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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Have they checked that the bike is still in the Ibroke trophy room ? I have a mental image of Whytey cycling away on it with a swag bag.
Rangers in crisis: Police now involved in Ibrox cash probe as Craig Whyte signals intent to stand down
Feb 22 2012 Exclusive by James Traynor & Keith Jackson
POLICE last night confirmed they are in talks with administrators probing the Rangers cash crisis.
The dramatic development came hours after owner Craig Whyte was exposed as a liar – when he was forced to admit he did fund his takeover by selling off future season tickets.
Strathclyde Police said: “We can confirm we’ve had initial conversations with the administrators of Glasgow Rangers Football Club.”
Whyte was forced to break cover when administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed the Record’s story that £18million of season ticket cash was used to complete the takeover and pay off the club’s bankers, Lloyds.
A spokesman said: “It is now apparent that the proceeds from the Ticketus arrangements amounted initially to a sum in the region of £20million plus VAT. Subsequently, £18million was transferred to Lloyds Banking Group.”
Whyte, who has dismissed our story as “not true”, finally confessed: “My corporate advisers came to me with the proposition that it was entirely possible, as well as highly beneficial, to negotiate a deal with Ticketus that would allow us to complete the takeover.”
He added that he will not be Rangers chairman after the club’s “restructuring” is complete. The administrators are speaking to police, who could launch a criminal investigation into Whyte.
Whyte’s regime began to crumble the day we revealed he’d used the £24.4million raised from the deal with Ticketus – a deal he categorically denied when we first shone the spotlight on his methods last June.
He lied about the arrangement and banned the Record from Ibrox, claiming the story was wrong.
Then, weeks ago, we confronted him with dates and figures on the arrangement to mortgage off future season-ticket sales to the London firm.
Whyte continued to insist “categorically” that he hadn’t used the Ticketus money to buy Rangers. But the evidence being unearthed as financial experts pore over his dealings proves that is exactly what happened.
And just moments before those findings were officially announced by Duff and Phelps yesterday, Whyte decided to confess.
He continues to insist he was acting only in Rangers’ best interests. Clearly, Duff and Phelps and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs see it differently.
In fact, we can reveal questions were asked about the legality of Whyte’s Ibrox takeover in the taxman’s petition to the Court of Session last Tuesday.
The move by HMRC, over £9million of unpaid PAYE and VAT, forced Rangers into administration.
The revenue’s petition, we believe, raises serious concerns about the takeover. And now there will be further moves to discover if there was any breach of the Companies Act, which outlaws Financial Assistance.
Basically, this means it is illegal to use a company’s shares or funds to raise money to buy that same company. It’s a crime that carries a maximum jail sentence of two years.
After the taxman went to court, Duff and Phelps moved into Ibrox. And they have now confirmed that £18million of the Ticketus cash was paid to Lloyds.
Joint administrator David Whitehouse said investigations were ongoing into what happened to the rest of the Ticketus money, as well as into “all the circumstances” surrounding Whyte’s takeover and “the flow of funds which stemmed from the transaction and were intended to fulfil the purchasers’ obligations at the time of the sale”.
Whitehouse refused to comment further. But we can reveal the true, alarming extent of the deal that has brought Whyte down – and raised questions over the involvement of Rangers’ club secretary, solicitor Gary Withey.
Ticketus are now able to claim 60per cent of Rangers’ season tickets over each of the next three seasons. As things stand, the club will be saddled with this burden at the start of every season until Ticketus are paid off.
Rangers and many other clubs have used Ticketus on a regular basis, but rarely for more than £5million and usually always for 25per cent of the tickets at most. Rangers have more than doubled that percentage, which will leave the club hamstrung for years.
More details have also emerged of Whyte’s failure to resolve the “small tax bill” dispute with HMRC.
Through David Grier, one of Duff and Phelps’ partners, Whyte was given a couple of repayment options on the bill, which he agreed to take on when he bought the club.
Grier and the taxman were anxious to find a way of preventing Rangers from toppling, but Whyte didn’t act on either offer.
He was asked to pay £500,000 of the bill upfront and the rest over almost a year, but he wanted to hand over only £250,000 as a down payment.
Grier managed to persuade HMRC to agree to this new arrangement but again Whyte didn’t come up with the cash.
The “small tax bill” is now standing at just more than £4million and was also a factor in forcing last week’s insolvency event.
HMRC got to the point where they believed there was little point in trying to do any more deals with Whyte.
Grier, who was with a firm called MCR at the time, also helped Whyte in his dealings with Lloyds. But even so, it wasn’t until Ticketus demanded their first payment on the £20.3million (£24.4million including VAT) deal last summer that Grier and Rangers became aware of the season ticket sell-off.
A source said the entire transaction was kept away from the club’s financial department and said staff were shocked and baffled when a bill demanding £9.5million arrived.
It is also understood that former Rangers director Phil Betts has said he will pay back every penny of the money he was paid during his eight-month stint at Ibrox.
Tax specialist Betts was Whyte’s first board appointment when he took over on May 6 last year, but he quit the board in January.
He was summoned to Duff and Phelps’s London HQ on Monday, where he was quizzed about Rangers’ financial dealings. He said the payments he received were fees for work he’d done on the club’s behalf.
We reported yesterday that Betts had pocketed £160,000, but it’s now believed the amount was significantly higher.
Betts says that if the club’s money was used to pay him, he will give it all back.
Did anyone notice a googley-eyed gentleman in the Kelvingrove area yesterday afternoon?
I’d swear I read every word of substance in that article on here and on RTC oh! about a month or so ago. But I might be mistaken becasue the Record claim it as an exclusive.
Is the plan by the h** media to get the MBB thrown into jail and that would somehow get the rfc off the hook?
We got to rally round the MBB and give him the support so he can finish “the job”.
WhyteGemmell
Any shares?
I was on here last night making the point that politicians meeting with Rangers administrators may well be seen as interference by UEFA. I then watched Brian Donohoe MP confirm thar such a meeting was arranged, and he had asked the Treasury Select Comittee to investigate the finacial shenanigans at Rangers. I emailed Mr Donohoe last night expressing my concern. I thought it only fair to let you know he has replied, his reply was short and to the point sayinghe was “very well aware”, that was about all he said, but hopefully he is sincere and won’t try to interfere. I’m not so sure UEFA will not already see what he has done as interference, he did say last night that he was sure a deal would be done with HMRC. Now if I said that no-one will take notice, but if an MP is saying that publicly what is he saying/lobbying for in private, people will take notice of that.
Off to work.
20points ahead tonight if we stay focused on whats important, winning games.
bamboo
Yes I think there is a campaign to make Rangers look like the victim of a crime rather than being the criminals themselves.
Not sure if the Whyte takeover being deemed illegal will make any difference in the overall scheme of things.
I still think the whole things boils down to money and without it Rangers are sunk and the rest of the goings on is just background noise.
Folks, I’m getting free hospitality tonight at the game. Still waiting on exact details but may include sit-down dinner. Any advice on dress code appreciated as won’t get all info until late afternoon.
This is a remarkable development.
Why, after they have stunk the place out in the past ten days with the stench of scandal and overt sectarianism, would any parliamentarian wish to align himself with that lot, let alone actively support them to the possible detriment of Scottish/UK football?
Is that what Donohoe meant when he said that this was a “tragedy for the UK as a whole”?
Anyway, Bravo Paul for continuing to shine a torch on all of this.
Scaramanga – going by your blog name, don’t wear a low-cut dress!
Sorry, had to bite! :-)
T4
DOC IS NEIL LENNON .ABOVE POST .
YOUR RIGHT MATE .THIS IS A SERIOUS INTERFERENCE LIKE YOU I HAVE CONTACTED THIS GUY WITH THE SAME RESPONSE . AS I PUT IT LAST NIGHT .(NOT VERY WELL I MIGHT ADD) BUT IF ENOUGH PRESSURE IS PUT ON THE HMRC THEN THEY WILL WILT . I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THEMS ARE GETTING ASSISTANCE AT PRESENT ANYWAY . WE HAVE SOME CLEVER GUYS ON OUR SIDE , I JUST HOPE THEY DONT THINK THE JOB IS DONE AND STOP APPLYING PRESSURE TO SEE NOT JUST RANGERS GO DOWN BUT THAT THE LAW OF THE LAND IS APPLIED , AND THAT IS PAYING YOUR DUES . LIKE TINY TIM THE FAT LADY HASNT OPENED HER MOUTH YET . I FEAR THEMS WILL GET AWAY WITH NOT JUST CHEATING SCOTTISH FOOTBALL BUT CHEATING THE COUNTRY
JIMTIM
Scaramanga says:
22 February, 2012 at 09:22
Do not wear your hawaii shirt and Eric Morcambe short,and
leave your sword at home.
SCARAMANGA
If it is still the same as it was, it was dress code. Shirt and tie expected, and no scarf. BT will probably know the latest.
Scaramanga @ 9:22
Don’t wear your Green Brigade t-shirt.
murdochbhoy says:
22 February, 2012 at 08:06
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
Not only distasteful, They were hun posts
Scaramanga
that was for the Jock Stein, Brother Walfrid etc. I used to use it regularly as my brother had a table. Always annoyed me not being allowed to wear my scarf!
Is the match on the tellybox tonight?
Scaramanga
Captains table requires suit n tie..
other areas usually allow you to go minus the tie…
havent been for couple of years though….
bjmac says:
22 February, 2012 at 07:47
Morning Saltires, hope you’re well.
——-
Don’t worry, bjmac I got your humour no probs. Amazing the difference an errant comma can make.. Just Don’t forget the “Dushanbe” bit in my monikor as there are a few “Bhilly BHoys” on here and I like to differentiate. Dushanbe is the city where I am based. Apparently it’s the “jewel in Central Asia’s crown”….what irony, as the corruption here is simply breathtaking. Talking about corruption, I hear/fear that pressure, via B. Bonohue esq is being applied “down South” (I mean London, not Dumfries….maybe one day?) to get the Orcs out of the hole Mark (Dangleberry) Dingwall’s granny used to tell him about, when he related an anecdote between him and her, re:- spades and holes, on TV last night. Hmm, missus.
Saltires, you have been away and I have had to go on a solo run recently. Dangerous when Kojo is my only support :-)
HH
DBB
blantyretim says:
22 February, 2012 at 09:34
Like to know how you got an invite at all?
Murdoch … @ 8.06
You have to hand it to the right wing mentalists / dog boilers / economic orthodoxy groupies who now run things politically and economically at the moment – they really know how to put on a show.
Dog Boiling – cutting the dole was a given.
Neo Slavery – workfare, now that takes some doing.
The bankers blow up the global economy through greed, casino economics and Coin clipping and the right spin a narrative that it was all the fault of the Greek minimum wage and UK disability benefits.
All it proves is that when times are tough / push comes to shove the upper middle class, privately educated establishment will blame everyone but themselves for the problems they now find themselves in. Things are now worse than they were in the 1930’s atnleast then an alternative narrative was available and a solution was found.
Now we are just into slash and burn / sado-masochism wrapped up as policy.
It is the politics of the charnel house with the poor / sick / unemployed first up for sacrifice to the Gods of Austrian economic mentalists.
At times you think DI was right all along.
Some superior being / lizard race is just playing with mankind.
We are behaving like rats in a lab – enough pressure and we will eat our own young.
Why does Celtic still pay to advertise in the DR? the time to end commercial dealings with this rag and its cretinous crew of sporting hacks has passed! yes decades ago
Guys
Thinking ahead to that time when the Foe Malign may be no more than a footnote to history, I turned my attention to another great Scottish sporting institution that might benefit from some closer scrutiny, namely (the licence-payer funded) BBC Shortbread sports department.
So, I’m testing my understanding of Shortbread’s ‘neutrality’ and thought an interesting place to start would be an examination the list of pundits it uses on its radio braodcasts.
I’ve started with the following, but – as you will see – there are plenty of gaps.
Any help in filling these gaps would be appreciated:
HOST: Richard Gordon
‘Resident’ PUNDITS: Traynor, Young, Dodds, Patterson, Craigan, MacLeod, Preston
Previous ‘residents’: Sandy Clark, Smith
Recent additions as ‘resident’: English
Frequent ‘Occasionals’: Irvine, McKimmie, Robertson, Ferguson
Less frequent occasionals: Bonnar, McStay
Refs/Ex refs: Clark, Odious-‘spokesperson’-used-around-time-of-refs’-and-whose-name-escapes-me.
As I said: any help in filling the gaps would be appreciated …
FF
Racing fans……..
Groupon offering 50% off at Hamilton racing today….
More details have also emerged of Whyte’s failure to resolve the “small tax bill” dispute with HMRC.
Through David Grier, one of Duff and Phelps’ partners, Whyte was given a couple of repayment options on the bill, which he agreed to take on when he bought the club.
Grier and the taxman were anxious to find a way of preventing Rangers from toppling, but Whyte didn’t act on either offer.
He was asked to pay £500,000 of the bill upfront and the rest over almost a year, but he wanted to hand over only £250,000 as a down payment.
Grier managed to persuade HMRC to agree to this new arrangement but again Whyte didn’t come up with the cash.
The “small tax bill” is now standing at just more than £4million and was also a factor in forcing last week’s insolvency event.
Question for auldheid (and others) on here who probed the awarding of a Euro licence to rangers for THIS season.
If I remember correctly,the thrust of the argument was thus.
A team should not be granted a Euro licence if they have an outstanding,unpaid,overdue bill to a tax authority.
There is however a “get out” clause if a club in such a position comes to an agreement with the tax authority to pay the bill.
Apparently,rangers had such an arrangement for the “wee” tax bill.
However,Article 66(?) of the Euro rules addresses what should happen if a club defaults/reneges on the agreement ie no licence or licence withdrawn.
They later,much much later lodged an appeal against the whole bill (having previously only contested the penalty element)
This was done AFTER they had commenced playing in Europe
The extract from the DR article above appears to confirm that Whyte reneged on that agreement (also contrary to the sale deal with murray)
Does this now confirm that rangers were awarded a Euro licence through deception?
Is this subject part of the terms of reference for the sfa inquiry?
Question for Paul67.
Paul,I don’t know if you agree with my interpretation of this matter and,if so,you think it worthy of inclusion in any future article or communication with your contacts?
In the midst of so many amazing events in these tumultuous times,it would be easy to forget or ignore this issue,but I continue to hold very strong views on this and suggest it could/should be used if/when the game starts to get even dirtier (as it no doubt will)
Best Regards
medtim
Want to send the earlier excellent summary of this increasingly ‘visible’ situation to Private Eye. But I want to send a pic with it.
Does anyone have a photo of Craig Whyte in a London night club, wearing a vest, standing beside a nice lady and balancing a brillo pad on his head?
Well, according to this morning’s Daily Mail the reason Craig Whyte admitted to the Ticketus deal is because they “exclusively revealed” the story yesterday.
I was just trying to remember exactly how long it was since I first read all of the details on this site and others.
BRTH 08.45
That sir has put a spring in my step this fine day now its over to RTC for a quick look before mass,
Have a great day fellow tims and keep enjoying the story that keeps giving.
HAIL HAIL
new article posted.
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon says:
22 February, 2012 at 09:53
Said the same thing to my wife,read about these things weeks
ago.
She is still giving me the ‘you’re a saddo ‘ look.
Doc
I still await a reply from Donohue. Maybe copying in Ed Miliband and the English FA has put the cat amongst the pigeons.
MWD
Jimtim – alright mate? Did you just compare TinyTim to a fat lady….?!
T4
On the Celtic team right now –
There were lots of positives against Hibs (Stokes’ and Mulgrew’s contributions, and the performance of the three subs especially) but we can learn more from the negatives.
For me, Sunday’s game proved conclusively that Matthews needs a proper partner down the right. He does not play well as a lone fullback in 4-3-3 and Cha, for all his shortcomings, should be considered if Lenny opts to go with this formation.
Although we started as 4-4-2 on Sunb, Forrest soon switched positions, going advanced LM, or joining in attacks behind the strikers. This left Matthews on his own, and he never tried running with the ball, choosing instead to attempt a risky pass inside which most of the time did not come off.
Equally, Forrest has been given that ‘roaming’ role three times this season – against Udinese (H), Atletico (H) and on Sunday. It doesn’t suit him as he is unable to retain possession. He is a typical wide midfielder and that’s it.
the mps no that the huns have no chance of getting there accounts in order so on accounts means no europe, so they will happily try and get us kicked out too, it in there mentality there hatred runs deep remember
Just wondering whether Kojo and Philvis will be sparing us from further instalments of nonsense today
Personally a CQN lowpoint for me..
Madmitch
Check out George Carlins take on capitalism on youtube.
“The upper class dont work, take all the money.
The middle class do all the work, but the upper class take all their money.
The lower class are just there to scare the sh*te out of the middle class and keep them going to their work.”
No matter what else happens when the dust settles from this farce very serious questions have to be asked of the 2 bodies who are empowered with governing our game.
In recent times we have had insolvency events at 4 major clubs. Now this one, if you believe the press, threatens the entire game. I can’t think of any other league that has had such wanton financial vandalism surrounding it.
The clubs themselves obviously cannot be trusted to run their companies in a fit and proper manner therefore we need strong governance to do this for them so the clubs that do behave correctly are not punished by the acts of sociopaths and charlatans.
We need to look at the German model. We need to cap wages against turnover. We need to have rigorous Fit and Proper person rules, and apply them. We need to have unequivocal rules regarding paying your dues to the government. Clubs should be made to sign a warrant giving the national body permission to query the Tax status of a club at any time they want. Accounting standards and practices should be set at the National level to prevent people reverting to archaic practices to inflate asset values.
All this is basic stuff. All this should already be getting done as a matter of course but we are being failed by the 2 bodies charged with preventing this happening.
The SPL and the SFA basically need to bloody grow up, grow a pair, and start doing what they should have been doing from the start which is govern the professional game in our country. The politicians and the media would have you believe football is paramount to the economy, that Rangers are the fabric of this. Well for now we will take that at face value. If this is true Mr Salmond stop chasing the unionist vote for saving Tax Dodgers FC and start forcing the 2 bodies charged with governing this game, which you have placed such cultural importance on, to behave like a governing body and not a bowling club in Ayrshire.