‘News’ that a football club can actually go out of business will come as a surprise to no one here as Hearts issued a statement saying “Without the support of fans there is a real risk that Hearts could possibly play its last game on 17 November.”
Hearts have two commercial problems: they owe HMRC money they don’t have and their running costs are greater than their income. They also have over £20m of debt owed to major shareholder, Ukio Bankas, which at this stage of their corporate existence is more of an asset than a liability.
The club have asked supporters to cough up around £2m to pay HMRC and see it through until the end of the season. A further £1.7m HMRC demand is being contested but should Hearts lose this appeal, that bill will crystallise quickly.
Unlike the now-defunct Rangers, Hearts major shareholder is due more than 75% of the debt, so Ukio could vote to accept a Company Voluntary Arrangement, possibly for as little as 1p in the £1, if the club goes into administration. This is a well-travelled road for Scottish football clubs who overwhelmingly fail owing shareholders or the bank the majority of their debt.
In this respect, there is no obvious reason why Hearts are in danger of playing their last game next week. Administration would allow the club to shed its debt, including the contested tax bill. It would almost certainly result in player redundancies, which would reduce expenditure below the level of income. Hearts would be diminished as a football club, and would take a 17 point hit in the SPL, but that is as bad as it needs to get. Ukio Bankas would take the largest hit on money they may well have already written-off.
The only thing I see for Hearts fans to worry about is the property value of Tynecastle. Ukio will almost certainly have a charge on all the club’s property assets. If the club disappears, they would be left with the real estate. Tynecastle is worth a whole lot more money as flats than as a football field.
When a company cannot pay its creditors it goes into administration and seeks to negotiate a settlement with them. Hearts can do this “within days if not hours”, as Our Hero once said. It’s just curious that Hearts are playing on the bring rather than sorting things out.
Maybe they could get former player and tracksuit salesman, Maurice something-or-other, to sell some of their assets.
The magnificent 1254125 charity cycle, from birthplace of Brother Walfrid, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, to Celtic Park, got underway yesterday. Today the six cyclists, Paul Muldoon (of this parish), Mark Cameron, Alistair Schulz, Robert Campbell Ray McFarland and Jim Kelly, left Blacklion on a 80 mile journey to Lurgan.
Check out their everyclick page for more information.
You can read CQN Magazine for FREE here , you can also subscribe for £10 or £20, and our sponsor, Executive Shaving, who offer an enormous range of grooming products, are offering readers a £20 voucher for all £30 CQN Magazine subscribers.
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Father O’Malley rose from his bed one morning. It was a fine spring day in
his new west Texas mission parish. He walked to the window of his bedroom
to get a deep breath of the beautiful day outside. He then noticed there
was a jackass lying dead in the middle of his front lawn. He promptly
called the local police station.
The conversation went like this:
“Good morning. This is Sergeant Riley. How might I help you?”
“And the best of the day te yerself. This is Father O’Malley at St. Ann ‘s
Catholic Church. There’s a jackass lying dead in me front lawn and would
ye be so kind as to send a couple o’yer lads to take care of the matter?”
Sergeant Riley, considering himself to be quite a wit and recognizing the
foreign accent, thought he would have a little fun with the good father,
replied, “Well now Father, it was always my impression that you people
took care of the last rites!”
There was dead silence on the line for a long
moment…………………………………………..Father O’Malley then replied:
“Aye,’tis certainly true; but we are also obliged to notify the next of
kin, which is the reason for me call………….
The poppy has been hijacked and is now being used by some as a political tool, as shameful that is, a large proportion of the country has bought into it,literally BOUGHT into it, many amongst us have challenges with the British war machine, particularly their less than glorious history in the 6 Counties, personally I don’t wear a Poppy, I don’t “demonstrate” against those who do, I have to be honest become immune to the great Poppy debate, it affects me not, it worries me not, it concerns me not, I expect the same from others at Easter Week when I proudly wear my Lily.
So….the n.h.s. is safe with The ConDems? The back door privatisation of our health service creeps onwards. The silence on this is more than a minute long and is deafening. Oh well….
Not the biggest news story, either. Makes you wonder. This quote is everywhere, but apathy really is the name of the game these days, unless you don’t wear a poppy for a month. Then there would be an uproar in the dumbed down celeb driven compliant supine msm.
“NHS Direct is to close most of its call centres with the loss of hundreds of nursing and other jobs.”
I imagine they’ll replace it with automated teletubbies. ‘Computer says no’. Please die quietly.
Is there any truth to the rumour Messi asked Tony Watt for his jersey after the game
Go on Tony son ,you may not be Messi just now ,maybe just untidy but I hope you go on to be a total slob in the years to come
Still smiling about our great win :-)
C,mon the hoops
I see the BBC have appointed the head of BBC Scotland to look into the latest Newsnight debacle – well we can rest easy that the man who oversees the investigative journalists in Scotland will ensure thoroughness truth and accuracy – is it me?
Thank goodness we won on Wednesday delayed the poppy debate by at least 2 days.
wear it – don’t wear it – but respect the others wishes observe the silence at the game and we’ll all get through this
Oh God the poppy debate . . . I wish there was a thread that amalgamated all the posts from previous years and make a link to it so that if anyone has anything new to say the could post it there rather than see it being repeated here year after year. The only interesting thing I have seen this year about it is that Celtic donated 10,000 pounds to Poppy Scotland recently.
I wonder how that compares to other clubs . . .
Poppy …poppycock
Bored with the annual circular pointless debate ..
Roll on 3-01 tomorrow afternoon when it’s over for another year
I used to wear a poppy but I choose not to now as i think it has, to a large extent, been hijacked by those with an agenda. ‘Poppy fascism’ has mushroomed to the point where no-one appearing on British TV would dare be seen without one for fear of the outcry it would provoke in the right wing media. It would be career suicide to your average newsreader, presenter, pundit and weather man. This is despite the fact that a large majority of ordinary citizens do not wear a poppy! However, to many, many people in society, the poppy is simply a poignant symbol of respect for the memory of British servicemen and women who lost their lives in many conflicts. We can argue until the cows come home about the rights, wrongs, legalities, etc of those various wars but at the end of the day we can surely, for 60 seconds, put aside our perfectly valid reservations about the politicisation of the poppy and remember the young men and women who were sent to fight real Fascism and never returned home, including many, many Catholics and Celtic supporters.
Those who need no encouragement to attack Celtic will be watching closely. Let’s scunner them by observing tomorrow’s silence impeccably before roaring our young team on to another victory.
Hail hail one and all
New contract talks with Tony Watt taking place says Neil:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20273830
Thanks to those who replied about my query about the Land League. I’m sure it was they who raised my grandfather’s stone. Still perplexed (and have been for a long time), because, although I knew he had been a member, I presumed they had died out in the 30s.
Pfayr, if only.
There’ll be dozens of posts about fans staying out till it was over. Or dozens about some fans abusing it.
And probably 2 or 3 about the 99% who observed it without problem
Amen and hail hail to that ipaddy.
The only thing I’d add was it wasn’t just supporters who have died in the wars. Many players and explayers too.
Fergus- Mascherano will be having nightmares thinking about big Tony.
I don’t think anyone else in our squad would have had the speed, power and composure that TW showed to seize that chance and to roast Mascherano shortly after.
It was the one mistake Neil made over the 2 games, omitting Tony from the subs bench in the Nou Camp, he would have been the out ball we were looking for.
Compare TW’s contribution with the ineffectiveness of the 3 Barca subs, Villa, Fabregas and Piqué.
Unbelievable stuff from such a young man.
I would like to see Miku and TW up front tomorrow as I think Miku is beginning to find his feet now and young Tony has the pace ,strength and ability to upset any defence .
I must give a heads up to young Adam Mathews thought the bhoy was great on Wed
Looking forward to the game already
KTF
Hail hail
Great vid from a Barca fan. Still cannae do the linky thingy but this is worth a copy n paste.
https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xuym3w
brillaint video from Barca fan
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuym3w_ambient-a-celtic-park-celtic-fc-vs-fc-barcelona-hd-16-9-07-11-2012_sport
Re the poppy debate.
Kitalba made a good.point during the week when he mentioned that there are a lot of posters who are either new or previously haven’t expressed their views on the issue.
It’s easy to scroll by if there’s anything you don’t fancy reading.
Ps I wasn’t talking about poppies I was asking about the minute’s silence.
Ernie
If memory serves me right it was the weekend when we played Falkirk away, I think it was 2009.
ipaddy McCourt- nail/head
HH
My grandfather, the late Gerry Patrick Ryan, fought and was seriously wounded at the Somme in 1916..
Injuries that would last a life time.. He died aged 94!! A brave man.
He endured this , and the discrimination of his religion that prevented him getting a job when he returned and recovered,having fought at the Somme..
He never spoke of the war.. It’s horrors.
He lived and breathed Celtic…he despised Ian Paisley( I always remember that ).
My other grandfather in the 2nd war sailed the North Atlantic convoys. Horrific stuff..
Behind these brave men , were brave and scared women at home sick with worry and bringing up a family . This story was repeated countrywide..
Sacrifice ..
So that we might have a life..
The idiot sevcovian s , non tax payers like Murray- forget that they are only around because years ago, brave people stood up.
For Murray and their ilk to p this against a wall by claiming to support the poppy is the ultimate insult.. I give such theatrics no time – it’s disgusts and insults me.
However , every Nov 11 I visit my grandparents graves and I humbly thank them, for my presence,as I shed a tear for their unquestioning bravery. I look at their medals – which mean nothing when your legs are blown off in a trench in 1916,in a field in France, or your boat is torpedoed off Murmansk.
However tomorrow I will stand proudly in silence in paradise in the memory of all those brave men and women who sacrificed so much to let me be able to stand their in Paradise.. To watch a game of football with MY children.
Lest we forget.
HH
Tony who? No…Tony Watt!
Jaikit ➡
Fergus, I’d go with that too. Young tony will still be flying.
That said, I remember when young James burst on the scene Neil says he’d keep him grounded. Then went on to play him almost week in week out.
Miku and Watt to start together tomorrow. Nothing else would make sense.
Goldstar10
I have liked the look of TW since I first saw him ,for me the bhoy just plays his own game no matter the opposition St johnstone ,Barca ,anyone .
At one of the home games this season Lenny moved him out wide and you could tell it did not really suit him ,he was bursting to get into the action in front of goal but I thought maybe Lenny was teaching him it,s a team game then last week against D Utd he was out wide again in the first half ,for me the bhoy has to be more central as you saw with his goal ,he has bags of confidence and I read he even hates missing chances in training so as long as he uses this to focus on his finishing he should flourish
hail hail
fergus slayed the blues,
Wee Messi was lucky enough to get big Fraser’s shirt after the game. Hope he doesn’t try to wear it – would drown him.
May I just add my voice to those who are calling for our support to observe the silence tomorrow. I have never worn a poppy, in part because my Dad, who fought in the War, has never done so. He was called up like just about every Tim in Parkhead (including the most staunch Republicans). He seldom talks about it but when he does, it’s usually about the good mates he made. Those men and women who died were just like him. He, thank God, survived but I’m sure he wouldn’t want the memory of his mates sullied in any way.
Ta for the dailymotion vid….got it bookmarked. I’m STILL buzzin’ from Wednesday night!
Thanks again to ‘shady’ for sorting me with THE ticket. Methinks it’s gettin’ framed.
I’ll be thanking him until he’s sick of hearing it.
: > )
ernie lynch
08:33 on 10 November, 2012
Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
Rod Stewart,the much vaunted Tim,obviously has much more respect for women.
Doesn`t he?
I can’t refresh the comments pages any more. Anyone else have the same problem?
DeniaBhoy,
Was it tunnel vision that stopped Celtic and Rangers doing a stadium share?
GM
Aye and wee JF has not done too badly ;-)
Gordon J Aye Messi will be using it as a gazebo back in Spain
Thought that silence thing was timed for the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month ..
Will there be a minutes silence in Glasgow’s Bingo Hall’s tomorrow afternoon .?
Will there be a minutes silence in Glasgow’s cinemas tomorrow afternoon ?
Will there be a minutes silence in Glasgow’s shops tomorrow afternoon ?
Will there be a minutes silence in Glasgow’s bars and restaurants tomorrow afternoon ?..
Etc / Etc / Etc .
If not , why not ?
My grandad, a Republican from Dundalk was lost, never recovered, in the mud of Burma in 1917. My grandmother, also from Dundalk, never forgave the British Govt. for their shabby treatment of her and cursed the plaque she was given, all she was given, daily.
I don’t forget. And neither did the Republicans in Eire, who stepped in to give aid in a time of need for the bereft families outside The Republic’s borders.
A propagandistic minute’s silence, the wearing of a hijacked symbol, the poppy, mean nothing to me. I don’t have to stand in muted respect to know what every singe family in Europe lost to prop up the wealthy warmongeting scum who deprived me of a grandfather, my dad of a father, and my grandmother the love of her life.
“If you know your history”.
And my father, the most fiercely intelligent man I’ve ever had the privilege to know, made sure I did.
These are the ancestors who gave me a life of health and wealth beyond their imagining. I hold them in the greatest esteem, on a daily basis. And that, my friends in Celtic, is not fodder for anyone to propagandise to bend to their twisted purpose.
i find it strange we dont read in the papers now of “elbowing incidents” and “diving”as much as we used too
wonder why?
HH
Thats a brilliant video from the Barca fans. What an advert for our club worldwide.
ArranmoreBhoyLXV11
11:41 on 10 November, 2012
Marvellous tribute.
Your family history similar to my own.
Lest we forget.
tyrehoops
You will have to start getting the Alloa Gazette or the Annan Echo
hail hail
The head of the world players’ union, Theo van Seggelen, has
declared its opposition to the establishment of a separate union for
black players.
The Society of Black Lawyers, a new and increasingly vocal voice in the
battle against racism, has said talks to found a new union for black
players, an idea supported by players such as Jason Roberts, are
underway.
But van Seggelen believes FIFPro, which has 60,000 members worldwide
through its national affiliates, could not survive if a separate black
players’ union was launched.
“We respect the player in the English third division, as much as the
player from China or from Congo,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to
have unions for black players.
“If you have to protect the rights of 60,000 professional players, you
cannot make a difference between a black player or a white player, or a
Muslim or a Catholic, or a rich player or a poor player.
“We can only represent the players worldwide when everyone accepts
that every player is equal. I am 100% against it.
“Our philosophy is equal rights for players and on a global level that is
not easy.”
The PFA, a FIFPro member, agrees with van Seggelen’s stance with the
union chairman Clark Carlisle commenting: “A new body has the potential
to be divisive because when you establish a black players’ union it would
instantly define ‘us and them’ and that’s something we really need to
work against.
“We don’t need to separate the players when the whole focus and goal of
anti-racism is to campaign for unity.”
nuclear bovril…
Brilliant vid from that Catalan mhan! Thanks for the link!
Oscar material stuff!
Hairs on the back of my head standing to attention! Wee tear in the eye!
As Rod said to Graeme Norton last night, allegedly – ‘Silly old sod!’.
Great to be a Tim!
HH!!