I don’t know anything about Bill Miller’s connections, neither does anyone else apparently, but we can be sure of one of two things.
Miller’s convoluted proposal is wholly dependent of him working in concert with Craig Whyte. As owner of Rangers Football Club PLC, Whyte would stand to be an equity partner in the newly merged company (Miller has made no offer for his shares).
This option would not be possible unless Whyte and Miller are working together.
Miller’s proposal blows a whole the size of Ibrox through the notion that Rangers recent legislative troubles were all down to Craig Whyte who would soon no longer be part of the club. He is an integral part of the advertised strategy (no matter how unlikely you reckon that strategy is to play out).
The SFA Judicial Appeals Panel must not be intimidated into thinking otherwise.
If Miller has taken a genuine punt (figuratively speaking, I hear he declined to pay the exclusivity bond) without doing a deal with Whyte, his advances will be rejected and Whyte will no doubt take legal action in the coming days to further protect his assets – you don’t think moving the floating charge to a different offshore company last month was to boost Caribbean tourism do you?
In this case, Duff and Phelps would be unable to conclude a deal to sell Rangers and would have to prepare for this scenario soon. I reckon there is at least a 50% chance this will be the case.
More later, time permitting, ahead of the CSA Rally tonight!!
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
The graphic below is just for a flick through, to read the magazine go here to it’s dedicated site.
301 Comments- Pages:
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Podium
I can’t believe it!
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
FTSFA
Hail Hail
Quick note to let all those taking part know that this weekends fixtures are now up on the TKF website.
Apols for the short notice this week.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Podium!
Yeah, I know, I’m not first, second or third… I just like the word…
PO-DEE-UM!
If Miller can’t get the assets transferred to a Newco his deal is dead. Can the admins somehow negate Craig Whyte’s charge on them? They’ve talked about it but as far as I can see have taken no action. A court case would be long and expensive – and they don’t have a lot of time or money.
Looking fwd to the CSA rally tonight.
Will be to catch up on the latest there too.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
I would like to try a little experiment with the help of CQNers. Below is a letter (that I’ve posted here before) to Graham Speirs challenging him to come up with a statement about what Rangers stand for. The original was written in 2008 and no reply was received,possibly because he never got the letter.
Last week via Radio Clyde to whom I e mailed it, I was told it would be handed to Speirs personally. The letter is below. I Tweeted Speirs earlier as follows. ” Any chance you will respond to challenge in my letter handed to you on R Clyde to define what Rangers stand for?”
My request is that you Tweet Speirs @Grahamspeirs and Simply ask
” Will you respond to Auldheid’s challenge to define what Rangers stand for? Letter delivered via R Clyde last week.” It fits the 140 character limit.
Either that or Retweet mine to Speirs above. If we must have a Rangers lets see what kind of beast a Newco will be.
Date: 17 Oct 2008
Dear Mr Spiers
In reading what Celtic Chairman John Reid said in his statement to the Celtic AGM on the singing of The Famine Song, where he defined who Celtic are and what they stand for (see in bold below), I thought his statement begged the question of Rangers:
Just exactly who are Rangers and what do they stand for?
As a Celtic supporter I have my own often biased and cynical views but I was seriously wondering could Rangers come up with a statement about themselves about who they are and what they stand for that would not suffer greatly when compared to Celtic’s?
I ask because whilst I agree with Dr Reid that we are NOT the same at this point in time, I see that not as something to crow over but as a matter of regret. Perhaps if Rangers could define themselves in the same positive terms, which might mean accepting and stating that past attitudes were mistaken, they might create a more solid foundation to move onwards and upwards from.
I have taken the time to write to you because I admire the courage and clarity with which you have dealt with the behavioural issue of the worst element in the Ranger’s support and hope that in asking the question you might be prompted to
a) Make an attempt at defining the ideal answer
b) Assess just how far short of that ideal Rangers are falling so that the gap can be positively closed.
c) Publish your views.
Yours faithfully
Auldheid (real name used)
John Reid’s Statement at Celtic AGM 2008
Why did you decide to speak out about ‘The Famine Song’ and is it important that the club make sure that our supporters protect the integrity of Celtic’s name?
I spoke out about it because this is a pretty vile song and I don’t think that any reasonable person who has read the words of this song can see it as anything other than a pretty vicious, racist song. It combines racism and sectarianism and goes beyond a lot of other things that we have seen in the past. That’s one of the reasons why I spoke out and I also come from Irish and Scottish descent myself, so that’s the main reason.
But there is a bigger and wider reason as well and that is, the nature of this club. We are proud of the fact that we have Scottish origins and Irish heritage and we are never going to deny that. We will defend that and that is not a cause for shame, it’s a cause for recognition and celebration. Indeed our very name ‘Celtic’ is about the unity of the Scottish and Irish people. It stands against those who would divide, discriminate and oppose those two entities. And because we start from that basis of the unity of peoples then we have always been open and inclusive as a club.
That’s why traditionally we have never discriminated. That’s why our board, our shareholders, our footballers and our footballing heroes come from all sorts of different backgrounds, religions, ethnic groups and do so internationally. That’s why I said last year that whatever differences we have when we come into this club we leave them at the door because we believe truly, in a Scotland that is one bit of many cultures and is way beyond now being Scots and Irish. That is our stance, therefore we have to speak out when we see racism or sectarianism being practised and of course, if we are going to do that we have to practise what we preach.
We have to be careful, from our own point of view and that’s why I am absolutely delighted that our fans in recent years have had accolades from the world football authorities, from the European football authorities and let me say when I point out that there may be a minority who are transgressing our own rules, that they are our own rules. I don’t know any Celtic fans who have been chanting racist slogans or anything of that nature, so I am not comparing like with like here. But I am saying that we have got to be whiter than white and that we have to explain to and educate everybody at this club, including that tiny minority which at away games sometimes leaves us exposed to those who would attempt to say that we are all the same. We aren’t all the same, but we have to make sure that that is evident to everybody. That’s the nature of Celtic Football Club.
BeijingBhoysBrigade
Always a tricky one on who to let go.
Depends who Neil wants to bring in and where he sees them playing. He can then make a decision on who he wants to let go.
I like the look of the boy Rhodes but the problem we have is that if Spurs or some other English club want him they can pay more in a fee and pay better wages for him to sit in the stand.
Ki is not a player I would instantly want to go but I guess if the money was right everyone has their price. I would keep Hooper at all costs. Best striker in Scotland. Still don’t think he gels with anyone better than Stokes but they are still not prolific. Would he benefit from a target man? Stokes and Hooper are good together but in the big games I feel they struggle slightly. Just my own opinion. Sami is the man for Europe and I would play Hooper up top with Sami in a free role.
Neil has always done pretty well in the transfer market but with Izzy looking at playing in the olympics I think we need to get some cover for defence in the summer. I would keep big Dan as well. The big man was coming onto a game when he got injured. I think we lost some key matches after that. The game at Ibrox was a great example of him not being there (under appreciated is Big Dan). I think FF likes Dan to be there for experience.
Cha can go for me. Own goal in Rennes (laughing), penalty and red card at Ibrox when he was out of position and outpaced (lauging). You wouldn’t catch Mark Wilson laughing at something like that he wouldn’t be out of position either.
I trust Lenny to get it right. I would like to see Watt get more games before the poor Bangura. Don’t know why he was brought in but I’m sure he will get better.
The Pole is going back to Turkey apparently. Brozek looked OK but not worth the cash for me. We should have got Sammon when he was at Killie. Cracking big player, cheap and good in the air. Would have done me for the SPL.
LB
Read it 1st. HH
Gordon_J – The BBC business correspondent said last night it could be possible to invalidate the charge, and it would not necessarily be a long case, however he doesn’t see under what grounds it could be done. I believe Prof Hillier from Strathclyde Uni tweeted something similar.
From previous post
ernie lynch on 4 May, 2012 at 11:51 said:
Trying hard to stop it, but not prepared to go to the extreme lengths it would take to ensure that it was definitely stopped.
>>>
I have to agree with you here.
When the Newco/Prepack option was touted as a viable one, there was a lot of bluster on here that the club should threaten to resign if it were to come to pass. The problem with that option is, like it or not, Celtic FC is a PLC. The board have a responsibility to their shareholders to act in a way that will protect the interests of these shareholders.
Resigning from the league (thereby killing your major revenue stream) is not in the interests of your shareholders. UNLESS….
they have an alternative business plan in place that would represent longer term success for investors. Such as:
Moving to English Championship/League 1/League 2/Blue Square etc
Reviving the idea of the North Atlantic League and moving to that
Embark on a 3 year ‘Harlem-Globetrotters’ world tour
whatever. A plan that demonstrates ‘we will ensure our club with grow and the business will grow.’
Basically, if the board is going to talk the talk (Threaten to resign) they have to be able to walk the walk (Be in a position to actually resign and still be successful)
I doubt very much that they have put any such plans in place unfortunately, which is why I think your 3rd option is the most likely position they find themselves in now.
I Would Like
I would like to stick my tongue out
Put my middle digit high in the air
Pull my ears out as far out as I could
Roll about laughing on the flair
I would like to pull my trousers down
Do a braveheart for the press
Pee all over the establishment
Couldn’t make much more of a mess
I would like to be a preferred bidder
Make a mockery of all the rules
Take in the media, spl and sfa
Because let’s face it, they’re all fools
Paul – keep up th egood fight!!!
The RFC administrators were planned to be up in court this morning in Edinburgh.
Any news about that?
For example, were they asked any probing questions about the proposed sale process?
Celtic: Neil Lennon named manager of month for April
Celtic’s Neil Lennon has been named the Clydesdale Bank Premier League manager of the month for April.
Lennon guided his side to four consecutive league wins last month and saw his side confirmed as SPL champions.
Celtic began April with victory at home to St Johnstone, following it up with a 6-0 win away to Kilmarnock.
Lennon’s side then defeated Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park before another 3-0 victory in the Old Firm derby.
Paul67
So Duff&Duffer were basically making it all up yesterday to stop the bares doing a pitch invasion and sit-in at ibrox.
More holes in this deal than Rab C Nesbitt’s vest.
Hi guys
Just one wee note on Paul’s above post, relating to the magazine. I posted yesterday what all the buttons on the top right of the magazine display screen do, but I never pointed out the most important one. The graphical representation at the start of the article is in fact fully capable of being read from there. You only have to press the “full screen” button (the one which looks like a wee TV) and there you have it.
Hope that’s useful to some of you.
bbcsportsound Lennon nets April manager award: Four consecutive league wins see Celtic’s Neil Lennon named the Clydesdale Bank… bbc.in/L4NwkK
18 minutes ago
Lifted from twittttttttter
BigjoeJustHadfirstSolidFoodsinceSunday
RogueLeader,
Yes it is possible – but would Whyte challenge it in court? I think he would. And either he would win, as you say there is no reason to do it, or it would tie things up for a while.
I don’t know how long a case would take – it might be more complex that it seems. Why does Whyte have a charge? How much examination of his purchase deal, the Ticketus deal, etc., would be required?
Jelly And Gelato on 4 May, 2012 at 12:36 said:
If Celtic let it be known that they intended to resign if a Newco is allowed straight back into the SPL, then its the SPL itself that’s dead. Seen to be not only backing cheating, but encouraging it, and with no TV deal or major sponsor it couldn’t continue.
The SFA would be forced to step in and, under scrutiny from Monsieur Platini & UEFA, sort out Scottish football, ensuring a structure which meets UEFA financial fair play regulations and a rule book that hammers teams who cheat. We wouldn’t need to go anywhere else, we’d still be the main player in Scottish football.
http://www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=s2&newsid=11317
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) notes that preferred bidder status has been granted to Bill Miller.
The SPL will now continue discussions with Mr Miller and his team.
No further comment will be made at this time.
————————————————————————
Continue
what as opposed to start or commence
Mmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………………..
Hail Hail
Paul67
Just another little hurdle for Miller during “due diligence”. hah.
Rangers players contracts are protected by TUPE which means that if the players agree to move to the Newco their contracts have to be honoured. The one’s with 5 year contracts will want them to continue.
What are the chances Miller has even heard of TUPE and is willing to be bound to an outlay Rangers already cannot afford?
So if craigy’s ownership of thems means nothing and d&p can sell his property without his consent or profit. Them I can sell my neebors house without his consent and keep the profit?
Horses.
It won’t make you rich (indeed may leave you poorer) but in the 2.30pm Musselburgh, LIMIT UP should win. Currently trading at 5/4 or 11/8 he is unraced but is a very smart horse. I know having seen him gallop. If he transforms his gallop form to the track at the 1st time of asking – he is already home and hosed.
If the value does not appeal, add the following for a 9/2 dbl.
Douze points at 6/4 Wolves 5.10pm
Awe Naw , solution seems simple to me then – Neil should just stay in the stand – we win as many with him there as on the touchline ;-) Also , would make it kinda difficult for them to ban him again.
TTT , have you updated the table as well or are we ‘behind’ with that again ? ;-p
All those going tonight , enjoy . Hopefully the CQN and KANO tables will be close together – that will allow my lard-£$% to occupy the 2 seats i inadvertently booked .
Sanna
I think there will be a big gap in their display. The Fighting Fund, pee myself every time they mention that.
Stupid huns…
“50,000 blue cards will be distributed for the game although the Govan Rear and Front will have white cards which will show a giant number 12 as the teams walk out which will tie in with the number 12 jersey being given to the Rangers fans after this season.
“The cards will also have the letter from Ally McCoist thanking them for their support this season along with all the players’ names and their signatures.
“So although we all want to see Rangers do well and take three points against Motherwell thie weekend is about the fans and appreciating what they have done for the club in the past few months.”
Rangers fans will also be able to buy red, white and blue rosettes at tomorrow’s game as part of an initiative set up by the supporters clubs of Northern Ireland to raise funds for the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund.
The rosettes can be bought for a minimum donation of £3 each outside Ibrox and in the stadium’s concourses.
As someone has just pointed out on RTC, CW was banned from being a director for moving assets out of the reach of creditors. Isn’t this what’s going on here again?
I wouldn’t be surprised if CW and BM are in cahoots.
Not to mention D&P who CW insisted handled the admin procedure.
For those of a political bent, it is clear that the Lib Dems are getting gubbed in Scotland as they did in England. No surprise there.
My favourite result so far comes from Edinburgh:
“With nine of 58 seats declared it is clear the Lib Dem vote is down. In one ward their candidate got fewer first preference votes than Professor Pongoo, an independent penguin.”
Sanna
I like to see Lenny call the cheating bassas out :-)
Hail Hail
Auld neil Lennon heid @ 12:32 –
done. And happy to be of service!
Auld Neil Lennon heid – What do Rangers stand for?
“We Are The People” sums it up.
Once can reasonably infer from that slogan and the behaviour and demeanour of those who use it that they believe you’re not The People, you’re something alien and foreign to The People. Maybe something lesser than The People.
Also, like the Unionist community in Northern Ireland and Orangemen in Scotland, they would dearly like to appropriate Britishness as their own exclusive property: “quintessentially British”, Rule Britannia, inviting servicemen to wear their uniforms at Ibrox, etc.
Personally, I feel that the Union flag is my flag, the United Kingdom is my country, and I refuse to concede ownership of it to bigots. (thumbsup)
Jelly And Gelato on 4 May, 2012 at 12:36 said:
In which case the Board call an AGM and get the consent of the shareholders.
If they don’t get the consent then at least they’ve tried their best and we would be able to part on good terms.
ASonOfDan – “50,000 blue cards will be distributed for the game although the Govan Rear and Front will have white cards which will show a giant number 12 as the teams walk out which will tie in with the number 12 jersey being given to the Rangers fans after this season.
Does the referee have to be content with number 13?
Rangers fans will also be able to buy red, white and blue rosettes at tomorrow’s game as part of an initiative set up by the supporters clubs of Northern Ireland to raise funds for the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund.
They’d be better chipping in for a wreath. (thumbsup)
Big JOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
my lunch was a well fired roll. rare beef, red onions, peppers, red chilli peppers and sour cream.
I am only back on the solids too so this was my danger lunch.
gotta live !
Headtheball,
Moving assets implies transferring them or giving them to another company so that the creditors get nothing. What Miller is talking about is buying the assets. Rather than RFC having to liquidate and sell the assets, the money for the creditors would be there.
The issues are whether Whyte can stop this and if not whether Miller is offering a fair price.
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon – For those of a political bent, it is clear that the Lib Dems are getting gubbed in Scotland as they did in England.
What are the Lib Dems for? (thumbsup)