I’m out most of today and anticipate any number of events, so here’s a synopsis to help keep the various balls in play to mind. Apologies for the enormous number of ‘ifs’ but there are so many imponderables:
It is still possible that the Green consortium will propose a CVA. If they do, creditors will vote on it in mid-June and Rangers will be included in the SPL fixtures for next season, which will be issued before a creditors’ vote. Green will need to come up with some cash to keep the CVA alive long enough to get to the creditor’s vote, this is likely to be his most immediate problem.
If he finds the money to last until mid-June and the CVA is accepted (it won’t be) Rangers will emerge from administration and take their place in the SPL next season.
If Green cannot find a backer to pay player wages and other costs until a CVA verdict is reached, Rangers will be liquidated this week.
Pop!
Once the decision has been taken not to pursue a CVA, whoever has control of the stadium can apply to the SPL to acquire the league share previously held by Rangers for entry into the league next season.
The SPL have asked Rangers to produce information relating to the alleged double contract issue in advance of the SPL general meeting tomorrow, hereafter known as Prima Facie Day. League and member clubs will officially know if Rangers have rigged the system for over a decade, or not, or if they have refused to comply with SPL instructions.
Right now there is at least a 50% chance that Duff and Phelps will not attend the meeting on Wednesday and ask the SPL to reconvene next week to give them more time to conduct an asset sale. Before the meeting, be it tomorrow or next week, Green, the Blue Knights, or an as-yet unnamed bidder, will make the best offer for the stadium and apply to the SPL to enter a Newco.
Neil Doncaster’s proposal will be discussed, as will any other suggested way forward and a vote will be taken.
While the alleged cheating may influence how some members vote, the disciplinary and Newco vote matters will take different paths. Any disciplinary action will go through due process (you know how litigious they are).
Celtic will vote against Newco. My best source reckons we are still outnumbered and that more lobbying is needed, but in all honesty, no one really knows how the vote will go. We’ll come back to the consequences of this point.
If the SPL vote against Newco the story is likely to go quiet for a number of months. At some point in the future someone is likely to apply to the Scottish Football League for a Newco, based at Ibrox, to enter the league. Alternatively, an existing SFL club may buy or rent Ibrox, change name and move there.
If the SPL vote to allow a Newco access to the league next season, it will be subject to sanctions already imposed on Rangers, like the ban on player registrations (assuming the entire project is not killed by the club being thrown out of football as a result of the Court of Session case). It will also be subject to any sanctions imposed due to the alleged cheating for over a decade.
Rangers currently have around 40 players registered. If the company goes into liquidation all players can leave as free agents. A Newco would be able to retain any players who didn’t want to leave, however, any player able to attract a competitive offer is likely to leave. TUPE laws require the new employer (Newco) to maintain pay and conditions of any staff transferring from Rangers who choose to join Newco.
If a Judicial Panel find Rangers subverted Scottish football for over a decade, any Newco awarded Rangers SPL share would be liable for Rangers punishment. This may well be expulsion from the SFA. There is no set timescale for such hearings although the SFA have a new and faster process.
To summarise the (known) unknowns:
Charles Green doesn’t know if creditors will accept a CVA and will need to pay to find out. He doesn’t know how the SPL will vote or what punishment a Judicial Panel would impose if Rangers are found to have cheated.
The SPL still don’t know if they will have an application to consider, and if they do, who it will come from. They also don’t know how a Judicial Panel will punish Rangers or a Newco.
The SFA know nothing, apart, perhaps, from what school their staff went to.
Craig Whyte, Charles Green and his investors, the Blue Knights, Rangers management, players, staff and fans don’t know if there will be any football team playing at Ibrox again.
None of them know the most intriguing question of all, what is the next thing to arrive from left field (unknown, unknowns)? No one believes the story is at an end.
So what about Celtic?
A future within Scotland is no longer tenable, no matter what happens. Rangers are a busted flush. They are either dead, fatally wounded or completely trashed. The SPL is, to put it mildly, flawed. We have outgrown the game here socially, morally and economically. Scottish football holds nothing for us apart from straightforward access to the Champions League. The possible vote and on-going inquiries will change nothing in this respect.
Celtic will have a future but it must be beyond Scotland. It’s time to find another league and move.
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Tomthelennytim- thebhoy and I are going to Leeds for the Test match in August.
Any places you would recommend for something to eat and a beer or two after the game? We’re staying in the City centre.
Have been working more or less non stop for the last three days- still on catch up with most of the news. The thought came to me, concerning a move to another league, that Holland would in some ways be a decent shout: its only just over an hour from Glasgow. The Eredivisie has giants like PSV, Feyenoord, Ajax. Then of course fairly decent sized clubs like AZ, Heerenveen, Utrecht and FC Twente all with well over 20,000 capacity stadiums. We would add massive value to the Dutch league- of that there is no question. Old rivalries would remain in the past. Sometimes there is no choice. But new rivalries- in some ways just as intense as the old- would develop organically over time; although very better reasons than just sectarianism.
Its all a dream of course: UEFA would never allow it to happen.
Mort:
Thank-you
If it does happen: Dont clubs reserve the right to opt-out of Europe?
That would solve the playing each other scenario, same as in Spain clubs cant be promoted because of parent clubs.
Still doesn’t solve the initial problem mind you.
What about the English loan system though, where you can send players out for free to other clubs outside the regular transfer window? That would get around the sharing players problem.
Celtic Lions, I like this idea.
charles fenian’s green army
charles fenian’s green army
charles fenian’s green army
DBBIA – there are loads mate. Some are nearer the ground in Headingley but it depends on the weather. Leeds in August…….
Give me a shout nearer the time and I’ll recommend a couple for you and if you have the time/inclination I’ll try and meet up for a couple.
Some play on words :
BBC Website headlines :
‘Rangers’ administrators upbeat over CVA proposal.’
Actual words :
‘Rangers’ admin istrators have told BBC Scotland they are still unable to reveal details of their company voluntary arrangement proposal.
Duff & Phelps have been preparing a pence in the pound offer since Charles Green agreed a deal to buy Rangers.
However, joint administrator Paul Clark says he is optimistic the two biggest creditors will agree to the CVA being sent out on Tuesday.
“We very much hope it will be accepted,” Clark told BBC Scotland.’
Now, I never knew that upbeat was synonymous with optimistic and hope. I might be hopeful and optimistic about winning the lottery, but am I upbeat about it? Er, naw!
Tom -that’s great, the game is the first weekend in August, we arrive on the Friday evening and go back on the Sunday. Looking forward to it, I’ll be in touch.
Ok here’s is my master plan for world domination:
1. A new UK Super league is formed say comprising of the top 20 teams in England.
2. The winner and runner up of the top league in England ( lets call it the Championship) gets promoted to the UK Super League.
3. The teams 3-6 in the Championship play off to get one winner
4. This playoff winner then plays a two leg playoff with the winner of the SPL. The winner then gets promoted to UK Super League.
5. The 3 bottom teams in the UK Super League get relegated back to their home league.
6. The SFA allocate european places based on the highest placed Scottish teams whether in SPL or UK Super League.
This allows :
1. Both home nations to maintain their identity and european places – 4 english CL places not at risk
2. Generates more TV interest in SPL, especially around play-off time
3. Gives Celtic their get-out of Scotland – if they are good enough to beat champioship teams.
4. Gives new incentive to lower SPL teams if CFC get to UK Super League – winner of league get to play-off for chance at Super League.
Thoughts all? Come on pick some holes, I know there are some
chasbhoy on 29 May, 2012 at 12:00 said:
A mere typographical error, my friend. The headline should have read:
“Rangers’ administrators beat up over CVA proposal”
Cirenbhoy
Only one wee flaw. If its a UK Super League where are the teams from Wales & Northern Ireland?
DBBIA – so you just have Sat tickets?
Sounds like we could get a night out from it then.
TTLT- yes, all we could escape for.
greenjedi
Good point! Well we could eitehr rename it ( which would be easier) or:
Wales league winner and NI league winner play off for the right to a play off with the SPL league winner before going on to play off with the Championship play off winner.
Thats a lot of play offs = a lot of Sky interest.
Ciren Bhoy
Like it! But won’t happen as a) reduces chance of Championship clubs entering this superleague and b) we’ll pose too much of a threat for places with the lower EPL teams
Celtic as a club has always been an innovator. We should proudly embrace our role as a mover & shaker in the game. The Champions League has become a cabal of protectionism for the biggest clubs from the biggest nations. We need to fight against that. The ultimate act of protest would be to break away & form a new league. The Atlantic League would be great if we could persuade nations like Portugal, Holland & Belgium into it. The big Dutch clubs alongside Anderlecht, Bruges, Standard Liege; with Benfica, Porto, Sporting, Braga & the larger Scandinavian clubs. Its the aggregate TV audience this would generate: between 60-80 million. the same as one of the bigger European nations that govern the protectionist monopoly of the status quo.
Its all very complex of course. UEFA would no doubt ban all the break away clubs/countries from their competitions & that would lead to problems with attracting players etc. But something has to be done to smash the bloated self-interest of the old G-18 “super” clubs. before truly great clubs like Celtic, Benfica, Ajax, Feyenoord, Anderlecht, with great European pedigree are left irretrievably behind by the nouveau riche such as Chelsea, Man City, the Oligarch pet projects of the Eastern European clubs or even teams like Hoffenheim.
Another point is that (hopefully) in 2 years the UK will not exist as we now know it!
DBBIA @ 11 37.
Heysel 29 /05 /1985..
One of the dead was a young Sicilian who had told his parents he was going on a camping holiday to Malta with his mates…
Italian poet / actor -Walter Veltroni did a deeply moving 1 man theatrical performance based on his experiences of watching it unfold and then watching the game . It is called — When The Acrobat Falls , Enter the Clowns.
It includes this ——-
” Some call you drunken animals but I’ve never seen an animal drink “
Patrick27
Regarding a)
Assuming CFC make it to Super League at first attempt, then you would think that the Championship play off winner would have no problem beating the next best team in SPL – Hearts/DU…So limited impact for Champioship promotion
Regarding b)
I agree they wouldn’t like it, but the chance are it would only be Celtic in the Super League unless someone flukes the play-off. Again limited impact once it settles down
They would need to offset these risks with increased, gate receipts and TV revenue
traditionalist88 @ 11:23,
Interesting you mention Shamrock Rovers a club with enormous potential (& a great taste in Jersey) as has the Island of Ireland as a whole.
A Celtic league a la the rugby could be a great platform, getting teams like Swansea and Cardiff to leave the England might be difficult but it must be considered.
M Platini is apparently putting pressure on the SFA, WFA & FAI to put a bid together for the Euros, surely having another quality league and an area to host major tournaments in the UEFA regin must be good for all.
I’d like to see this thoroughly investigated.
SofTunis- I had one of the most depressing conversations in my life with a Glasgow taxi driver the following day. I asked him what he had thought of the game and the first thing he said was’ It was never a penalty’.
I don’t know who he supported but that sorry individual was a real hun.
Might try and take the kids to one of them if I can get time off work.
Hampden Park has been chosen as one of the iconic venues for the Olympic Football Tournament and will play host to some of the world’s best men’s and women’s teams over five days of action-packed competition.
Men’s fixtures
26 July: Spain v Japan and Honduras v Morocco
1 Aug: Egypt v Belarus
Women’s fixtures
25 July: USA v France and Colombia v Korea DPR
28 July: USA v Colombia and France v Korea DPR
3 Aug: Women’s quarter-final
I mayb be in Munich at the end of August.
I’d like to see Bayern but I get the feeling that it’s pretty hard to get tickets at the Allianz Arena as their matches are always a sell out.
Would anybody be able to answer?
Paul67
What do you mean “apart from straightforward access to the Champions League”?
Isn’t that rather a big thing?
Forget some far-fetched panacea about joining some other league. The Champions League *is* the other league.
Love etc,
Musters.
gorbalstam on 29 May, 2012 at 11:10 said:
I’d much rather we helped clean up Scottish football and stayed here. Isn’t getting out just running away from the bully? We have to stand up to these ‘peepil’ and tell them we’re here to stay.
==============================
I agree.
Kayal33 on 29 May, 2012 at 08:53 said:
>>>
Keep the info comin’,my friend. I want to hear more about our team,our players,our future. We have a great ethos at the core of our club & community and I want us to play somewhere we are given the respect we are due.
I said in a post last week exactly what Paul67 said at the end of his article. We have outgrown this nasty wee cabal of a football association,run for the benefit of one club and one club only. That club is not us. It is their for one reason only….to denigrate everyone and anything not of their bigoted outlook.
Anyway, I got quickly taken to task about how this move could be achieved.
How can I know that? I am a very small cog in the machine and I don’t have the brains to formulate the equation required to implement such a move.
But I feel the need for it in my bones,and,after all that we have learned,it seems the logical process. It certainly is something that needs consideration,and more intelligent Celtic people than me need to show us the way.
Thanks to Paul67 for such a good article and thanks to all of you for giving me the time of day.
HH !
I am sure that somewhere I read that one of the pre-conditions for HMRC to agree any deal (CVA) is that the agency involved have NOT been involved in activities such as witholding tax. Given that this is the precise event which forced RFCia into admistation I guess no CVA is even possible.
Whilst undertaking my morning ablutions listening to Radio 5 live a few days ago i was intrigued to hear a senior business analyst from one of the major finances house confidently predict that a European football super league would be exist within 10 years. I am adlibbing somewhat here but the crux of his assertion was that TV and the major clubs within European football will ensure it happens regardless of UEFA. He mentioned the usual suspects from Italy, Spain and the UK but interestingly along with teams from Holland, Germany , Portugal and Russia he mentioned Celtic as being a potential recruit to the European super league. Oh yes he did also mention Rangers (IA) but as we know hey will not be around in 10 weeks let alone in 10 years.
FingerscrossedCSC
Mad Vlad, really is quite mad!
VLADIMIR ROMANOV has aimed another broadside at former Hearts managers, players and employees whom he believes turned against the club. The Tynecastle owner branded them “traitors” and claimed they conspired to destroy his success.
The second Scottish Cup win of Romanov’s tenure earlier this month has not diluted the ire he reserves for anyone who speaks out against him. He said today that a media campaign aimed at destabilising Hearts was launched from the moment they threatened to win the SPL under George Burley in 2005.
Romanov indicated that this led to a lack of trust in UK-based football figures, forcing him to scour the eastern European market for coaches and managers. Primarily, he feels betrayed by those who worked inside Tynecastle and then criticised his regime after leaving.
“All are traitors,” he claimed. “Agents, fired coaches and players who were not required. Ex-employees became TV stars and combined into groups to participate in a campaign of lies against our club. On British Parliament TV – a global symbol of democracy – Lord Foulkes, a former Hearts director, cursed me.
“When the coaches, directors and agents took legal actions I realised the club was being destroyed from inside. I took unpopular decisions, to change Scottish specialists and launched the career of Valdas Ivanauskas. At one time I had to even appoint a coach and steward in Anatoly Korobochka.
“Rudi Skacel scored 16 goals during his first period with the club and was among the best scorers in the UK. But the traitors succumbed him for four years, when he scored just two goals. He returned to Hearts this season and scored 18 goals.
“I was sorry that a talented footballer lost the golden years of his career for a lot of money. Let him thank his agent for that service, which was also passed to George Burley. He became Scotland national coach, yet he couldn’t cope with Lithuanian national team.
“Hearts have brought through Lee Wallace, Christophe Berra, Eggert Jonsson, Andy Driver, David Templeton and many other players recently. We worked wonders with Skacel and at one point we had five players in the Scotland team, including Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon.
“To players who have taken enemy provocations and focused on the game, I say thanks.”
Romanov again criticised the Scottish media for what he claimed was a deliberate attempt to sabotage Hearts’ chances of success. “Seven years ago, when I bought Hearts, we won the Scottish Cup and earned second in the SPL in the first year of my management. The audiences in the stadium rose and the media called it the Romanov revolution.
“After the successful launch, the country’s championship began an organised campaign of defamation and destruction of the club and me as the owner. It was like the hero turned mad but if someone abnormal beats them, what does that make them?
“The media opinion changed around and a campaign began against Hearts like war. For this purpose, a group had been created for their opinion and only that was published. It turns out that, in Britain, an independent opinion within the media exists only in theory. Opinion is purchased for cash, as well as rules of business, culture, sports, politics.
“Then I discovered the will to fight for survival. I chose to fight and called them monkeys. I had to fight on two fronts, with the media in Scotland and the way it perverted the media in Lithuania. When the only noise from Hearts was about late payment of wages, this noise was repeated in Lithuania.
“However, when we won two Scottish Cups the Lithuanian mass media acted like they had seen or heard nothing. There was collusion between print and radio. I had to think not about results and saving the club but how to survive in the jungle.”
DBBIA ——
” Get those bodies back the full ten yards !
They’re covering up the advertising boards ! ”
Heysel Stadium – Chumbawamba .
” When the Referee blew for the start of the game , we only thought about football -the show must go on . ”
Michel Platini.
On the 10th anniversary of Heysel – Torino fans waved a big tifo —
” Thank you – Liverpool “
Is the Holy Goalie injured?
Poland Euro 2012 squad:
Goalkeepers: Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Bialystok), Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal), Przemyslaw Tyton (PSV Eindhoven)
Defenders: Sebastian Boenisch (Werder Bremen), Marcin Kaminski (Lech Poznan), Damien Perquis (Sochaux), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan).
Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Dariusz Dudka (Auxerre), Kamil Grosicki (Sivasspor), Adam Matuszczyk (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Adrian Mierzejewski (Trabzonspor), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Ludovic Obraniak (Bordeaux), Eugen Polanski (FSV Mainz), Maciej Rybus (Terek Grozny), Rafal Wolski (Legia Warsaw).
Forwards: Pawel Brozek (Celtic), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Artur Sobiech (Hannover 96).
Chairbhoy
Thanks, but I wasn’t actually implying that Shamrock Rovers had massive potential, becuase I don’t think that they do.
I was using them as an (extreme) example of a small but successful club in relation to Paul67’s recent comment that Celtic would become a ‘smaller but more successful club’ once the huns have been through the liquidiser.
I don’t want Celtic to become a smaller club- to avoid this we may have to get out of the SPL or maintain Champions League group stage football every season.
We have supporters clubs in every corner of the world and our ‘brand’ was ranked 37th in the world- for a team playing in a small country, thats enormous potential.
Shamrock Rovers have a nice jersey but are only massive in Tallaght(fornia) ;)
HH
gorbalstam and Robert Tressell
Great idea , standing up to the bully. In this country , that means standing up to the establishment , Government / police / justice system and Football authorities.
They are the bullies , all fighting for one team and to hell with the rest.
To stand up to this group we need outside help , UEFA – FIFA etc . Only then do we stand a chance.
ASonOfDan – Thanks for that bit of light relief from Vlad.
I didn’t know the Lithuanian media were also conspiring against Hearts. (thumbsup)
DIRTYMAC Thank you V much for the link.
SofTunis – 8 European finals held at Heysel before the disaster, even thought he place was a real dump. The bhoy and I saw Roumania v Italy there, at Euro2000.
There was a big English support there, obviously thinking that they were going to get through the group. Nearly one riot policeman [ plus dog] for every supporter.
kitalba on 29 May, 2012 at 09:56 said:
>>>
Wow…you are so right…join up the dots and we have…yes,a nest of vipers. And what you have reported is just one corner of a much bigger jigsaw.
Just what is it gonna take for the (alleged) criminal conspiracy that is Scum F.C. to be obliterated?
Back to read further,as I notice you have posted up some more! Good Mhan!
HH!
gorbalstam and RobertTressell
Forgot to add the MSM to that group of bullies
Mad Vlad used to stand in the Jungle!
Thought he was more the Main Stand type ;O
HH