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.
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Jonathan Mackie@MackieJonathan
Spartans were fined £3k and expelled from Cup for one ineligible player in one game. Contrast with kid gloves treatment of a certain other.
Could there be a sting in the tail to come?
I’m Neil Lennon (tamrabam),
No idea – I’ve not seen it yet! I’m juts speculating based on press reports …
My thoughts on this ….
The second I heard the OldCo had been fined instead of the NewCo, I had a feeling this result was going to be … interesting.
I suspect the verdict is that Rangers is a new club. That the Old Rangers, history and all, died in 2012.
We will see.
THT@TheHumanTorpedo
Why are they fining a dead club? What next – a lifetime touchline ban for Bill Struth?
Retweeted by Electronic Tims
“Impeach Grimmond McCrummoch”
THT @TheHumanTorpedo
Why are they fining a dead club? What next – a lifetime touchline ban for Bill Struth?
‘CELTIC40ME’
i know it effects them [celtic board] as much as me
all i ask of them is that they speak up in public and make their feelings clear..otherwise i will not be back to parkhead…im not even suggesting a boycott..i just want the lawell and co to not bury their heads in the sand over this and hope it all goes away..celtic fans who supported the club throughout the period in question [some of whom are now sadly dead] deserve to be recognised and supported.
It would seem cheats do indeed prosper
Alasdair Lamont@BBCAlLamont
The fine has been imposed for an “administrative error” as non-disclosure had effect of rendering all the registered players ineligible.
Retweeted by Phil MacGiollaBhain
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5 minsAlasdair Lamont@BBCAlLamont
The judgement from Lord Nimmo Smith’s independent commission will say no unfair competitive advantage was gained on the field.
I want them devastated………………
Even if the reccomended punishment is only a fine, any guilty verdict would make Ogilvie’s position untenable, surely?
Whitewash now complete. In case any of us were not aware of it, we are living in a Protestant country, THEIR country. Can the last one to leave please switch the lights off!
Goodnight.
Phil Duncan ✞@FenianPhil
Ineligible players playing in the SC means expulsion, in the CL it means the tie is forfeited 3-0, SPL a fine of 25k for the season!
Alasdair Lamont@BBCAlLamont
The fine has been imposed for an “administrative error” as non-disclosure had effect of rendering all the registered players ineligible
“administrative error” are you f+++ing joking!!
David Murray. “Rangers were able to sign players they otherwise would not have been able to ” LNS, no competitive advantage !!
As someone said earlier, we got fined more for ‘tapping’ Tommy Burns than the industrial-scale cheating and financial doping of the huns.
Over to UEFA now me thinks!!!
It would be ironic if non huns celebrate the powers telling the world that sevco are not oldco.
Dearie me.
The masonic cabal are running the show, move along Timmy, move along.
“The judgement from Lord Nimmo Smith’s independent commission will say no unfair competitive advantage was gained on the field.
”
How thf can that judgement be made objectively?
….Awwy still batting for his team………..
5 minsAlasdair Lamont@BBCAlLamont
“The judgement from Lord Nimmo Smith’s independent commission will say no unfair competitive advantage was gained on the field.”
So playing ineligible players in every single game for years gained them no advantage? And is that a credible position in any case? The players were ineligible, the rules were broken.
Sounds like a guilty verdict with no real punishment at all.
This is the key question….
Paul Wood: “If Rangers are the same club, with the same unbroken history, why are fines payable by Oldco?”
On the SSN ticker it claims the following.
“Rangers will not be stripped of league titles”. Then follows with
“Rangers oldco fined £250k for financial irregularities”
See what they did there?
Administrative deceit, maybe
….error? Never.
Am off out. This is starting to make me physically sick. Another whitewash. They have got off with murder for years. Scottish Football is a total disgrace. As much as I love Celtic and supported them through, season card purchases, buying goods direct from the club etc I am now seriously reconsidering my options. I have never criticised either our Club or Players on this blog and never will but this decision today is certainly making me think again about the options. This in the main is do I now just give up supporting Scottish Football knowing full well that not only has it been biased for decades but that we will never get the better of those cheats and bigots across in Govan
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon
11:22 on
28 February, 2013
If the decision makes clear that the old Rangers still has 54 titles and new club The Rangers has zero, would we be happy??
Yes
“The judgement from Lord Nimmo Smith’s independent commission will say no unfair competitive advantage was gained on the field.”
That hardly makes sense when they won 5 titles 9 cups and ran the club into liquidation.
If they’d won nothing during the period in question then I caould understand that ruling but they won plenty so how do you square that circle?
If true guilty but no titles stripped then it’s over for me.
I will not give money to a competition that’s designed for the benefit of one club and the promoting of their false supremacy.
Why wait until they are back in the spl with their myriad of advantages(corrupt officials and a society justifying their watp attitude to keep Timmy in their place)
I read somewhere that a youth team in Edinburgh was kicked out of a competition ,for a administrative error.
IMO, If the findings are that they are guilty and it is only a slap on the wrist then the SFA must be taken to court by the injured parties. In other words the players who would have won the league titles during the years of cheating. This may be the only way to get some sort of justice. If it has been found that even only one player was incorrectly registered during that time then all results from the games that were played are null and void.
28th February 2013, the day Scottish Football Died.
I can’t see how, with the FTT(T) evidence there could possibly be a conclusion that the failure to disclose side letters was an administrative error.
The failure to disclose was a deliberate part of the tax plan; the decision of oldco to take a risk with player registrations was a conscious one taken to avoid tax.
The “no benefit on the field” question…he must be saying that it made the rules breach made no difference as the club hasn’t been left with any more money to pay players than it would have had if the second contracts were disclosed. They have, afterall, “won” the FTTT to this point.
I can’t get my head round the fact that they have been found guilty of breaching the rules inadvertently, after the FTT(T) evidence. It doesn’t make any sense.
Gordon J.
No – they are a new club.
I can’t understand why anyone would be happy for confirmation of the truth.
RP
Phil Broadley@_LittleBoyLost_
See now there’s your problem Spartans fans. You didnae post enough bombs and bullets! Bet you feel daft now
fanadpatriot
11:37 on 28 February, 2013
I read somewhere that a youth team in Edinburgh was kicked out of a competition ,for a administrative error.
I posted a link a few pages back!
Let’s not forget The Champagnes in Paul’s fridge.
.
White smoke above the Vatican..
White Flag above Paradise..
Summa
Guilty of having illegally registered players…so JUST apply the rules SFA
Nothing more….nothing less will be acceptable