A group of Westminster MPs are set to accommodate administrators Rangers FC PLC in London tomorrow in the hope of using whatever influence they have to pull a deal together. Political interference in distressed companies is not uncommon but on this occasion the risks of collateral damage are enormous.
Fifa strictly prohibits political interference in football matters and has banned national teams and their representative clubs from international competition for matters as trivial as politically motivated appointments, never mind overt political lobbying on behalf of a football club in tax delinquency.
Prime Minister, David Cameron, commented on Rangers situation last week, although unlike Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, he limited himself to a neutral comment, however, I hear that Treasury officials have already been lobbied to exert pressure on HM Revenue and Customs to agree to whatever necessary to prevent Rangers from suffering the consequences of not paying tax.
Ironically, it’s Celtic and the Scotland national team who are set to suffer. Craig Levein hopes to take his Scotland team into the World Cup qualifying tournament in September while Neil Lennon will hope to give his Celtic team a chance to qualify for the Champions League. Fifa would be delighted to take the British government and football associations down a notch or two after the accusations of bribery at the international body emanating from England when their bid to host the World Cup perished.
Duff and Phelps have nothing to lose from meeting the MPs but with so much at stake for Scotland, Celtic and our other European entrants next season, the Scottish and London politicians must rein-in their over political interference and the SFA must get off their backsides and remind everyone of Fifa rules.
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Morning Saltires, hope you’re well.
It is great, that around 2 weeks ago, the huns in total denial were still confident of winning the league. Today, although many remain in denial, they all know the league is lost and their club is in administration with a good chance of liquidation.
What a great 2 weeks, had a couple of posts with Billybhoy last night, I remember you mentioniung him and I happened to be on when he was posting, unsure if he totally got my poor humour ;-)
Hope all is well with family, especially young Ms Saltires.
hh
bjmac
Politicians, like the media, know the percentages and play them. In Scotland it stacks up that the vast majority either actively or passively support Rangers so it can be no surprise that politicians want to be seen to be doing their bit.
I’d have been concerned if the politicians had gone to Scotland for the meeting, that would have indicated they were serious, this is just playing to the crowd and waving to the cameras.
good morning all
the political interference that paul speaks about here is the one part of this whole situatuion that i am alarmed about
it seems to me that the establishment know too well their options are running out
they will be very aware of FIFA and UEFA’s stance on political interference in football
maybe it is the plan to get Celtic, whoever else manages to qualify for europe and the scottish national team all punished!!!!
in our case if we are denied european money, we will not be able to stretch our advantage over the hun as far as we could, therefore lessening the damage
done to the hun recovery programme!!!
it may sound far fetched but this is SPL, SFA and british government we are talking about here!!!!!
Peter Lawell has got his announcements just right up to now but i think this is his time to really earn his wages
also Dermot Desmond (if he really has the influence he should have) this is his chance to prove how much Celtic really means to him
He has always said it is an emotional attachment rather than a business one!!!
Ref Sammy:
Pisces
“In their employment they are better working either by themselves or in subordinate positions.
Their talents are individual in a commercial business or similar undertaking.
They would be afraid to manage more than a small department,
worrying always that they would fail in a crisis”
Taken from: http://www.astrology-online.com/pisces.htm
bjmac says:
22 February, 2012 at 06:09
Good morning from a wet Manchester.
Picking up Bjmac at
9.25.
Better get out on the road.
Hail hail
Guys,
I’ve been busy for a few days and haven’t read much, so apologies if I’ve missed something.
Where is Bournesouprecipe ?
His Twitter page doesn’t exist any longer ! Anybody know anything ?
Westminster influence
Labour or Tory?
Tory only one Scottish Tory MP although he is a Rankers season ticket holder as are some of his colleagues in the Scottish Conservatives
Labour MP’s no doubt being led by Rangers chief cheer leader Brian Donohoe
Chaplin says:
22 February, 2012 at 07:57
I followed him on Twitter but had noticed no tweets lately. However, he would appear to alive and well, he was posting here yesterday.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Time to start work, until we meet again.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
.
LennyBhoy..
B’DAy “Boxing” Day..
The Day After Christ was Born..;0)
Summa
Lennybhoy
Cheers for that, I was working late and didn’t play catch up last night.
Good Morning,
from a wet Central Scotland.
Busy day today in a thousand different ways.
So Whyte has sold the Gers shares in Arsenal? So what?The old board were going to sell them anyway.
What I am interested in today, is what name went on the SFA annual return that had to be lodged with that August body on June 1st 2011.
If there is any truth in the Rumours that Davis, McGregor and others have signed a contract with Rangers Group, then unless that body is named as the member on that form then it would appear to me that Rangers have fielded inelligable players throughout the season.
Of course, that would not be the case if Rangers Group Ltd are named on the form, but it would then mean that Rangers PLC ceased to be a member of the SFA as at that date.
Unlike Celtic Football and Athletic Club, which is a whollyy owned subsidiary of Celtic PLC, Rangers PLC is not a wholly owned subsidiary of Rangers Group Ltd. The latter company merely holds a substantial and majority shareholding in the former.
Interesting Times….. Interesting times indeed.
I’m glad this Guardian piece gives me the opportunity to post albeit a little belatedly (some of yesterday’s posts were distasteful) on the governments scheme to give the young unemployed to supermarkets to work for nothing. It is so shocking in its audacity.
This government did what Tory governments do and set the conditions for hundreds of thousands to be made redundant but this time they’ve farmed out the unemployed for free like slaves of the nation.
I’m pleased to see public action against the supermarkets has called a halt to their part in this shameful act of slavery.
LINK: Guardian -Tesco unpaid workers
BBC Alba reporting that Whyte has resigned as director from 3 of his companies in order to concentrate on the Gers. Good on you Craig the boys down at the Costa Rican CFC will be waiting for you with open arms.
Hello
I’ve written this piece for “The UKs no1 left-wing blog” Left Foot Forward. It goes over a lot of things we are all pretty familiar with… hopefully it will spread the fun to a wider audience.
Rangers FC: How a market leader went bust
http://bit.ly/yutylz
Mullet and Co @8.07am
I notice Costa Rica has been mentioned a couple of times of late.
In recent years I have visited that lovely country several times.Near my hotel outside San Jose there was a bar flying the Irish tricolour and showing Celtic games.
However my best Costa Rican story was the young well spoken man serving breakfast ( wanting to practice his English on me )in my hotel.He knew I lived in London ,knew I was Scottish and wanted to know if I had ever seen Arsenal,Man U etc. When I explained that of course I had but my real love was Celtic in Scotland.I will always remember his face when he asked if the Celtic I was referring to was the team in green and white stripes ( he motioned the hoops with his hand )and the ” crazy supporters “?
Time to walk round the corner to Portman Square and see if there is any activity going on today.
Rangers owner Craig Whyte sells off 102 years of Ibrox history by dumping shares in Arsenal
Feb 22 2012 Exclusive by James Traynor & Keith Jackson
CRAIG WHYTE has flogged 102 years of Rangers history by selling the club’s shares in Arsenal.
The latest revelation, which will sicken the club’s supporters, has come to light as part of Record Sport’s explosive investigation into Whyte and the £1 deal he struck to buy Rangers after selling off £24.4 million worth of season tickets to finance his takeover.
Fresh information in our possession now shows how Whyte struck a deal worth more than £230,000 with a consortium called Red and White to sell off the 16 shares and cash in on a historic link between the clubs dating back to 1910.
And brazenly, Whyte then blocked a move for the cash to be paid into the Rangers bank account, demanding instead it stayed lodged in one of his own companies, Pritchard Stockbrokers in Bournemouth.
Pritchard’s assets have now been frozen on the orders of the Financial Services Authority. The FSA moved in on Friday after ruling that Pritchard, who listed Whyte as board secretary, had used client money to cover its own costs.
The increasingly embattled Whyte then resigned from his position at Pritchard’s before standing down from two further directors’ posts with related companies, Merchant Corporate Recovery and Merchant Strategic Renewal.
Now Rangers’ administrators, Duff and Phelps, may attempt to recover the missing money as they fight to clean up the financial carnage which Whyte has created during his disastrous nine months at the Ibrox helm.
The close friendship forged between Rangers and Arsenal spans back to the turn of the last century when the Londoners were experiencing financial trouble of their own.
It’s believed Rangers attempted to help out by buying two shares in Woolwich Arsenal because their manager, George Morrell, had previously worked for the Ibrox club.
Around 20 years later, a much stronger and vibrant Arsenal gifted Rangers with a further 14 shares in return for their support during troubled times.
This cemented what was already a rock solid relationship between the then managers, Bill Struth and Herbert Chapman.Struth and Chapman are today revered by fans all over the world as the greatest servants in the history of their clubs.
But Whyte ignored these historic links when he seized control of Struth’s old side and saw a chance to make a killing on the link.
This guy is heading for jail. No doubt about that.
twists n turns
If what is being reported is true then jail might just be the safest place for him. The guy is rogue no doubt, but he crossed the last line if he profited by hawking symbols of Rangers history.
Top of the morning to you all from a wet, windy, but mild Fife. Not great weather for the game tonight according to the forecast.
An interesting take on the man to head the S.F.A. inquiry into Rangers from Scots Law Reporter:
http://scottishlaw.blogspot.com/2012/02/scottish-football-assoc-appoint-lord.html
I wonder what gems of wisdom we will be getting from our old media today; Craig Whyte is a dodgey character perhaps?
Kitalba is spot on. I have heard Rangers fans in work this morning talking about what could happen to Mr Whyte should he fall into “the wrong hands”. Prison may just be the only safe place for him. The Bares want blood…
HH
Giggs
Derry city were yesterday refused entry into next years Europa league..Derry could only produce 2 sets of accounts for the last 2 season.The present Derry are a ‘newco’ formed 2 seasons ago,after Derry were caught giving players 2 contracts,and running up a big tax bill.Derry were relegated at the time.Derry have been told they must show 3 years of accounts to gain entry..
If I was the janitor over at Ibrox I’d be right in that linen cupboard and make sure all their league flags were still there. If any of them are missing I don’t think there will be a place on earth where he could hide from the more militant of the Rangers support. And besides, one or two of them (or more) might actually belong to us.
I should have aske aw naw to do the 10cc song last night
Eh, can I point out that the piece in the Record says that the assets of Pritchards have been frozen.
However, money held in client account on behalf of someone who has sold shares are not assets of the company, and so should be capable of transfer to the rightful person as per normal.
Giggsy
mini being confirmed tomorrow so need my supply if
poss,
Nimmo Smith to chair Rangers probe
(UKPA)
The Scottish Football Association have appointed Lord William Nimmo Smith to chair their inquiry into recent activities at Rangers.
Lord Nimmo Smith has served as an insolvency Judge and was one of five judges who heard the appeal of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in 2002.
The SFA announced the inquiry on Friday – three days after Rangers went into administration. The probe will focus specifically on whether there have been any breaches of their Articles of Association, relating to rules regarding whether club officials are “fit and proper” to hold such positions.
The SFA announced their independent panel would also include Professor Niall Lothian, a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and Bob Downes, who is deputy chairman of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan will also sit on the panel. The governing body revealed that Regan met Lord Nimmo Smith on Tuesday to define the terms of reference for the investigation.
The SFA launched the independent inquiry after being frustrated in attempts to secure clarity regarding Rangers owner Craig Whyte’s previous business experience.
The governing body contacted Rangers on December 1 to seek clarification after the club confirmed Whyte was previously disqualified as a company director for seven years from 2000.
The SFA said their efforts to obtain information on Whyte had been “restricted by the club’s solicitors’ continued failure to share information in a timely or detailed manner”.
The SFA Articles of Association on club officials include restrictions on people who have been disqualified as a director “within the previous five years”.
The inquiry team have also been charged with probing the financial revelations that have emerged in the last week, including the news that Rangers have failed to pay £9million in tax since Whyte took over last May.
Blindlemonchitlin says:
22 February, 2012 at 00:05
TOSB
Independent Article Jason Campbell Henry McLeish
Scotsman
…………………………………………………..
I stand corrected. Interesting to read those articles. I felt sure Adam Ingram had some involvement in that affair. Ah well, I’m never right but I’m wrong again. Cheers :-)
to twists n turns,
Just a brief note to let you know that I am the Celtic / Cliftonville supporter you referred to in your post on Monday. The game we attended at the Death Star was in fact September 1981,( and Murdo did score the second goal – rasping free kick) You may remember that we also saw the Celts beat Liam Brady’s Juve on the previous Wed – Davie Provan freekick if memory serves)
My first two games watching the Hoops – not a bad introduction.
I sent a mail to Celticquicknews@googlemail asking that my details be passed on to you.
Hope to link up once we get each others email addresses
The Onlooker
Over on RTC Barca is hinting at the BBC preparing a story for broadcast which will make Whyte seem like Mother Theresa, St Bernadette and Francis of Asissi rolled into one!
The subject matter of this programme……… the business dealings of Sir Minty apparently– including his time at Rangers!
Kit
I honestly think this guy might be mad – literally. How can he stand in front of cameras, telling lie after lie, and expect to get away with it? Was he mad enough to think by having his own administrators appointed they would cover for him?
When he gets to court, I seriously think he has a good chance of a plea for insanity being upheld.
I also agree, the outside world is no longer a safe place for him to be. He will be hounded and terrorised regardless of where he ends up.
I’m feeling sorry for him now.
Oddly, despite all of the above, if the huns die, he should also be considered for a Nobel peace prize for services to humanity.
BT
You be in Parkville after work? Still have it sitting in house, and have meeting in the Ville at half 5, so can pick it up? Either that, or bring it after the meeting?
HH
Giggs
BT – Missed this last night with all the blog issues. VG !!
blantyretim says:
21 February, 2012 at 23:07
Craig Whyte/10cc
Well good morning Judge, how are you today
I’m in trouble, please send me away
An ugly thing took a shine to me
I couldn’t stop it so I bought it for me
I couldn’t stop it, so I bought it for me
I couldn’t stop it, so I bought it for me
I couldn’t stop it, so I bought it for me
He didn’t do it, he wasn’t there
He didn’t want it, he wouldn’t dare
Well good morning Judge, yes I’m back again
I’m in trouble, so it’s back to the pen
I found a club, but I couldn’t pay
I made them bust , and I flew far away
I made them bust, and I flew far away
I made them bust, and I flew far away
I made them bust, and I flew far away
He didn’t do it, he wasn’t there
He didn’t want it, he wouldn’t dare
I didn’t do it, I wasn’t there
I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t dare
Ipox park is like a home sweet home
I’m so wanted, and I’m never alone
a tax haven is the place to be
I’m so happy, I don’t want to be free
So happy I don’t want to be free
So happy I don’t want to be free
So happy I don’t want to be free
Here is a wee snippet from a couple of posters on RTC.
Mr Traynor showing he really is prophetic in his analysis of football finance, football loyalties and his knowledge of football players. Take particular note of the last snetence!
———————————————————————————————————————————–
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Final+Say…James+Traynor%3B+Get+out+now+Fergus+or+you%27ll+be+hated…-a060927979
ive just been reading traynors take on fergus from 1999
Yet, Celtic are still waiting for the player who could strike a blow for them and strengthen their hope of retaining their title. That, Mr McCann is what is most important to your customers, yet you and your people have failed miserably to provide.
Celtic are still without a top-quality striker because they will not put themselves into the big-pay league. It is that simple and it is also where McCann lets the fans down.
Listen to this Fergus and try to take it in. You insult your club’s fans when they are told they don’t understand the economics of the business or the workings of the transfer market. And stop telling them players are too greedy and make enormous demands.
These are not newly-uncovered secrets, Fergus. The supporters could have told you how much would have to be spent to keep Celtic on top. The fact is fans don’t give a damn about how much money players want to grab for themselves and unlike McCann they don’t spend too much time fretting about the profit margin.
No one is greatly impressed either that McCann appears to have embarked on some kind of holy crusade to bring football’s expenditure under control, and his season- ticket holders would rather have the title with some debt run up on the transfer market than no title and no borrowings.
These fans are willing to gamble, and remember they, too, are shareholders.
They still find it difficult to believe Celtic didn’t sign reinforcements during the close season and they are appalled that a top-class striker has not yet been secured. If anything the signing of Lubomir Moravcik at a cut price has merely caused them further embarrassment.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Personally I hang on the man’s every word…………….NOT
Craig Whyte still has a bit to go for bottle when compared to the Rev. Alan G. Hasson, a past Grand Master of the Grand Orange Order of Scotland.
Hasson passed himself off as the quintessentially Presbyterian Scot when he was in fact born in Cardiff as Hassan, the son of an Egyptian Muslim father and an Irish Catholic mother.
He was brought up by relatives in Scotland and rose to the top of the Orange tree with stunts like riding a big white horse –King William style—at the head of Orange walks.
Then he did a runner to Canada with the Grand Lodge funds!
He was brought to trial and did time but when he got out he didn’t hide away—as most of us would—but busked on the Royal Mile with his bag-pipes.
He asked the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland if he could have his ministry back but they politely refused.
Now that is what you call a con-man.
Perhaps Craig saw what Hasson did and thought: “this lot will believe anything.”
In the event he was right.
Giggs
going to game straight from work
hand it into the auld yin and I’ll get it from him
tonight. He is taking Monica & Matt and I’ll meet them
at the match
twists n turns: 22 February, 2012 at 08:47
He could stand in front of the cameras and lie because until three weeks ago he had the full backing of the Scottish media behind him.
Like his predecessor, Murray – lying comes natural to Whyte, but there is no bigger liar than David Murray. He might still have the DR batting his corner, but when the Huns are liquidated he will regret every lie he ever uttered.
Murray’s humiliation has still to come. I look forward to it.
BT
Not a problem. Just text me at 5pm to remind me – it’s Wednesday, my mind is usually on other things… :-)
HH
Giggs