Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson gave what passes as an unusually honest and frank interview to BBC Radio Scotland before his team beat champions, Celtic, this afternoon. Thompson represents one of the four SPL clubs on the league board who, unless the entire league agrees to change their constitution, will vote on whether a Newco will inherit the void when Rangers die next week.
I’m pretty sure Thompson’s mind was made up weeks ago, he clearly planned to vote Newco into the league, despite misplaced brinksmanship, but he’s been spooked by pressure from his own fans talking about boycotting games if he votes Newco in.
Here’s the dilemma. Gang of 10 clubs have pushed a mantra for years that they have been exploited by a Glasgow duopoly (although clearly they use less accurate phraseology). They complain about “the Glasgow media” and, don’t laugh, referee favouring the “Old Firm”.
Now, if he votes for Newco, he makes a lie of all of this. The power to change one of the key concerns for fans of provincial clubs lies in the collective hands of their chairmen. Can they really pass this up?
It’s decision time. Since Celtic Quick News first raised the alarm on this issue in October last year we predicted that only Celtic would vote against Newco. We are about to find out if we have 12 independent teams in the SPL or 11 Rangers supporters – and if they change the rules to give support to Rangers, this is exactly what they are.
I had a bit of sympathy for Thompson, a first for me. He spoke about the money going into United causing issues in his family and the consequences of losing circa £1m per year in a league without Rangers. Some harsh decisions ahead, if he does the right thing, but the alternative, voting for Newco and having Dundee United fans walk out on the club at the betrayal, gives him what he called a “lose-lose” situation.
I was delighted to hear this. He claimed to be undecided, but at least he is a man who now understands there are huge consequences if he votes for Newco. There are three potential financial hits if he does: some United fans will turn away from the game, Celtic fans will boycott next season and even Rangers fans have threatened to boycott if Newco is subject to penalties associated with their terminal football team. The combined cost of this may be less than £1m but not by much.
There are two extra points for Mr Thompson to consider:
Without Newco in the SPL he and he the Gang of 10 can breeze through their future-revenue-changing plan to alter the voting structure, which should help fill any shortfall. It would be humiliating if they had the chance to deliver what they wanted long-term but couldn’t pass up a chance to help the Rangers.
Also, this is not the end of the road for the terminal football club. Any Newco inheriting Rangers SPL share will also inherit the punishment for the alleged improper Registration of football players for a decade or more. The only appropriate penalty for this would be expulsion from the league.
It’s perhaps best to man up and take the trash out now.
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
The graphic below is just for a flick through, to read the magazine go here to it’s dedicated site.
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What can any of us do today? We have to wait and find out what happens at Hampden, learn if it’s still a sport or if it’s a circus and then talk about the future.
It’s heartening that Neil Doncaster’s Winalot has not entirely won the day, that the mainstream media’s campaign has not prevented fans’ views about Newco from hitting home with chairmen such as Stephen Thompson and even (even if he regards those views as of secondary importance) Michael Johnston. Twitter chat that Doncaster is just relying on fan ennui and inertia rings true for me. But people have been very vocal. Now we have to wait and see what transpires and take it from there.
There’s a lot of division on CQN already, which is upsetting. We all want what’s best for Celtic. We cannot yet know what the best way forward is because we don’t know the lie of the land. We soon will. I repeat from Saturday night. Celtic have done nothing wrong. None of this is our fault.
DBBIA……. theres an auld guy on the radio belting out a hit from the old days……. and it sounds ok …….. can you prescribe summit?
Q
tully57 on 7 May, 2012 at 11:56 said:
I’ll Bhoycott your feckin’ car park …..so there..!!!!!!!!!
NegAnon2 on 7 May, 2012 at 12:01 said:
67heaven – I hope you are right but i am not so sure – Celtic’s silence is disturbing.
Macjay1 – I’m afraid there is every chance of a major division appearing at Celtic – the fans will be split asunder. The Board appear to me to be once again taking our support for granted. This one wont go away easily though – a straw poll amongst my friends saw 50% of diehards stating they will never go back.
Neg
That is precisely what concerns me.
Tactics demand unity. In spite of whatever,perhaps justifiable,reservations supporters have with the Board. This is a time for waiting for developements,which is exactly what I think our Board is doing and should be doing.
There has never been a better time or opportunity for Celtic.
We sure deserve it.
Let`s all ride this one out together.In unity.
When the picture is clearer,by all means then make your demands.
The whole scottish media and every rabid rangers fan out there is just waiting for the Celtic board or manager to state their position on this, so that they can begin persecuting Celtic for attempting to destroy scottish football.
I’m sure the newspaper articles are already written.
No.7
worse that that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU2k1myJhrA
Clubs going into administration is an integral part of DD´s strategy (please watch above video)
If we now vote to make it impossible for clubs to be liquidated then he got it wrong.
So quite simply we need an admission that we need Rangers or they are bare face lying to us.
Hail Hail
Bhodran mhan- is it Val Doonican?
There is no point in resigning from the SPL UNLESS there is somewhere else to go.
We all must wait on the result from today and then take it from there.
Regardless Kilmarnock must be boycotted next season.
It will be on TV
We only need to go there once next year before the split and they might not make the top 6.
Michael Johnston has made it clear where he stands – hurt him and his club in the pocket.
ernie lynch
hi first off…
whats you’re take on the dirty dealings within Scottish football?
I’m interested in you’re opinion.
Awe_Naw
Yes, – it’s sickening to the pit of the stomach but Celtic supporters will physically endure it.
Maybe the board and the major shareholder will surprise us for the first time ever, with a master plan to gain justice for Celtic and the compliant mini Orcs in very other club in the league, who are being screwed and know it.
erm no DBBBIA……. think Aus
Snake Plissken on 7 May, 2012 at 12:22 said:
”There is no point in resigning from the SPL UNLESS there is somewhere else to go.”
1. I think the threat would be enough.
2. If we leave the SPL there’s a vacant spot in the third division. I think the SFL would accept us.
Kitalba re you’re earlier post re support for Paul67’s work.
100%
Ernie, it’s an interesting prospect, but can you clarify what would happen when Celtic climbed through the leagues and got back into the SPL? Would we just resign again?
I think ole Vlad will turn out to be less than compliant if the not inconsiderable [in these cash strapped scrofulous days] money still owed by the Hillbillies on Lee Wallace fails to appear on the due date.
Chairbhoy:
You say the PLC board have been vindicated for the strategy of prudence?
Explain to me how that is the case if the strategy is about to have been proven a fools choice? If a club which followed the exact opposite strategy – and took trophies from us in the process – is allowed to get away with it?
Was our strategy correct? Yes, absolutely.
Was our strategy morally sound? 100%.
Will it have been a success if Rangers are re-admitted? No, no and thrice no.
It will have been a colossal failure. Living within our means when others were not prepared to will have been turned into a joke, with the joke on us. For them to be vindicated they have to not only robustly defend that strategy – and that of every team which followed the same path – but they have to fight tooth and nail to make sure there is full restitution for the cheating and fraud.
Other clubs should feel the same. Look at Hibs. Victims of financial doping by their own neighbours as well as Rangers. They will go to a Scottish Cup final in a short time against an expensively assembled Hearts team (comparatively so, but that is what counts), without the likes of Riordan, Brown, Fletcher and others. And why? Because they followed a financially prudent path. That has undoubtedly cost them in terms of points, perhaps trophies.
The path of financial prudence will be held up as the height of folly if this Cheats Charter is allowed, and Zombie FC is back in the league.
The Celtic board strategy can STILL be vindicated. But only IF the consequences of choosing the other path are meted out in full.
DBBIA
If you were Mad Vlad, would you not already have your liquidation and Newco Hearts papers all ready and waiting in your man bag?
Bhodran Mhan- wee Judith Durham?
DBBIA
From earlier,just seen your reply,yes I have heard of that Dereks dominoes and if you youtube them on the ole Johnny Cash tv show you will my favourite performance.
Off topic
I had the finest couple of climatic hours on Saturday night watching Papillon than I’ve had for many a year,that’s what you call a fullum!
If Celtic give 2 year notice to leave the SPL then the SFA will be forced to act. The SPL will be disbanded and a new league formed (this will happen no matter what happens today). We don’t need anywhere to go, the rest will join us in a new SFA run Scottish league struture. The SFA have already started making noises about taking control, and Celtic quitting, stating reason of sporting integrity, will force them to act. UEFA won’t allow anything else, otherwise Scotland will become an footballing outcast with no teams in Europe and no national team.
Cinematic,even
C1st – that might depend on the outcome of today’s pow-wow.
ERNIE LYNCH 1225
You and I seem to be singing from the same hymn-sheet most of the time,but I canny agree with you on this one.
The huns cheat,the rest of Scottish football swallows it,and we VOLUNTARILY relegate ourselves three divisions in protest?
By the time we get back to the top tier,the huns will STILL be bloody laughing!
FFS,I might not have any great ideas other than my expectation that HMRC or UEFA will prevent it all,but that one is a corker………
Bsr, celtic_First
good posts and I agree accept WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOT INTO BED WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.
I will always love Celtic but there comes a time when you have to accept that the club no longer represents you.
I would watch Celtic in a paddy field with you two playing up front and pay 2013 ST prices for the pleasure BUT NOT TO FUND SON OF HUN
and not to help a massive in your face tax fraud.
The bottle will be broken our board need to step up to the plate.
I have not given up hope that they will but if they dont then I will have been proven right (First CQN post) does not mae me happy (far from it)
and we will be an Old Firm club first and foremost and the eternally submissive partner.
HAil Hail
I though most of Hearts’ debt was money owed to Mad Vlad’s bank? So if he were to go down the Newco route to avoid the debt isn’t he hurting himself most?
AweNaw
I could only agree to that if BSR does all the running and I get to stay in the six-yard box, score the goals and take all the plaudits.
Celtic_First on 7 May, 2012 at 12:28 said:
That for me is the biggest question out there that nobody has addressed yet,
If it is given the green light expect more of them to do so ?
Why not ????????
Hail Hail
Stringer Bell on 7 May, 2012 at 12:14 said:
I hope bluff and whelps don’t read it, it’ll give all sorts of ideas
Doc is Neil Lennon on 7 May, 2012 at 12:10 said:
Disappointing to say the least. A brief flurry then nothing. Perhaps there are fewer subscribers than we think. I had hoped that something co-ordinated might help to establish numbers but not so far it would seem. I see from posters here that some have already terminated directly but my feeling is that strength lies in numbers but only if the numbers are recognised. Doing so as individuals are imo futile gestures soon lost amongst the myriad other reasons for termination of accounts. I suspect it needs more than me sat behind a keyboard in Derbyshire to reach the right audience.
new article posted.
Awe_Naw
Well I’m off for the day after being hounded out of the house by two daughters who want an empty.
I’ll be frightened to look at the ole internet tonight.
Pit of the stomach CSC
Derbyshire Bhoy what time will u arrive at celtic park,
Celtic’s strategy was correct, and remains successful, even if Frankenstein FC is allowed into the league sanction free.
The league, the media and Oldco fans can argue forever and a day that newco=oldco. They can make up all the rules they like about transferring honours won by oldco to Frankenstein FC. But we’ll know. And they’ll know. And they’ll know we know, that it is all a sham.
They borrowed, spent, and failed to remit everything they could get their hands on trying to keep pace with the Immigrant Club. And went bust doing it. Our own history is far too valuable to be bismirched by bankruptcy and naked shicanery. That they feel their’s isn’t is up to them.
Dontbrattbakkinanger on 7 May, 2012 at 12:28 said:
no sir, you dinnae ken G’day, G’day by Robert Fairburn…..then?
Celtic_First on 7 May, 2012 at 12:27 said:
”Ernie, it’s an interesting prospect, but can you clarify what would happen when Celtic climbed through the leagues and got back into the SPL? Would we just resign again?”
No. We would go into the SPL with our integrity intact.
And every other club in the SPL would know it.
As would the entire football world.
You imagine that happening as Platini is implementing his FFP policy on European football.
Think what that would do for our reputation.
We like to think that we as a Club, and as a support, are something special. Who could then deny it?
James Forrest is Neil Lennon! We are ALL Neil Lennon! on 7 May, 2012 at 12:28 said:
I think the boards strategy is already vindicated.
Put simply we have played by the rules, others haven’t.
For our club to have followed the cheats path would have turned a lot more of our support away from Celtic, more than anything being done now. I wouldn’t want to be associated with cheats, could anyone else on here still support a club that has cheated to the extent the Huns have? Didn’t think so.
I cannot see how any chairman could countenance giving cheats a way back. It defies belief. If it happens Celtic must make the feelings of the board and support known.
I hope they have a plan, I hope UEFA intervene.9 of the squad who played in the 2008 UEFA cup final had EBTs. Surely Platinum will have an opinion on that.
Of to catch a plane.
Ernie
A threat? Fine.
Division 3 when we’ve done nothing wrong is the filthy fantasy of the animals.
Pointless.
If a new top flight is formed, the Newco will be included so again this is pointless unless somehow UEFA intervene and force the powers that be in Scotland to demote them because of financial fair play.
Make no mistake, if Rangers can dump debt through a Newco nothing stops clubs across the continent doing the same and bang goes financial fair play rules. It’s the loophole Chelsea and all the other financial dopes need.
It also means the SPL clubs can do a Rangers newco and have no debts – madness of the highest order because there is no way the SPL board could issue sanctions against other clubs having not done it to Rangers without massive legal challenges (unless the halfwit chairmen vote for penalties after the horse has bolted and the deed has been done).
I will still support Celtic like all other Celtic fans but it is how we support and withhold support within our own domestic league that will be the next step.
If there are enough sides today saying no to Newco BUT getting shouted down by the likes of Johnston and the St Johnstone guy then those clubs should get together and form their own breakaway league by giving the 2 years notice required.
My own view is the Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibs and now Dunfermline will be voting no. Hearts are the wildcard and we don’t know how Dundee United and St Mirren will vote.
We know where Kilmarnock and St Johnstone are going. Motherwell will vote for them too – that’s the kind of club they are.
Inverness are unpredictable.
It could be a split vote.
Those on our side must be approached and if the others want to hang on to RFCNewco2012, invite the Division 1 sides to join the new league – afterall, they don’t have the big debts that is the new excuse for keeping Rangers in the top flight in newco form.