Wednesday 12 September 2012

Finally The Herald break cover!!


Does Green actually buy this stuff? Let's take a look

For someone who claimed the Scottish Premier League was a really bad idea a few weeks ago, I found myself surprised that I felt the strong urge to defend my former organisation in the face of the bombast from Charles Green.
I truly hope by the time that this is read, someone officially representing the SPL will have done likewise. I ask myself, does Green actually buy this stuff? Let's take a look:
Claim 1 Rangers ceased to be subject to the SPL's rules when they were ejected from their league.
Fact Rangers oldco was not ejected from the SPL. The fact that Rangers went into liquidation automatically expelled them from the league. The SPL shareholders then decided not to make an exception and let them back in. Two very different things.
I truly hope by the time that this is read, someone officially representing the SPL will have done likewise. I ask myself, does Green actually buy this stuff? Let's take a look:
Claim 1 Rangers ceased to be subject to the SPL's rules when they were ejected from their league.
Fact Rangers oldco was not ejected from the SPL. The fact that Rangers went into liquidation automatically expelled them from the league. The SPL shareholders then decided not to make an exception and let them back in. Two very different things.
Claim 2 The outcome of the SPL's process will have no legal effect.
Fact What the SPL are deciding upon is whether their tournament and their trophy was assigned to the correct club in the years in question.
The SPL have every right to examine whether participants in their competition behaved within the rules. And if they find they haven't, they can apply their rule book as recourse. More Green nonsense.
I do, however, agree with him that "whatever decision they reach is a decision of the SPL". Indeed. But the SPL should be proud of that, and not hide behind the Law Lords.
The SPL are examining the conduct of the participants in their competition well before Rangers went into liquidation, in particular the conduct of the club then owned by Sir David Murray, with the club secretary role (in charge of those player registrations) held by Campbell Ogilvie (whatever happened to him?). Charles Green and Sevco have nothing to do with this. Whatsoever.
Claim 3 The new owners purchased all the business and assets of Rangers, including titles and trophies.
Fact Green said on June 2012 that if his CVA proposal was to fail (which it did) and Rangers were to be liquidated (which they are), "the history, the tradition, everything that's great about this club is swept aside".
Therefore he admits he has not purchased titles and trophies. Sevco has no titles and trophies.
By the way, Charles, I would not provoke commentators like me to dig this up, because what you said is not what the Rangers fans want to hear now, as you now correctly realise. Let it lie, Charlie, let it lie.
So, even one with a leaning towards Govan would argue that, under the most superficial scrutiny, Green's attack is less than robust. But sometimes you have to chuck a dog a bone. So, to be fair, Charlie is right with his complaint on the SPL's lack of consistency,
Green states: "The SPL took part in discussions regarding the new company's league status, where 'the EBT issue' would be dealt with as part of a package of sanctions which would be implemented in return for membership.
"We do not accept that people who are willing to come to an agreement on such matters then have a right to instigate a full-blown inquisition when matters do not unfold as they thought they would."
Sadly this falls into the general shambles of the management of the affair by the SFA/SPL. I made my own view clear on the leadership of both bodies in the summer. But I cannot see how the credibility of the current process on a simple point of law over false registration of players with Employee Benefit Trusts (being handled by independent top QCs) can be derailed by claims that the prosecutor behaved incoherently months earlier.
Good debating point, Charles, but it's not enough. Instead, all of us who love the game and who hold true sporting values in our hearts have a simple question: Did Rangers oldco gain unfair advantage by registering players on a basis where their full employment conditions were not declared to the SPL/SFA?
In my mind the answer is undoubtedly 'yes'. But let's not forget the lessons of Versailles: bloodlust rebounds.
The SPL enquiry punishment doesn't arouse great passion in me. And it shouldn't either for Celtic fans. For them I'd argue the victory is in the fact that their greatest rival died.
The 125-year long struggle ended with the collapse of the adversary. The war was won. Achilles vanquished Hector.
In closing, from Mark Anthony onwards history tells us that well-crafted oratory can influence the mob.
While Charles Green is no great speaker or statesman, I must admit, he is no dummy. And there is no doubt that his audience is the mob, whose money and favour he needs in order to exit the Rangers investment project with a financial return.
Stoking up hatred has always energised "the base", another example of which we saw in the Republican convention in these days.
Well done, Charles. Initial Public Offering of shares here we come.
For Scottish football, the days of enlightenment around the Tommy Burns funeral are long gone, and I fear the worst.
Posted by at No comments:

Monday 3 September 2012

Finally The penny drops para 26 and 27


Lawyers set to cash in as SPL and Rangers prepare for EBT battle

  1. AFTER avoiding punishment for comments, Rangers duo Charles Green and Ally McCoist could be soon back at Hampden as the EBT probe continues.
  2. CHARLES Green and Ally McCoist came through their latest confrontations with the authorities relatively unscathed. But they’re now bracing themselves for the real battle.
  3. Last week McCoist and Green were hauled before the SFA to answer disrepute charges and were extremely fortunate to be let off with slaps on their wrists.
  4. However, any relief was swamped by fears that last week’s fairly polite verbal exchanges might just have been the calm before the storm.
  5. This pair fully expect that pretty soon they’ll be forced to pay another visit to the game’s HQ.
  6. And next time they could be marching up the stairs with an army of Rangers fans right behind them.
  7. The SPL’s investigation into the use of EBTs at Ibrox and whether players had dual contracts may be about to bring some simmering resentments back to the boil. It could be very messy.
  8. Yet the governing body see it as a straightforward issue of seeking to uphold football justice. Well, of course they do. But Rangers suspect the entire process has become a bitter campaign to even old scores.
  9. And although an independent committee of experts on sports law will rule on the case, Rangers can’t be dissuaded from thinking they are under siege, that the SPL, or some people acting on that body’s behalf, are after only one thing.
  10. Actually, to be precise, it’s not one thing. Rangers are convinced it’s a handful of things. About five titles.
  11. They claim they’ve heard enough in meetings about this case to convince them there is a determination to have titles won by Rangers during the EBT years erased from the record books.
  12. Rangers’ lawyers Biggart Baillie have written to the SPL’s operations director Ian Blair seeking some clarification on a number of issues but haven’t received any replies.
  13. This is considered strange given the governing body have set aside a couple of days at the beginning of next week to deal with the issue.
  14. Perhaps Rangers should have addressed their correspondence to law firm Harper Macleod because they have been apppointed to probe allegations of dual contracts.
  15. But Rangers really should have known that. After all, Green and McCoist have been taken aback by the SPL’s vigour in tackling this case. Furthermore, it’s thought Rangers had been made aware that all enquiries relating to this case should have been addressed to the SPL’s lawyers.
  16. Not SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster, Blair or anyone else.
  17. This raises other questions. Is this a changing of the Hampden guard? Did we miss some sort of silent coup that deposed Doncaster and Blair?
  18. Rangers are wondering if it’s just coincidental the make-up of the independent committee is exactly as was suggested at a meeting in June. It was mentioned then that a panel of experts should have the final say and this group ought to have at least two members from outside Scotland.
  19. Soon afterwards the SPL announced their commission into EBT payments would be chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith and would also include Charles Flint QC and Nicholas Stewart QC.
  20. Exactly as was suggested at that meeting in June. You might want to ask who selected this trio but you know what, so what?
  21. This group’s integrity is beyond doubt even though you might come across all sorts of wild conspiracy theories if you are of a mind to trawl the internet. Thankfully I’ve better things to do and while some may not be convinced, I believe this commission will not be compromised and will find according to the evidence placed before them.
  22. However, other people, some of whom have been whispering in the background from the day Rangers lurched into administration, have allowed their own judgment to become a little clouded.
  23. It’s even been said that one or two close to the case have taken to blustering and getting all red and sweaty on occasion when challenged.
  24. Oh dear, could it be a tad personal with some of the loudest characters? Surely not.
  25. But I must say it is surprising that someone like Doncaster hasn’t stepped in and put some of the people involved in their places. He needs to take the lead if another collision between Rangers and the SPL is to be avoided because that is what lies around the next bend.
  26. McCoist and Green are committed to opposing any move to have history books rewritten even though they accepted they had to begin again as a new concern after Rangers, the club with history, slipped into liquidation and closed. That should mean the titles aren’t really any of their business.
  27. But on the other hand, the SPL refused to hand over £2m, which should have gone to Rangers for finishing second last season, pointing out that the club no longer exists.
  28. Yet, the SPL insist Green’s Rangers pay the old company’s football debts.
  29. The SPL also now say there is no such thing as prize money. It’s “club fees”, stupid. But aren’t the amounts based on the finishing positions of each club? Yes. So, the higher up the SPL the more you get? Yes.
  30. That means then that clubs are awarded monies for their efforts? Yes.
  31. And is an award not the same as a prize? Eh ... well ... no, now go away. We’ve a mess to make worse.
  32. There are many contradictions in this case and the SPL have not exactly covered themselves in glory.
  33. So you’d have thought they’d be seeking to close this Rangers case quickly and had they acted way back in October 2010, when HMRC made it clear to them they were investigating the use of EBTs, the job might have been concluded long ago.
  34. In fact, if they and the SFA had been remotely competent they’d have asked Rangers about these payments when they first appeared on their annual accounts about 12 years ago.
  35. But, as usual, our leaders were last to spring into action and in their determination to make it appear as if they’re now in control, they’ve made a real backside of things.
  36. As it stands Green doesn’t even know if he or his club will be in the dock or someone from a company which no longer exists.
  37. He has asked for clarification but hasn’t been given any.
  38. Someone is going to combust with rage before this is over and Doncaster should be aware that unless there is a change in approach the division between Rangers and the SPL could widen to a chasm which even Brunel couldn’t span.
  39. Believe it or not, this whole thing could get messier yet. Green, I believe, has stated that even if Rangers start galloping through the divisions they will not return to the SPL.
  40. It’s time for calm heads and compromise but it looks as though the only people who’ll get something from the process are the lawyers.
  41. It’s anyone’s guess how much Harper Macleod are making out of this saga but isn’t it bizarre the way a poverty-stricken game like ours always finds money for legal eagles?
  42. Even stranger when we know UEFA will jump all over any association if one of their members dares to turn to the law of the land for help.
  43. Yet another of Scottish football’s many contradictions, I’m afraid.
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday 1 September 2012

Lifted from: http://www.itsanewclub.blogspot.co.uk/





NOT A NEW CLUB? EXPLAIN THIS LOT THEN... 
by @retroscot

> “140 years of history is formally ended” (The Herald)



> As a result of appalling mismanagement, Rangers fans “no longer boast an unbroken line to the past...The emotional ties will remain forever but historical strings are severed. ” (Daily Record)


> ”The Rangers Football Club PLC is a public limited company registered in Scotland (company number: SC004276) and was incorporated on 27 May, 1899. When the current company is officially liquidated, all of its corporate business history will come to an end. When this happened to Airdrieonians in 2002, all of the trophies, titles and records associated with the club were discontinued and a new club, Airdrie United FC, took over. Airdrieonians' official history ended in 2002, then Airdrie United's took over.” (BBC)


> Charles Green’s Consortium did not take over Rangers FC PLC. Nor did it buy shares in it. It bought the trophies and other assets of Rangers FC PLC and formed a brand new club which is now called The Rangers FC.


> The Rangers FC are not entitled to any prize money from previous Rangers FC PLC campaigns. They have never been relegated. They had to pay a fee to join the SFL. They do not have a 10pt penalty applied to them, as the Club is not  in administration.


> The Rangers FC are not banned from Europe.  UEFA deem all new clubs must play three years of football before they are eligible for Europe.  The Rangers FC are not eligible to play in Europe for at least three years, even if they win the SPL.


> Throughout Rangers FC PLC’s administration process, a CVA was the favoured option “to safeguard 140 years of history and avoid liquidation.” The CVA failed.

______________________________________________

Either The Rangers are a new club, or corrections are needed from this lot ...


19/02/12 - THE OBSERVER  - “The current worst-case scenario has Rangers being liquidated and a new club rising from the ashes but being made to start anew from the fourth tier of Scottish football.”



21/02/12 - EVENING TIMES - “Rangers will exit either through an agreement with their creditors – a Company Voluntary Arrangement – or by liquidation. The latter represents a break with 140 years of history”



02/03/12 - THE SUN - “It’s more than two weeks since owner Craig Whyte plunged Rangers into administration — putting 140 years of history and tradition at risk”



04/03/12 - DAILY RECORD - “Last night Group 9 Sports released a statement on their website indicating that, if successful, they’d aim to emerge from administration by setting up Rangers as a new company.  Kennedy will not stand back and allow the club’s 140 years of history to be wiped out. And he insisted any such move could put Rangers out of existence completely.”



05/03/12 - STV - “Administrators Duff and Phelps raised the possibility over the weekend of the current club being liquidated, meaning a new club could be formed to inherit Rangers’ assets”



03/04/12 - SKY SPORTS - “"Liquidation is no good for Rangers. It will end 140 years of history.” (Craig Whyte)


03/04/12 - SKY SPORTS - “The Blue Knights hope to avoid liquidation, which would leave any new club arising from the current club's carcass facing a three-year ban from European football and open to further domestic sanctions even if they retain Scottish Premier League status”



13/04/12 DAILY RECORD - “Some Rangers fans believe the club's history, which would end with liquidation, must be protected but there is a shameful part of that history which they should want to forget and any newco should make it clear a new beginning means exactly that.  A new club open to all from the very beginning.” (Jim Traynor)



30/04/12 DAILY RECORD - “A new club would be banned from Europe for three years and the Scottish Premier League clubs are meeting today to discuss points and financial penalties for such a club”.



02/05/12 - DAILY EXPRESS - “BRIAN KENNEDY and his Blue Knights have gone on the offensive and claimed their crusade to save Rangers is the only one on the table that will guarantee to safeguard 140 years of history AND AVOID LIQUIDATION.”



03/05/12 - STV - “On an ongoing basis the [old] company that continues to be in administration will be cleansed of all its former problems and will at a later date be reunited, after a CVA, with the new club Mr Miller is going to create.” (Paul Clark, Joint Administrator)



29/05/12 - THE SUN - ““Without Rangers the league would be knackered. I know a lot of supporters are saying they should be liquidated and come back as a new club in division three.” (Stuart McCall)



31/05/12 - THE SUN - “Charles Green attended the SPL meeting and has a £5.5m deal in place to form a new club should the CVA fail.”



12/06/12 - THE GUARDIAN - “The liquidator overseeing the current club's extinction”...“Whether Rangers, as a new club formed by Green, are accepted into the SPL, and on what terms, is to be determined by the clubs.”



12/06/12 - DAILY TELEGRAPH - “Rangers in crisis: the final whistle sounds on Rangers’ 140 years of history”



13/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “THE formation of Rangers in March 1872 was a walk in the park – its death in June 2012 a shambolic slide into the abyss...However, as a result of appalling mismanagement they no longer boast an unbroken line to the past. The emotional ties will remain for ever but historical strings are severed. In time, they may weave a new history that might start with the Third Division title in 2013.”



13/06/12 - THE SUN - “The really sickening thing about all of this is it was avoidable. All it would have taken for that was for someone to be honest. Pay your dues, give the tax man what he is owed.  Instead Rangers have died.” (Richard Gough)



13/06/12 - DAILY RECORD (Jim Traynor) - “They’ll slip into liquidation within the next couple of weeks with a new company emerging but 140 years of history, triumph and tears, will have ended.  No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers as we know them died.  They were closed and a newco must start from scratch.”



13/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “the reality is that in technical terms, the doors are closed on the history of Rangers...There will be plenty of pedants who feel the old Rangers are now gone, and technically they are right.” (Kevin Drinkell)



13/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “Green is poised to push ahead with a £5.5million deal to buy the club's assets and form a new club, which would need to apply for membership of the Scottish Premier League and be excluded from Europe for three years.”



13/06/12 - THE SUN - “I wanted to be able to confirm that, yes, their derbies really WERE the greatest game on earth, rather than tell the truth that they were bile-flecked re-enactments of centuries-old religious wars. It’s a cause of genuine sadness that this has never come to pass, so maybe that’s one of the things new owner Charles Green could look at as he rebuilds a new club from the rubble of liquidation”



14/06/12 - BBC NEWS - “Charles Green has completed his purchase of Rangers' ASSETS in a deal worth £5.5m.”




15/06/12 - THE HERALD - “Air of unreality as 140 years of history is formally ended in less than nine minutes...The Rangers creditors drifted in through Exit 50 at Ibrox Stadium just before 10am and by 10.09am they were on their way out. In those few minutes 140 years of history had been rubbed out”.



15/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “PFA Scotland insist Rangers players are not obliged to join Charles Green’s new club under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE), which ensure all employees are given the chance to join the new company under the same terms.”



17/06/12 - THE SUN - “Union reps at PFA Scotland believe the new club has no hold over anyone who doesn’t want their contract to transfer across from the now defunct Rangers.”



19/06/12 - BBC NEWS - “"Sevco 5088 would not be able to apply to change its name to 'The Rangers Football Club Ltd' until either the original company is fully dissolved, a process which can take about a year to complete, or the receivers give the go-ahead for the name change to take place.”



19/06/12 - BBC NEWS - “We wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune” (Walter Smith)



23/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “And I believe concern over the new club's finances has prompted Brian Kennedy to make a £5.6million bid for a controlling interest.”



24/06/12 - DAILY RECORD - “The uncertainty surrounding the new club, especially in terms of what league they’re going to play in, has been a major factor in my decision (to leave) ...I have concerns about who is in charge of the new club...Will I ever come back and support the new club? I haven’t thought about it.” (Steven Naismith)



26/06/12 - SKY SPORTS - “With the new club unlikely to gain enough votes to allow them entry into the SPL by fellow clubs at the League's AGM on July 4 uncertainty over their future is growing amongst players.”



01/07/12 - THE OBSERVER - “Of course a new club will rise from the ashes of Rangers FC.”



04/07/12 - BBC - “Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League this season.  SPL chairmen met at Hampden to vote on the new club's application to replace the old Rangers in the top flight.”



04/07/12 - THE SUN - “It was also revealed the new club had been preparing to apply to the SFL for a couple of weeks and stated the newco Rangers would play in the appropriate division.”



04/07/12 - DAILY RECORD - “We do not consider that the newco’s allegation of breach of contract will stand up to scrutiny and in the event of the players’ registrations not being issued to a new club, we’ll look to FIFA and/or the Court of Session for a speedy remedy.” (PFA Scotland lawyer)

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-in-crisis-charles-green-threatens-1165975


05/07/12 - DAILY RECORD - “Green bought Rangers and their assets yesterday for £5.5million, just hours after Smith revealed he was spearheading a group to buy the new club.”



13/07/12 - BBC - “Rangers chief executive Charles Green says he will not challenge the vote by the Scottish Football League to place his new club in Division Three.”



14/07/12 - BBC - “Another unknown is how the footballing authorities - SFA and Uefa - would react to any new club while the old club still had outstanding debts to footballing creditors (other teams) totalling more than £3m.  Mr Green's ambitions for a new club may also be thwarted if liquidators from BDO decide to challenge the asset sale.”



15/07/12 - DAILY RECORD - “Green bought Rangers and their assets yesterday for £5.5million, just hours after Smith revealed he was spearheading a group to buy the new club.“



17/07/12 - EVENING TIMES - “I would like the clubs and UEFA to recognise these are not my debts”



18/07/12 - THE SUN - “Sevco are still waiting to hear if the new club have been granted SFA membership ahead of their entry into the Third Division.”



19/07/12 - THE SUN - “And IF they are allowed to enter the top division an independent commission will decide if it’s the old club or the new club that has a case to answer over EBTs.”



19/07/12 - MARKETING WEEK - “Coca-Cola, which signed a two-year deal with its sport drink Powerade to be the 54 times SPL champions official soft drink in December, says it will continue its relationship with “Rangers FC” but declined to comment on its future with the new club.”



22/07/12 - DAILY TELEGRAPH - “No other completely new club would have been allowed to enter the bottom tier.  It is also true that no other new club would have been even considered for membership of the SPL.”



22/07/12 - THE SUN - “Hearts chief Vladimir Romanov led the attack by insisting Jambos WON’T vote for them. Dundee United followed suit last night while Motherwell revealed that they will let their FANS decide the fate of the new club — a move that will almost certainly mean a third ‘NO’ vote.”



24/07/12 - DAILY RECORD - “further complicated by the fact the SFA have now given Green a strict deadline that must be met if he wants his new club licenced to play football in any league.”



29/07/12 - BBC - “Scottish Premier League clubs voted against accepting the new club into the top flight and the Scottish Football League clubs voted them into Division Three instead of the First Division...Asked to expand on what he meant by bigotry, Green turned to pressure placed on SPL clubs by their own fans not to allow the new club into the top flight.”



29/07/12 - THE SUN - “With Rangers, a new club starting a fresh chapter, Nelson is aware the hand of history will be upon every player’s shoulder when kick-off comes.”



29/07/12 - THE SUN - ““Rangers newco should apply to the SFA for admission and apply direct to the SFL in the same way that any other new club would do.” (Stewart Milne)



30/07/12 - DAILY RECORD - “Ibrox fans have sung heartily for years about following their team to places such as Dundee and Hamilton. Unsurprisingly, there was never a verse inserted for Brechin. Yet in this small Angus town at the local-parklike venue they were summoned here to see their new club start a new life.”



31/07/12 - BBC - “Stewart Regan has no plans to resign as Scottish FA chief executive despite criticism of his handling of the crisis resulting from Rangers' demise.  Some club chairmen called for his resignation after voting against the new club playing in Division One.”



31/07/12 - BBC - “And SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and Scottish FA counterpart Stewart Regan had both warned of dire financial consequences should the new club not start life in Division One.”



03/08/12 ESPN - “A new club, The Rangers Football Club, rose from the depths of despair and competed in its first game July 29 against second-division outfit Brechin City in the Ramsdens Scottish Cup. “



03/08/12 - ESPN - “Charles Green, the chief executive of the new club, admitted as much when comparing his club to some of those he claimed had kept Rangers out of the SPL due to bigotry. He said: "We've not got the debt that any of these clubs have.”



03/08/12 - SKY SPORTS - “Charles Green's company, who changed their name from Sevco Scotland to The Rangers Football Club this week, were granted a conditional licence last Friday after applying to transfer the membership of the soon-to-be-liquidated Rangers.”



03/08/12 - BBC - “Doncaster had come in for criticism following his dire predictions for the financial future of the SPL if the relaunched Rangers were not admitted to the top flight. He repeated the same concerns when the new club sought a place in Division One.”



13/08/12 - CNN - “New club forced to start in Scottish Football League 3”



15/08/12 - STV - “The Ibrox side waived any claim to £2.55m in prize money from the league for the 2011/12 season”



17/08/12 - BBC - “SPL clubs voted against accepting the new club into the top flight and the Scottish Football League clubs voted them into Division Three instead of the First Division.”



21/08/12 - BBC - “It was the first game in the lower league for the new Rangers club”



----------------------

If you have a mainstream media link that you wish included on this page, please email retroscot@gmail.com.  I am also happy to correct any dead links or incorrect information on this blog.   
Thanks
@retroscot
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)