Campbell Ogilvie’s appointment as president of the SFA was always controversial. As general secretary and director of Rangers, Ogilvie was the club’s chief administrator during the final 11-year period they refused to employ Catholic footballers. In many other walks of life, this background would make him an embarrassing relic of a former era, but in Scottish football it was enough to see him promoted to the ultimate honour position.
He remained in position at Rangers long after the new regime of Sir David Murray arrived and set aside the decades-old sectarian employment policy but left the club in 2005, joining Hearts as operations director two months later. All of this puts the SFA president in central position regarding the on-going tax tribunal, which is charged with deciding if Rangers illegally evaded tax from a period starting in 2000 and going on well beyond Ogilvie’s departure.
If the First Tier Tribunal finds against Rangers the SFA must ask for Ogilvie’s immediate resignation. The association cannot have a president embroiled in a tax evasion scam which, even before a verdict has been decided, has already caused untold harm to his former club and the reputation Scottish football. The scale of the damage to public finances has yet to be definitively established but it will not make good reading.
The SFA has just embarked on its first proper investigation into whether directors of a football club, in this instance Rangers, are fit and proper persons to hold such a position. Office holders at the association cannot exercise power over the game if they are not subject to the same standards they demand from clubs. Pending this investigation, and the outcome of the tax tribunal, Ogilvie should temporarily step aside. Scotland is not yet a banana republic, public bodies must have robust ethics and must not allow the shadow of contagion to be cast over the body charged with ensuring legal and moral standards are adhered to.
The SFA has some enormously important months ahead. Its president is currently in a position to influence which course it takes and, if the tribunal verdict falls against Rangers, could be implicated in the scandal which precipitated the crisis. While I am sure Campbell Ogilvie will be shown to have acted with impeccable ethical standards, the SFA must quickly establish a structure clear of contagion.
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I agree that Ogilvie should step aside until the big tax case has concluded and then take it from there.
I also suggest that Peter Lawwell should become acting president as he has lots of football experience although, to be fair, most of that is restricted to this universe.
Meanwhile, has Matt McKay made a good korea move? :-)
dirtymac @ 13:02,
If EBTs are part of a contractual payment they are fine – under this rule at least. HMRC will take a different view!
If they are not contractual payments then they break this rule.
And if the players had a second contract, or a letter that effectively amends their original contract, that breaks the other rule I quoted unless the SPL was given copies – and I can’t see that having happened.
One thing no-one can deny is that Peter Lawell has been saying all the right things, at all the right times, during jellyandicecreamgate! :-)
HH
“The logic of cracking down on the workshy in the middle of a recession escapes me.”
Cracking post. If the purpose of this policy is to get people into long term, meaningful work (it isn’t, it’s to provide a sop to Daily Mail readers and a supply of cheap labour to big industry) then it will not work for the reasons you ouline. People aren’t working mainly because there’s nae jobs. Punishing/humiliating them further for that is somewhere between pointless and disgraceful.
ernie lynch – You know perfectly well that’s nonsense.
As always Ernie, I’m in awe of your debating skills.
That’s a given. The market rights itself. A bit difficult though for us in the UK when capital can source labour from the third world. And obviously impossible when you have a minimum wage.
So the obvious solution would be to restrict immigration and abolish the minimum wage. Also make labour less expensive to hire through other policies.
Hence maybe the real reason why people are having to work for no cost to the employer. Though obviously that’s just a state subsidy by any other means and should therefore be anathema to you.
If anything, it’s a subsidy that goes the other way. Don’t underestimate the time, money, and hassle companies have to go through to take on these workfare folk. No wonder some of them aren’t keen.
To be honest a part of me would like a completely free market. I suspect most free marketeers wouldn’t be so keen. They know what the consequences would be.
Cats and dogs living together, anarchy, etc.
On a micro level I don’t know if you’ve ever had to employ anyone. If you have you’ll know that the last thing any employer wants is a workforce that’s there on sufferance. The logic of cracking down on the workshy in the middle of a recession escapes me.
Probably something to do with the fact that we’re broke and having a large, growing, underclass of permanently unemployed people is expensive. (thumbsup)
mearns 2 milton says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:42
Clutching @ straws time over Rangers media way :
http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=211762
__________________________________________________
Love visiting this site,makes me feel like genius,
just like going to the good ole USA for your hols.
Dirtymac
Happy to stand corrected.
gerryguk7 – ’s to provide a sop to Daily Mail readers and a supply of cheap labour to big industry
Dog whistle nonsense. (thumbsup)
voguepunter says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:52
I would imagine all well run clubs have done the same. Was it not the fact that Celtic had to change the club name to float as a PLC?
I’m sure Man Utd and various clubs in England had to do the same.
Not as clued up as some but can somebody clear this up before the inevitable straw clutching from all the Orcs?
LB
mearns 2 milton at 13:42
Anyone with an account for there like to clarify things for them. It’s really quite simple.
The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Limited was incorporated as a company in 1897. In 1994 following the floation on the stock exchange, the company changed its name to Celtic Plc.
To protect the history of the existing brand and to ensure that no one else could register the old name as a trademark or use it in anyway, the custodians bought a company “off the shelf” in 1994 and renamed it “The Celtic Football and Athletic Company”. This current comany only exists on paper.
It will be funny to see if the ring the phone ins about it only to get their grand theorys sent up in smoke.
Can’t blame them for trying but the sheer stupidity of them baffles me.
Mort
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17114938?
How desperate is this ?
gerryg…,
its a distraction from chasing people like philvis for their tax, if this mob focussed on tax evasion rather than reduce the resources of the corporate tax investigation team, all the national debt would be paid off in a couple of years. But that doesnt suit them, the corporate lobby has generous benefits, innit
Philvisreturns @ 13:04,
Cait Reilly is a geology graduate currently volunteering in a museum – an activity that will enhance her chances of a job in the field she is trained in. How would giving this up for the “opportunity” to be “trained” in stacking shelves improve her chances of a job?
If she doesn’t do it she has no income. Nil. Nada. I don’t count that as a choice and the workfare post is therefore forced.
And what does the government call this scheme? Mandatory Work Activity. I’m sure someone with your education knows exactly what the first word means.
googybhoy ♥ Celtic and Integrity – Kennedy born in Edinburgh is a Jehovah’s Witness
Something that’s always puzzled me about Jehovah’s Witnesses:
If Jehova commits a crime, do they provide him with an alibi? (thumbsup)
Peter Kearney of the Catholic Media Office responds to Hun complaining about Celtic Supporters’ “sectarian” singing at Easter Road:
“Your rambling email to me makes it very obvious that you did not check your facts before writing nor did you give me the benefit of the doubt. This is very disappointing, but frankly typical of the sort of ill informed drivel I have to read all the time.”
Well, the stated aim of the policy is to get more prople into work. We’ll wait and see how many more people are unemployed the next time the figures are released and see just how much of a success it was. I maintain the policy is populist nonsense window dressing designed to appease the rabid knee jerk right, at the expense of thousands of people’s dignity and sense of self worth.
Imagine sending your unemployed daughter down to the Job centre in Germany to try and get some experience.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1482371/If-you-dont-take-a-job-as-a-prostitute-we-can-stop-your-benefits.html
HH
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:49
If EBTs are part of a contractual payment they are fine – under this rule at least. HMRC will take a different view!
If they are not contractual payments then they break this rule.
And if the players had a second contract, or a letter that effectively amends their original contract, that breaks the other rule I quoted unless the SPL was given copies – and I can’t see that having happened.
+++++
Yeah, that’s why it’s the olde silver bullet – they’re friar tucked by HMRC on one hand or by the SPL on the other.
Who said jehovah ?
That’s blasphemy !!
howaboutastoningCsC
Lads do any of you have a contact email address for kerrydale street?
mearns 2 milton
Cant remember where i read it over the past few weeks there has been a lot going on, but i read we still have the same league reistration number from 1888 till present day.
clutching at straws again, do they never tire but then again desperate men do etc etc.
HAIL HAIL
Paul67
There are many balls in the air, and don’t interrupt your enemy..etc etc
The Ogilvie angle is right to raise, but why today?
H
TLK
———————————————————
Paul67
Ok so hadn’t seen the SFA “Independent” investigation when I posted. Possibly I can see that he should stand aside as the Inquiry is live – albeit we have no idea the scope of this. There is a risk the focus is on immediate Whyte-isms, not the more systemic Murrayness of the last 20 odd years.
I don’t see any investigation into Murrayness until FTT reports. Consequently, Ogilvie is one of many rocks we dust down and throw after the big reveal, along with the other quarry-full.
HH
TLK
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon – Nobody’s forcing her to claim benefits.
I bet she wouldn’t starve to death on the streets if she wasn’t on benefits. She would probably have to crash with relatives or friends though, which probably wouldn’t be much fun for her. So she’s claiming benefits as a better alternative.
Since she is claiming benefits she must accept that there are, and have always been, strings attached to taking the State’s money. The State regularly changes its policies towards how it pulls those strings. Such is life.
But it isn’t “forced labour”.
I don’t know the details of her individual case but I’m sympathetic to anybody who points out that the State’s agents often behave illogically and/or unfairly. We all know that’s true.
However, the scheme as a whole seems to me to be a good one, inasmuch as it’s better than subsidising idleness. (thumbsup)
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:56
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17114938?
How desperate is this ?
+++++
You really have to chuckle at the thought of the Sharks owner buying, erm, more Sharks.
What would the huns’ view be on the prospect of being owned by a Jehovah’s Witness?
Has anyone told them that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to do military service or to salute national flags? That would go down well at Ibrox!
After reading Mearns 2 Milton’s link on Rangers Media you can now see why Whyte bought them with all the baggage
The phrase ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ has never been so perfectly applied
They really are the thickest set of football supporters i have ever had the misfortune to come across
http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=211521
So depressing, liquidation can’t come soon enough.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo – Those loveable Germans. (thumbsup)
gerryguk7 – at the expense of thousands of people’s dignity and sense of self worth
If putting an honest shift in for 30 hours a week is so deleterious to anyone’s dignity and self-worth, they need psychiatric help, not workfare. (thumbsup)
Apparently Lukasz Zaluska has signed a new 3 year deal with the club
voguepunter says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:52
mearns 2 milton says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:42
Clutching @ straws time over Rangers media way :
http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=211762
—————————-
Isn’t anyone on here a Timfiltrator if so please go on and try to add a little financial education to their sad lives? . List of companies that have legally changed names without owing tens of millions in Tax. To name but a few
Cosmair to L’Oréal, Brad’s Drink to Pepsi Cola, AuctionWeb to EBay, Bridge Gate Computers to Compaq, Tokyo Telecom Engr Corp
Brian Kennedy. If his investment prowess is as bad as his singing, then they are in even deeper do-do.
;0))
(Thumbs down)
Agree that if the big tax case goes against EBTs then Ogilvie is toast.
In a statement, the SFA said: “The Scottish FA can confirm that it has appointed as Chair The Right Honourable Lord William Nimmo-Smith to inquire independently into Rangers FC.”
That should be interesting if Spec member Nimmo-Smith is the man for the job.
See: http://www.scribd.com/petitioner/d/45922680-Nimmo-the-Dimmo002
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon – What would the huns’ view be on the prospect of being owned by a Jehovah’s Witness?
Also, his name’s Brian Kennedy.
Don’t kid yourself that being a Jehova’s Witness can fool The Peepil, Declan. FACT! (thumbsup)
philvisreturns says:
21 February, 2012 at 13:57
googybhoy ♥ Celtic and Integrity – Kennedy born in Edinburgh is a Jehovah’s Witness
Something that’s always puzzled me about Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Mr Whyte may be in need of a few witnesses himself quite soon.
Philvis returns : do you realise that some of the people covered under this Mandatory Work Programme are terminal cancer patients with 7 months,or more,left to live? Also,it’s not just for 8 weeks : these are PERMANENT posts.
You strike me as a right winger who could not give a fuck about his fellow citizens.
Desist in your castigation of the poor and stop berating the disabled.
You are a disgrace to The Celtic Community,and I deplore your comments in the strongest possible terms.
Awe Naw
Is the Newco to be named Fire Sale Sharks?
oglach says:
21 February, 2012 at 14:07
oppps
Tokyo Telecom Engr Corp to Sony
miki67 – Philvis returns : do you realise that some of the people covered under this Mandatory Work Programme are terminal cancer patients with 7 months,or more,left to live? Also,it’s not just for 8 weeks : these are PERMANENT posts.
I’m trying to think of a polite alternative to the word “liar”.
Sorry, drawing a blank here. (thumbsup)