EBTs “Gave us the opportunity to get players we otherwise couldn’t afford.”
With those words in the Glasgow High Court witness box yesterday, Sir David Murray laid bare the sporting advantage question of Rangers EBTs. EBTs gave Rangers a sporting advantage. If the loans were illegally executed, the club gained an illegal sporting advantage.
At the time of the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission the payments were regarded as legal, the Commission therefore ruled that no illegal sporting advantage was gained, as any other club could have acted in the same manner. The Supreme Court will have the final say on the legality later this year.
You and I know better than to hazard a guess as to which way that decision will go, but it will be worth tuning in for.
That aside, former vice-chairman of Rangers, Donald Findlay, representing former chairman of Rangers, Craig Whyte, appeared to enjoy questioning Sir David, another former chairman of Rangers, more than old Zsa Zsa in the witness box enjoyed being questioned.
Win a chance to play on Celtic Park this Monday, 1 May 2017
I expect the number of us who have pulled on a Celtic shirt and played at Celtic Park will be very few, but………
There is a club sponsors’ game on the hallowed turf this Monday, 1 May 2017, and those incredible people at Intelligent Car Leasing have given me one of their places in the line-up.
We have an ebay auction here for the spot, benefiting your very own Celtic FC Foundation. It was launched a few moments ago and ends tomorrow around noon, so the number of bidders will be limited.
You will enjoy the whole playing at Celtic Park experience, just as Quinn, McGrory, Johnstone, McNeill, Dalglish and Larsson did before you. You will make fantastic memories, you’ll bore your friends with the photos for months. You will look back on this when you account for the great moments in your life.
Celtic kit will be provided, although you’ll need to bring your own boots and shin guards.
Opportunities like this come along when the pitch is about to be replaced, and that happen only twice in the previous 20 years.
This is a 24 hour listing and the clock is ticking. Bid for yourself, or for someone special.
JOCK STEIN T-SHIRT STOCK UPDATE – Small – 2 left, Medium 3 left, Large only 1 left, XL 11 left and XXL 7 left. Order yours at www.cqnbookstore.com (just click on image above).
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Have they not suffered enough !!!!!!!
Who am I describing?
They….
Feel like second class citizens in their own country;
Feel the The Establishment is against them;
Feel that the Referees are on the side of their biggest, financial rivals;
JJ
The FA wanted to ban Joey Barton for three years but he cashed out at 18 months.
One thing that has been proven is that the referee was not very bright up at the Global Energy stadium.
HH.
Sevcs go Tonto
LOL CSC
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan on 27th April 2017 4:25 pm
Significantly, Lord Nimmo Smith made absolutely nothing and no comment on the import of Mr Black’s testimony at the FTT, yet saw fit to opine that no sporting advantage was gained by the use of EBT’s.
==========
BRTH (you can use this ;) )
Indeed and having rechecked I see that the FTT Decision came out in October 2012 in anonymous form
http://financeandtax.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//judgmentfiles/j6851/TC02372.pdf where SDM (Mr Black) was reported as saying in a summary of his actual testimony (see my earlier post:)
” As for Mr Black,
35 he denied that the scheme was for tax avoidance in cross-examination, though he went
on to describe the scheme as ‘a method of us acquiring, especially football wise,
better players in a more cost effective manner than we would be able to do so’; that
the club had been ‘very ambitious at that time’; and ‘it was seen as a correct and
proper way for us to proceed’; that Rangers ‘have been very successful, because
40 we’ve been able to attract players of a certain standard that, perhaps, we may not have
been able to otherwise’ (Day 5/126).”
and my point is that although from March to August 2012, when LNS was being commissioned SDM’s motives may not have been known to those doing the commissioning, after October 2012, unless the SPL and SFA lawyers were incapable of deducing Mr Black was SDM, the above information would and should have been enough to obtain the full FTT testimony and tell both the SFA and SPL that “Houston, we have a problem” and certainly by the time the LNS Decision was given in Feb 2013, its no sporting advantage from not registering ebt side letters argument viz:
(6) Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of
the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements , nor
did the non-disclosure have the effect that any of the registered players were ineligible
to play, and for this and other reasons no sporting sanction or penalty should be
imposed upon Rangers FC;
was far outweighed by the actual stated motive by SDM for using ebts that required side letters to persuade players to sign up to that method of payment that in turn, if the SC finds for HMRC, will render them illegal and so not open to other clubs to use.
If the SC find for MIH, we are going to have to accept he was a very clever cookie in finding a way to legally pay players more than other clubs, but a not so clever a cookie in doing so in such a dubious manner that, along with unsustainable borrowing, he made Rangers unsellable, opening the door to Mr Whyte and the inevitable liquidation.
Possibly wasent even a yellow, so let’s move on, .
looking at the ‘creative defensive play’ of the rangers youth last night, I think we’re in for a terrible time in years to come
Celtic fans gutted as Scott Brown now set to miss a game against our only rivals.
Broony must be on penalty kick duty..please Brendan
Til later bhoys
play nice
HH
Good Broonie will get to see my new brand spanking clean as a whistle arrived only yesterday XL T-shirt at the doomdome on Saturday.
JOCK STEIN.
Cheers WC for that and the books, thats my Poolside reading for Florida ,
H.H
Kirsty G on Sky Sports news.
perfect
For Sale.
Ticket for the Celtic end this coming weekend, no longer needed, contact.
Mr S Brown, Celtic park. Glasgow.
50 Shades – might steal that for Twitter and pass odff as my own!
Oh and a VERY Good Evening, friends.
HOT SMOKED on 27TH APRIL 2017 5:18 PM
Who am I describing?
They….
Feel like second class citizens in their own country;
Feel the The Establishment is against them;
Feel that the Referees are on the side of their biggest, financial rivals;
JJ
——
That’ll be stupid FC and their fans.
If you had phrased it this then it would be us.
Who am I describing?
They….
Know like second class citizens in their own country;
Know the The Establishment is against them;
Know that the Referees are on the side of their biggest, financial rivals;
Just saying likes :-@))
MWD
Looking forward to seeing this commeneration plaque oon the 25th of May
Thanks to the Portuguese authorities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXYy_tQDsPY
BRT&H + AULDHEID
Sit back enjoy the circus, all your points are basically bang on , but may I just suggest you keep your cards a wee bit closer to your chest as I’m thinking most could be valuable at a time not to far away, and no need to give thems an advantage while they are behind, just a wee thought. HH
Never seen such Sevc rage since yesterday
5 a side Players Wanted !!
As some of you will be aware a few of us from the blog and some from outwith play a weekly 5 a side match. Recently we have lost a few players so we need new players to keep it going. If you, or anyone you know, sons, nephews, friends etc would like to play please get in touch at the email address below. We have a varied age group from teenagers to 50 somethings. So hopefully you would like to join us in our friendly, competitive match and take the opportunity to keep fit and meet new friends. You wouldn’t be expected to play every week, just whenever you can make it. We’ll even accept full time goalkeepers!!
We play on a Thursday at 6pm, Supersoccer, Scotland Street, G5 8NB.
Contact davidmcc147@gmail.com for more info.
JOBO BALDIE on 27TH APRIL 2017 5:41 PM
50 Shades – might steal that for Twitter and pass odff as my own!
#######
Help yourself Jobo I dont do twitter.
H.H
That awkward moment when they give Clint Hill the John Greig award.
tonydonnelly67 on 27th April 2017 5:43 pm
BRT&H + AULDHEID
Sit back enjoy the circus, all your points are basically bang on , but may I just suggest you keep your cards a wee bit closer to your chest as I’m thinking most could be valuable at a time not to far away, and no need to give thems an advantage while they are behind, just a wee thought. HH
============================
Cheers TD.
Like the swan there is a lot more paddling going on under the water. ;)
Re the Ticketus deal under discussion at the CW trial – I would like to think that they may be called to testify. Surely they must as their deal is at the heart of the fraud case against Whyte.
Evening Jobo
See if we hammer the Zombies this weekend,
is it true that Pedro resigned last week ????
H.H
AULDHEID
I’m sure there is, lol.
Auldheid on 27th April 2017 5:20 pm and TD
I have said before, and I will say it again, that the wording of NImmo Smith is very careful, very crafty and very precise.
Note that there was no sporting advantage
“from the contraventions of
the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements , nor
did the non-disclosure have the effect that any of the registered players were ineligible
to play, and for this and other reasons no sporting sanction or penalty should be
imposed upon Rangers FC; ”
So , there is no advantage gained from the failure to disclose side letters (which were part of a lawful scheme).
There was no sporting adavntage gained from fielding players who were deemed as lawfully registered but whose full details were not fully disclosed.
However, what the learned former judge does not say is whether or not the operation of a wholly unlawful tax scheme, should that be what it is deemed to be by the SC, amounts to a breach of the football rules in itself, nor whether the deliberate non disclosure of details as part of such a tax avoidance scheme ( see Lady Stacey’s comments to Donald Findlay of yesterday) constitutes a breach of the rules, nor whether a sporting advantage can be deliberately planned and gained by the operation of an unlawful payment system which law abiding clubs could not and did not use as it would have been a breach of the law.
However, I repat again that the Giannina case took away all debate on this matter.
If a football club fails to disclose all its financial dealings and payments: if its accounts do not disclose, in detail, what each and every player is being paid contractually, then the club concerned is deemed to have filed no accounts at all and all its submissions and records are deemed to be functus, useless and as if never received.
No licencing test to play football can have been met and consequently no players can have been registered by that club. End of story, goodbye, go away!!
No further investigation warranted or necessary!!
Behind all the hilarity at purple rage of our city neighbours, lies a situation that is corrupting football world wide.
(Pause while I climb onto my Hobby Horse).
It is Game Management.
This occurs when referees are obliged to ignore the Rule Book in favour of maintaining or creating a spectacle.
As in any situation, when you abandon the rule book, you are flying by the seat of your pants, therefore consistency goes out the window.
We have all heard the comments ,praising refs for “keeping cards in their pocket” and “letting the game flow”.
An English ref admitting that an unpunished tackle in the tenth minute would have been a yellow in the sixty fifth.
Euphemisms for ignoring the rules.
This confuses players and it was this confusion that led to today’s successful appeal.
This is all done to ensure that the television viewer doesn’t switch off if one team goes down to ten men or a game becomes less competitive.
In my opinion this philosophy goes back to Collina and through Dallas to Fleming at the SFA.
Until there is 90 minutes of consistent refereeing, there will be more situations like the one that is currently causing glee and rage in equal measures.
Whoa Boy!
BROGAN ROGAN TREVINO AND HOGAN on 27TH APRIL 2017 4:25 PM
This layman view is that LNS were taking the easy option that the EBT’s weren’t classed as illegal in the way Der Hun was operating them and the FTT had ruled in their favour.
Now the landscape has changed; Minty has admitted it gave them an unfair sporting advantage. The FTT decision has been appealed and found in favour of HMRC so the EBT’s are now illegal. LNS cannot be seen to be a just decision now; if this is further vindicated by the SC finalising the decision in favour of HMRC then there are real grounds for reconvening LNS (if that can be done) or convening and new commission.
Either way, the decision that no unfair sporting was gained is fundamentally flawed!
KTF
When it comes to conspiracy theories I am decidedly at the tin foil hat wearing end of the spectrum. Given the revelations of the last few days, I’m thinking of upgrading to lead plate. That being said, am i the only one thinking that the Scott Brown appeal decision is a move against Celtic? I can’t help but think we are going to get kicked all over Ibrox on Saturday and have Scott’s challenge cast back at us.
SILVER CITY
That was a given.
lead plate – very funny : silver city
THE TIMREAPER 5.46,
Tim mate, see how your needing players for 5 a sides ?
if I sign up for it, can I get an EBT….A dos…..6 MONTHS HOLIDAY for my PHANTOM WEDDING….and another 6 MONTHS OFF….to celebrate and sober up after my DIVORCE ?
My 1st touch is sheer class……..just ask my ex wives.
HH
It would be good if wee Karamoko Dembele was in the Celtic squad for Saturday – let him play the last 5-10 minutes or so.
HH.
great news from Lisbon-
from CFC
The plaque was unveiled at a ceremony today in Lisbon, attended by David himself, Lisbon Lion John Clark, Secretary of State for Youth and Sport, João Paulo Rebelo and the Vice-President of the Portuguese Institute for Youth and Sport, Vitor Pataco.
I suspect the unseen hand selected the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport personally.
what with Broonies red card (correctly) downgraded and Rebels putting up plaques in Lisbon, its not been a ghood dhay for the hordes…….
VFR800 is now a Monster 821 on 27th April 2017 6:20 pm
Some of the clubs in the SPL wanted to appeal the LNS decision on a number of grounds one of which was that the fine handed down was not proportionate to the crime committed.
That appeal never happened for a variety of reasons.
However, at virtually the same time the same issues were taking place in Greece and this then went all the way to The CAS.
The resulting stance taken by Uefa and at least in part upheld and fully determined by the CAS was explained fully here:
http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Award20323320FINAL20_2013.12.05_20internet.pdf
There is no room for a proportionate fine of any sort. The rules are clear. If you don’t have all the financial essentials in yoyr accounts, submissions and registrations then you are out. You can’t have received a licence and you, therefore, should not have been allowed to play football. Full Stop.
Pay particular attention to Paras 40, 84 and 85 I think.
Of course the judgement also makes Res 12 a home run for the main reasons stated.
Sorry, a bit rushed as I am running out.
See the BBC are taking things Celtic well – not !
Have a look bottom right of our page there – the’ve highlighted our champions position in the Premier League table by having our bottom position in Champions League Group C highlighted underneath too – hurting and raging !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/celtic