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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Get well soon Mrs Serge
B Kev
I have considered same scenario…
Just received the CQN Glossy Mag, really pleased with the content and quality.
Nipped out to the car and my son nicked it and scampered to his room.
The wee shiote!
HH
Awe_Naw
Definitely
Shoot the pox ridden thing in the head and put us all out of it’s misery
serge-hope all is well soon,nice touch.
serge
Sorry to hear about your Mrs.
Hope she gets better soon.
!!Bada Bing!! Kano 1000 says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:21
Bada ,I did ,but I dismissed it as a child
seeking attention.
Bit scared to look back in case the rottweiler
‘Timbhoy 2’ was having a go at me again, had
to take a couple of the wifes nerve tablets
to get a sleep last night :O)
Hail hail big mhan.
Kittoch? I must know him ,Ruglen man who used
to go the county on a Sunday night.
Serge
What is the ticketfast scheme.
SPF
Some excellent posts, as always but I am left with one big question. So big, indeed, I am going to have to shout:
WHEN DID RANGERS GO OUT OF BUSINESS?
JJ havepatienceCSC
VP-you probably will know him,i’ll drag him down one Saturday.
LiviBhoy says:
12 January, 2012 at 16:55
The only likely problem would be one of our own making if those with a political agenda insist on thinking it acceptable to sing about the IRA.
LiviBhoy:12 January, 2012 at 14:59
I have to disagree with your comments on how we would be received by opposition fans down south.
Celtic are extremely well respected in England. And the only occasion I have seen any bother at a competitive match with an English team was Burnley in 1978.
I’ve been to Nottingham, Liverpool, Blackburn, Manchester and London since then and never encountered any trouble.
JJ- Oh any season now mate.We need to keep ourselves right,eye on the ball,a striker in and go for it.
!!Bada Bing!! Kano 1000 says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:31
No problem,tell me he is not one of those
pseudo heroic fire fighters :O)
Astroturfing…….
Lets us all ignore the lobby for acquiescing and letting the Huns away with a token punishment.
They’ve been at it for years, the punishment should hit home for years.
25 pt deduction each year, no TV money and of course, the tainted titles are gone forever.
Hell mend them and their lobbyists.
HHH.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:06
The biggest loser in financial terms if your scenario is accurate (and I’m not arguing it is not, simply that his motivations are stiil unclear) is in fact HMRC. I am not convinced they will be so easily led by the nose and all they have to do to put CW on the spot is to propose a deal that allows the back taxes to be paid in FULL over a punitively ( for Rangers) short time scale because, as you say, Rangers can downsiize, still continue on a sustanable basis and pay back what is owed.
As a tactic for flushing CW out I would not be surprised if HMRC in fact table such a proposal. The danger to our game from this scenario is that an uncorrected Rangers will try to use UEFA money to ease their pain at others expense using favour and the football price they must pay is any UEFA money earned goes into the game as a whole and not their coffers until the bill is cleared.
This discussion is depressing me. To the point of making my fist post despite lurking on here from the very start.
We should not be setting the conditions under which we will accept Newco into the SPL. We should be making a clear and unequivocal statement that we will not accept it – under any circumstances. There is no fall back position,no negotiations, they’re treated like any other new club or the game’s a bogey.
It is supposed to be a sport if we allow financial considerations to influence a decision of this magnitude how could we ever trust any decision ever again? There would be no point in continuing as we’d have all the evidence we need that the game is rigged.
What would be the point of admitting Newco only to hamstring them to make them uncompetitive? Any titles won in these circumstances would have the same value as any tainted titles won during the EBT years.
PS just cos it’s my first post doesn’t make me one of them.
no he’s like me now a Company Director :>
Who cares if they get a 25 point deduction every year? They will never be relegated.
In effect, what we are saying, not just to Celtic, but to all SPL clubs is this: see that club that cheated and swindled you down the years by buying in foreign stars and taking your players on money they never had? Well, they’re going out of business, but get this – you will all have to accept them straight back in as Newco Rangers, as if nothing had ever happened – if not, we pull the plug on the credit facility of all bar Celtic and maybe one other (St Mirren?).
Not only that, but woe betide you if you allow them to drop to the bottom 6 of the league over the next few years. Do that, and we pull the TV deal.
So there you go – pay your money, and come to this dreary puppet show once a fortnight, knowing that nothing will change, and you’re stuck with this forever.
Somebody please tell me our club is proactively seeking ways of joining either the Dutch or English leagues.
bankiebhoy1 says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:36
What if they say they won’t accept the penalties?
The SPL will be powerless, because they will by then have admitted that they need the newco huns to survive.
Quickdraw
A fine first post……for a Hun o:-)
JJ
PS The first part of my post is genuine.
should add
we=the bank/Sky
(unless it’s me posting as Agent Smith)
Steinreignedsupreme@17:33
Didn’t encounter any bother at Nottingham or Liverpool (who were as good as gold) but Blackburn, QPR and Manchester was a different story
In fact, some of the worst violence i’ve witnessed was at OT for our CL game in 2006. If we ever got admitted to even the FL Div 3 to start with, there would be plenty of problems for the first few years due to the English hooligan element which would travel here in big numbers
Quickdraw says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:38
If you read my offering it makes restoring integrity the keystone.
up_over_goal says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:40
What you say is why reparation has to be an underlying principle in any solution and why this point has to be aired and argued as widely as possible.
Auldheid
With all due respect mi amigo, you and I both know that the hun will not pay their dues.
They set up the EBT scheme in the first place to cheat the tax man, they have appealed the assesment again not to pay their dues, they will go bust in order not to pay their dues.
Your idea is good though, but huns being huns it’s a non starter.
Quickdraw
Morally you are correct. 100% correct.
What if the other 10 will not vote to keep Newco out of the SPL, but would attach severe multi year penalties
What do we do then ?
Auldheid
What sporting authorities say and think is meaningless because commercial money and the banks will dictate what happens, just as it matters little successive governments do with the (toy) levers of the economy. The banks are in charge. Everything else – SFA restructuring, refereeing ‘standards’ – is all so much tinkering.
The game’s a bogey.
Ten Men Won The League: 12 January, 2012 at 17:42
The only other place I remember seeing trouble was Amsterdam – although there was a bd vibe in Hamburg as well.
We travel in big numbers and that works in our favour.
the news arrives
TeT
thanks for the info via MWD yesterday..
I was trying to show a ghirl in work your cave etc…
Serge
Hope your wife has a speedy recovery…
if no one wants the tickets I will take them for my nephews….
BT
!!Bada Bing!! Kano 1000 says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:39
no he’s like me now a Company Director :>
__________________________________
OOOOOOOHHHHHH LOOK AT YOU.
Best of luck mate.
Ernesto…..
Then that’s our generations Tri-colour moment.
A stand has to be made, and we need to provide support to the Club to make that stand.
Otherwise the games a bogey.
BT
My cave isn’t on there, I will send you pics later of it.
TeT
thanks bhoyo….
Barcabhoy says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:48
‘What if the other 10 will not vote to keep Newco out of the SPL, but would attach severe multi year penalties
What do we do then ?’
Threaten to resign.
They then have to decide which of us they need more.
If they chose them then we know we’ve done the right thing.
Take Competition out of football and you are left with theatre without pathos.
bankiebhoy1 says:
12 January, 2012 at 17:53
‘Ernesto…..
Then that’s our generations Tri-colour moment.
A stand has to be made, and we need to provide support to the Club to make that stand’
It would be too late to make that stand.
It’s like the old joke says
‘we’ve established the principle, we’re just haggling over the price’.