How Celtic Turned the Tables on their Glasgow Rivals by Stephen O Donnell:
A Review by Auldheid.
Stephen’s previous publication, Tangled Up In Blue provided a detailed history of the rise and fall of Glasgow Rangers FC PLC from 1872 until their demise in 2012. Clearly a lot of research had been done to cover the period in such detail and his follow up publication Fergus McCann v David Murray etc carries on with that tradition. It is a smorgasbord of a book with many different issues succulently served up in its 350 pages.
It tells of events under David Murray’s tenure at Ibrox which began in November 1988 and ended in May 2011 when he left Craig Whyte holding the rope that became a noose just under a year later in April 2012 when Whyte was found guilty of bringing Scottish football into disrepute whilst Murray claimed he was duped.
Readers of the book will come to the conclusion that if anyone did the duping it was David Murray and it wasn’t just Craig Whyte he duped but Scotland’s national game. If ever Murray were to be tried for crimes against Scottish football then this book would be cited as evidence.
It was against the background of David Murray’s tenure at Rangers that Fergus McCann first arrived on the scene in April 1989 with proposals to inject £17M of New Capital into Celtic that the Celtic Board rejected as per minutes:
Proposals put forward by Fergus McCann to provide finance for various capital expenditures were unanimously rejected by the Directors’; and then again in August of the same year: ‘Mr McCann’s latest proposals were discussed and it was hoped that this was a final discussion on the subject. Latest proposals were rejected by Directors.
Fergus later returned to the fray and the chapter on how he was successful in ousting the Board in 1994 is an informative read, particularly if in that period single parenting cares took precedence over caring for Celtic.
I was amused reading the tale of discontent aimed at the old Board after a Ne’erday 4-2 defeat to Rangers in January 1994 when a bemused Walter Smith was watching the hostility aimed at the Celtic Directors box, one fan in the main stand screamed at him, ‘What are you looking at, it’s got fuck all to do with you.”
For me anyway there were a few “not a lot of people know that” moments like that in the book.
The contrast between Fergus McCann’s and David Murray’s style was immediately evident, but the impact of Fergus’s shorter tenure from 1994 to 1999 became more than evident after McCann left and the author does not miss the role servile journalists played and hit the wall for turning Celtic supporters against McCann during his tenure, whilst they dined on Murray’s succulent lamb. A role that in the end helped bring about Rangers end, but not the culture of servility when covering the activity of Rangers FC PLC successor club from 2012.
Sky TV get it in the neck too and if David Murray played the part of Colonel Mustard in killing Scottish football through his financial recklessness and duplicity, Sky are the lead pipe whose toxicity still dictates the nature of the current state of play.( I said it was a Smorgasbord)
Fergus kind of did what it said on the tin. In his case a tin of nippy sweeties, but it was interesting to read about his early years when even then he was described as “a cheeky upstart” but his “idiosyncrasies” and appearance under a bunnet, disguised a sharp if impatient business mind where for him getting straight to the point was akin to procrastination.
So too has Murray’s early years been covered including his rejected attempt to buy Ayr Utd, a rejection by Ayr Directors, who considered Murray was too hot headed and most volatile, that infuriated him.
Their conclusion that he was trying to get Ayr United on the cheap with only £125k of his own money involved was an indicator of his strategy of using other people’s money to invest and not his own. Other people including unsuspecting taxpayers to a tune of £50 million or so.
As you follow the narrative of both Fergus McCann and David Murray and the events that surrounded them, you end up wondering how so many could have been fooled for so long by one guy, but when you have the Scottish media in your pocket it was difficult to separate fact from fiction during the tenure of both. You also wonder how Murray remains a Knight of the Realm since.
Luckily for Celtic Fergus knew business fact from PR fiction and avoided the illusion in which Celtic’s main rivals continue to struggle to this day.
The great pity is that few, if any of the Scottish main stream media will even give this book a mention, because if you don’t write about it, it never happened, except it did and this book is proof.
I therefore recommend anyone interested in the future of our game buys it and asks, is it not now time to revisit the purpose of Scottish football?
Auldheid
A straight forward question, ideally for the legal minds on the site: in what sense can a limited company (for example Company no. SC425159, incorporated on 29th May 2012) claim to have existed prior to its date of incorporation?
Asking for a friend…
Cluster One 13th November 2020 at 12:45
"..How can we move on from the events of 2012 when the ripples can still be felt on this day'
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Mention of legal things prompts this post.
From the Rolls of the Court of Session
"Wednesday 18th November
LORD TYRE – T Sadler, Clerk
By Order
between 9.00am and 10.00am
CA9/20 David Whitehouse v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland &c "
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Separately, Cluster One, your link to the resurrection of interest in the 'Charlotte Fakes' stuff is interesting. The few bits and pieces that I 'saved' from those that were posted on the RTC blog at the time were great fun to read, giving a picture of first name 'chumminess' masking deep distrust between some of the 'chums'
Some day whoever(I know who) now has them ( apart from the Crown Office) might feel free to release all that he has: there might be a reasonably profitable book in it, to be published on the day on which the 150th(149th?) anniversary of the birth of RFC of 1872(73?) and the 10th/11th anniversary of that club's death in 2012.
It would be lovely to see what other draft statements or letters etc might have been sent from the SFA to 'Rangers' for editing and redrafting and seeking their permission to release to the Press.
An observation from last night's game.
Not only was their goalscorer unmarked, I noticed that there was nobody on the back post at the corner.
Had someone been there, there was a good chance that they would have cleared it.
Now, roll forward half an hour and into the second last min of extra time.
Serbia get a corner and again nobody was on the back post.
Is this a typical Steve Clarke trait?
Any Killie fans on here notice similar at Rugby Park when he was in charge.
HS
bordersdon 12th November 2020 at 23:33
Logged in last night to see if there was any reaction to the game earlier.
Just managing to log in now for a wee peruse.
Must be the only site 'monitoring' Scottish Football not to acknowledge a result most people have been waiting for since 1998.
Sadly, while I appreciate many folks on here (me included) do not have a particular liking for the SFA, it is this kind of thing that has probably turned many a contributor away from the site to the extent it now looks very much like a closed shop with limited appeal regarding the all the issues affecting the whole of Scottish Football.
wottpi 13th November 2020 at 14:31
Chill , buddy ! I phoned NHS 24 as I was feeling strange this morning . Apparently . I am suffering from euphoria and the thing to do is enjoy it . There might be a few in the same boat.
wottpi 13th November 2020 at 14:31
Logged in last night to see if there was any reaction to the game earlier.
Must be the only site ‘monitoring’ Scottish Football not to acknowledge a result most people have been waiting for since 1998.
………………..
Shock,or they were celebrating.
brian_d84 13th November 2020 at 13:55
I am not a "legal mind", however I suppose if it existed as a different type of legal entity.
Say a partnership, which had existed for 20 years prior to it's incorporation.
Whilst the limited company may only have existed from that date, that would not mean that it's achievement as a partnership would be lost. For example it's assets, contracts etc would probably still be there.
normanbatesmumfc 11th November 2020 at 16:11
John Clark 13th November 2020 at 00:27John Clark 13th November 2020 at 00:27
bigboab1916 13th November 2020 at 11:43
Cluster One 13th November 2020 at 12:21
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Sorry guys much as I have no respect for the blazers (not only in the SFA/Spfl) I can’t agree that genuine football fans in Scotland should be other that delighted that our team have achieved what has been elusive for far too many years! Ryan Christie could not control his pride and delight and I am certain that he was typical. I could not control my delight and neither could all of my family. This site has become a single issue site only becoming alive when something IBROX is current. I post as a fervent believer in the cause of hitting against the cheats propagating the BIG LIE (and Celtic and my team were part of it) but can not nor will not let that dilute my support of the Scotland team. The fact that the Blazers will benefit from this is of course regrettable but Celtic supporters, in any numbers at least, will not abandon their team because the PLC are implicated in the BIG LIE.
wottpi 13th November 2020 at 14:31
I agree entirely and am pretty much out. Disgusted!!
bordersdon 13th November 2020 at 21:16
'I post as a fervent believer in the cause of hitting against the cheats propagating the BIG LIE (and Celtic and my team were part of it) but can not nor will not let that dilute my support of the Scotland team'
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Begging your pardon, bordersdon, my own post about the liars in governance profiting from the success of the national team does not in anyway, and was not intended in any way, to detract from the sublimity of the sporting achievement of the Scotland team.
As I said, it's bloody annoying that a cheating governance board should benefit from the honest, heroic efforts of the guys on the pitch.
The problem is that the liars in governance will try to legitimise themselves by the diversionary tactic of pointing to 'success'!
John Clark 14th November 2020 at 00:40
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Final word. But as we all know John the liars and cheats were put there and kept there by the clubs!!!
I'm with you bordersdon. I don't tune in often but came in yesterday to revel in the best Scottish fitba story for years, never mind 2020. Nae support Scotland because, you know, the blazers? What a joke! Like I should have stopped supporting the Dons because of Stewarty Milne? I don't think so. SFM is a one trick pony that I've backed for years (Donkey's years?) but this one club above all others has reached a new extreme IMO.
ernie 14th November 2020 at 14:28
I’m with you bordersdon. I don’t tune in often but came in yesterday to revel in the best Scottish fitba story for years, never mind 2020.
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Why did you not post something yesterday and revel in the best scottish football story for years?
Come on , lads and lassies . I follow Thistle and Scotland , home and ofttimes away , and yes , we had a marvellous display and a belter of a result the other night . There's never much traffic on here during the International break – in fact , I looked back to this time last year when we beat Kazakhstan 3-1 at Hampden after going behind . Not a cheep from anybody about the end of the campaign , the lack of enthusiasm for the National team , our chances in the play-off , the difference that Stevie Clarke made compared to the charlatans who proceeded him – not one post . I didn't feel moved to post either , then or now , especially as the Scottish government seems happy to hijack the "feel good factor " while still demonising football and it's supporters .
paddy malarkey 14th November 2020 at 19:57
in fact , I looked back to this time last year when we beat Kazakhstan 3-1 at Hampden after going behind . Not a cheep from anybody about the end of the campaign , the lack of enthusiasm for the National team , our chances in the play-off , the difference that Stevie Clarke made compared to the charlatans who proceeded him – not one post . I didn’t feel moved to post either
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Putting things in perspective…..Not a cheep from anybody;-)
paddy malarkey 14th November 2020 at 19:57
I support Celtic and Scotland, though to be fair I haven't really supported Scotland very much financially, not having gone to many games.
I don't understand why anyone would want the national team to lose. I can understand people being apathetic about the whole thing, but to actually want them to lose makes no sense to me.
Personally I watched the game, thought we should have won it in normal time, but was well chuffed when we won on penalties.
I'm really not sure why the team I support should make any difference to that. It's just great to see Scotland back in a major tournament again. The younger generation can now enjoy seeing us snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the way I have.
As quoted in 'The Scotsman' today from Serbian newspaper 'Nezavisne dnevne novine INFORMER' [Independent daily newspaper 'Informer']:
"The Serbian media are …..bemoaning an absence from the European Championships that stretches back beyond the country's current inception to its previous days as part of Yugoslavia."
The Serbia national team claiming the history Yugoslavia's national team?
The last remaining reference to Serbia/Yugoslavia was in April 1992, (by which time all the other countries that Tito had formed into the Communist republic of Yugoslvia had regained their independence) the remaining Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
And in 2006 Montenegro and Serbia split into two different states.
There hasn't been any kind of 'Yugoslavia' since then, any more than there has been a Rangers Football Club of 1872/(73?) since 2012!
And I think we can say with absolute confidence that the citizens of Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia would have had a wee quiet chuckle to themselves when they watched the game and (probably) applauded Scotland's victory, in the way that many of us are quietly pleased when England gets humped by anyone!
( is the 'Informer' guy/girl who wrote the piece from which I've quoted an honorary member of the SMSM? …'the country's current inception' indeed!)
Honest to God!
(And I've just been sent a link to Janey Godley's 'Nicola's' observations on the game. I am not one for profanities, but it is just fcukin' great: my sides are sore with laughing, and Mrs C, on the phone to her pal in Glasgow, is laughing so hard that she can hardly describe and explain .)
Homunculus 14th November 2020 at 22:15
I could barely force myself to watch towards the end . Should have won it in 90 , should have lost it in 120 , and nice to be confident when penalties come as we haven't missed . Yet !
paddy malarkey 14th November 2020 at 22:34
Absolutely. I thought we should have scored one or two more during the 90. The late goal seemed to give them a huge lift and have the opposite effect on us, neither is that surprising under the circumstances.
I think we deserved to go through, even if it was on penalties in the end. As you say it's strange going into those with a bit of confidence. I did think when Griffiths went on late it was with a view to him taking one.
Homunculus 14th November 2020 at 22:15
'..The younger generation can now enjoy seeing us snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the way I have.'
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That's surely a wee bit pessimistic, Homunculus! Surely!
We wouldn't want any repetition of dear old Ally's optimism, God rest him, but we have qualified, and against some quite stiff opposition, with Serbia in particular being put to the pin of its collar in trying to defeat us!
Steve Clarke is more Stein and Shankly than Ally!
New blog – on the future of the blog 🙂