For decades complaints from you, your fathers and their fathers before them were dismissed. Your accusations that your club and its supporters followed the rules, while others ignored them, were roundly derided as paranoia – a mental illness, no less.
If we’re being generous….. there’s no denying some of us are paranoid (several million comments on CQN provides at least some evidence), but not most of you, and not on the central theme on which these accusations were based.
Get to bed early tonight, tomorrow the truth will out. I’ll leave you with a Nat King Cole mood setter to help you chill. If you watch it until the end you’ll see him mimicking playing a flute, memories of a happier time, for some.
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With a team of reserves + U19’s, how dare we lose to Norwich in a vitally important testimonial game! A victory last night would have given us more points towards the co-efficient don’t you know?
I really hope Lenny, Tommo + Johan are carpeted by DD, PL etc for that utter embarassment!
I am now absolutely bricking it if we play Villa in a do or die pre season friendly!
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Mind you, I gather there is still no broken crest in the record. Still, it is a beautiful day here in North Ayrshire. I have the feeling it is going to get a lot, lot brighter.
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED.
The Kilmarnock Chairman is a joke and a guy who fits the one of them without the bus fare image perfectly.
His club must be boycotted next season no matter what for his behaviour.
Celtic will only need to go there ONCE next year but let’s make sure that ONCE hits him in the pocket. A guy who has crowds of 5000 at best with a club saddled with debt should not be given a microphone never mind a vote.
The St Johnstone chairman has gone up in my estimation. He won’t vote for a newco without sanctions which means he won’t vote for Newco as they are desperate to give no sanctions to them other than UEFA ones.
Celtic, Hibs, Aberdeen, St Johnstone for NO under the Johnston plan.
ONE more vote required – Hearts to vote no.
Division 3 for the cheats.
Morning all from gay Paree, better weather on the way alledgedly (25C max today).
A question for Kilmarnock chief Michael Johnston.
If you allow NewClub into the SPL next season and they finish bottom of the league, will you oppose them being relegated because they will have suffered too many lost points during the course of the season?
Away ye go, ya bampot !
RFC(ia): Time to Pay the Wages of Sin
This Michael Johnstone – who looks like Chic Young from Only An Excuse -if he is so concerned about the events at Ibrox he should offer to merge his Kilmarnock with rangers and save them the need of going through this very undignified process.
West Wales Celt et al, MWD has passed on the following info to programme BBC Scotland into you’re sky box:
On a Sky HD box you can add other as follows
Press Services to get Options and then down
Press 6 or side arrow to get Add Other Channels
Press down and fill in the frequency etc.
Press the Yellow button to find channels. You should now see a list of the programmes on this transponder. Select the ones you wish to save using the Yellow button and press Select to save your selection.
BBC ONE Scotland 10.80275 H, SR 22000 FEC 5/6
……
Cheers MWD!
Hx2
Breaking News: Rangers eye move for Hearts hero Ian Black.. if they can overturn SFA transfer embargo?????
WTF ????http://www.rangersfcnews.com/
Have they got another appeal in ?
Shallow Shallow, update.
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A worrying silence from Ibrox?
Does anyone know the actual process of what Green and/or Duff & Phelps are doing here?
A CVA still hasn’t been proposed which means that the self-imposed Green deadline of 6th June has been breached.
Has Dave King scuppered things?
I regarded the Green announcement as a buyer as an important step but we don’t seem to be moving forward at all.
Periods of silence from Duff & Phelps don’t usually end well. The “later in the week” comment about a CVA proposal was worryingly vague.
I thought Green was ‘baws oot’ and had a plan set to a timetable?
Also I would add, most discussion on here seems to be about a BBC documentary based on the PAST. What about the future?!
We don’t have the luxury of navel gazing.
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if notice of the cva is not served today then June 6th is not achievable.
Then again no forecast dates have been met yet so we shouldn’t be surprised.
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Give it until the end of the week before we start this again.
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Thats what couriers are for. or even Royal Mail Special Delivery. Will be Couriers though.
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I’ve worked in or around credit control depts before, every admin notice comes via post in my experience
I’m not saying man the pitchfork here guys, I’m just asking if you’re worried and if anyone knows what will be going on inside Ibrox now?
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th June will now not be met. Because of bank holidays and the fact it hasn’t gone out yet I believe we are potentially looking at 11th/12th/13th June.
The waiting goes on
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Do we know for sure that they aren’t in transit?
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I have to say, I am very sceptical as to whether or not this deal will go through.
Unfortunately I don’t think we are over the worst of it yet.
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I hope you are wrong, But also have my doubts
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It will happen when it happens,nothing we can do about it.
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This is pretty much the stage I’m at now. While I’m pissed off that it looks like we’ll miss the June 6 deadline there is nothing we can do about it so getting worked up about it isn’t the answer (although that is far easier said than done)
n a selfish note, I was desperate for anything to happen on that date (or the few days after it) because I’m away at a music festival and won’t have my old man badgering me on the phone every 20 minutes looking for “any updates, anything happening?”
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good shout !
Up until recently I’ve been having regular daily,nightly heart failures.
This ‘down time’ is much needed before we need to go into tonto worrying/panic/anger/frustration mode again as the deadline approaches and our enemies try to kick us down again !!
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I share your cynicism about trialists. However – I can’t believe you’re relaxed about the situation we’re in.
There’s a reason celtc sites are beside themselves with glee, and it’s not because things are going well for us.
Looks to me like Green is another charlatan. Like Whyte before him, he says all the right things so now people are deferentially referring to him as “Mr Green”, making grandiose statements about liking the cut of his jib and trusting him? It’s beyond parody.
Dates come and go. Promises have been broken time and time again. We run out of funding 1st of June. Run out of money. That’s the reality. We are a step away from oblivion and a lot of people on here are relaxed!
BBC have a documentary about Whyte. We attack the BBC. Private Eye features stuff about Rangers, we attack Private Eye. Alex Thomson runs various stories, we attack him. And all the while our eye is off the ball. We miss the real problem.
If we invested half the time we spend theorizing crazy conspiracies into helping the Rangers and getting rid of the liars and cheats trying to con us out of our club (Murray, Whyte, Duff and Phelps, Green etc etc etc) we’d have done better. We should have set up Fortress Ibrox, and told the world in no uncertain terms the only show in town was Brian Kennedy and the Blue Knights. At least we know their intentions (despite my reservations about Paul Murray’s role in the previous regime).
Sorry for the rant, but things are really doing my head in now.
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Like I say, I may be a trialist but if you’re bothered by my status here so much that you can’t deal with the points I’ve made press the red triangle. Sweetie wives on here who can’t see past anything.
Glad you’re so relaxed about what’s facing us ‘bigkahunarab’, but that’s not what I want for Rangers. Is that OK? Does that make me a tim? Pathetic.
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e: A worrying silence from Ibrox?
There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the 6th.June date,that is only when they hope to have a creditors meeting then they will have another four weeks to consider accepting or declining the CVA.
Rangers: Imran Ahmad attended Hampden with Andrew Dickson (l) and Charles Green (r).STV
The financial adviser behind the takeover of Rangers by a consortium led by Charles Green has been named.
Imran Ahmad, who recently moved to English investment banking operation Zeus Capital, is advising on the financial structure of the deal for the Ibrox club by the Sevco group.
The broker previously founded the London firm Allenby Capital Limited in 2009. It has been listed as an adviser and broker in several announcements by Singapore-based mining investment firm Nova Resources limited, of which Mr Green was chairman up until last Thursday when he resigned to “pursue other business interests”.
One member of the Rangers takeover consortium, Malaysian hotelier Jude Allen, also known as Javed Abdullah, confirmed to STV News that Mr Ahmad was the “financial adviser” to the group.
On Friday Mr Ahmad attended Hampden alongside Mr Green, Rangers head of football administration Andrew Dickson and former player Sandy Jardine for meetings with the Scottish FA and Scottish Premier League representatives in relation to the takeover.
In an interview with the Growth Business website in 2011, it was reported that Mr Ahmad started Allenby Capital with £200,000 and that he was “a fan of cricket and fast cars, though not necessarily in that order”.
He joined Zeus Capital in April of this year where he is listed as managing director on the firm’s website. In 2009, Zeus advised Formation Group in its sale of Proactive Sports Management, the sports agency business Mr Green was chairman of, to Gresham Private Equity for £22m.
Mr Green said on Friday that Mr Allen, who is a partner in Kuala Lumpar-based Lumira Hotels Group, and Middle Eastern lawyer Mazen Houssami, were two of the 20 individuals and families behind the bid to take over the Ibrox club.
Joint administrator Paul Clark previously stated a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposal funded by the consortium would be put to creditors on Monday, but a spokesman for Duff and Phelps confirmed that the offer would not be sent out until later in the week.
Football ventures
Prior to Mr Ahmad’s appointment with the business that has bases in London and Manchester, Zeus Capital had been involved in a failed bid to take over Leeds United in 2004, as well as teaming up in an unsuccessful offer for Portsmouth FC fronted by 21-year-old Thomas Lever in 2010.
During Mr Ahmad’s time at Allenby Capital Limited, the firm acted and still is broker for The Weather Lottery, which provided Rangers with online betting and lotto services in 2010. It ended up in a court dispute with the Ibrox club claiming the Doncaster gambling business owed it £30,000 in unpaid profits.
Two employees of the Weather Lottery were convicted of fraud last November, which was highlighted in annual results as one of the contributing factors towards the company’s loss of £789,000 reported until July 2011. The Weather Lottery also bought over Soccerdome Limited last June, which owns and operates a five-a-side football facility in Nottingham.
According to the latest results of the company chaired by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Razzall, the “actual performance of the [Soccerdome] facility has been disappointing” but it hopes a proposed athletics development nearby will enhance it.
The deal consists of £8.5m put forward to cover the costs of extensive fees owed to administrators Duff and Phelps first, before the remainder goes towards paying off secured creditors including Close Leasing, which struck a deal with current owner Craig Whyte for future catering income in exchange for new kitchen equipment and big screens at Ibrox worth an initial £1.6m.
Mr Whyte’s position as floating charge holder over the club could also result in him staking a claim to part of the money as a secured creditor, although Mr Green claims the owner has already agreed to sell his 85% stake in Rangers for £2. The remaining cash left will be used to fund a CVA offer of pence in the pound that Duff and Phelps aim to send out to all unsecured creditors, worth up to £134m, at some point this week.
The insolvency firm then hopes to hold a creditors meeting on the proposals on June 6, where a vote will be held on the CVA. Following this date, there is a 28-day period in which the vote – either for or against the CVA – can be challenged by those owed money.
If the CVA fails, then the most likely route out of administration for the consortium would be an asset sale followed by the liquidation of Rangers FC plc, incorporated in 1899, which is known as a “newco” switch. This involves selling Ibrox, Murray Park, the playing squad and trademarks to a new business entity, before dissolving the old one with all of the club’s toxic debts.
Mr Green is listed at Companies House as a director of Sevco 5088 Limited, which was incorporated at the end of March and could be the newco Rangers lying in wait should a CVA fail.
Administrators have previously stated that they had entered into a “binding contract” with Mr Green for the club, which could be completed at the creditors meeting on June 6.
Part of me agrees with Killie CEO ..
RFC have been punished enough.. The biggest loss of all being their dignity.
Where Indiffer is next step. He feels entry to SPL …..I feel LIQUIDATION!
If RFC were my dog it would have been put out of its misery long ago.
No more punishments.. Liquidation.
No to Newco. It is the END.
timbhoy in Spain
Breaking News: Rangers eye move for Hearts hero Ian Black.. if they can overturn SFA transfer embargo?????
WTF ????http://www.rangersfcnews.com/
Have they got another appeal in
There is more chance of them getting Jack Black
Like others on here,I heard the Killie chairman on the radio,pleading the Rankers case.Well you know what to do next season to his club.
Now why is Mr Green not returning calls from a despairingly
frantic selection of lamb eating journalists?
Hmmmm
I have long since advocated Bhoycott of Killie… Seasons ago.
They are Ayrshire Huns who can’t afford the bus fare.
They hate us.
The day of the long knives begins with the Daily Record…
Aye n we’ll still turn up to Rugby Park in numbers next season.
maybe after a long season filled with success the support wanted to show appreciation to team despite it being filled with young uns in a testimonial game and although celtic lost im sure we gained some supporters.
Maybe some people want to recognise those supporters who put their money where there mouth is and go in their thousands after a long season to cheer on celtic in a meaningless game. Maybe they deserve recognition.
Yet to some on here that is a negative. I blame peter lawell.
We arent the tartan army, that was a support showing its appreciation to the champions – and having a party.
whats not to like.
Huns want to sign Ian Black.. While over at Celtic we play the Black eye peas… ‘I ve got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night..’
I expect Ian Black to pea all over this story.. Talk about ‘frying pans and fires’..
Diversionary story.
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous Hillbillies the day?
I watched last nights game and for me appart from the fans there was more negativity than positivity.Hooper,Stokes,and Commons didnt try a leg and I was disappointed to see alack of fitness as Norwich City pressed us in the second half.It used to be said Celtic dont play friendlies well that was true last night I felt sorry for the 4,000 travelling Celtic supporters.H.H.
Call me ole fashioned but if I were Chairman of a ‘smaller’ Scottish club I would relish the prospect of winning more silverwear.
Dontbrattbakkinanger on 23 May, 2012 at 08:39 said:
Standing at the edge of a deep dark hole…
Ian Black is a pure Hillbilious Hillbilly from central casting. His career is destined to go on the Heart of Hunlothian- Huns- Airdriehunians trajectory of kicking everything above grass, especially if it’s wearing a green jersey.
Dontbrattbakkinanger on 23 May, 2012 at 08:43 said:
I hear he is already taking banjo lessons in preparation…
Many happy returns to Hoopslegend wee Ross Wallace.
Ross gets a shot on the bouncy castle with deluded ole trout Joan Collins and synthesiser #1 of prog rock purgatory Dr Robert Moog.
Starry Plough- he’s got a face like an ole banjo, that’s for sure.
Going into work 25 degrees already. Listening to The Vaccines. Green and White shirt on. Life is pretty good.
Is there something on tonight that could complete the day?
Joe Filippis Haircut on 23 May, 2012 at 08:41 said:
”It used to be said Celtic dont play friendlies well that was true last night I felt sorry for the 4,000 travelling Celtic supporters.”
It was Fergie who said we don’t play friendlies.
Gordon Strachan killed that idea.
Last night was competitive enough for an end of season game.
Many Fans on here are awaiting the imminent death by media of rangers(ia) on tonight’s BBC special.
I sincerely hope this comes to pass.
However, my experience of the BBC is that they are “the establishment TV station” and although they are angry at having been threatened by Murray, Whyte and the knuckledraggers, we may find that their exposure falls short of expectations.
Let me offer an example. If you have the time please indulge;
History as Propaganda: The BBC’s “Great Irish Famine” Dissected
James Mullin
July 14, 2008
When D.W. Griffith´s epic silent film “Birth of a Nation” was shown in American theatres in 1915, it changed film making and film viewing overnight. President Woodrow Wilson called it “history written in lightning.” Griffith not only created spectacular Civil War battle scenes, he glorified the Ku Klux Klan, and demonized the freed slaves. For the first time, millions of people realized that film was an extremely powerful medium for spreading propaganda.
Two decades later, Adolf Hitler and his brilliantly demented propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, realized that cinema was potentially the most powerful mass medium of the new age. They both knew that a documentary film that entertained would be more effective than heavy-handed propaganda.
At Hitler´s request, filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl produced a pseudo-documentary, “Triumph of the Will”, about the 1934 sixth Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg. A torch-lit parade by tens of thousands of uniformed German soldiers led viewers into a futuristic Nazi amphitheatre, setting the stage for Hitler´s speech. His personal charisma was gloriously enhanced in close-ups, as was his emotional grip on the German people. Susan Sontag, a commentator on modern culture, has referred to the film as ‘the most successfully, most purely propagandistic film ever made.’
Six decades later, Hitler´s propaganda classic is still powerful, but it pales next to the sophistication demonstrated in the BBC´s “Great Irish Famine”. It is a masterwork of revisionist propaganda disguised as history.
The “documentary” aired on the A&E and History channels in 1996, shortly before St. Patrick´s Day when Irish people everywhere were marking the 150th anniversary of their national tragedy, An Gorta Mor – “The Great Hunger”. The opening narration assures viewers that the film will explain “how the people of a green and fertile land came to starve.” That is the first misrepresentation.
The film begins with footage of an outdoor Mass commemorating a time when Irish Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion. A BBC narrator explains: “Since the early 18th century, a series of laws penalized Irish Catholics. In practice, few of the laws were rigorously enforced, and all were repealed by 1829. They were an insult to Irish Catholics who were made to feel like second-class citizens in their own land.”
Can this be a description of the Penal Laws? These “ferocious enactments” brought the Irish closer to being serfs than “second-class citizens”.
Under these edicts, all Irish Catholics (and therefore all native Irish People) were prohibited from attending schools, keeping schools, or sending their children abroad to be educated. They were barred from practicing their religion, engaging in trade or commerce, voting, or entering a profession. The laws did away with primogeniture, the exclusive right of the eldest son to inherit his father´s estate, causing Irish-held estates to be subdivided again and again for generations.
After the Penal Laws were enacted, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland confidently said: “The law does not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish Roman Catholic.” The Irish were completely disenfranchised.
Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745) the author of Gulliver’s Travels, described the cumulative effect of the Penal Laws in his essay, “A Short View of the Present State of Ireland”:
“Ever increasing rent is squeezed out of the very blood, and vitals, and clothes, and dwellings of the tenants, who live worse than English beggars. The families of farmers who pay great rents are living in filth and nastiness upon buttermilk and potatoes, without a shoe or a stocking to their feet, or a house so convenient as an English hog sty to receive them. These may, indeed, be comfortable sights to an English spectator who comes for a short time to learn the language, and returns back to his own country, whither he finds all our wealth transmitted.” Swift made these observations 100 years before the great mass starvation in Ireland.
A contemporary and friend of Swift’s, philosopher George Berkeley, wrote in a 1736 journal wondering “whether a foreigner could imagine that half of the people were starving in a country which sent out such plenty of provisions”.
Historian Edmund Burke, (1729-97) an Irish-born Protestant who became a British Member of Parliament, (MP) described the Penal laws as being, “well-fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man.” All this the BBC film refers to as “an insult”!
Since the enormously destructive effects of the Penal Laws lasted until the mass starvation, the laws would easily meet the modern criteria for Genocide by Attrition as determined by Helen Fein, past president of the Association of Genocide Scholars. That is: “stripping citizens of a particular national, ethnic, religious or tribal group of political and civil rights, which lead to their lack of entitlement to food (and conditions essential to maintain health) producing mass death.”
In the film, “Great Irish Famine”, the BBC narrator says, “In western Ireland farmers had to contend with poor stony ground, and the only crop they could raise was potatoes.” Why did they? Unfortunately, the film makes no mention of the native Irish being driven off millions of acres of fertile land to provide estates for Cromwell´s parliamentary soldiers, or how Irish landowners found east of the river Shannon after May 1, 1654 faced the death penalty or slavery in the West Indies and Barbados. Surely this would help explain “how the people of a green and fertile land came to starve.”
During the BBC film, Irish-American nationalist Mary Holt Moore is allowed to make some very strong statements about Irish crops of wheat, corn and oats being exported to England during the Famine, but the segment immediately following undercuts everything she says.
It shows contemporary Irish farmers gathered at a cattle market. The narrator says, “Nothing generates more rage and controversy over the Famine than the fact that the Irish farmers continued to export food, not just beef, but bacon, butter, cheese, and many other products to England throughout the years of hunger, even though their own people were starving at the time.” The film would have us believe that the Irish starved themselves.
The terms, “Irish farmers” land “Irish landlords” are misnomers because they apply to English-born Protestants who owned agricultural land in Ireland. Many were absentee landlords living in England who employed middlemen in Ireland to ensure that rent crops were collected and exported to the more lucrative English market. British soldiers were garrisoned in Ireland to guard the granaries and food shipments leaving Ireland.
Regarding landlords, the film points out that, “the effect of the Poor Law Extension Act was to ensure that any landlord who didn´t want to be ruined had almost no alternative, but to evict as many people as possible.” (Over 500,000 Irish people were evicted during the mass starvation) The narrator then states that, “Ultimately, many landlords became victims of famine, just like the tenants.” No doubt many landlords went bankrupt, but did they become “victims of famine” to the extent that they starved to death? No records of such deaths existHow much food was exported during the mass starvation? In “Ireland Before and After the Famine”, author Cormac O´Grada documents that in 1845 (a “famine” year in Ireland”, 3,251,907 quarters (8 bushels = 1 quarter)) of corn were exported from Ireland to Britain. That works out to be over 25 million bushels!Thatsame year 257,257 sheep were exported to Britain. In 1846, 480,827 swine, and 186,483 oxen were shipped to Britain.
Dr. Christine Kinealy, the author of “This Great Calamity” and “A Death-Dealing Famine,” published an article in “History Ireland” in 1998 which documented the commodity exports from Ireland to England during “Black’47”.(1847) In that one terrible year, 400,000 Irish men, women and children died of starvation and related diseases.
Dr. Kinealy found that nearly 4,000 vessels carried food from Ireland to the ports of Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool and London in 1847. The food was shipped under guard from the most famine-stricken parts of Ireland: Ballina, Ballyshannon, Bantry, Dingle, Killala, Kilrush, Limerick, Sligo, Tralee and Westport.
She found that the total amount of grain-derived alcohol (porter, ale, whiskey and stout) exported from Ireland in just nine months of Black’47 was 1,336,220 gallons. Could the starving Irish have been fed on this grain? Not profitably.
A wide variety of commodities left Ireland during 1847, including peas, beans, onions, rabbits, salmon, oysters, herring, lard and honey, but the most shocking export figures concern butter.
Butter was shipped in firkins, each one holding nine gallons. According to Dr. Kinealy, exactly 91, 409 firkins were exported from Ireland to Bristol and Liverpool during the first nine months of “Black ’47. That works out to be 822,681 gallons of butter. If the other three months were at all comparable, we can safely assume that a million gallons of butter left Ireland while 400,000 Irish people starved to death!
The “Great Irish Famine” film has an astonishing segment that shows beef being cut up in a modern day butcher shop. The narrator tells us that when the new Whig government of Lord John Russell refused to bring fresh grain supplies from warehouses, prices soared. In fact, they became so high that the Irish could not buy grain even when it was available for sale. This is horrifying and true, but it is a gross injustice to imply that the food Irish peasants could not afford was beef!
“The Great Irish Famine” does refer to British neglect, greed, and incompetence during the Famine because it makes for more effective propaganda to do so. But at each juncture, where a critical point about responsibility is to be made, the film obfuscates and equivocates. British culpability is denied, avoided, or minimized, just as it is in all written revisionist accounts.
Toward the end, the BBC film attempts to debunk the “local legend” of 400 starving people being swept into the waters of Doo Lough by a storm. The film authoritatively informs us that, “in fact, six people died here in an accident.” This segment also shows footage of a local drama group retracing the route of the victims with many dramatic gestures of supplication and much keening.
These closing images send viewers a powerful subliminal message. The Irish are like the drama group, commemorating a “myth” with emotion and theatrics, while the British are the “objective” scholars, sticking to the historical “facts”, and producing
unemotional, “value – free”, history.
This final point is, in fact, the subtext of the entire film. The proof is contained in a BBC book, The Great Famine: Ireland´s Potato Famine, 1845-51, designed to accompany the film, and written by the film´s producer, John Percival
In the Introduction, Percival writes: “The Irish Diaspora, that great migration across the face of the Earth, was given a massive impetus by the famine. The Irish immigrants, especially those to the United States of America, arrived full of anger and distress, then preserved those memories, like old photographs, to be handed on, only faintly blurred, to their children and grandchildren. Today, the President of the United States has to take those memories into account when he considers which way forty million people of Irish descent are going to vote, and the IRA knows where to look for money if political reconciliation fails to work out.” He goes on:
“The memories of Irish people, like the folk memories of people everywhere, are an inextricable tangle of history and mythology, of slogans, songs and stories picked up on grandma´s knee. Myth is painted in stark whites and blacks, images of good versus evil, and such stories are often more potent than history in shaping events. Unscrupulous leaders use them to sway the mob and motivate the terrorist. History is far more ambiguous. Motives are often mixed, bad actions are fired by good intentions, the villains turn out to have some redeeming features and their victims are not all saints or martyrs. So it is with the history of the Great Famine.”
Mr. Percival, the BBC, and the British government that financed the film, want viewers to conclude that the horrible facts of the mass starvation carried out under British rule in Ireland are merely “local legends”, embellished “myths” and fanciful “stories”. Those who repeat them are the “unscrupulous leaders who use them to sway the mob and motivate the terrorist.”
The “Great Irish Famine” is a pictorially beautiful film, made with imagination and skill, but the images and the script must be analyzed frame by frame for gross misrepresentations, lies, and distortions. The film does stir the emotions, but some of its powerful images are contradicted by a narrative voice. The viewer must decide in a fleeting instant which message is to be believed. The subconscious makes its own decisions.
Written history is about what the historian chooses to omit, treat lightly, or emphasize, and the reader is free to pause and consider each statement. However, a film viewer is being acted upon to a much greater extent. He or she is a temporary captive, swept along by a flow of disturbing images and a reassuring narrative voice.
The BBC’s “Great Irish Famine” is more visceral than intellectual. It is “history written in lightning” just like “Birth of a Nation” was, but it is far more sophisticated in its use of propaganda devices and editing techniques. “Triumph of the Will” is crude by comparison.
Winston Churchill once said, “Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” Obviously, the BBC still adheres to that belief. The narrative of the “Great Irish Famine” is so well attended by propagandistic bodyguards that the historical truth is nowhere to be seen.
The Irish Famine curriculum I prepared is available in full text on the web site of the Nebraska Department of Education: http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/irish_famine.html
“The likes of Jamie Ness, Rhys McCabe and, before he left, Gregg Wylde have benefited from being fast-tracked into the first team, while Kane Hemmings, Mitchell, Hegarty and Lewis Macleod are considered ready. With Kyle Hutton, Darren Cole and John Fleck returning from loan spells, McCoist will be able to call upon a number of youth development graduates.”
The Herald
Looks like the line-up for Rankers 1st team for next year plus Elbows and the reserve goalkeeper regardless of division (assuming they may it as a NewClub).
Re-last night’s performance by the team/support.
My view is that the support IS the club. Players come and go, as do owners and execs.
Last night’s celebration of Celtic proved (again) that, regardless of the actions of corrupt administrators and club owners, we should ensure that our club continues to prosper and should not be allowed to go the way of Belfast Celtic or wither on the vine which seems to be the option preferred by some who would choose sporting integrity over existence.
BTW, when was integrity introduced to the SPhell. I thought we were always being cheated by other clubs and the authorities!
CeltictillIdie!
HH
How can Kilmarnock’s Johnson, or anyone else say that they have been punished enough, when we still don’t know the full extent of their wrongdoings?
SIR David Murray allowed his ego to run riot at Rangers, then made a “panicked” decision to sell the club as it teetered on the brink of ruin.
That’s the explosive verdict of former Ibrox chairman Alastair Johnston on Murray’s Ibrox “dictatorship”.
In an unprecedented and extraordinarily detailed attack on Murray’s stewardship of the club, Johnston claims the tycoon was warned extensively about the dangers of selling to Craig Whyte.
He says Murray carried on with the deal because of “significant pressure” from the club’s bankers.
And he says a senior boss at the bank told him that Lloyds, who were owed £700million by the rest of Murray’s empire, had “incentivised” Murray to hand Rangers to Whyte.
Johnston, 63, once a close ally of Murray, now no longer speaks to him.
In our exclusive interview, he said: “Chairmen and chief executives are often the subject of fans’ ire for selling players, or allowing guys to leave because of unaffordable wage demands and so on. On the the other hand, you take Sir David Murray.
“He got too immersed in the fans’ perception of himself – as well as his own ego and invincibility, probably.
“In the last few years he lost his business discipline, then panicked when he saw Armageddon coming.”
Murray, who famously boasted in 2000 that Rangers would spend £10 for every £5 spent by Celtic, sold Rangers to Whyte a year ago for £1.
The Record has told how, before the sale, a private investigator’s report on Whyte’s business record was passed to the Ibrox board.
And Johnston, who was ousted by Whyte soon after his takeover, spoke at length about how closely Murray and his Murray Group of businesses were made aware of what the detective had discovered.
His allegations are highly significant, given Murray’s later insistence that he had been “duped” by Whyte.
The SFA disciplinary panel who slapped a transfer embargo on Rangers criticised Johnston, and other men on the Ibrox board, for not doing enough to stop the sale.
But Johnston said he and his colleagues expressed their concerns about Whyte “very vocally”. And he insisted there was only one man with the power to keep him out – Murray.
Johnston said of the detective’s report: “It was made available to us and I did see it, like I saw a lot of other information and data that was presented to us or leaked.
“But all that information was shared with the Murray Group, because there wasn’t much we could do about it other than jump up and down and scream and shout, which is what we did.
“In terms of something to do about it – that is, not consummate the
transaction for these reasons – then David Murray really looks like the
only person who could actually have done something.”
Johnston added: “There were a lot of inconsistencies in Whyte’s personal profile – where he lived, who he
was registered with, anonymous addresses and so on.
“Liberty Capital, the ultimate guarantor of his so-called arrangement with Rangers, was formed out of a warehouse in industrial Miami where nobody had ever heard of him or the company.
“So we had a lot of due diligence and checked up on him, but that information was fed to the Murray group.”
Johnston, a Glasgow-born expert in sports accountancy, joined the Ibrox board in 2004 and became chairman in 2009. By then, the credit crunch had hit and the fallout was still having a massive effect.
And he says Murray was under “significant pressure” from the bank, who wanted a more independent board, to get out of his day-to-day running of the club.
He said: “The bank, rightly or wrongly, thought David’s presence was so omnipotent. They thought there was really just one man, and the ruling by dictatorship had not worked.”
By this time, Rangers’ bankers were Lloyds, who took over the club’s previous bank, Bank of
Scotland, at the height of the financial crisis.
Johnston said Murray had enjoyed a “very good relationship” with Bank of Scotland.
But he added that it was “probably too good”, and the bank had loaned miillions to Rangers “too easily” without proper checks and balances.
He went on: “When Lloyds came, I think they knew to some extent there was a lot of toxic debt. But I don’t think they quite realised the extent of it.
“They realised the governance and operations needed tidying up.”
When Johnston became chairman, he was “shocked” to find all discussions involving the bank were dealt with personally by Murray and the Edinburgh team who helped run the rest of his empire, which spans call centres, metal firms and commercial property.
He said: “Nobody at Rangers Football Club knew the bank. The bank didn’t deal with Rangers.
“It was totally incongruous in my experience that a bank that loaned a company £40million had no history in dealing with the chief executive or finance director of that company.”
In 2009, two new men were appointed to the Rangers board.
One was Murray’s right-hand man, Mike McGill. The other, financial strategist Donald Muir, was the eyes and ears of Lloyds.
Muir’s arrival was seen as a sign that Murray’s hold over the club was weakening. Johnston said it was a condition of the bank’s renewal of the club’s credit facility.
He added: “Within two years of my chairmanship with an independent board, we reduced the debt from about £35million to £18million.
“The bank, believe it or not, at that time were very happy with us. Our arguments with them were more
about reducing the debt by another £2million to £16million, in order for them to be totally satisfied it was a sustainable working debt.”
Then, early last year, the bank’s position appeared to change – for reasons yet to become clear.
Johnston said: “They originally didn’t believe in Craig Whyte. That’s the irony. They were as wary as we were about the fact he was one of the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ types that didn’t have the money.
“The first time they were invited to meet with Whyte in London, he didn’t show up. It wasn’t until a couple of months before the transaction concluded that the bank started to believe the deal might be for real.
“David Murray and Craig Whyte got involved around October 2010. It wasn’t until around March 2011 when the bank turned on us very badly.
“They started talking much more seriously about Whyte. This was within four or five weeks of the transaction being concluded.
“They basically saw a chance to get all £18million back in one fell swoop.”
It was at this time, Johnston claims, that a senior bank executive told him Murray had been “incentivised” to seal the Whyte deal.
He said: “I pointed out to the banker that I felt David Murray may not want to sell.
“The reply, and this is a very key statement, was, ‘Alastair, David Murray is heavily incentivised to get rid of Rangers Football Club. Let me leave it at that.’
“I understood that to mean that certain things would then be triggered in his £700million relationship between Murray Group and the bank.”
Johnston said Murray first mentioned Whyte’s name to him in November 2010.
He recalled: “David Murray rang me on my mobile and said, ‘I think we’ve got someone and this is a really good one. Unlike any others before, he’s spent a lot up front.
“‘He’s hired some high-powered lawyers and spent some money on them, and he’s hired a high-powered PR team. He’s spent a lot of money on it so he must be serious.’”
But the sale turned out to be, as Murray now calls it, a “huge mistake”.
Johnston said: “One of the big giveaways about Craig Whyte was the fact he wasn’t worried about working capital. He didn’t care about it.
“He was much more concerned about the contracts.
“His modus operandi was, ‘How many of them can we get out of, how many of them can we deny paying until at least some of them will drop by the wayside.’”
In another withering criticism of Murray, Johnston added: “Whyte didn’t put a cent into the club, as we all know.
“That’s why I was jumping up and down and telling anyone who would listen. But there were only some people who would listen.”
Murray last night declined to respond to Johnston’s attacks. He said: “I will keep my counsel on this for a future date.”
Lloyds refused to explain why they were so keen to see Rangers sold, or to respond to the allegation that Murray was “incentivised” to do the deal.
They said: “The deal was a matter between Craig Whyte and Sir David Murray.
“The bank’s involvement was in relation to the debt owed by Rangers FC, which was repaid in full, in accordance with all required regulatory checks.”
THE SPL war over whether a Rangers newco should face sanctions exploded last night as two club chairmen offered radically different views on the matter.
Kilmarnock’s Michael Johnston dropped the biggest hint yet that he would vote NOT to hammer Gers.
But St Johnstone’s Steve Brown is adamant he wants the Ibrox club punished for any wrongdoing.
Rangers are trying to come out of administration via a CVA route with prospective owner Charles Green. But if that fails on June 6 they will re-emerge as a newco and attempt to reapply into the SPL.
League bosses are due to meet on May 30 to discuss penalties which could be dished out to clubs using the newco route.
And while fans across the country want Rangers punished further for their gross financial mismanagement it’s possible they could escape unscathed.
Killie chief Johnston said: “Rangers, the club, is much more than just the corporate entity or people who own it.
“The newco situation has never arisen before and it isn’t yet on the agenda. So there are a lot of issues to be resolved.
“If the CVA doesn’t succeed then, looking at it from a legal standpoint as a solicitor, I’d say it’s not going to make any great difference to the creditors.
“The Green consortium is going to pay the same amount of money whether it’s a CVA or newco exit, whereby they buy the assets from the administrators.
“I believe a contract has been entered into whereby the same amount will be paid either way.
“So you better ask yourself at some point, ‘How much should the club be punished going forward for errors of judgment from people in the past?’
“Rangers suffered a 10-point penalty when they went into administration. They have been refused a UEFA licence by the SFA so although they finished second in the league they won’t play in the Champions League.
“They have also had a transfer embargo imposed by the SFA for a year. So they are three very significant penalties.
“Anyone who takes over the club is going to have to deal with those consequences.
“Whether there should be more penalties, which will have a further effect on the club and new owners who are blameless, is a difficult issue to balance.”
But Saints chairman Brown last night insisted Gers should face hard-line penalties.
He said: “I can relate to our fans’ point of view. If I have a vote then I certainly will not let Rangers in without sanctions.
“And the feeling from the people I’ve spoken to from within the chairmen’s ranks is that they won’t let Rangers in with a ‘get out free card’.
“Rangers themselves and the majority of supporters accept that they’re going to have to get some form of punishment. It has to happen.”
merseycelt lmfao as the big house door slams shut on 23 May, 2012 at 08:58 said:
What is the point to an existence without integrity?
EXCLUSIVE
By ROBERT McAULAY
Published: Today at 06:46
TICKETUS last night vowed to step up their legal fight with Craig Whyte — after agreeing a cash deal with Rangers.
The firm won’t oppose a company voluntary agreement that would see them pick up a fraction of the £26.7million owed by the skint club.
Instead, The Scottish Sun has been told they will pursue ex-Gers owner Whyte for the disputed dosh.
The insider said: “Ticketus don’t see any point in blocking any CVA deal offered to them by the administrators.
“That is good news as far as Rangers are concerned. Ticketus are intent on getting their cash back from Craig Whyte.”
Whyte — who sold his shares to new Gers boss Charles Green for £2 — has until midnight on Friday to respond to legal action launched by Ticketus last week.
The firm want to claw back the cash which he borrowed from them against future season ticket sales to fund his doomed takeover last year. The source added: “Ticketus will step up their action if he doesn’t respond to them.”
The move comes as administrators Duff and Phelps prepare to announce on Friday how much creditors will be offered to seal the CVA.
Creditors will get a certain amount for every pound they are owed. Rangers’ bill to HMRC — excluding the ‘big’ and ‘small’ tax cases — stands at £14.3million.
Ticketus — who last week saw their season ticket contract with the club terminated by Duff and Phelps — could block the deal, but said they won’t do so.
Last night a Duff and Phelps spokesman said: “A CVA proposal will be issued to creditors later this week and it will be for creditors to vote on that accordingly.”
A Green spokesman said: “From the outset our consortium made it clear the CVA route is our preferred option.”
A Ticketus spokesman said: “We only comment on things after they happen.” Whyte refused to comment.
Neil orders a GB Bhoycott
By ANDY DEVLIN
Published: Today at 00:00
JAMES FORREST had his Olympic dream crushed last night when Neil Lennon confirmed he WON’T play for Team GB.
The Celtic star had been tipped for a place in Stuart Pearce’s squad. But after showdown talks with the Hoops hierarchy, Psycho was left in no doubt that NO Celts would be joining him.
Parkhead gaffer Neil Lennon can’t take the risk he’ll lose players for the crucial Champions League qualifiers as FIFA rules state that countries have first option on players once they’ve been called up.
When asked if any of his players would be at the London games this summer, Lenny insisted: “Certainly not the British players, we’ve spoken with Stuart on that.
“James Forrest will not be going because he’s been injured. Stuart’s aware of that.
“He was in his thoughts but the fact that he’s been out for so long probably rules him out.
“As regards the rest of the players, we’ll speak to the other federations and hopefully they are playing with Celtic when the time comes.”
By STEPHEN HALLIDAY
Published on Wednesday 23 May 2012 00:03
KILMARNOCK chairman Michael Johnston believes a vote on changes to SPL rules dealing with clubs in administration is likely to be postponed for a third time next week as the ongoing crisis at Rangers unfolds.
Johnston has also suggested that, if the Ibrox club fail to reach a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with creditors next month, there is a strong case for allowing a “Newco” Rangers to retain its place in the SPL without any further sanctions being imposed. The 12 SPL clubs have already called off a vote on proposed new financial fair play regulations twice and are due to meet again next Wednesday to re- assess the situation. The CVA meeting proposed by the Charles Green-led consortium, who have signed a contract with Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps to purchase the club for £8.5 million, is not scheduled to take place until 6 June.
“I think the vote will probably be deferred again,” said Johnston. “I don’t think there will be any substantive decisions made on 30 May, principally because the CVA creditors meeting won’t take place until 6 June. So in advance of knowing how that is going to work out, I think it’s likely the SPL resolutions will be further adjourned. We will reconvene at a later date once there is more clarity on the CVA proposal and whether that has been accepted.
“The Newco situation has never arisen before and it isn’t yet on the agenda. So there are a lot of issues yet to be resolved. If the CVA plan for Rangers doesn’t succeed and they have to go down the Newco route, then looking at it from a legal standpoint as a solicitor with some experience of these situations in the past, I’d say it’s not going to make any great difference to the creditors. The Green consortium is going to pay the same amount of money whether it’s a CVA exit or a Newco exit, whereby they buy the assets from the administrators. I believe a contract has been entered into whereby the same amount will be paid either way. So the creditors will be in no different position.”
Whatever form Rangers emerge in post-administration, Johnston feels there is a strong case to suggest they have already been subjected to sufficient punishment. “The club is traditionally recognised by the football authorities as something separate and distinct from the people or corporate entity that owns it,” added Johnston. “So you better ask yourself at some point how much the club should be punished going forward for the errors of judgment of people in the past. The club suffered a 10-point penalty, the appropriate and only available penalty when it went into administration in terms of the SPL rules.
“It has been refused a Uefa licence by the SFA, so although it finished second in the league it won’t take up its place in the Champions League qualifiers. They have also had a transfer or player registration embargo imposed by the SFA for a year. So they are three very significant penalties, two of which are going to have an impact on them for at least another year. Anyone who takes over the club, who has done nothing wrong but simply has good intentions towards the club and its supporters, is going to have to deal with those consequences. Whether there should be more penalties imposed, which will have a further adverse effect on the club and new owners who are blameless, is a difficult issue to balance against the desire to inflict further punishment on the club due to the sins of previous owners.
“It’s difficult for the football authorities to exercise jurisdiction over previous decision-makers at Rangers when they no longer have an involvement with the club. The SFA have already imposed a substantial fine on Mr Whyte for errors of judgement on his part and that’s as far as they can go.
“This argument in relation to a Newco, of sporting integrity and commercial necessity, and whether there should be more penalties or sanctions, has a whole load of factors which need to be discussed in detail and thrashed out if that Newco route becomes a reality.
“At the moment, it isn’t, so there’s no decision for the other SPL member clubs to make. We just have to deal with the situation as we find it and no doubt there will be a few more twists and turns before we get to 4 August and the SPL kicks off again.”
Another beautiful morning, I was at my allotment at 7.30 this morning before work giving my tatties n stuff a good water.
look what they’ve done to my song, ma.
look what they’ve done to my song.
well, it’s the only thing that I could do half right, and it’s turnin out all wrong, ma.
look what they’ve done to my song.
look what they’ve done to my brain, ma,
look what they’ve done to my brain
well, they picked it like a chicken bone
and I think that I’m half insane, ma.
look what they’ve done to my song.
I wish I could find a good book to live in,
wish I could find a good book.
well, if I could find a real good book
I’d never have to to come out and look at what they’ve done to my song.
but maybe it’ll all be alright, ma,
maybe it’ll all be ok.
well, if the people are buying tears
I’m gonna be a rich girl someday, ma
look what they’ve done to my song.
ils ont changé ma chanson, ma
ils ont changé ma chanson.
c’est la seule chose que je peux faire
et ce n’est pas bon, ma
ils ont changé ma chanson.
look what they’ve done to my song, ma
look what they’ve done to my song, ma
well, they tied it up in a plastic bag
and turned it upside down, ma
look what they’ve done to my song.
look what they’ve done to my song, ma
look what they’ve done to my osng.
it’s the only thing I could do alright
and they turned it upside down
look what they’ve done to my song.