wanyama.
Double whamee.
Victors calender goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd…
No-one fools oor Victor
greenjedi says:
13 January, 2012 at 10:20
Totally with you on that one, that’s why i mentioned the tv money, we dont really stand to lose alot out of the whole thing collapsing.
PC67
hamiltontim:
Mate, I don’tknow what MBB stands for and I live well in my ignorance too.
Kitbala
Its not about wanting to hurt Celtic. Its just that I can’t justify nearly a grand a year to watch something that is fixed before it I’ve even spent a penny.
And if we think Scottish Football has been fixed in the past, trust me its going to be a helluva lot worse because it will be OFFICIALLY BENT!!!
Just curious but has anyone had a wee look on other SPL clubs fans websites,excluding the huns,blogs or whatever to see what their feelings
are regards newco hun being parachuted straight back into the SPL.
Ir Rangers sign £1.5m pound rated swede Mervan Celik will the headlines be
” Hail Hail the Celik’s here ”
” Celik man signs for the huns”
Cannot see the orcs chanting his name ” Celik, Celik “
Victor was originally cast in the lead role in 24 but had to be replaced due to killing all the baddies and saving the day in 12mins and 37 seconds
MBB
Motherwell
Born
Billionaire
How to get clerical pulses racing:
http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/images/bgpage/bgdvd-150w.jpg
Or this, for the over-fifties, or anyone with a heart condition:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xYUE%2BSmKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
Victor Wanyama once won a game of connect 4 in only 3 moves!