Your fathers, their fathers, and their fathers before them, have walked away from football grounds thinking the game in Scotland was skewed in favour of another team. As a club founded by immigrants, with our historical support drawn largely from some of the poorest sections of society, for decades Celtic-friendly people were underrepresented in the professional classes, the very classes those who administered and refereed our game were, and still are, drawn from.
No one believes more than me that times have changed. That immigrant community gained equal access to all professions years ago – yes, including referees. The prejudices which, perhaps not surprisingly, developed in Scotland when an incessant flood of around 800,000 immigrants poured into the country over a few short decades, have moved on. Our society is not without prejudice, but it’s others who are now targeted most.
Football decisions made by referees are difficult to prove to be deliberately unfair. I have no doubt that Celtic suffered unfairly in this regard for decades, but I see little evidence of it now, and even if there was, it is impossible to tell the difference between incompetence and bias.
Conclusive evidence of what we were up against was established in 1999 when an independent SFA Commission heard a complaint from Celtic that Jim Farry, the Association’s chief executive, deliberately delayed the registration of Jorge Cadete, meaning the player was unable to play for Celtic in a cup game against Rangers. The Commission upheld Celtic’s complaint and Farry was sacked for gross misconduct – even back then holding a torch for due process.
That incident came at the end of a difficult period to be a Celtic fan. Rangers had violated one of our cherished records, Nine-in-a-row, was matched, not by wonderful athletic achievement, as Celtic did, but by the might of the cheque book. Fergus built a stadium, left us a little over £2m in debt and taught the SFA a valuable lesson. In short, he put Celtic on a level playing field with everyone else in the country.
In August 2000 an almighty game of football reset all the dials. Celtic scored six against then champions Rangers. We won the league by 21 points, won the Scottish and League cups, our first treble in 32 years. On and off the park, we were better than a team who only a few years earlier seemed light-years ahead of a sorry looking Celtic.
Rangers responded by flooding more cash into their football squad, this time using Employee Benefit Trusts. In February last year Celtic Quick News was first to raise the question that these EBT payment might not have been registered with the SFA and SPL. Within three weeks the SPL commenced an investigation into the question, which found Rangers had a case to answer. The league set up the Commission which will report at noon today.
This is the most important decision in Scottish football history with implications for past and current directors of the organisations which run our game; people who were legally obliged to ensure rules were applied fairly, thoroughly and evenly.
It has implications for the Rangers group of clubs and for the international reputation of Scottish football, but none of this matters to you and me. We want to know if we were watching a level playing field for 11 years, or if the game was rigged. I can’t think of a more important decision in the history of British sport. There has never been and will never again be a decision which casts a shadow on 14 trophies, ‘won’ allegedly by a team playing by different rules to the rest.
The First Tier Tribunal decision last year and forthcoming Upper Tier Tribunal are sideshows. This is the main event, second only to Lisbon in importance to Scottish football. I am confident the decision will go against the group of clubs. If it doesn’t, we should not demean ourselves by slipping into paranoia. This is an independent commission, anyone who tells you otherwise is deluded.
My only concern is that the scale of punishments which would be appropriate for a guilty verdict are, frankly, so enormous, I expect every available opportunity to mitigate the sanctions to be exploited. This is a black cap verdict, but despite their impartiality, I don’t expect the Commission to dress sombrely when signing the decision.
A bottle of expensive fizzy stuff is in the fridge, in case we need to toast all those generations who, unlike us today, never had the opportunity to nail the truth.
[calameo code=000390171980e8545b80a lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
776 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- ...
- 21
- »
Difficult for CelticBoard to do anything.
I think they will therefore do nothing.
Lns makes the decision on punishment, takes the flak.
SPL don’t have to – no flak. Cushty
Looks like operation have they not been punished enough was a success.
LB
I’ll be interested to read why the fine was applied to Oldco and not Newco. Could be a bit of a club vs. company ruling in there that could be interesting reading for some of the more deluded bears.
Estadio I agree 100% Get all other support to boycott also. They need our money more than we need their product.
This is exactly the same situation when NL was assaulted in front of the TV cameras.
We all saw what happened and assumed the guy would be found guilty.
But no he wasn’t. It doesn’t matter how blatant the crime is , justice doesn’t apply to them.
This no unfair advantage quip is a red herring.
LNS is no talent spotter, ineligible is ineligible.
Paul67 great piece but if this all comes to pass might I suggest you revise your title to “Today the truth for you, your fathers and their fathers, but no justice”.
The more things change the more they stay the same. We might claim to have made great strides but when push comes too shove we are still treated with disdain in this backward country.
Do we have a link yet?
ASonOfDan
11:57 on
28 February, 2013
Now would be a good time for the Pro Independence mob on here to make their case as to why a Roman Catholic of Irish descent like myself, would ever dream of voting Yes for a Salmondland whose sole purpose from top to bottom is to appease ‘The Peepul’.
Complete guff………………..
IS this report out to read yet?
If what is being suggested is true, never mind walking out at half time, the Scottish Football Monitor should galvanise supporters across Scotland to boycott all football from now on, even if that includes taking more than 1 or 2 weeks to get the desired effect. My season ticket now depends on the action/reaction of Celtic Football Club.
JJ – Kayal was certainly not the worst player last night, he was way behind Izaguirre, IMO of course. We can debate on the Arborath bus next time, if there is a next time.
I can’t see the point of walking away from Celtic.
This is the reason we were formed, to fight this and to overcome this
This is what we are. This is who we are
James
Shhhhhh (I was pashed at the time).
Our Club will lead us nowhere. No one’s club will put there best foot forward. The life blood of the game is the support. It is us who will need to do the dragging into the harsh dawn of reality. It is simple…..Sevco are in the netherworld of professional football because of that power.
As for marching on Ibrox…..that’s small beer. Sevco are irrelevant and as I said elsewhere Charles Green is about to have their starless shirts off their backs, leaving them with Simply the Vest.
What we need (and in my younger firebrand days I would have been at the head of the queue to lead) is a simple statement that ‘the nationwide support’ has no confidence in the boards to operate the clubs honestly and openly, or in the SPL and SFA to administer fairly a competitive AND evenly co-operative lead. With effect from……date TBA….there will be a blanket Boycott of all games carried out under these organisations’ auspices.
Get that agreement, stick to it and watch the wailing wall greet its blackeyes out.
Hail Hail
Estadio
Lets leave them to it Celtic.
A man pleads guilty to assault then the “jury” a deliver not proven verdict.
tommytwiststommyturns
11:56 on
28 February, 2013
If Ogilvie is still in a job this time tomorrow, we should kick off a vote of no confidence in the SFA.
There would be quite a reaction if we pulled out of the game on Saturday too, but just can’t see that happening…
T4
The only reaction within the Celtic Board will be one of relief that nothing has happened that will in any way hamper the proposed time scale of THEIR return to the SPL.
Im surprised im surprised
Scotland and her presbyterian establishment are rotten to the core.
Plus ca change.
Surely another world record ,the longest running administrative error in world football
The full verdict: http://www.scotprem.com/content/mediaassets/doc/Commission%20Decision%2028%2002%202013.pdf … #Rangers
http://www.scotprem.com/content/mediaassets/doc/Commission%20Decision%2028%2002%202013.pdf
Estadio….drunk I can understand, but diddy ????
They have not been punished. They have done it before and they will now do it again. The game in Scotland is now finished.
Lawwell should be in a car now with the SPL trophy and dump it on the steps of Ibrox. It has been proved that we win it when they let us win it!
LB
gillian i scream
Nice one.
BBC Scotland’s coverage is shameful. Typical.
http://www.scotprem.com/content/mediaassets/doc/Commission%20Decision%2028%2002%202013.pdf
Does LNS stand for
Lord No Sense?
“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.”
How can they possibly say that?!?!
Estadio:
100% agree. In a perfect world. But we don’t live in one of those mate.
sad day
http://www.scotprem.com/content/medi…002%202013.pdf
Scotland is nothing more than a banana republic.
lionroars67
Not much of an arguement to make me vote Yes.
You keep your head buried in the sand….
Merely, “an administrative mistake”, from which they gained no advantage on the field. Never heard such rubbish ever.
I’ve only read the first 2 pages but they are enough.
This is a whitewash by the establishment for the establishment club.
Scottish football is dead and it breaks my heart.
1] For the reasons which are set out in detail below the Commission has unanimously
decided:
(1) Between the years 2000 and 2011 The Rangers Football Club Plc (now known as RFC
2012 Plc (in liquidation) and referred to in the decision as “Oldco”), the owner and
operator of Rangers Football Club (“Rangers FC”), entered into side-letter arrangements
with a large number of its professional players under which Oldco undertook to make
very substantial payments to an offshore employee benefit remuneration trust, with the
intent that such payments should be used to fund payments to be made to such players
in the form of loans;
(2) Those side-letter arrangements were required to be disclosed under the Rules of the
Scottish Premier League (“SPL”) and the Scottish Football Association (“SFA”) as
forming part of the players’ financial entitlement and as agreements providing for
payments to be received by the players;
2
(3) Oldco through its senior management decided that such side-letter arrangements should
not be disclosed to the football authorities, and the Board of Directors sanctioned the
making of payments under the side-letter arrangements without taking any legal or
accountancy advice to justify the non-disclosure;
(4) The relevant SPL Rules were designed to promote sporting integrity, by mitigating the
risk of irregular payments to players;
(5) Although the payments in this case were not themselves irregular and were not in
breach of SPL or SFA Rules, the scale and extent of the proven contraventions of the
disclosure rules require a substantial penalty to be imposed;
(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;
(7) As noted in the Commission’s earlier decision made on 12 September 2012 there is no
allegation that the current owner and operator of the club, The Rangers Football Club
Limited (“Newco”), contravened the SPL Rules or could be held responsible for any
breach by Oldco;
(8) In all the circumstances the Commission has imposed a fine of £250,000 on Oldco.
chic an’ awwy priapic with dewight.
Dear oh dear.
Game over
“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.”
I’m at a works lunch, can someone summarise please.
Thanks
V