Questions, questions, questions

by

As SFM folk will know, Scottish Football authorities can be enigmatic at best, puzzling and corrupt at worst, and downright crazy and incompetent in either situation. On this blog over the years, we have asked questions constantly of the authorities and the clubs, but like anyone with a fan-centred interest at heart we get ignored. “Fans are not a homogenous entity”, they say, “there are more opinions than there are fans”. This artful premise gives the clubs an excuse to ignore fans’ input, and other than on platforms like this, fan opinion is seldom gathered or curated.
The following blog, put together by Andy Smith, the Chairman of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, asks a lot of simple questions that don’t get asked often. He also invites fans to raise their own questions and opinions.
Of course, there are headline atrocities committed by the people in charge of the game.
The Five-Way Agreement, the continuity myth, the refusal to punish the biggest incidence of systematic cheating ever experienced in the game, and the casual adoption of the post-truth model introduced so successfully by venal politicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

But what enabled those assaults on the integrity of the sport? In order to get away with the big con, there have to be wee cons. Ticket allocations, kick off times and dates for set-piece occasions which make it difficult if not impossible for fans outside of Glasgow to participate, refusal to hold match officials accountable in the way an underperforming player or a misbehaving fan would be, and countless other incidences where fans are inconvenienced, or even put at risk. 

The only way to combat that level of arrogance is to unite where we can, and although in a partisan sport that can be difficult to achieve, SFM is testimony that it can work. This blog is an invitation for us to begin to look forward, and not get distracted by the past. I  hope SFM-ers participate and make their views clear.

Big Pink

 

What did Alan Dougherty, Gordon Harvey and Eddie Hutch have in common?

They were teachers who gave their time, to thousands of kids, including me, and asked for nothing back. To a man they gave up, overnight, as part of a ‘work to rule’, in an ugly pay dispute in the early 80s.
They were never thanked properly by the game?
They were and are sair missed.
Why did football let that happen?
Why has nobody ever grasped this particular nettle since?



Should you be able to have a beer at Bayview watching East Fife play Clyde on Feb 5th?

Just like the fans at Murrayfield, just over the Firth can and will, at the sell-out game vs England on the very same day.



Should you be allowed to enjoy a beer at Celtic Park watching Celtic vs Rangers on Feb 2nd?

A smaller crowd than Murrayfield too, and very few away fans. But some history and maybe a different situation altogether.

 


Are our leagues too small, leading to constant pressure and short termism by clubs?

Club CFO’s say the pressures are brutal and when their team is in trouble everything else gets sacrificed to avoid the financial chaos of relegation.
Many CFO’s dread the thought of promotion too knowing full well the seesaw implications of our small leagues.



Should the bottom of SPFL be an automatic relegation to open up the pyramid?

Our unique, one league only, convoluted play-off formula was only ever a last minute switcheroo/deal by the SPFL2 clubs at the time to protect their places in the SPFL ‘old boys network’.
I’d suggest East Stirling, Brechin and Berwick would change their votes if asked again.

 

Your Invitation to Say What You Think


Scottish Football Alliance Fan Survey January 2022

The Scottish Football Supporters Association is an independent and growing fans organisation in Scotland with circa 80,000 members. We have members from all senior clubs in Scotland and throughout the pyramid.
Many of those members regularly visit the SFM site.

We have been asked by the new Scottish Football Alliance (http://scottishfootball.org/) to provide an independent insight into what fans think about various aspects of our game, in particular what fans think our game needs to move forward. It is time for change, and football seems incapable of change from within.

Scottish Football might not acknowledge it, but it really needs the input of supporters like you. The fact none of us have been asked our opinions in the past says a lot.

We need to help and tell those running our game and other stakeholders like the Scottish Government what football needs to do.

Scottish football certainly has to think longer term and get closer to its fans.
In any business overview we are the core stakeholders.
The way we are treated and ignored is quite commercially bizarre.

To that end we have commissioned a short two minute survey, but we’d also welcome and appreciate any more detailed insights into what Scottish Football needs to do or do better. Please email those insights (in addition to participating in the survey) to me, at andrew@scottishfsa.org

I know from experience that when you get a group of fans in a room to talk about football, after the local rivalries and stuff gets dealt with, usually with humour, we can all see what the game has done for us, the power of good it can be for our communities and the things that need to change.

I constantly find that most fans not only see the bigger picture but also collectively want to give something back.

When this survey ends we will aggregate and analyse the results and share them far and wide inside the game and to other interested stakeholders like The Scottish Government.

The results will also become the foundation of policies The Scottish Football Alliance will publish and circulate.

At each stage moving forward we will work closely with The Scottish Football Alliance providing then with further fan insight.

And we will keep you and all other fans involved.

Survey Notes
You can participate in the survey by follwing this link:
https://s-f-s-a.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/scottish-football-alliance-survey

The questions are simple Yes/No and there are no right or wrong answers, just opinions and insight into what fans think.

1,093 thoughts on “Questions, questions, questions”

  1. I watched the AFC v. TRFC match on Sky last night.

    Officiating – dreadful. The SFA & the Head of Referee Operations must be so proud.

    Football – poor, but what do you expect on a January night in Aberdeen with the wind howling & a poor surface.

    Commentary – again dreadful. Crokka/Wokka dismal & one-eyed.

    There’s always talk about how poor media deals are for Scottish football. Last night was no advert for the game in this country.

  2. jj 19th Jan 11.04.

    Officiating – dreadful. The SFA & the Head of Referee Operations must be so proud.
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    I thought Referee Scott Brown was ok tbh. As for the Clancy chap, the least said the better.

  4. PM, what if we don’t even qualify through the 2 playoff games? Does the Top Tier still shutdown for a month so they can watch the WC? That doesn’t make much sense to me if teams might not have that many players at the WC. Obviously, if clubs have more than the regulated 3 away, then it would make sense, but why announce this before we know?

  5. nawlite 19th January 2022 At 13:07
    Oh ye of little faith !
    They’re basically just bringing the winter break forward again , and it might end the nonsense among fans that these things are arranged to suit any particular club’s agenda . No sight of the hidden hand !

  6. I know!! I was trying not to be too downbeat, but there is a chance we might not make it to the finals. What then? The winter break is traditionally just 2 weeks, do we do 4 for no real reason if thast’s how it turns out?

  7. Hold the front page;

    Shock news Scottish referee sends off a The rangers player!!!

    I suppose, (at half time?) Brother Clancy saw how badly the officials missed the McGregor foul on Hedges, which should have been a penalty and red card, despite the soup-taking sevco apologist Andy Walker’s other-worldly views.

    Clancy will be well down the pecking order now, however I’m sure Brothers Beaton and Madden will do their utmost in Celtic’s next two league matches…

  8. And VAR continues to be kicked down the road …

    Def penalty, Kent not a 2nd booking and Hayes possible 2nd booking for an elbow

    As a shareholder I think I should ask my club and other clubs why are we not requesting VAR immediately as playing without it is directly impacting our business !

  9. Albertz11 19th January 2022 At 11:39

    I thought Referee Scott Brown was ok tbh.
    xxxxx
    Looking at the stats, I’m surprised he couldn’t wangle all 3 points for Aberdeen. I guess he was blind-sighted when he forsook the opportunity to award a penalty and red the keeper….
    Or overly confident?

  11. Seems like Scott Brown is not only in the heads of some or all Ranger players and you might add some of their fans. It would be interesting if Brown was on the market how long would it take for Rangers to be chasing him. Just think how much better the team could be with him in the line up and the players not having to worry about him getting in their ears with some colorful comments. How much braver would some of their light weight players would be if they knew Brown was backing them up. He would go from black hat to white hat in no time. Every tam needs some one like this to provide upset to the other’s team best players and once word gets around about who can be messed with the results become quite clear. You might hate playing against him, but would definitely like him on your side.

  12. nbmumfc

    Shock news Scottish referee sends off a The rangers player!!!
    ……………………………………………………………………………..

    Not too much of a shock when you check the facts.
    Stats are from 1946/47 – 2021/22, so not a chosen timeframe to suit one’s agenda.

    Domestic Red cards Rangers 178 Celtic 140
    League Red cards Rangers 141 Celtic 111
    Old Firm Red cards Rangers 42 Celtic 35

    Old Firm Penalties Rangers 35 Celtic 45,

    Steven Whittaker scored a penalty v Celtic on 06/02/2011.
    Subsequently there have been 34 Old Firm encounters in which Rangers have been awarded One penalty.

    Since 2016/17 Bobby Madden has shown 7 RCs to Rangers players and 3 to Celtic players.
    Since 2016.17 Bobby Madden has shown 4 RCs to Rangers opponents and 8 to Celtics opponents.

    Just to be clear i don’t believe that Referees are biased one way or the other, but the stats show that lazy preconceived thoughts can be proven wrong.

  13. nbmumfc

    Should have made it clear in my previous post that my reference to “lazy preconceived thoughts” was not aimed at yourself but to the various sportswriters, pundits & bloggers who are guilty of this behaviour.

  14. Albertz “Not too much of a shock when you check the facts.
    Stats are from 1946/47”

    Please keep this relevant, the club concerned only started playing football in 2012 and had not had a red card from a Scottish referee in around 2 years, despite collecting 4 in their first 6 games in Europe this season. Newsworthy indeed!!

    Just before the original Rangers died, we know how lies were told and scrutiny was avoided to ensure they had a licence to play in the Champions League qualifiers when they should have been ineligible. We now face a similar scenario with the new club whose very survival could depend on winning the Premiership this season. Mountains will be moved to accommodate this, let’s hope they fail.

    Just to be clear, I do believe some referees are shockingly biased!!

  16. Nawlite 20th January 2022 At 15:31
    ”..What’s this? Two teams claiming one history? ”
    %%%%%%%%%
    Oh, be still, my beating heart!
    I wonder how the Romanian Finance Regulators would view a new public company that launches itself on the market on the basis of a Prospectus that misleads potential investors about the football club of which it is the holding company?
    Good spot, btw, Nawlite: fair brightened up my afternoon.
    As for the BBC, they will report truth in sport anywhere but in Scotland, as they have demonstrated over the last decade or so.

  17. And here we ago on the Duff and Phelps (the Company) action :
    “LORD TYRE – S Alexander, Clerk
    Thursday 27th January
    Debate
    CA71/20 Duff & Phelps Ltd v The Lord Advocate A & W M Urquhart SGLD ”
    Lord Tyre has earlier ‘procedural hearing ‘ stuff that morning scheduled for between 9.30 a.m and 10.00 am.
    According to the Scottish legal glossary:
    “Debate
    Intermediate step in procedure when legal points are considered, and which can result in the conclusion of a civil case prior to evidence being led.”
    I’m no judge (!) but I can’t see anything other than Lord Tyre finding that D&P have no case.
    The fact that 3 of their employees were ( wrongly) arrested and charged , all charges subsequently being dropped, is no more ‘damaging’ to D&P ( the company) than would be, say, the wrongful arrest of a bank manager to the reputation and good name of his employing bank.
    No?
    [If Lord Tyre agrees with me, I’ll be signing up for a law degree course!!]

  18. Tuesday was a slow day so I found myself watching the BBC Parliament channel when an urgent question was raised on the ongoing Derby County admin process. An interesting discussion which is available on BBC iPlayer.
    A hat tip to Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, who reminded the house that Glasgow Rangers and Bury had gone out of existence. ( 17.55 mins into the programme).

  19. Westcoaster 20th January 2022 At 20:11
    ‘..A hat tip to Toby Perkins,.’

    %%%%%%%
    I am already mentally composing the letter I may send him !
    Thanks for posting that interesting link.

  22. nbmumfc.
    From the opening paragraph of the link you provided.

    “SFA regularly engage with all clubs and remain in dialogue with teams throughout the season”
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

    I would add that given the poor display v Aberdeen it could be argued it was a point gained rather than two points dropped.

  23. @NBMFC – I saw the report on bbc and am truly at a loss. I watched most (not all) of the match. In terms of key decisions that I witnessed:
    1. Penalty and yellow card to the GK not given – VAR would have picked that up.
    2. Kent and Hayes yellow cards. Kent is a given for a shove in the chest. Not sure why Hayes got one – maybe bad language / aggressive posture / dissent.
    3. Kent 2nd yellow. Soft – yes. Stupid – yes. Petulant – yes. Late – yes. Any complaint from Kent – no. He gave the ref a decision to make not long after it being obvious that the ref was done with the playground stuff.
    4. Hayes “elbow” – linesman should have helped his ref out here. Stupid from Hayes which he got away with.
    5. Aberdeen penalty – no question with the handball. Should the penalty have been retaken because the ball got blown by the wind? Movement was to the disadvantage of Aberdeen so I would say no – can’t imagine it being a concern if a blue shirt was taking the penalty…
    I can’t think of anymore “big decision moments” in the game.

  25. ‘Wokingcelt 21st January 2022 At 15:07

    Hayes “elbow” – linesman should have helped his ref out here. Stupid from Hayes which he got away with.
    Aberdeen penalty – no question with the handball. Should the penalty have been retaken because the ball got blown by the wind? Movement was to the disadvantage of Aberdeen so I would say no – can’t imagine it being a concern if a blue shirt was taking the penalty…’
    ::
    ::
    Re your no.4 – the AR should have flagged for Barisic impeding Hayes by holding his arm. Hayes wrestled free from his grasp & in doing so accidentally caught Barisic.

    Re your no.5 – Law 14 (The Penalty Kick), Section 1 (Procedure) states: ‘The ball must be stationary on the penalty mark..’

    (It’s page 117 in here – https://downloads.theifab.com/downloads/laws-of-the-game-2021-22?l=en)

    TRFC really have a brass neck. They played poorly & escaped with a point.

  26. @JJ – thx for the link. Re #4 – wouldn’t disagree but could be viewed as excessive by Hayes.
    Agree TRFC escaped with a point. Be interesting to see what if anything comes of the complaint – both formally and informally (when will Clancy get another TRFC match to ref…)

  27. I genuinely can’t imagine any other club who had been advantaged by not having a penalty awarded against them AND not being reduced to 10 men early in a match who would then complain about that referee for being unfair to them.

  28. Wokingcelt 21st Jan 15.07

    I can’t think of anymore “big decision moments” in the game.
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    Just for starters there are two fouls prior to the awarding of the Aberdeen penalty. Pretty big decisions i would say.

    1 Brown raises his arm to impede Barasic who is tracking his man as the ball is crossed into the box.
    2 Ferguson clearly pushes Barasic with both hands before he heads the ball which then hits the arm of Morelos.
    Both clear fouls, both missed by the referee despite him looking directly at them.

  29. John Clark 20th January 2022 At 23:34
    ‘Westcoaster 20th January 2022 At 20:11
    ‘..A hat tip to Toby Perkins,.’

    %%%%%%%
    I am already mentally composing the letter I may send him !
    Thanks for posting that interesting link.”
    %%%%
    And here is my email to Toby Perkins MP

    To:
    toby.perkins.mp@parliament.uk

    Fri, 21 Jan at 23:20

    ‘Dear Mr Perkins,
    I have just watched (for the third time), on the BBC Parliament channel, the discussion in the House of Commons of the ‘urgent question’ of the position in which Derby County Football Club finds itself in.

    I am not English, do not live in England, and am not particularly interested in ‘politics’. You will therefore forgive me if I say that until I watched that discussion I had not heard of you.

    Believe me when I say that you are now a hero in my eyes, an honest hero.

    Why? Well, because you are the first public person to say, and to say in no less a place than in the chamber of the House of Commons, these words:
    “…clubs go out of existence altogether as we have seen in the case of Glasgow Rangers and Bury..”

    There is a culture of denial in the Scottish mainstream media, including BBC Scotland, of the fact that Rangers Football Club plc , on being wound up in consequence of the disastrous failure of the [publicly acknowledged] incompetent/inefficient Administrators either to find a buyer or to achieve a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement, went into Liquidation- and thereby went out of existence as a football club entitled to participate in Scottish professional football.

    What I want to put to you, however, is not so much a matter of football business, but of insolvency legislation and the launching of new companies on the financial market.

    To cut to the chase: the purchaser of some of the assets of Rangers FC plc [not of the whole of the club, otherwise the club would not have entered Liquidation!] was allowed to create a new club. But had to apply for membership of a recognised league. The new club [ initially un-named except asSevco5088/SevcoScotland] had to apply as a new club.

    As a new club it was admitted into Scottish professional football.
    But it was, by a secret Agreement, permitted to claim to be the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872!
    So far, so football.

    Turn to the world of business and finance and the Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) and associated matters.

    We find that the shareholders in a football club created in 2012 swap their shares for shares in a to-be-launched-on-the-market PLC, to be known as Rangers International Football Club plc.

    Oh, then we find that the Prospectus issued in the launching of this new PLC claims that it will be the holding company of Rangers football Club- founded in 1872, and the most successful football club in the world in terms of sporting honours and titles etc!

    Even to a thicko like me, that is a blatant untruth: the club created in 2012 cannot possibly be the club that is currently in Liquidation (under the name RFC 2012).

    It was the Rangers Football Club of 1872 that was liquidated. There was no ‘holding company’, as Companies house confirmed to me recently.

    I have tried to raise this with the FCA. The Nomad , it seems to me, seriously failed in his duty to check the truth of the ‘summary’ of the Prospectus.

    Blank wall!
    Which raises dark suspicions about the integrity of our Financial Regulators: a ‘Prospectus’ which misleads potential investors must surely have to be looked at.
    I do hope that Derby County gets out of Administration.

    As a wee footnote, I would not write to my own MP, because he has never asked questions about the secret ‘5-Way Agreement’ that allows a plc to claim that its primary source of revenue is a 150 year old football club instead of a club that was in fact only admitted into Scottish football in 2012 !

    Yours sincerely,

  30. And what about this?
    Listen to what one of the non-exec Directors of Celtic plc has to say in today’s ‘The Scotsman’.
    ” You need to be of a certain age to remember Kenny McIntyre [ed: I think that’s a reference to the father of the current BBC Sportsound presenter] when he was Scotland’s fearless political reporter….He would have held in contempt the present-day school of reporting-let’s stand outside Holyrood reading the latest communique, and would you be so kind as to give us a prepared sound-bite, Minister?……Scotland’s broadcasters need to change their mindset and play their part in holding authority to account..”

    What hypocritical cant from someone who sits on the Board of a two-faced plc which refused, and refuses still, to ask hard questions of the Scottish Football authorities.
    Gie’s a brek, Brian Wilson!

  31. Albertz11 21st January 2022 At 23:11
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    It seems that you, in common with whoever (club or company) wrote the 8-point letter to the SFA, are determined to studiously avoid the most critical point about the performance of Clancy and his assistants.

    None of the subsequent individual ‘refereeing errors and inconsistencies’ that were listed would’ve come to pass if the officials had taken the correct course of action when Allan McGregor clattered into Ryan Hedges in the penalty box. I wonder why that escaped the list of damning evidence.

    Nobody can predict with any certainty what would have happened after such a sending off and penalty, but I’d wager that an increasingly dominant and confident Dons side would have won the game at a canter, based on how the game panned out with a full complement of players.

    Post-match, that failure by the officials to award a penalty and send off the keeper was almost universally acknowledged as something that would have been corrected by VAR.

    If I thought for a moment that Rangers* were in any way highlighting the woeful standard of our officials for the common good of Scottish football, I’d applaud them. Unfortunately, their selective amnesia about certain events merely confirms that they are simply trying to appease the substantial knuckle-dragging element of their support while dictating who should and shouldn’t officiate future matches.

    Their misplaced sense of entitlement is almost reminiscent of their predecessor club before its self-inflicted demise.

  32. Highlander 22nd Jan 10.06

    Penalty – Yes
    Red Card – No

    Barasic was clearly covering and therefore no obvious goal scoring opportunity was denied by McGregors genuine attempt.
    As you correctly say “Nobody could predict with any certainty what would have happened” and so any subsequent comments are pointless.
    As i said previously i don’t believe referees are biased but some , Clancy being one, are not up to the standard required . Rangers have every right to go through the proper channels and express their concerns.
    Every club has this right but as per usual it only seems to attract attention when Rangers are involved.

  33. https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/19867176.demonising-scotlands-referees-puts-risk-endangers-national-game—matthew-lindsay/

    Matthew Lindsay in today’s online version of the Herald –

    ‘…The match official had a split second to make his call at Pittodrie. If the referee was in any way unsure about what had happened then he could not give it…

    …So wasn’t the referee correct to allow play to continue?…’

    Well Matthew, let’s see:

    If he was unsure what had happened, then something must have occurred to make him ‘unsure’. (The alternative is that he found McGregor’s failure to play the ball & Hedges’ going to ground as unremarkable. That is, in itself, remarkable for a ‘top-flight’ referee’.) Was it a foul by McGregor, punishable by a penalty-kick & a yellow (not red, I think, under ‘double-jeopardy’ interpretations) card? Was it simulation by Hedges, who had played the ball beyond the keeper towards the six-yard line & still within the field of play, punishable by an indirect free-kick & a yellow card? Either of those should have led to a whistle, but didn’t. TRFC played on, transitioned upfield & scored.

    Lindsay also writes –

    ‘…Nobody working for broadcaster Sky Sports could agree [that it was a penalty] after watching numerous replays from different angles…’

    Boyd & McInnes both thought it was a penalty when asked at half-time. Walker (who was rarely correct in any of his comments throughout the match) thought it wasn’t, then it was. Crocker? A waste of a seat on the gantry. He appears to be paid for the number of times he can shoehorn ‘Old Firm’, ‘Celtic’ & ‘Rangers’ into his commentary, not for his skills in interpreting what is happening on the pitch.

  34. Many clubs will contact the SFA with concerns, but rarely do clubs use friendly journalists to get it all over the media that they did so. It’s not that long ago Willie Collum was taken off Rangers games for months, after Rangers publicly complained about one of their players being red carded. I suspect Kevin Clancy will now face the same situation. Any time Celtic have made a complaint in the past the same Referee is defiantly put in charge of one of their games within 3-4 weeks, with huge SFA and media backing. I’m quite sure other clubs haven’t had Referees removed from their games either. If Kevin Clancy is not given a Rangers game for a while now then serious questions really need to be asked of the SFA.

  36. Paddy Malarkey 22nd January 2022 At 15:45
    ‘..Not Scottish but nearby …’
    %%%%%%
    Thanks for that link, PM.
    What’s in a name, indeed!
    I went on a fascinating exploration online of why a ‘drone’ is a drone…
    .. ‘Tiger moth’ planes pre-war, ‘queen bees’, the male counterpart , drone, from old English/ Germanic language…
    See this blog? Bloody marvellous at throwing up interesting and stimulating questions that are not necessarily related directly to ‘football’, but which lead people to seek the Truth.

    And of course there can only be actual Truth, no matter how many perceptions of ‘Truth’ there may be!

    Is TRFC the Rangers Football Club of 1872 foundation?
    As an absolute matter of fact and law, it is not, and cannot possibly be: schizophrenic split personalities are not recognised in the Articles of Association of the SPL/SFL or of SFA!

    People lied in 2012 ( and for a decade before).
    They still lie.
    And, like Macbeth, they are so far steeped in lying[as Macbeth was in blood] that going back is not an option.

    God help the lying wretches, who, of course, KNOW that they are liars, and are hanging together for fear of being hanged separately.
    Honest to God.

  39. Paddy Malarkey 23rd January 2022 @ 1758hrs –

    I note from your link that A. Dallas has been handed Motherwell v. Hibs this midweek.

    He didn’t handle a Premiership match from 05.12.20 until 01.12.21. That’s 51 weeks 4 days. (I don’t know why he didn’t get any Premiership matches in between those dates. I suppose it’s in the SFA’s ‘Big Book Of Secrets That Would Blow Supporters’ Minds’ & can never be made public.)

    That last match he handled in 2020, you ask? Motherwell v. Hibs. That’s two of his last three Premiership appointments featuring the same two teams at the same location. Well done, Crawfie! Yer daeing brullianto!

  40. Paddy Malarkey 23rd January 2022 At 17:58
    %%%%%%%%%
    Your link to the DR’s report that Clancy has been ‘axed’ from this week’s lis.
    Sportsound this afternoon had quite a good discussion about the deficiencies of our referees, and the need for VAR to be introduced so that mistakes can be rectified.
    Reference of course was made to the 8-point – letter from the club that lies about its origins, which of course got Kenny Mac whining aggressively about 2 months having passed since Bankier’s comments about referees yet not a cheep from the SFA .
    In my opinion, McIntyrre is not balanced enough as a chairperson to facilitate discussion , being too eager to give vent over-excitedly to his own views rather than merely pose questions and seek the opinions of his guests and draw them out.
    (Incidentally, although I was/am disappointed that the SFSA appears to have accepted for the moment that challenging the ‘Big Lie’ at the heart of Scottish Football is not within their brief, I nevertheless have completed their online survey, and would encourage fans to do so. The survey can be found at
    https://s-f-s-a.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/scottish-football-alliance-survey
    Scabby and scurvy as it and the crew sailing it may be, I don’t particularly want the ‘SS Scottish Football’ to founder!

  41. Paddy Malarkey 23rd Jan 17.58

    A couple of points
    The appointments for this weeks games were announced last week before any concerns were raised by Rangers.
    He (KC) didn’t referee any games on weeks 19 (18/12) & 20 (26/12) .
    Was he axed then?
    Desperate attempt by the DR to link his absence to the concerns raised last week.

  42. I was reading an article earlier from the Times written a few years back. It mentions that Fergus McCann saved Celtic from going out of business with eight minutes to spare. This general theme is mentioned in various media outlets from time to time. My question is if the same outlets say ‘Rangers’ didn’t go out of business when liquidated in 2012, and go on to say they can never go out of business no matter what, how can they so freely say Celtic would have gone out of business in 1994? I think it’s a fair question.

  43. Add more names to the list of Ranger player (former), Alex Rae and Colin Hendry whom Scott Brown has truly upset and has got deep into their heads. I’m sure during their careers they didn’t try to wind up an opponent, have some form of mocking, etc. Its part of the game and if coaches/managers know it, you can be sure its relayed to players who are good at it. Get over it guys. Will their be another letter on its way to Scottish football hq from Rangers complaining about the lack of a home draw in the next round of the Scottish Cup. Quite an unusual situation for them based on past draws. Finally Alloa did quite a hatchet job on Celtic. Must be some form of a brown envelope on its way from Ibrox for taking out three players Would have been interesting to see their approach to the game if it had been Rangers. I suspect the Alloa team would have been no where near a Ranger player with any intent of a tackle, block, etc.

  44. Upthehoops 23rd January 2022 At 20:52
    ‘..”..how can they so freely say Celtic would have gone out of business in 1994?” I think it’s a fair question.’
    %%%%%%%%%

    It is indeed a fair question to ask, and it is fairly easily answered: they know that the Scottish Football Authorities would have applied the rules with absolute rigour, and the ‘establishment’ would never have countenanced anything else!

    There would have been NO POSSIBILITY of a dirty 5-Way Agreement under which a new club would have been granted immediate entry into Scottish professional football,[ into even the bottom-most league!] never mind being allowed, by a despicable set of conniving liars in ‘football governance,’ to claim to be the Celtic of 1887/88, magically doing what no other busted football club has managed to do-‘survive’ Liquidation; and getting away with marketing itself as the holding company of Celtic of old without the Financial regulators asking hard questions-so far, at least.

    As I have frequently said, the wickedness of the liars in Scottish Football is bad enough : but it is overshadowed by the complicity of the dreadful wretches in the SMSM who style themselves ‘journalists’.
    A plague on them.

  45. Vernallen 24th Jan 01.36

    ” Will their be another letter on its way to Scottish football hq from Rangers complaining about the lack of a home draw in the next round of the Scottish Cup. Quite an unusual situation for them based on past draws.”
    ……………………………………………….
    Cup draws from 2016/17

    Rangers (H) 17 (A) 13.
    Celtic (H) 17 (A) 10

  46. And Big John Beattie asking whether we’ll ever see any of the fraudulently obtained billions of pounds in Covid loans to companies.
    I meantime wonder whether the millions of tax evaded by EBT schemes as operated by at least one football club some years back that conveniently went bust will ever be recovered?
    No?
    I thought not.
    Never heard Big John or anyone else on the BBC slate that EBT football club’s majority share-holder.

  47. ‘John Clark 24th January 2022 At 18:04

    And Big John Beattie…

    …Never heard Big John or anyone else on the BBC slate that EBT football club’s majority share-holder.’
    ::
    ::
    Mr. Beattie is of the blue persuasion. He admitted as much on air when he was host of Radio Shortbread’s lunchtime news show.

  48. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/crown-office-must-answer-questions-on-rangers-fiasco-cgjtfhjbl

    A former Holyrood cabinet minister has called for an independent review into the workings of the Crown Office following a botched police fraud investigation into the takeover of ‘Rangers’.

    Yet not one single politician, past or present, has ever asked questions why the man who put the illegal tax avoidance scheme in place which led to it all remains untouched, and is indeed still revered by many. Just what is it about this man that allows him to hold such apparent power? It truly beggars belief, and from a personal point of view makes a mockery of the view that Scotland is a fair society. The fact innocent people have been maliciously chased, while someone who had some major tax dealings that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court is still held in such a high position of esteem within the Scottish Establishment is an insult to every honest taxpayer who ever existed. It’s absolutely sickening to the core.

  49. Albertz11 23rd January 2022 At 20:18
    Haven’t a clue or much of an interest . I posted the link for information . It’s your mob that have a thing about Kevin Clancy . I think his very name upsets a certain group of fans , regardless of his competence as a referee . So, was he axed then ?

  50. Albertz11 — 24 Jan 22 — 13:19

    Thanks for your update on draws. Memory may not be what it used to be but seem to recall that sometime after liquidation in 2012 there were a couple of extended streaks in both cup competition where Rangers or TRFC enjoyed home advantage. Stand to be corrected.

  51. Albertz11 22nd January 2022 At 11:04
    Penalty – Yes
    Red Card – No
    Barasic was clearly covering and therefore no obvious goal scoring opportunity was denied by McGregors genuine attempt.
    As you correctly say “Nobody could predict with any certainty what would have happened” and so any subsequent comments are pointless.
    As i said previously i don’t believe referees are biased but some , Clancy being one, are not up to the standard required . Rangers have every right to go through the proper channels and express their concerns.
    Every club has this right but as per usual it only seems to attract attention when Rangers are involved.

    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    So, if it was a definite penalty and the purpose of the letter to the SFA was to highlight the poor standard of officiating, why wasn’t the biggest blunder in the entire game on Rangers’* list of errors and inconsistencies?

    As I alluded to above, none of the subsequent incidents that Rangers* complained about would have transpired if the penalty had been correctly awarded. The sequence of events thereafter would’ve been entirely different and Rangers* wouldn’t have broken downfield and scored, for example, as they’d likely be restarting the game from the centre circle following Aberdeen’s penalty.

    Let me be crystal clear here. I’m arguing that if Kevin Clancy is deemed to be such a poor official that he shouldn’t officiate at Rangers’* matches, then he’s clearly unfit to be in charge of ANY GAME, not just those involving Rangers*. The current franchise playing out of Ibrox seem to want to pick and choose the officials that best suit them rather than genuinely striving to improve the standard of officiating for all the clubs.

    The industrial scale criticism contained in the catalogue of errors letter from Ibrox that resulted in a ‘constructive’ dialogue meeting with the SFA seems to fly in the face of the SFA’s well established policy of punishing managers, players and club officials who dare to criticise match officials. I’ll take your word for it that this avenue is open to all clubs, not just those who shout the loudest.

    Finally, I dread to think of the level of seethe if Scotland’s pluckiest new club ever genuinely ends up on the receiving end of poor officiating if this is how they behave when a stonewall penalty isn’t awarded against them but they still portray themselves as victims.

  52. ps – note to the mods – is it really necessary to have Albertz11’s posts in moderation? He and I are about as far apart in opinion over ‘the saga’ as it’s possible to get, but in my opinion he nonetheless deserves the same posting rights as the rest of us so long as he remains polite and respectful, which to my knowledge he has always been. It’s annoying missing one of his replies simply because it doesn’t appear until some considerable time after it was typed. There is a danger that the forum merely becomes an echo chamber if dissenting opinion is stifled or discouraged.

  53. Upthehoops 24th January 2022 At 21:21
    ‘..Yet not one single politician, past or present, has ever asked questions..’
    %%%%%%%%%$
    Yes, indeed ,Uth.
    Likewise no politician or public figure has queried the RIFC plc ” Prospectus” with its nonsensical claim that RIFC lc is the holding company of the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872!
    In which connection, not yet having received an acknowledgment to my email , I have sent this email to the FCA:
    “To:
    complaints@frccommissioner.org.uk

    Tue, 25 Jan at 11:44

    Dear R.. L..,
    I refer to my email of 30 December 2021.
    May I be favoured with an acknowledgement of that email?

    Better still, may I have an answer to my basic question:
    has, or will, the FCA examine the ‘Prospectus’ issued by Rangers International Football Club plc in 2012 in connection with its IPO , in which it marketed itself as being the holding company of a football club [ company number SC004276] that went into Liquidation in that year and which is still in Liquidation, when in fact and law it was/is the holding company of ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’ [ company number SC 425159]?

    I believe that the Prospectus was seriously misleading, and gave the impression that potential investors would be investing in the historic Rangers FC of 1872 instead of a brand new club first admitted into Scottish football in 2012!
    At a time when Government itself at the highest level is under heavy pressure to explain itself, I think it is of critical importance that Financial regulatory authorities, accountable ultimately to Parliament, should be ready to show that they listen to and respond to serious questions seriously put to them by members of the public.

    Yours sincerely,..”

  54. Sad to hear the news that former Celtic manager Wim Jansen has passed away.

    Despite being the man who stopped our 10 it was impossible to dislike him.

    Condolences to his family.

  55. John Clark 25th January 2022 At 12:03
    ………..
    The club web site tells you The Rangers International football club plc is the Holding company of The Rangers Football club Limited. I have not read the prospectus for some time but i takenit is missleading?

  56. Further to my post of 12.03 today, and having listened to the latest developments in the Downing St ‘partygate’ matter , I have copied my email [ to the Complaints Commissioner] to Toby Perkins MP just for his general interest in failing football clubs, and to say that when Government itself is suspected of hiding unpleasant truths, we may be sure that Government agencis/departments might not be above doing likewise if it suits their book.
    Integrity?
    We have not seen much of that in the BBC/SMSM in relation to the nonsense of the 5-Way Agreement. Are we seeing it in the FCA?

  58. Cluster One 25th January 2022 At 12:35
    “..e but i taken it is missleading?”
    %%%%%%%%%
    Have a look at this link for starters , reading the whole of it.

    https://www.investegate.co.uk/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=201212050956047840S
    This excerpt in particular
    “COMPANY BUSINESS (INCLUDING MAIN COUNTRY OF OPERATION) OR, IN THE CASE OF AN INVESTING COMPANY, DETAILS OF ITS INVESTING POLICY). IF THE ADMISSION IS SOUGHT AS A RESULT OF A REVERSE TAKE-OVER UNDER RULE 14, THIS SHOULD BE STATED:

    Rangers International Football Club plc following admission will own and operate Rangers Football Club Limited. Rangers Football Club, based in Scotland, has become one of the world’s most successful clubs, having won 54 League titles, 33 Scottish Cups, 27 League Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972. Playing at the 50,987 seater Ibrox Stadium, Scotland, and benefitting from the world class 37 acre Murray Park training facility, the club has been a dominant force in Scottish football for decades.

    The club generates revenues from match-day sales, broadcasting rights, retail and merchandising as well as other media rights. ”

    It’s very clear to me that potential investors were led to believe that whatever the name of the football club, they would be investing in the historic Rangers that had won 54 league titles etc etc!
    It is astonishing that the ‘NOMAD’ let that go!

    [I’m having difficulty downloading the full IPO Prospectus, but I’ll keep trying. It has of course disappeared off the RIFC/Rangers FC website’s investors page, but I should be able to turn it up]

  59. ‘Cluster One 25th January 2022 At 12:35

    John Clark 25th January 2022 At 12:03
    ………..
    The club web site tells you The Rangers International football club plc is the Holding company of The Rangers Football club Limited. I have not read the prospectus for some time but i takenit is missleading?’
    ::
    ::
    I thought I’d have a look for the prospectus to refresh my memory.

    I chanced upon this on the Investors’ Chronicle website, bylined Ken Wieland & dated 13/12/2012:

    https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/2012/12/13/shares/news-and-analysis/rangers-to-debut-on-aim-Cfp9SvZqxYCJG1VyljMyYI/article.html

    This is the first paragraph –

    ‘Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) plc is expected to join London’s junior market on 19 December. For fans, that means the opportunity to grab a stake in Glasgow Rangers, 54-times Scottish champions, as an early Christmas present. The official name is now Rangers Football Club Ltd. RIFC is to own and operate Rangers FC, which, after exiting administration earlier this year, is now debt-free but plying its trade in the fourth tier of Scottish football.’

    Quite hilariously inaccurate, Mr. Wieland.
    [I’m still looking for the complete prospectus online.]

  60. Dom16 25th January 2022 At 14:34
    ‘…Maybe the SFA should take a look to avoid and such scenario here?’
    %%%%%%%%
    Do you mean this scenario
    “…both of whom believe Derby knowingly skirted EFL rules to gain an advantage at their expense, ..” ?
    Are they accused of giving false info to the EFL about how much they were paying their players, by any chance?
    Surely no club would even dream of cheating like that? And surely if a club were to do that it would deserve to be expelled in total disgrace not merely suffer Liquidation!

  61. Jingso.Jimsie 25th January 2022 At 16:00
    “..I chanced upon this on the Investors’ Chronicle website, bylined Ken Wieland & dated 13/12/2012:”
    %%%%%%%%%
    Good spot!
    Wieland would have got a job on any of the Scottish newspapers, with such ready disregard for truth!
    Honest to God, I have no difficulty in working out where Dante would put him!

  62. Highlander 25th Jan 10.15

    ” why wasn’t the biggest blunder in the entire game on Rangers’* list of errors and inconsistencies?”
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    At the conclusion of every fixture both clubs must complete a online form giving the match details. This includes any comments regarding the performance of the match officials. I daresay the incident you refer to will have been included in Aberdeen’s post match assessment . Rangers, like very other club, are unlikely to highlight a decision that benefitted them.
    Re – KC, my personal opinion is that he falls quite a bit below the standard expected from a top level official with two decades experience and should be removed from the list of approved officials.
    …………………………………………………………..

    “SFA’s well established policy of punishing managers, players and club officials who dare to criticise match officials.”
    ………………………………
    We have recently seen Hibernian defender Paul McGinn given a two match ban for being critical of a referee’s performance so it will be interesting to see if this is applied on a consistent basis given the comments by the Celtic manager toward Don Roberson today.

  63. There must have been a shiver among the board of directors at Rangers today with the news UEFA has cracked down on FFP regulations with two clubs feeling the brunt. I’m sure they were scouring their files for any “overdue payables” that needed clearing by the end of the month. Potential for another share issue? With the potential of being barred from CL play, EL play or EL Conference on the table it might be squeaky bum time. It seems to me the former edition of Rangers had problems discerning overdue payables and payables due. It would be ironic if they did win the Scottish league then not be qualified for the competition due to “overdue payables”.

  65. HirsutePursuit 25th January 2022 At 23:59
    ‘.JJ…[ link to the RIFC plc Prospectus]
    %%%%%%%%%
    Good man yourself!
    Section B3 is the dastardly cunning bit.
    ” …RFCL [ed: meaning SevcoScotland] acquired the assets and business of the Club… It is the intention of theDirectors and the Manager for the Club to RETURN [ed:my capitals] to top flight football as soon
    as possible. [ed: clearly implying that it was the Sevco club that was in the third division and would aim to get back to the top flight] ”
    It’ such a monstrous fiction that one has to admire CG”s wicked genius, while hoping that he never enjoys any lasting benefit from his ‘cleverness’.
    How could any Nomad ever have accepted that it could be right for a new plc to claim to be the holding company of the most successful football club in the world, when that club had ceased to exist?
    There are as many questions to ask of that Nomad as can be asked about ‘Partygate’, in my opinion.

  66. Vernallen 25th January 2022 At 22:40
    ‘.. It would be ironic if they did win the Scottish league then not be qualified for the competition due to “overdue payables”.’
    %%%%%%%%
    Such a consummation is devoutly to be wished as being no more than condign punishment for claiming to be what they are not, as well as being a beautiful example of poetic justice!

    But of course the liars in Scottish football governance would easily be persuaded to take a ‘pragmatic’ view’ , as that ar.e-hole of a junior Minister urged the EFL to do in relation to the Derby County situation, and do another fix. They have thus far got away with the first fix, and would try another without a blush.

  67. Vernallen 25th January 2022 At 22:40

    I believe for UEFA to act against clubs requires the relevant National Association to bring issues to their attention. I don’t think anyone at Ibrox needs to worry about anything on that score.

  68. Let me say that yesterday afternoon I received a reply from the Complaints Commissioner’s office to my most recent email to them on 25 January 2022. It was more or less merely a repeat of the previous reply , which didn’t deal with my actual complaint about the RIFC plc ‘Prospectus ‘ but about my complaint about the delays by the FCA in replying to previous correspondence. I clearly did not express myself too intelligibly!

    It seems I am out of time to make a complaint to the Complaints Commissioner unless I can persuade her ( the Commissioner is a woman) to accept my reason for not complaining within the normal time.
    Here is what I have sent in reply:

    “complaints@frccommissioner.org.uk

    Wed, 26 Jan at 14:28

    Dear Rachel, (if you don’t mind the informality),
    Let me eat humble pie!

    I had thought that the FCA was the last word in financial regulation, and had not really appreciated that the Complaints Commissioner existed as an independent entity. That was my fault for not really carefully reading what I believed to be a reply to what was not my basic complaint; I was complaining about delays but that was incidental to my substantive complaint which was not about the delays in communication, but about the possibility that a plc had issued a misleading IPO Prospectus and had been allowed to do so by the Nomad/FCA.

    If I may, I now wish formally to complain to the Complaints Commissioner
    That,
    The ‘Prospectus’ issued by Rangers International Football Club plc [‘RIFC plc’] in December 2012 relating to their Initial Public Offer was, in my opinion, misleading in that it represented that RIFC plc would be the holding company of Rangers Football Club[ company number SC004276], whereas in fact and in law it would become, did become, and is the holding company of ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd] [ company number SC425159];

    that Rangers Football Club plc, having failed to be brought out of Administration entered ‘compulsory Liquidation’ under the name ‘RFC plc 2012’, and ceased operations as a football club in October 2012, having had to surrender its share in the then Scottish Premier League and having in consequence lost its entitlement to membership of the Scottish Football Association;

    that the Rangers Football Club Ltd [co.number SC 00425159 ] is a football club newly created and admitted into Scottish Football only in 2012, and is not and cannot legally be the football club of which RIFC plc claims to be the holding company, and entitled to be marketed as being RFC plc[ company number SC 004276];
    and
    that by claiming that Rangers Football Club Ltd [company number SC 00425159] is RFC plc [company number SC 004276] , the Prospectus issued by RIFC plc is wholly misleading in its claim to be the holding company of ‘the most successful football club in the world’;

    that the Nominated Advisor ought to have been aware of the fact that RFC plc had not been brought out of Administration but went into Liquidation [in which state it continues to this day] and that The Rangers Football Club Ltd came into being only in 2012, and had no history-sporting or otherwise- as a football club.

    As I understand it the FCA itself is unable to deal with this complaint.

    I also now understand that I am ‘late’ in making this complaint to the proper quarter, the Complaints Commissioner.

    However, I ask the Commissioner to understand that I am not at all well-versed in matters of this kind, and that I came to understand the seriousness of this matter (if my opinion of what happened is at all correct) only in relatively recent times. I tried to ‘complain’ as soon as I, as an ignorant layman, thought I had got to grips with what I think actually happened, having checked the source material as best as I could; and ask the Commissioner to him to exercise her discretion and investigate this complaint because, if I am correct, then what happened was that a massive deception was de facto [whatever may have been the intention] practised on the investing public, a deception which ought to have been spotted by the Nominated Advisor: in my opinion.

    I thank you personally for your unfailing courtesy, and of course I sincerely apologise for any curtness on my part, occasioned by my own failings to communicate sufficiently clearly!
    Yours ….”

  69. JC…
    I’m not sure if this may be of any assistance to you, but the original SPL articles may be of some interest to you…
    https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC175364/filing-history/ODAyNTYwNjhhZGlxemtjeA/document?format=pdf&download=0
    Article 4 is especially relevant. Here, the term ‘football club’ is used in its natural, everyday meaning. There is no capitalisation, because the meaning is clear and unambiguous.

    In this article it is expressly stated that only football clubs can hold shares.

    It could be written in this way because all of the football clubs were corporate bodies and could legally hold shares in another company.

    The list of shareholders is given here…
    https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC175364/filing-history/OTk3MTk0ODVhZGlxemtjeA/document?format=pdf&download=0

    The IPO capitalised the word Club so appears to have a specific meaning that would be different from normal usage – but no definition (that I could find) was provided to distinguish ‘Club’ from the natural, everyday meaning of ‘football club’. Since, as you say, the original football club is clearly not the same as the current football club, I can only agree with your assessment that the IPO document was, at the very least, misleading.

    Did the IPO take its lead from the updated SPL articles?

    In 2005, the SPL rewrote its articles to be able to distinguish between the holder of a share and the football club. At the time, Brechin could have become eligible to be part of the SPL (under proposals for SPL 2) but is not an incorporated body. As an unincorporated association cannot legally own anything, the share in the company would have to be held by one of the club’s committee members. That, under the original articles, would have meant the committee member (as holder of the SPL share) would be considered to be the football club.
    The new articles simply allowed the share in the SPL to be held by someone other than the football club.
    The new articles even say that the definition of Club should normally include its owner and operator – that is because the owner and operator of a Club is normally the football club itself.
    It is only when a football club is unincorporated that the Club and its owner and operator (the SPL/SPFL shareholder) can be distinguished as separate entities.
    Since Rangers was an incorporated body, even under the new SPL articles, there is no separation between the original Club (as defined by the SPL articles) and the football club that was The Rangers Football Club plc.
    Obviously, there is no separation between the current Club (as defined by the SPFL articles) and the football club that is The Rangers Football Club Ltd.

    No matter how many times Neil Doncaster and others repeat the lie, The Rangers Football Club plc is simply not the same Club (football club) as The Rangers Football Club Ltd

    If the IPO was a fraud, who were partners to it?

  70. Regardless of contributors affiliations the passing of Wim Jansen should not be allowed to go without this site expressing a collective sympathy to the family of a genuine football man who had an enormous impact on Scottish football .

    R.I.P.

  71. HirsutePursuit 26th January 2022 At 17:53
    ‘…JC…
    I’m not sure if this may be of any assistance to you, but the original SPL articles may be of some interest to you…’
    %%%%%%%%%
    HP, any confirmation that I’m not an auld monomaniacal eejit chuntering on about an imagined wrong is comfortingly welcome !
    And thank you for your post.
    I think I’m on record as having been no more than quietly entertained by ‘Rangers’ tax difficulties, believing that SDM had plenty of millions to cover any little tax problem if he would but choose to do so, without me for a minute thinking that there had been any fundamental , deliberate cheating of both the taxman and the Football Authorities behind it all.

    The RTC blog [ honour to him] opened my eyes to the ugly facts, and prompted me to begin to attend such of the legal proceedings that were open to the public and accessible by me, who knew/knows not a lot about the business/investment/sports administration/sfa/UEFA/FIFA /legal worlds.
    I have learned a helluva lot since!
    These present days, when Government at the highest level is being questioned as to its fundamental honesty , one can be forgiven for having reservations about the readiness of agencies of government to adhere to principles of truth, if in so doing they make problems for themselves!

    I hope that the Complaints Commissioner ( Ms Amerdeep Somal] will see my complaint, and judge that there is sufficient substance in it as to warrant investigation, even if 10 years after the event.

    She will surely be alive to the fact that if RIFC plc can get away with what I think is a misleading Prospectus, there will be other folk who might follow suit.
    And bang would go the credibility of the FCA as any kind of meaningful ‘regulator’
    Honest to God!

  72. Might be interesting to see how this Administration turns out . I saw this a few minutes ago
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/derby-county-is-given-a-four-week-stay-of-execution/ar-AATciX4
    From the Daily Mail
    Charlie Walker For Mailonline 49 mins ago

    ‘Following a formal review of revised financial forecasts at Derby County, the EFL and Quantuma (the Club Administrators) have today agreed a month-long extension to the deadline set for proof of funding to be provided,’ the statement said.
    The EFL and Quantuma said the stay of execution would allow Derby to continue discussions with interested parties and provide ‘additional time to seek clarity on the claims from Middlesbrough and Wycombe’.

    The statement came after local politicians and officials demanded a meeting with the EFL and Quantuma following days of frustration and ‘radio silence’.

    Derbyshire MPs, led by Conservative Pauline Latham want to meet both parties on Friday.

    The EFL and administrators have not said how the additional month will be funded, however, Derby has reduced its cost base with six players leaving during the January transfer window.

    Sources close to the negotiations have told Sportsmail that the administrators have sought additional lending from MSD Capital, which has already lent the club £20M secured against the ground and a further sum to pay the bills since it went into administration in September.”

    [* MSD Capital appears to be the holding company of Cayman Islands registered company -MSD Partners Europe LLP.]

  73. John Clark 27th January 2022 @ 1154hrs –

    I’ve been reading up a little on MSD Capital. Its owner is Michael Dell, who basically owns Dell Computers & MSD is run to manage the family’s piles of money.

    Here’s the interesting bit for me:

    Why would a US private investment firm loan a struggling football club a reported £200m (secured against its assets, which aren’t valued at that sum, leaving MSD heavily exposed should DCFC cease trading) to limp along from crisis to crisis when the amount required to remove said club from administration is ostensibly £28m (plus whatever is required to stabilise & restructure the business)?

    Interestingly, Mike Ashley is hovering in the background, as is another US private investment firm, Carlisle Capital.

  76. TaxWatch believes that it has managed to uncover the identity of Mr Red
    …………………………………………………………………………………….
    Really?. I thought his identity was known many years ago.

  77. Dom16 27th January 2022 At 18:19
    Upthehoops 27th January 2022 At 18:56
    ‘The link to TaxWatch, and Mr Red’
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    An excellent spot, gentlemen.
    It’s clear that a chap who could write this to HMRC ” I cannot help with your fantasies and the production of a S20 makes no difference to this” was as arrogantly hubristic and arrogant as SDM himself! [see the para beginning ‘in her dissenting judgment;….] possibly learning how to be so while working on the EBT tax evasion dodge for years?
    Let the s.o.a.b. be nailed good and proper, particularly if he had formerly been a Civil Servant working in HMRC.
    More importantly, let there be VERY hard questions asked of the CIOT itself, such as, ‘who on the CIOT’s ‘professional standards committee’ might have been a Murray/RFC plc sympathiser and would have had the power to refuse to look into the criticisms made by the superb Dr Poon?

    As TaxWatch says: “The failure to take action over very clear and high profile allegations of misconduct by a Chartered Tax Advisor brings into question the robustness of the disciplinary process for the tax profession, which in turn threatens to bring the whole profession into disrepute”;
    in the same way that the failure of the SMSM and BBC to report the truth about the Big Lie has caused many of us to treat them as mere pedlars of lying propaganda for a lying PLC.
    [Boris isn’t in it, as far consistent lying is concerned when compared with the deceitful SMSM and BBC!]

    As an aside, many of the names of the colour-coded witnesses at the FTTT were made known either on this blog or on RTC , or somewhere!
    All my own stuff relating to the FTTT is up in the attic, unsorted. Common sense and a couple of nightcaps deter me from going up right now to try to find anything related!
    But maybe someone else remembers who ‘Mr Red’ was named as being (if, indeed, he was named]?

  79. Jingso.Jimsie 27th January 2022 At 15:55
    ‘..Why would a US private investment firm loan a struggling football club a reported £200m… to limp along from crisis to crisis when the amount required to remove said club from administration is ostensibly £28m (plus whatever is required to stabilise & restructure the business)?’
    %%%%%%%%
    I suppose because in some way that is beyond my capacity to understand they believe they will gain something or other. Perhaps not immediately related to money or access to European advertising markets/ tax advantages .
    A vanity project? To be upsides with other Americans who own a soccer club in England? Quite possibly.
    History is littered with the stories of filthy rich folk whose vanity was never satisfied if their rich filthiness was not honoured and respected by the common people more than the filthy richness of others!
    These are the aspects of civic life that serious journalists should be digging into .
    Perhaps the sports pages journalists of the media need to learn how to ask questions.

  80. From above link.
    Unsurprisingly this led to follow up questions from HMRC on the existence of side letters long denied. ‘Mr Red’ , believed to be Ian McMillan once again, replied to the s20 notices as follows:

  81. John Clark 26th January 2022 At 23:40

    “I hope that the Complaints Commissioner ( Ms Amerdeep Somal] will see my complaint, and judge that there is sufficient substance in it as to warrant investigation, even if 10 years after the event.

    She will surely be alive to the fact that if RIFC plc can get away with what I think is a misleading Prospectus, there will be other folk who might follow suit.
    And bang would go the credibility of the FCA as any kind of meaningful ‘regulator’
    Honest to God!”
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Great determination as ever JC but I suspect she will play the time-barred card again to cover her own bahookie.
    Should she choose to investigate, we know only too well there will be powerful people behind the scenes steering or subverting her findings to ensure she does not expose the big lie. Should she investigate and fudge the answer, quoting the usual suspects who gave and continue to give credence to the myth, then effectively she is giving the green light for others to follow the same con-trick.

    No, I think she will be guided to stick with the head-in-sand approach using too late as her excuse.

  83. Normanbatesmumfc 28th January 2022 At 11:07
    ‘.. I think she will be guided to stick with the head-in-sand approach using too late as her excuse.’
    %%%%%%%%
    We’ll probably never know, because there appears to be no requirement on the Complaints Commissioner to ‘report back’ to anyone who raises a complaint, even if the complaint was not ‘time-barred’.
    Have a look at this link https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/fscc which has this :
    “…The Office of the Complaints Commissioner
    A regulator, also called FSCC
    This authority is not subject to FOI law, so is not legally obliged to respond (details).
    Also known as the Office of the Financial Services Complaints Commissioner.,,,,,,,,,,,” etc etc.

    Imagine what would happen if the Commissioner were to undertake an investigation and concluded that RIFC plc’s Prospectus had been misleading. What then?
    Apparently,’ Criminal liability in connection with the Prospectus may arise under the FS Act, the Theft Act 1968 or the Fraud Act 2006….’
    [A mouth-watering prospect!]
    I would hope that the Commissioner actually gets to deal with the complaint and deals with it with complete integrity and in good conscience arrives at a view.
    Only she of course will know whether what she does is done honestly.
    I’ve no reason to think that she is any kind of boris.
    So, here’s hoping.

  85. Further to my post of 14.52 today, I point you in the direction of this link
    https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/fca-response-complaints-commissioner-annual-report-2020-21.pdf
    in which the FCA gives facts and figures about the volume of complaints , and what percentage of their decisions on the complaints is upheld by the Commissioner and so on, and boast about how they keep complainants informed of the progress of their complaint.
    But that seems to be about ‘technical’ complaints rather than about potentially misleading Prospectuses being allowed to be published.
    We’ll see what I will told, if anyone even goes so far as to red my complaint!

  86. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree if one has any connection to Ibrox. The Alloa manager is collecting a “dossier” of referees in regards to the red card and suspension of one of his players. There’s probably a template available from Ibrox so Barry doesn’t have to strain himself. After all there’s precious little time to be involved with the management of his team, and get a ghost written column in the DR. I particularly like his comment about the latest messiah to appear at Ibrox, the much ballyhooed Amad Diallo, a potential $30 million plus loan player. One has to wonder why ManU were driven to let this talent go out on loan. I believe Mr. Diallo would be better served by zipping his lip and let his on field performance speak for him. However, Barry likes the look of this talent who has 8 games to his credit.

  88. In my inbox yesterday was this:
    “Summary Of Conclusions of Mr Justice Hildyard
    ACL Netherlands B.V. (As successor to Autonomy Corporation Limited)
    Hewlett-Packard the Hague BV (As successor to Hewlett-Packard Vision BV)
    Autonomy Systems Limited
    Hewlett-Packard Enterprise New Jersey, Inc
    -v-
    Michael Richard Lynch
    and
    Sushovan Tareque Hussain”

    ” SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS OF MR JUSTICE HILDYARD – 28TH JANUARY 2022

    1.1. I will summarise my key findings in the statement I am about to make. This is a public
    statement. However, I will also deliver by 8pm today to the parties’ legal representatives, but
    only to them, a copy of my draft judgment setting out much more fully the reasons for my
    conclusions. That draft will remain at all times strictly embargoed”
    I have read the summary with interest, and what in particular caught my eye was this :

    “20. By far the largest of the claims is brought under Schedule 10A of the Financial Services and
    Markets Act 2000 (“the FSMA claim”). The gist of the FSMA claim is fraud on the part of the
    issuer (Autonomy) in respect of statements or omissions in its published information on which
    the Claimant relied in making an investment decision. It is claimed that “persons discharging
    managerial responsibilities within the issuers” (“PDMRs”) knew those statements or omissions
    to be untrue or misleading, or to amount to the dishonest concealment of a material facts. (An
    issuer’s “published information” is specially defined but for present purposes the ordinary
    meaning it conveys will suffice.)”
    Nothing at all to do with IPO’s or football, of course, but a claim by for massive damages against two individual directors of a company that was bought on (allegedly] untrue/misleading information provided by those directors about its value .
    But I enjoyed reading it.
    the link is:
    https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Autonomy-v-Lynch-summary-280122.pdf

  90. Dom16 29th January 2022 At 20:19
    ‘..And unfortunately for Mr Lynch the Home Secretary has agreed to his extradition.’
    %%%%%%%%%
    That’s an odd one, I have to say.
    It was a CIVIL case that was brought against Lynch here, not a criminal one ( as was brought in the US against the other director, Hussain, who was found guilty of the crime of fraud and sentenced to 5 years]

    That suggests that the Crown Prosecution Service weren’t satisfied that they had evidence strong enough to have him convicted of the CRIME of fraud under English law.

    Can people be extradited to face criminal charges in another country in a matter for which their own country found no safe grounds to charge him with , let alone find him guilty of, a crime?

    Of course, Hussain may have been charged for something he did which under US law was criminal. and they had sufficient evidence to charge and secure a conviction.
    But if Lynch did not commit a criminal offence under English law, can he properly be extradited to face charges on the say-so of the USA ,or any other State?
    I’ve always thought that when it came to extradition , the ‘crime’ had to be a ‘crime’ that was recognised as a crime in the country where the alleged criminal was living, as well as being a crime in the country seeking his extradition.

  91. John Clark 29th January 2022 At 22:34

    I have no real expertise or special insight into these matters and so I can’t directly answer your questions, however, I believe that a prosecuting authority can make a decision not to take proceedings against someone for a crime for which there is a sufficiency of evidence if the prosecuting authority believes the judicial system cannot realistically impose a sanction that befits the crime if another option is available. Perhaps the Crown Prosecution Service were aware of the extradition request and felt that justice might be better served by having Lynch tried in a US court.

    Not a direct comparison but by way of example, I recall discussing, many years ago with a senior officer of the US Navy, the case of a serious sexual assault on a child by a US serviceman . There was considerable public angst in the town where the crime had been committed because the local procurator fiscal had taken no proceedings in the case and handed the miscreant over to the US Military Police.

    I argued that the fiscal should have taken proceedings. The US officer argued that nothing the Scottish Courts could sentence him to could beat the fact this accused serviceman would now be, “…spending the next 25 years breaking great big rocks down into little tiny rocks.” I believe that had the serviceman been convicted and served a period of imprisonment in Scotland, he would have been deemed to have been dealt with for the crime precluding a further period of imprisonment in a US military prison. I am not aware of any discussions that went on behind the scenes between the PF and the US Navy … but one wonders?

  92. Mordecai 30th January 2022 At 08:34
    ‘.. I am not aware of any discussions that went on behind the scenes between the PF and the US Navy … but one wonders?’
    %%%%%%%%
    It’s an interesting notion , isn’t it , that the prosecuting authorities in one country might prefer to hand an accused over to another jurisdiction because their penalties were more severe!
    I suspect, though, that in the example you cite, the USA military based in Scotland [ geez, how I remember the bunches of submariners that came up to the Locarno in Glasgow from the Holy Loch base, flashing bundles of cash for the girls to see] were able to claim some kind of modified diplomatic immunity on condition that the US authorities would take some kind of appropriate action?

  93. On Sportsound some minutes go, I thought I heard Tom English stirring thing a little by raising the question of there having been no action taken against Bankier for his comments about referees.
    Darryl suggested that the transcript seen by the SFA does not quite use the words used by Bankier
    Kenny asking (disappointedly, or is that just me?]] ‘is that the end of it, then?’
    It appears to be, although apparently clubs have been generally reminded of the need for respect and regard for rules and decent behaviour and awareness of the possibility of causing trouble.

  94. Has Derek MacInnes mounted a challenge to Barry Ferguson on all things Celtic/Rangers. His column today offering advice/thoughts to GVB on this week’s Glasgow Derby will no doubt be taken to heart by the Ranger’s boss. I’m sure GVB is aware of the success McInnes enjoyed as Aberdeen manager against Celtic over the years. Perhaps like Ferguson he should pay more attention to the progress of his latest team then worrying about the Glasgow rivals. I can’t wait for his prediction on the outcome of the game as he has a knack for picking the wrong party time and again. Also Barry’s column will no doubt be full of the blood and thunder of this match which is pretty much a re-write of every article he submits on this particular game. It was good to see his name attached to his Alloa team following some of the articles following the Scottish Cup game.

  95. Interesting.
    When I posted today at 16.08, I was listening to Sunday Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland.
    I have now just listened to the podcast of that programme, trying to get Darryl’s exact words.

    Lo and behold! that bit off talk that I mentioned in that post ( about Bankier’s comments of a couple of months about refereeing] seems to have been edited out!
    I wonder at whose instigation, and why?

  96. I see, in the passing, that Scotland’s only Labour MP is having difficulty with a ‘Prospectus’!
    https://uk.yahoo.com/news/labour-call-civil-chief-step-213735969.html
    “..Scottish taxpayers should not be expected to foot the bill for a prospectus… .”

    Ian Murray, MP, may have a validly debatable point that a political party in office should not use Civil Service personnel to work on specifically party political planning [as distinct from ‘Government planning in the ‘national’ rather than party interest].

    If I thought he is now, or ever has been, interested in whether what was contained in the RIFC plc IPO Prospectus of 2012 was the truth and the whole truth or whether the FCA may have failed in their Regulatory duty in permitting it to be issued, I might be prepared to look with greater interest at what he has to say about any other kind of ‘prospectus’.

    But he isn’t and wasn’t, so I’m not prepared to be interested in what he has to say about any other prospectus!
    So there! ( was it Violet Elizabeth Bott in the ‘Just William’ stories who used to say that, while stamping a foot?]

  97. John Clark 28th January 2022 At 14:52
    5 0 Rate This

    “I would hope that the Commissioner actually gets to deal with the complaint and deals with it with complete integrity and in good conscience arrives at a view.
    Only she of course will know whether what she does is done honestly.
    I’ve no reason to think that she is any kind of boris.
    So, here’s hoping.”

    Yes let’s hope she is driven to identify right and truth like the admirable Dr Poon, rather than “nothing to see here men” Mure and Rae.

  98. The mad world of transfer deadline day is on us. Lots of rumours but if BBC is correct I am very curious to understand how between them Juve, TRFC and Aaron Ramsey have squared the circle of his £400,000 a week wages for the next 4 or 5 months (whatever possessed Juve to give him a four year contract worth £20m per year in the first place is beyond my reasoning!)

  99. Wokingcelt 31st January 2022 At 16:27
    ‘.. how between them Juve, TRFC and Aaron Ramsey have squared the circle of his £400,000 a week wages for the next 4 or 5 months.’
    %%%%%%%%%
    Aidan Smith in the ‘National’ asserts quite positively that
    “Juventus will heavily subside Ramsey’s huge weekly wage packet during his time in Glasgow as he aims for regular first team football following a frustrating time on the continent”

    And common sense tells us that there’s no way cash-strapped RIFC plc would be able to pay anything like £400k a week in addition to the supposed £2M loan fee unless they have again borrowed from directors or been slid a few bob from a benefactor.

  100. JC and Wokingcelt, now now boys, you know that comments like that will have Albertz11 on any second to let us know that everything is fine with the deal and the financing of it. He might even ask how TRFC’s transfer dealings tie in with the aims of this site re tackling poor governance in Scottish football.

  101. Ramsey’s an interesting one –

    He’s been in the match-day squad 9 times this season (there have been 23 rounds in Italy).

    Started 1 game & subbed after 60 minutes. 2 sub appearances of 18 & 20 minutes. 98 minutes of league football. 6 squads as an unused sub. No appearances since 26.09.21.

    Missed 10 league squads with ‘muscle’ problems & 1 due to Covid19. Not stripped 3 times.

    2 substitute appearances in the CL, the last on 20.10.21, for a total of 14 minutes.

    Looks a good signing, whatever he’s costing TRFC!

    Edit: stats from Transfermarkt.

  104. Nawlite 31st January 2022 At 19:33
    ‘… He might even ask how TRFC’s transfer dealings tie in with the aims of this site re tackling poor governance in Scottish football.’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    Well, we know that RIFC plc is living the biggest sporting lie in the history of Scottish football, courtesy of ‘poor governance’.
    That lie has to be kept in the forefront of our minds , however much other folk want to forget it and ‘move on’,
    if only to make it difficult for our Governance people to break the rules again if RIFC plc goes bust.
    We remember that it was only given ‘going concern’ status on the basis of verbal assurances that directors’ loans would be made available if needed.

  105. Rangers have a new boy in the door and he should be well rested based on Jingso.Jimsie post earlier. Also there’s much speculation on salary, even though the DR got some information from Italy on how the figures might be misconstrued. Highly unlikely he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow night and if so injury could not be far away. This looks like Celtic’s signing of Duffy last year. Could be a thirty year old footballer looking to pad his retirement fund and anticipating strolling through games in what me be perceived as an easier touch then the EPL.

  106. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60190092

    Don’t panic. Clive Lindsay, (who he?) in the above piece tells us The rangers have “reserves” to dig into;

    “So far, though, Celtic have looked more able to delve deep into the depths of their squad and continue to produce free-flowing football.

    Which is no doubt part of the reason Rangers dug into their reserves to bring in two eye-catching loanees – £19m winger Amad Diallo from Manchester United and Ramsey from Juventus.”

    Maybe a consignment of teddy bears, (stuffed with cash) has arrived from somewhere. Shhh, nothing to see here…..

  108. John Clark 30th January 2022 At 23:06

    What a pity there were no enraged MPs or MSPs from any party in 2012 about tens of millions of tax being with held in order to finance on pitch success. Instead some even demanded that HMRC write it off, including the then First Minister…and in my opinion they would do it again.

  109. @A11 – happy to be corrected on the salary; 400k was widely reported down here when he moved from Arsenal but happy to accept that this was incorrect, although I think the figure you quote is net of tax – I trust no-one at TRFC has made the same mistake…

  110. Albertz11 — Jan 31/22 — 21:51

    With all the speculation surrounding Ramsey’s weekly salary, even if its closer to the $100,000, you mention I would think Ranger’s would be picking up a substantial portion of that. Juventus have some financial worries of their own and can’t be too generous with their out-goings for someone who was not well acquainted with the field during his time there. It will be interesting when those diligent reporters in the Scottish media do some digging and get the actual facts. (LOL).

  112. Dal Pino has resigned as president of Serie A. (Who’s president of the SFA? Rod Petrie.)

    His ‘day job’ is CEO & ED of a large telecommunications company with interests in the USA. It appears that he’s moved there for work reasons & is unable to fulfil his role with Serie A. There was some discontent over the current Italian media deal he brokered last year, with several clubs complaining about its set-up. I can’t see any allegations of naughtiness. What makes you think there is anything dubious going on?

  113. Jingso.Jimsie 2nd February 2022 At 11:28
    ”…What makes you think there is anything dubious going on?”
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    Oh, nothing in particular, I suppose. Just the fact that the world of football has seen a number instances of criminal/quasi-criminal episodes in high places where lots of money ( or dodgy opportunities to make money via bribes and such like] is swilling about.
    Relatively high-profile people suddenly demitting office /being asked to ‘step down’ is sometimes a sign that things are questionable.
    In our own wee backyard in recent times I believe dodgy stuff was done and lied about, and that , perhaps, has pre-disposed me to be suspicious and distrusting, ready to assume from the off that truth is not being told until I can be persuaded otherwise.
    There are many little borises in this wicked little world, may they be , sooner or later, punished for their lying.

  114. A reply to my complaint to the Complaints Commissioner came in yesterday afternoon.
    Not surprisingly, but still disappointingly, the Commissioner thinks my complaint is out of time and will not be looking at it, and the file will be put away.
    She also thinks that, even if it was not time-barred, my complaint is not one that she could deal with. As far as I can see it’s a complaint about the way the FCA allowed a misleading Prospectus to get through, which would seem to me to be very much a complaint about the exercise of the FCA’s statutory function! So I don’t know where she is coming from.
    I will of course write to acknowledge that answer. I’ll take a day or two to draft a snail-mail response so that there’s a bit of paper they will have to file away!
    Here is the reply I received:
    “complaints@frccommissioner.org.uk
    To:(me)
    Tue, 1 Feb at 15:48
    Dear …,
    Thank you for your further email explaining your complaint and your request that the Commissioner consider your complaint.
    Unfortunately, the Commissioner is not able to consider your complaint. The Complaints Commissioner’s role is to consider complaints about how the regulator (in your case the FCA) has carried out, or failed to carry out, its function.
    You raised a complaint with the FCA in April 2020 and the FCA responded in May 2020. In its decision letter the FCA informed you that if you were not happy with its decision you could refer your complaint to the Commissioner’s office within 3 months. After the FCA issued its decision letter you wrote again to the FCA and it responded with a further email to you on 30 July 2020 in relation to the issues you had raised.
    In both of these communications the FCA advised you that if you were unhappy with its decision you could contact the Complaints Commissioner, and that this should be done within three months of the date of the decision letter. You have not referred your complaint to the Commissioner within three months of the date of the FCA’s decision letter to you and you have not provided the Commissioner with a satisfactory reason for the delay in contacting her office. Consequently, the Commissioner considers that your complaint to her is out of time and will not be looking at your complaint.
    Also, as noted in our last email to you, in its correspondence to you on 30 July 2020, the FCA explained that your concerns about Rangers International Football Club were not something it could consider under the Complaints Scheme. The Scheme is in place to deal with complaints that arise from the exercise of, or failure to exercise, any of the FCA’s relevant functions. It is for this reason that even if you had lodged your complaint with the Commissioner in time, that she would still be unable to consider your complaint under the Complaint Scheme.
    I am sorry, as I know this will disappoint you but for the reasons set out above, the Commissioner will not be considering your complaint any further. Please note that any further correspondence received in relation to this matter will be filed but we will not send any response as we have now closed our file.

    R…. L….
    Investigator
    Office of the Complaints Commissioner
    Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN, United Kingdom

  115. My understanding of the Ramsay wages is his contract is a ridiculous £400k/week of which The rangers will pay 25%, or £100k/week. Defoe was allegedly on £60k/week, so his departure may have helped. Although why a team already running at huge losses choose to compound their financial stresses with such a transfer beggars belief.

    Still I suppose, as “rules” don’t apply to them so why would the normal rules of economics be considered???

  118. Amad Diallo, a 20 million pound man, sho is going to set Scottish football on fire, doesn’t make to the second half of either game he started and hasn’t apparently struck fear into his opponents. Matt O’Riley quietly lands at Celtic, no flapping of his gums on what he’s going to do but puts in three solid performances to date. Who do you want in your side. Ange’s Japanese signings, no where near the salary and pomp surrounding Ramsay, just keep playing and leading a Celtic charge. Aaron Ramsay must be wondering what have I got myself into, at least the pay cheque is good. And poor old Hugh Keevins not seeing the Rangers lose another game this season must have a most difficult night.

  120. Depending on what source you look at the winners of this year’s SPL will pick up maybe £40m from direct entry to the Champions League (assuming whoever finishes second doesn’t qualify via qualifying).
    In the Scottish context £40m is a corrupting amount of money. So here’s an idealistic thought. Why not socialise all payments received from UEFA and allocate across all clubs in the football pyramid such that the winners pick up more for their contribution but the competitive environment is not distorted by such windfalls falling to one club.
    At a stroke you would remove a huge incentive towards reckless gambles, make the football family more financially secure and maybe put more focus on to clubs playing football rather than scrambling for survival.
    There would even be a chance that with a healthier domestic competition our clubs would be more competitive internationally. Of course it will never come to pass due to the various vested interests.

  121. Nawlite

    Genuine (and non-agenda ) question …

    As someone who avoids the more vitriolic/bitter partisan fan sites, I’m struggling to comprehend your (confusing to my pea brain!) response to Vernallen. Can you help me here? What point(s) have I missed?
    His post seems quite innocuous, and indeed relevant, to me, but if your suggesting that it is ‘out of place’ on a broad ranging ‘family ‘ blog, then I must disagree.

    If I’ve misunderstood your point, then I ‘ll duly apologise.

  122. Best67 — 4th Feb 2022 — 12:44
    I too was somewhat puzzled at Nawlite’s comments. My comments were based on reports of the game and previous comments from the recent Ranger signing. No offence was intended. Perhaps if the club’s PR department ( and this includes all clubs) should have a sit down with in coming players and give them a brief session on being wary of the scottish media and how any comments can/will be misconstrued by the reporter and fans.

  123. Bect67 4th February 2022 At 12:44
    Vernallen 4th February 2022 At 14:39
    /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    I suspect that Nawlite was implying that the subject matter of your post was more appropriate to a Celtic supporters forum, rather than SFM, whose aims are more focused on sporting integrity and the governance of all of Scottish football.

    Apologies to Nawlite if I’ve misrepresented him/her, but, for what it’s worth, I agree with Nawlite’s comment, however inoffensive and well intentioned your post may have been.

    It’s maybe worth reading ‘About SFM’ at the top of the page. Hope this helps.

  124. Just back in and saw the comments from Bect67 and Vernallen regarding my earlier short post. I accept my post could have been perceived as curt, so apologies if that’s how it came across – I should have perhaps gone into more detail as to why I thought it not relevant/appropriate for SFM. Highlander above is absolutely correct in his perception of my thinking. It seemed to be saying not much more than ‘Our new signings are better than your new signings….and we got them for less too, so nanananana’ (Not sure how to write that down!)

    I couldn’t see any more in V’s post than that, so posted accordingly. Unlike earlier posts re the Ramsay signing, which questioned how TRFC might be affording the signing (OR NOT!) and whether or not the SFA should be having a closer look at it, I felt V’s approach to it after the derby win wasn’t asking any questions about governance, corruption, cheating etc which is the focus of SFM.

    Hope that clarifies (and if I’ve misinterpreted V’s original post, I apologise).

  125. This is causing a wee bit of consternation in some places , and nowt to do with dying .
    Rangers supporting Conservative MSP, Murdo Fraser, tweeted his support for the motion.

    He said: “Delighted to add my name to this motion from my Scot Tories colleague, Sandesh Gulhane celebrating 150 years of the world’s 2nd most successful football club.”

    It has so far been supported by 13 MSPs including 11 Conservatives, one SNP, Fulton McGregor and one Labour, Glasgow MSP. Paul Sweeney.

  126. Nawlite
    Thanks for your reply – that helps me understand where you were coming from.

    Highlander
    On your wider point,I have read ‘About SFM’, and can agree with you that “the aims are more focused on sporting integrity …”.
    Challenging injustice in the form of the ‘Big Lie’, supported by the Scottish Football Authorities, the SMSM etc is certainly an integral part of that aim – indeed, to me, the real mission on here is never to lose sight of that. That’s one of the principle reasons that I maintain my interest in the SFM (note to self – donation due!). Although I also agree with you about a preponderance of Celtic-minded posters…

    Whit else dae we expect given the history and rivalry? (I’m still waiting for a follower of the former Govan club to come on here and openly agree/admit that they are in Liquidation!).

    Paddy
    What an irony it would be for the definitive liquidation announcement to be made around the time the present incumbents of Ibrox were celebrating a non-existent 150 years of history

  127. What has happened with that motion? I thought Rangers*/TRFC were always lauded by their fans as the world’s most successful club? Surely, they’re not acknowledging there’s a more successful club these days?

    Or am I reading it wrong grammatically and they’re actually admitting the new club thing after all this time i.e. they acknowledge Rangers as the world’s FIRST most successful club and talking about Sevco as the world’s SECOND most successful club! HaHa, that can’t be right, can it? Albertz?

    Of course, behind Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern and many many others either of the 2 Ibrox clubs is probably about the world’s 250th most successful.

  128. Paddy Malarkey 4th February 2022 At 18:59
    “””””””””””””””””””””””””
    ‘..That the Parliament congratulates Rangers Football Club, founded in March 1872, on its 150th anniversary; ‘
    %%%%%%%5
    A counter motion:
    “Presiding officer, I move that Murdo Fraser be censured for trying to mislead the Chamber in suggesting that The Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 is somehow celebrating 150 years of participation in Scottish professional football.
    Mr Fraser knows , or ought to know and admit, that, both in fact and in law, that football club suffered the insolvency event of Administration, was NOT brought out of Administration but entered LIQUIDATION in 2012, where it languishes under the name of RFC 2012 plc ; no longer entitled to participate in Scottish professional football, having been required to surrender its share in the then Scottish Premier league in virtue of which shareholding it had been entitled to membership of the Scottish Football Association.
    Presiding Officer, the following extracts from the Companies House records amply prove beyond any rational doubt, that The Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 and incorporated on 27 May 1899 died the death that many another insolvent football club has died.
    Mr Fraser should be embarrassed for his brass-necked disregard for actual facts, and should be made to apologise to the Chamber, and to the people represented by this Chamber, for his ridiculous , pernicious motion that makes light of Truth, and comforts men in football governance who also made and make light of Truth.”

    From Companies House records:
    “ TO: The Registrar of Companies
    Company Number: SC 004276
    name: RFC 2012 PLC , FORMERLY THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB PLC [ incorporated 27 May 1899]
    I/We James Bernard Stephen Malcolm Cohen
    4 Atlantic Quay 55 Baker St
    70 York St London
    Glasgow W1U 7EU
    give notice that on 31 October 2012 a winding up order was made against the above named company by an order of the Court of Session dated 31 October 2012 and I attach a copy of the order.
    Signed…..”
    __________

    Application to register a company
    Certificate of Incorporation of a private limited company
    Company Number: 425159
    Company Name: SEVCOSCOTLAND LIMITED
    “ The Registrar of Companies for Scotland hereby certifies that SEVCO SCOTLAND LIMITED is this day incorporated under the Companies Act 2006 as a private company , that the company is limited by shares and its registered office is in Scotland.
    Given at Companies House Edinburgh on 29th May 2012.

    name of each subscriber:
    Mr Charles Alexander Green.
    ++========
    31 July 2012 Company name changed, certificate issued
    “ Certificate of Incorporation on Change of name
    Company Number 425159
    SEVCOSCOTLAND LIMITED a company incorporated as private limited by shares ; having its registered office situated in Scotland has changed its name to THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED.
    Given at Companies house on 31st July 2012.”

    That any honest, rational person should be so perverse as to deny the facts and the legalities of the Companies House records to the extent that Fraser does (with such irritating, sneering arrogance ] is a very worrying thing.
    There have been many like him in history, of course, but it’s a pity that one such as he should be so ridiculously and blindly unheeding of truth in a mere matter of sport!
    One wonders what he might be prepared to do to Truth in a really serious matter of state?

    As Dr Strabismus (whom God protect!) of Utrecht used to say , ‘Honest to God!”

  129. Paddy Malarkey 4th Feb 18.59

    In full
    ……………………

    Titled “Rangers Football Club 150th Anniversary”, it reads: “That the Parliament congratulates Rangers Football Club, founded in March 1872, on its 150th anniversary;
    “Understands that it is the second most successful club in world football in terms of trophies won; further understands that it is one of the 11 original members of the Scottish Football League;
    “Has been champion of Scottish league football 55 times, winner of the Scottish Cup 33 times, the Scottish League Cup a record 27 times, the domestic ‘treble’ on seven occasions, and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972.
    The motion goes on to ask the parliament to applaud the work done by the lcub in supporting the Rangers Charity Foundation.
    Scottish Tory leader Murdo Fraser wrote: “Delighted to add my name to this motion ⁦@ScotParl⁩ from my ⁦@ScotTories⁩ colleague ⁦@Sandeshgulhane⁩ celebrating 150 years of the world’s 2nd most successful football club ⁦@RangersFC”
    The motion speaks of the second most successful club in world history, as the Gers have won 115 trophies, behind Al-Ahly’s 118.

    Nacional and Penarol, both of Uruguay, are next in the running with 113 and 108 – and then comes Celtic with 106.
    Barcelona and Real Madrid are next on the list with 91 apiece with Benfica on 82.
    Some of the charities supported by the Rangers Charity FOundation are UNICEF and Armed Forces veterans’ charity Erskine.

  130. Bect67 4th February 2022 At 20:07
    ‘..What an irony it would be for the definitive liquidation announcement to be made around the time the present incumbents of Ibrox were celebrating a non-existent 150 years of history’
    %%%%%%%%%%%%
    I think the ‘definitive liquidation announcement’ is the act of dissolution, when the liquidators BDO advise the Court that all that had to be done and all that could be done to maximise returns to creditors has been done.

    I haven’t recently looked for BDO’s most recent update, but there might still be a ‘ways to go’ before dissolution!
    I haven’t even been checking whether the D&P action v BDO is still live? Anyone?

  131. @Nawlite – well as my father would say, never mind the quality feel the width… By all accounts Al Ahly of Egypt have won most trophies. And Club Nacional de Football are closing in on their total. So RFC+TRFC might need to either win some trophies or buy some more history to hold on to second place.

  132. Bect67 4th February 2022 At 20:07
    ‘..I’m still waiting for a follower of the former Govan club to come on here and openly agree/admit that they are in Liquidation!).’
    %%%%%
    heh heh! Aren’t we all?
    One expects that fans of a club destroyed by a knight of the realm and a barra-boy spiv would have difficulty in making such admission.
    One does not expect an MSP to bloody well make an arse of himself by publicly declaring that a club in liquidation in its 140th year is somehow able to to celebrate its 150th birthday!
    What are we dealing with here?
    What distortion of truth, what pressures on the BBC and the SMSM generally, to lie and to foist the stupid, stupid lie on us that a new club created by cowardly barstewards in football governance could possibly be the very same club as a club that is in Liquidation?
    There are very, very bad people in this world.
    Let them be exposed as the liars that they are.

  135. From today’s Times. We can have complaints against members of the Judiciary regarding possible pro-Rangers bias, but not against the SFA!

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rangers-raid-judge-accused-of-bias-lmz5f2clw

    The sheriff who granted an unlawful warrant during the botched police operation into the takeover of Rangers FC is set to be investigated after claims that his “vociferous” support for the club compromised his impartiality.

    An official complaint has been submitted against Sheriff Lindsay Wood, alleging that he disregarded the apparent conflict of interest created by his affiliation with the Scottish champions.

    Wood, who regularly appears at Rangers matches and social events, is said to have a framed photograph of Ibrox in his chambers.

    It has emerged that Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson, the senior investigating officer during the ill-fated fraud case, is also an ardent supporter. The saga has already triggered a public inquiry and cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.

    When Rangers fell into administration in 2012 the finance experts David Grier, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of the consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed to manage the club’s affairs. All three were arrested two years later over allegations of fraud linked to the club’s collapse and sale.

    Although they were cleared of all charges many Rangers fans believe that they failed to do enough to prevent the club’s demise.

    During the fraud investigation Wood signed off a warrant that allowed officers to raid the London offices of Holman Fenwick Willan, the legal firm representing Duff & Phelps. The operation was later ruled to have been an abuse of state power. Grier has now submitted a formal complaint against Wood to the Judicial Office for Scotland, alleging that his close affinity to Rangers meant that he should not have been involved in issuing warrants to the investigating detectives.

    Wood was photographed in the Ibrox directors box in the year before Grier, Whitehouse and Clark were arrested. In 2018 he was a guest at the official Rangers Burns supper and chaired an event featuring the former club managers Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist.

    “Sheriff Wood is a lifelong and vociferous supporter of Rangers Football Club,” Grier claimed. “He was far too close to the club to be granting warrants to allow investigation into its demise.”

    Grier pointed to the code on judicial independence which says that judges will excuse themselves from hearing a case, known as a recusal, if they have a personal interest in it.

    One senior legal source with knowledge of the case said: “This shameful episode appears to demonstrate that tribalism is alive and well within Scotland’s criminal justice system. Ministers need to take action.”

    The source claimed that many supporters regarded Grier, Whitehouse and Clark as enemies of their club.

    “There was a feeling that these three guys had come up from England and wrecked their beloved Rangers,” the source said. “Many cheered on the legal action against them, seeing it as a form of payback.”

    The warrant to seize documents from the offices of Holman Fenwick Willan was requested by Robertson, who led the inquiry. In court he denied chanting The Billy Boys, a Rangers song with sectarian lyrics, during interviews with suspects and witnesses. He said he may have “referenced” it. It is alleged that Robertson wore Rangers cufflinks while conducting interviews.

    In a statement submitted in 2019, Robertson confirmed that he had met Wood on December 4, 2015, noting that the sheriff had “dealt with a number of the warrants sought in the case”.

    Robertson added: “Sheriff Wood was interested in the case. He told us that he was a season ticket holder at Ibrox and had a framed picture of Ibrox on the walls of his chamber.”

    Court aide criticised firm as threat to her club

    The Times has learnt that Christina Herriott, Wood’s court manager, declared her support for Rangers FC on social media and criticised the finance firm at the centre of the bungled fraud investigation into the club’s collapse and sale.

    Christina Herriott’s online CV states that she is a manager with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service in Glasgow. Robertson submitted a statement in which he said he was told by Wood in 2015 that he and Herriott — who as his clerk was responsible for the administration of cases in the court — were both Rangers season ticket holders.

    Herriott’s Twitter profile states: “It’s Rangers for me” and features the club’s crest. In September 2014 she tweeted: “As soon as Duff & Phelps were appointed there was no hope of anything good for Rangers happening.”

    Two years earlier Herriott, who has no involvement in judicial decision-making, accused the financial consultancy firm of “making money out of the Rangers crisis”. She later gave evidence in a hearing where David Grier, a senior figure with Duff & Phelps, argued he had been arrested maliciously before being cleared of all charges.

    Herriott, who has now made her Twitter profile private, also shared tweets which referred to Nicola Sturgeon as “Scotland’s First Megalomaniac”, accused a high-profile referee of “cheating Rangers” and described the Crown Office as “not fit for purpose”.

    Asked to comment on behalf of Herriott, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service stressed that clerks of court only provided administrative support. “They have no involvement in judicial decision-making,” she said. The service declined to comment on Herriott’s social media posts.

    ‘A Rangers fan officer, Rangers fan sheriff and Rangers fan clerk’
    Grier said: “This has the impression that a senior police officer who is a Rangers fan arranged for a Rangers fan sheriff, and his Rangers fan clerk, to grant a warrant to search the offices of my solicitors.” Grier insists that the warrant should have gone through the High Court, where proceedings against him had commenced, instead of being presented to a “sympathetic” sheriff.

    In 2016 judges at the High Court in London ruled that the search warrant which led to privileged documents being seized from Holman Fenwick Willan was of “excessive and unlawful width”. In a separate Scottish judgment Lord Carloway found that the warrant was “oppressive” and “executed without proper safeguards”.

    Grier and his legal team claim that Wood gave contradictory and misleading accounts in two explanatory reports submitted to Carloway. They allege that the latter was “more or less identical” to a warrant request which Robertson had previously submitted.

    In his statement Robertson confirmed that he had left a copy of the document with Wood.

    Grier said: “I have always been brought up to consider that the system of justice in Scotland is of the highest order. However, things appear to have gone badly wrong and there are significant and important questions which now need to be answered.”

    The Judicial Office for Scotland said: “If a conduct complaint were received in respect of any member of the judiciary, it would be dealt with thoroughly and rigorously on a confidential basis in accordance with the Judiciary (Scotland) Rules 2017. It would not be appropriate for a sheriff to comment on any case that has been dealt with through the court process.”

    The Scottish Police Federation did not answer a request for comment.

  136. Upthehoops 5th February 2022 At 18:56
    ‘..From today’s Times. We can have complaints against members of the Judiciary regarding possible pro-Rangers bias, but not against the SFA!’
    %%%%%%%
    Good spot, Uth. I’ve only just seen your post, and thank you for it.
    Marc Horne, the ‘ award winning’ journalist who wrote the article, is based in Scotland.
    Where the hell was he in terms of asking probing questions about the ‘5-Way Agreement’ or about how RIFC plc could get away with claiming falsely to be the holding company of RFC of !872 vintage, when the fact is that they were [and are] the holding company of The Rangers Football Club Ltd of 2012 foundation, while RFC of 1872 origin is in Liquidation?

    I note, though, that he has “Although they were cleared of all charges many Rangers fans believe that they failed to do enough to prevent the club’s demise”- so he’s brave enough to say that bit of Truth!

    Personally, I don’t give a monkey’s damn about alleged ‘Rangers supporters’ in the Police or Judiciary trying to get revenge on people they think killed their club: they could be understood to have faced up to the reality of Liquidation and would be justified in their thirst for revenge!

    Unlike the very Governance body of Scottish football and supposed guardian of its Sporting Integrity, who to their eternal shame and disgrace created the nonsense that a club that THEY THEMSELVES permitted to enter Scottish football in 2012 should be allowed to claim now to be 150 years old.
    Honest to God, what double-dyed wretches and enemies of truth they are.

    PS, Do we know whether Marc Horne is related to the brilliant journalist Cyril Horne, who flourished in the 1950s at the Glasgow Herald?
    I remember our teacher of French -who was also a [hard!]Master of Discipline- stunning us all one day in class when he read to us a report of a match at Celtic Park ( in or about 1958/59?] by Cyril Horne, which began with the words ” Weeping grey skies over Parkhead ..” and , I think, went on to refer to Janefield cemetery , with some kind of reference to ‘Paradise’.

    He stunned us because we knew he wasn’t interested in football, being a cricket man , Cambridge graduate and what-not. We thought-or at least I thought- he was going to give us the task of putting that report into French!
    No. He just wanted us to savour the delight of good descriptive writing even in sports reports.

  138. “You’ll be the judge, but I believe I have a firm grasp of the profound challenges facing our healthcare system, and the difficulties faced by patients during the current pandemic and beyond”
    https://www.drsandeshgulhane.com/about-dr-gulhane
    Maybe so, but I reserve the right to question Dr Sandesh’s grasp of realities in the world of Scottish Football.
    He has made a farce of himself by buying into the lie that The Rangers Football Club of 2012 creation is the Rangers Football Club of 1872 foundation that went into Liquidation in 2012 and died aged 140!

    If there was ever a more egregious attempt by a politician to curry favour by disregarding unpleasant truth and using his position to propagate an untruth, I’ve yet to come across it.
    May he lose his seat at the first opportunity, for being so stupid.

  139. JC 5th Feb @ 23.15

    Scottish football is sick but the sickness is like alcoholism. Until the disease is admitted, no remedial measures can be taken. The administration – top heavy with lightweights intoxicated by power – is reluctant to admit the obvious, and is disturbingly complacent about the state of the game today.

    Anyone reading this far might think those words are mine – but they are not (as the better read among the community may have noticed!). In an act of mischief, I deliberately omitted quotation marks to give that initial impression. Mea culpa!

    Your reference to Cyril Horne had me delving in to the writings of Scottish football journalists, and the words above are from a publication (When Saturday Comes), and are attributed to John Rafferty – a highly respected football journalist from days of yore. They were, I believe, written ca 1971 – 50+ Years ago!
    (Readers may now add the quotation marks to the first paragraph!)

    How prophetically true of today – and eerily supportive of the SFM blog aims.

    Had Mr Rafferty be penning his thoughts in this day and age, he might just rephrase his words a bit e.g.

    “the administration (with the undying support of the SMSM and the Scottish Establishment)”.

    Plus la change, plus la meme chose etc etc

  140. Bect67 8th February 2022 At 16:13
    “…Had Mr Rafferty be penning his thoughts in this day and age, he might just rephrase his words a bit.”
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%
    In 1971 , Bect67, I lived in Pollokshields.
    I was, at the time, engaged in some occasional voluntary work in that general area.

    In geographical connection with that voluntary work I had occasion to phone John Rafferty on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, which turned out to be about once every four or five weeks:[on nothing to do with football]

    And I think you’re dead right: Rafferty would have been all over the ‘saga’ from at least the first mention of a MBMB, through the shambles of an Administration, and would not have suffered the nonsense of the ‘5-Way agreement’, or allow the untruth that RIFC plc was entitled to claim to be the holding company of RFC of 1872 to go unchallenged.
    I think Ian Archer would have been the same.
    Neither would have accepted at face value what anyone involved had to say, but each would have strained every journalistic sinew and followed every journalistic instinct in the direction of unearthing and exposing the truth- AND reporting it!
    If all of the SMSM brigade had been simply incompetent journalists or mere indolent, fearful, sponging ‘lamb eaters’ /swillers of fine wine from the kitchen/cellars of a despicably hubristic knight , that would have been bad enough.
    But it must be the case that some of our SMSM journalists knew at least some of the truth but chose not to report it,
    And, of course, any one of them even now can check for himself that RIFC plc is the holding company of a football cub that did not exist before 2012, a football club that could not possibly be 150 years old.
    [ That they choose not to do so betrays a want of journalistic integrity, which, as said before, is far more pernicious and dangerous than a similar want of integrity in those WRETCHES who claim to be guardians of the Integrity of Scottish Football !]
    May Rafferty and Archer and Turnbull Hutton rest in the peace of honest, decent human beings of great personal integrity.
    May others in the SMSM or in Football governance who die lacking that integrity lie as dishonourably in their graves as they lied in the exercise of their profession or offices.

  141. Further to my post of 22.18 this evening, I find this in my inbox :

    ” 2022 is a significant year for ICIJ because it marks the 25th anniversary of the news organization’s founding. So to kick off the Meet the Investigators series this year, we decided to take a quick trip down memory lane with one of our longest serving partners.

    Acclaimed Colombian journalist Maria Teresa Ronderos worked on ICIJ’s very first international collaboration. In the latest episode of our podcast, she talks about how the project sparked a passion for investigative journalism that informed the next two decades of her storied career.

    Maria Teresa went on to create Verdad Abierta — the “Open Truth” project — which specialized in reporting on war crimes. She’s now director of the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), which she co-founded in 2019. And last year, she was honored with the prestigious Simón Bolívar National Journalism Award for her lifetime achievements.

    Maria Teresa and her team at CLIP joined forces with ICIJ once again for the Pandora Papers. She says that as international reporting collaborations have grown around the world, journalists in Latin America are facing ever-worsening dangers to press freedom. But she sees crossborder models like ICIJ’s as an important buffer against such threats.

    “When you feel you have a fraternity and it’s having your back, you become more courageous and you can have no fear in being really independent,” Maria Teresa says in the podcast. “I think that’s why it’s so important, these kinds of collaborations.”

    I’ve just emailed the ICIJ to ask whether there is a Scottish journalist in their ranks.
    Will I be surprised if the answer were to be in the affirmative?
    Much as I dislike ‘Americanisms’ , I gotta say ‘You bet!’
    And if there WERE to be any hack in Scotland who is a member of the ICIJ, then of course the credibility of the ICIJ would to my mind be called into question.
    And I would make the point to the ICIJ that wee local corruption needs to be investigated as well as the big international business and governmental corruption.
    Even if it were to be every bit as career-threatening .
    I’ll see what they reply.

  142. I note that Craig Whyte is being prosecuted at the instigation of the Financial Conduct Authority for allegedly failing to comply with a notice to disclose PIN passwords, and a provisional trial date has been set for September 13th in Manchester Crown Court.
    I was prompted by that bit of news to have a look at the list of those Scottish Court cases that are still subject to reporting restrictions and which relate in some way to the death of RFC of 1872 and the creation in 2012 of the new club TRFC and RIFC plc and subsequent wicked abandonment of Sporting integrity that is represented by the ‘5-Way Agreement’ cobbled up by unprincipled ,deceitful, frightened men in a blind panic.
    There are 5 such cases:
    HMA v CW [under Section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981] Court of Session 12 December 2018
    Charles Green v RIFC plc, Court of Session 12 November 2016
    The Rangers FC Group Ltd re Adjudication of Claim , Court of Session 15 March 2016
    HMA v Whyte, Withey, Grier, Whitehouse, Clark, Green and Ahmad, High Court of Justiciary 16 October 2015
    HMA for restraint order re Craig Whyte , Court of Session 11 September 2015

  143. John Clark 10th February 2022 At 14:12

    EDIT
    “..I was prompted by that bit of news to have a look at the list of those Scottish Court cases that are still subject to reporting restrictions and which relate in some way to the death of RFC of 1872”
    ———————–

    Your post prompted me to look at why reporting restrictions have been imposed on the cases you highlight John.In truth I am at a loss as to why restrictions are extant, indeed I am further perplexed at the ban at all! According to the guide on reporting restrictions then there has to be a pressing and convincing case presented by the defendant as to why ‘open justice’ may not be applied. Are you aware of any way of discovering the reasoning for the restriction and whether the PF ,defence or sitting judge has requested such? The extract below is from guidance issued to England and Wales but I would be surprised if Scottish law was to differ in any meaningful way…maybe.

    “The open justice principle
    • The general rule is that the administration of justice must be done in public The public and the media have the right to attend all court hearings and the media is able to report those proceedings fully and contemporaneously
    •Any restriction on these usual rules will be exceptional. It must be based on necessity
    • The burden is on the party seeking the restriction to establish it is necessary on the basis of clear and cogent evidence
    • The terms of any order must be proportionate – going no further than is necessary to meet the relevant objective”
    https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/reporting-restrictions-guide-may-2016-2.pdf

  144. Gunnerb 10th February 2022 At 20:50
    “… I am at a loss as to why restrictions are extant……. Are you aware of any way of discovering the reasoning for the restriction and whether the PF ,defence or sitting judge has requested such? ”
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%
    I’m no expert, of course, Gunnerb, but as I understand it, in the kind of so civil cases in question , one or other of the parties must have asked the judge for reporting restrictions to be imposed for reasons of commercial confidentiality for matters that might have to be discussed but which are not in themselves germane to the action; and in the criminal case, the PF,or the Judge himself, might have had in mind that other prosecutions were or might be pending, that might be prejudiced.

    The fact that some time has elapsed might not of itself remove the possibility that publication of the judgments in the civil cases could still cause commercial harm to either party. I can understand that.

    However, I struggle to understand why the restrictions are still in force in the ‘contempt’ and ‘restraint order’ cases? I’m certainly not aware of any current criminal charges against CW? [ Or at least, not until today!]

    I suppose a member of the public may be free to ask, without himself being guilty of contempt?
    And don’t look at me, Ha, ha. I’m too feart!

  145. “The journalists who broke the story of Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drugs test on Wednesday say they have faced death threats, abuse, and warnings they should check their tea”
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/british-journalists-receive-death-threats-from-russia-over-valieva-controversy/ar-AATK5rB?ocid=msedgntp

    Scottish journalists knew that it was safer/more profitable not only to refuse to question the Big Lie in Scottish Football in 2012 but actively to propagate it!

  148. Oh what a tangled web they weave…

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sheriff-who-issued-22-warrants-in-rangers-inquiry-had-shares-in-club-jf8dd220t

    A sheriff who granted more than 20 warrants during the failed police investigation into the takeover of Rangers FC has been accused of a “glaring judicial conflict of interest” after it emerged he was a shareholder in the club.

    Last week The Times disclosed that Lindsay Wood is the subject of an official complaint relating to his close links to the Scottish champions.

    Wood regularly attends Rangers matches and social events and was said to have a framed photograph of Ibrox in his chambers.

    It has now come to light that he held shares in Rangers’ old parent company, which became worthless when the club went into administration in 2012. Records from 2008 confirm Wood owned 110 shares.

    Following the collapse of Rangers, David Grier, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of the consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed to manage the club’s affairs.

    All three were later arrested over allegations of fraud linked to the collapse and sale of Rangers. They were cleared of all charges but many of the club’s supporters believe they failed to do enough to prevent its demise.

    The saga has already triggered a public inquiry and cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds in payments to individuals who were prosecuted maliciously.

    Between 2013 and 2015 Wood signed off 22 warrants during the botched investigation. They included one which allowed officers to raid the London offices of Holman Fenwick Willan, the legal firm representing Duff & Phelps, which was later found to be unlawful and executed “without proper safeguards”.

    It was requested by Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson, the senior investigating officer, who is said to have worn Rangers cufflinks while conducting interviews.

    Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative spokesman on community safety, called on Lord Carloway, the lord justice general, to establish why Wood failed to recuse himself.

    “This represents a glaring judicial conflict of interest in the Rangers malicious prosecution scandal,” he said. “It seems there was a perfect storm of a Rangers-supporting police officer, a Rangers-supporting sheriff and Crown Office prosecutors who pursued innocent men with reckless disregard for the evidence, leaving taxpayers with a bill for tens of millions of pounds and no one being held to account.

    “A register of judicial recusals was introduced in Scotland seven years ago for circumstances such as these, and I would expect Lord Carloway to establish why there was no voluntary recusal by Sheriff Wood.”

    Grier, who has lodged a complaint with the Judicial Office for Scotland, added: “Sheriff Wood’s connections to Rangers are overwhelming and it was entirely inappropriate for him to be involved.”

    The code of Scottish judicial ethics states that it is not acceptable for a judge to adjudicate on a matter on which they or family members have a financial interest. It adds: “An example of such an interest might be the holding of shares in a public company.”

    In a statement submitted in 2019, Robertson said: “Sheriff Wood was interested in the case. He told us he was a season ticket holder and had a framed picture of Ibrox on the walls of his chamber.”

    The Times asked the Judicial Office for Scotland for a response from Wood but did not receive one.

    A spokeswoman said: “In making a judicial decision, sheriffs must carefully consider the facts before them and take full account of the unique circumstances of each individual case, applying the law without bias or prejudice.

    “Judges can recuse themselves from proceedings on certain grounds — or parties to a case can object to a judge’s involvement.

    “If a party is not satisfied with a judicial decision, it can be appealed to a higher court.”

  149. CFC’s financial statement seems to have startled the supporters of another club . They seem to veer between disbelief and anger on behalf of victims of historical abuse . A fatal blow to aspirations of dominance ?

  150. Upthehoops 12th February 2022 At 14:54
    ‘…It has now come to light that he held shares in Rangers’ old parent company,’
    %%%%%%%%
    There we have the BIG damned Lie again, Uth, in the barefaced, brazen assertion that it was some ‘parent company’ that went bust, while the football club survived !!

    The meanest intellect can easily discover that there WAS NO holding company of RFC of 1872.

    There was only ONE entity registered with Companies House, one Company number, and that entity was the Rangers Football Club of 1872, incorporated in 1889 with company number SC004276

    And it was that football club that went into Liquidation in 2012, renamed as RFC 2012 plc, having had
    to surrender its share in the Scottish Premier League Ltd, thereby losing entitlement to membership of the SFA, and therefore cessing to exist as a football club participating in Scottish professional Football.

    There is a diabolical perversity of mind in the SMSM which simply will not tell the incontestable truth.
    And the evil facilitators in Scottish football governance who abandoned all notion of integrity will have a lot to answer for, rot their bones in the fullness of time.

  151. Upthehoops 12th February 2022 At 14:54
    ‘..Oh what a tangled web they weave…’
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    We’ll have to wait and see what further nonsense may be foisted on us when/ if people in the Judiciary and COPFS have to scramble either to block the truth and/ or avoid personal blame.

    Do you remember this as a piece of utter journalistic failure? Is it worse or as bad as Marc Horne’s ( also of the London Times]
    “Judge blows final whistle on old Rangers
    Nick Drainey
    Thursday November 01 2012, 12.01am, The Times
    Lord Hodge ruled that the former club could be placed in the hands of liquidators
    Rangers, the club that once bestrode Scottish football, was consigned to history yesterday in the dry-as-dust, downbeat surroundings of an Edinburgh courtroom. [ed: so far,so truthful]
    In an atmosphere far removed from the roar of Ibrox, Lord Hodge ruled that the former club could be placed in the hands of liquidators.
    A new Rangers football club has been formed since administrators were called in in February over unpaid tax bills.[ ed: so far again, so truthful]
    It has inherited the honours of the past, but the history of the original club effectively ended in court yesterday.” [ ed: what a piece of absolutely contradictory nonsense! A new club cannot possibly ‘inherit’ the sporting successes of a club that died before ever the new club had kicked a ball!]
    Dear God, did neither of those two ‘journalists’ stop and think about what they were writing? If they did not that would in itself count them out as being any kind of reliable journalist.
    And if they had thought and had recognised the truth, but reported something other? What would that make them?
    Why, nothing more nor less than propagandists for a sporting untruth cobbled up by frightened little men in office as the guardians of the Integrity of Scottish Football!
    Which is the worse thing to be?
    At a time like this, when the integrity of persons in the very Courts of law is possibly being questioned?

  152. Paddy Malarkey 12th February 2022 At 15:05
    ‘… They seem to veer between disbelief and anger on behalf of victims of historical abuse.’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    I am an old man now.
    As a boy I read about Baden-Powell and the Boy Scouts. I wanted to be a Scout. My mum and dad (it seems to me now] thought it was the same as, or related ,to the Boys’ Brigade, so I was not allowed to try to join.
    Did they save me from being sexually abused?
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/10/boy-scouts-of-america-wins-key-support-for-sex-abuse-settlement.html
    Read what that link refers to .
    And we realise that the evil of sexual abuse of the young of any gender is to be found world-wide and at every level of society.
    These days, it would be a very rash company, or sports club, or political, academic, religious, secular, atheistic, or charitable institution that can guarantee that at all times past and present there has not been anyone among their paid staff or volunteers who has not been guilty of abuse against youngsters or other vulnerable people.
    Essentially, the point I make is that point-scoring by referencing a world-wide societal problem is meaningless, except perhaps that the attempt to do so is an indication of the spluttering inability of those who live the sporting lie that Sevco5088/SevcoScotland/TRFC is somehow the Rangers Football Club of 1872.
    Honest to God, what are they like?
    What else but deniers of Truth?
    And those in journalism who deny that RFC of 1872 died are ‘abusers’ of the rest of us , the everyday
    football club supporter?

  153. Paddy Malarkey 12th February 2022 At 15:05
    ‘… They seem to veer between disbelief and anger on behalf of victims of historical abuse.’

    PM – on the “disbelief” angle – why would they be surprised? It was entirely predictable that the interim results would be impressive, driven by 2 significant player sales ( Ajer / Eduoard), qualification for the group stages of the Europa League and the return of European crowds. The only reason for surprise would be that they were uninformed by the fourth estate ahead of times or arithmetic isn’t their strong point.

    Looking more closely at the numbers, Celtic fans should be in no doubt that their club is being run ( financially at least) by people with a good grasp of what their business model is. The conveyor belt of positive player trading is truly impressive. While dips in form and injuries can quickly change things, there are several recent additions to the playing squad who are clearly promising candidates to join that conveyor belt in the future.

    About the only thing that hasn’t gone right is that fringe players, some of whom will be high earners, didn’t get moved on in January. ( Ajeti, Barkas, Soro and Bolingoli). Whatever disappointment the Celtic Board might have felt about that will be minor relative to the excitement the acquisition of Abada, Kyogo, Hatate and O’Riley appear to have generated.

    As of December 31st Celtic had cash balances of £25.6m and net Equity of £93.3m ( Assets – Liabilities). They have maintained an undrawn Revolving Credit Facility of £13m adding further flexibility to their immediate cash position. This is a position all other clubs could only dream of.

  154. Westcoaster 13th February 2022 At 13:50
    ”… Celtic fans should be in no doubt that their club is being run ( financially at least) by people with a good grasp of what their business model is.”
    %%%%%%%%%
    I love the the “financially at least” qualification, Westcoaster!
    The Celtic Board certainly grasped that acting with integrity ( by insisting on an independent investigation into the ‘UEFA licence’ matter and by supporting Turnbull Hutton] would cost them money.

    In that respect, and in my opinion, that puts the Celtic Board of the saga era very broadly in the same category, if not to anything like the same extent, as the originators of the real villainy – SDM and the SFA/ SPFL.
    I am no anatomist, but I think we must now be aware that since 2012 an a.se can have more than two cheeks, and that ‘sporting integrity’ is an out-dated concept, as demonstrated most cogently by the SFA.

    And who could be a.sed with a ‘sport’ that can live with the moral doping that is signalled by the ready acceptance and propagation of untruths about sporting achievements and success?
    What would be the point?

  155. Quote of the saga: Paul Murray speaking about Craig Whyte
    “He came into the boardroom and I remember looking at him in disbelief. The pointy, plastic shoes. The ill-fitting suit. This should have been the biggest day of his life. This guy looked like he’d been dressed off the peg at M&S.”

    I think that quote says all that one needs to know about Paul Murray and his intellectual capacity and business nous.
    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/craig-whyte-rangers-wolf-cheap-26219041

  157. John Clark 14th February 10.44

    “Quote of the saga: Paul Murray speaking about Craig Whyte
    “He came into the boardroom and I remember looking at him in disbelief. The pointy, plastic shoes. The ill-fitting suit. This should have been the biggest day of his life. This guy looked like he’d been dressed off the peg at M&S.”

    I think that quote says all that one needs to know about Paul Murray and his intellectual capacity and business nous.
    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/craig-whyte-rangers-wolf-cheap-26219041 ”

    JC – Today is certainly a day that needs to be remembered – predictably, and regrettably, Keith Jackson chooses to indulge in revisionist nonsense with Paul Murray. Five minutes on Google were all that was required at the time to realise Craig Whyte wasn’t “The Bellshill Billionaire” that Jackson himself had served up to Daily Record readers. His shoes, as you point out, had hee haw to do with it.

  158. Westcoaster 14th February 2022 At 12:14
    You’d think he’d have said all this to his friends in the media (and the Ludge) at the time . It could have maybe prevented the rush to administration then liquidation .And he seems to have realised that liquidation was looming when talking to D Murray – “But I told him he’d just sealed the club’s fate – that there was no way back from this.”. His media pals weren’t hot on that either . And no mention of a holding company .

  159. @JC – I’ve been reflecting on the Nick Drainey report that you posted and specifically the word “inherited”. I think (although not 100% sure) that I am comfortable with “inherited”. It clearly is not the same by any stretch as winning the honours yourself or in its more regular meaning of building the wealth yourself. It also signifies a terminal event for the wealth creator – that is to say their death – which of course in the case of corporations is what liquidation equates to. To claim something which you inherit as your own creation is arrant nonsense, that much is clear. I think a narrative of “inherited honours” would not last long in the cold light of day – perhaps that is why there is no talk these days on the 54 inherited titles to take just one example.

    As an aside (and apologies if thought off-topic), whilst the Green Brigade fireworks at Celtic Park for the recent Glasgow derby were completely out of order and quite frightening, I did chuckle at their Pinocchio set-piece.

  160. Just read the Sons of Struth article on RFC’s descent into administration and even they say it was the club , not a holding company . What am I missing ?
    10 YEARS ON. LESSONS LEARNED?

    The 14th February 2012 will be etched in the DNA of every Rangers fan that was alive that day. Reality hit and the reality wasn’t palatable. Our club entered administration.

  163. Certainly a day to remember in the long saga of Ranger’s administration/liquidation. First we have the hindsight of the decade award for Paul Murray as he appeared to be the only person who saw through the self made billionaire with the plastic shoes. Perhaps if he had been more observant at the time he could have rescued the club/team/holding company/engine room whatever. If memory serves right he didn’t seem to have a problem accepting a board position. Stewart Robertson says they are in their best financial position since 2015 and might actually be in a profitable position with the sale of Patterson. He should have a look at the Celtic’s financials and see it takes more than one sale to achieve profitability. And, finally Barry steps down and casts eyes toward an Ibrox return. Now he can write his weekly/daily columns on Rangers without fear of interfering with his former managerial duties. Don’t wait on that phone all too long Barry.

  165. Well, in my inbox today there is this interesting [English]judgment; it would be absolutely ‘ off topic’ -except maybe to remind folk that those of us amateurs who may innocently enough write, or have written, about court hearings in perfect good faith are extremely conscious of ‘the Law’! And are careful to abide by any rules about not reporting what we hear and see, if there are reporting restrictions.

    It concerns the breaching of an embargo on publication of the draft of a judgment of the court.

    Apparently, the practice is for a Judge to let Counsel in a case see his written draft judgment in advance of publication so that they have an opportunity to correct any mistakes before publication.

    The ‘Chambers’ of Counsel for the parties are REQUIRED to have systems in place to prevent the POSSIBILITY that the judgment may be leaked before official publication date.

    In this case, the embargo was breached ( apparently this has happened only twice before!]
    What happened in this case.
    Well, have a read and see, on this link:
    https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/he-Queen-on-the-Application-of-The-Counsel-General-for-Wales-and-The-Secretary-of-State-for-Business-Energy-an.pdf
    Step for a hint, I was vaguely reminded of a certain contempt of court case.

  166. A reminder from The Scotsman and Football Scotland as to why SFM must keep challenging ‘The Big Lie’ …

    ‘Robbie Keane to play in Rangers 150th anniversary legends match’ (it galls me even to type that!).

    Anyone lacking knowledge of the real history of this ‘club’, severely cognitively challenged and/or totally deluded, may not have spotted the not so deliberate printing errors, so for these poor souls (including the SMSM), I offer the following ‘nugget’, selected from the words of renowned philosopher Leigh Griffiths:-

    ‘Yir club’s deid mate!’

    Whilst I’m on, someone was quite recently (with a moot point at best) whinging about this being a pro-Celtic site – which is, in itself an insult to posters who are supporters of clubs other that Celtic and TRFC. (That reminded of the time when I (a CFC fan) was mildly rebuked by BP for a pro- Celtic post!!).

    One of the main reasons for this paranoid, and IMHO false, claim is, simply, that posters on here regularly challenge inaccurate reporting about the Govan outfit’s history. so said whingers need to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ by accepting the undeniable truth …

    ‘Rangers Football Club. Born 1872. Died 1912’ (The Herald headline).

    Nuff said? Certainly for me!

  167. Bect67 17th February 2022 At 11:39
    ‘..Nuff said? Certainly for me!’
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    Yes.
    You know, I wish I had the readies to get first rate legal advice on whether an action ( and the likelihood of being successful] could be brought against a PLC which, when it to the Market, were to have done so on the basis of a ‘Prospectus’ which clearly and misleadingly implied that it was the ‘holding’ company of a long established football club with a tremendous record of sporting success, when in fact it was only the ‘holding’ company of a new football club set up and admitted into professional football for the first time only very shortly before the plc was set up?[ The public records and the records of the professional football association are assumed to be available as evidence of the main facts giving rise to the action]
    It might be an interesting exam question for aspiring Insolvency Practitioners or would-be employees of the FCA?

  168. What a strange night for Scottish football , last night . Changes the narrative now on staying in Europe/winning the league . Hard to discern which team can’t play in front of crowds .

  169. Spot on Paddy!

    TRFC followers will (justifiably) fancy their chances of progression in Europe, and will certainly have had a morale booster from last night’s result(s) with regard to winning the league.

    Most CFC fans, on the other hand, would not bet on getting through to the next stage of the Conference League, but will be happy to be currently ‘leading the chase’ at home so to speak.

    Both have identified winning the domestic league as this season’s ‘Holy Grail’, in terms of financial rewards from direct entry to the Champions’ League (in spite of various caveats, I believe that the Scottish Champions will have achieved a strong enough co-efficient for this to materialise), and I would venture an opinion that, should TRFC advance and Celtic go out, then CFC, with what I feel is a stronger squad, might reasonably be considered as favourites for the title – perhaps especially with three of their final five games being at home, with one against their Govan rivals.

    n.b This is NOT a prediction – as I am wary of going down this route, having seen my expressed belief that Celtic would reach 10iar go ‘right down the tubes’.

    As you hinted at (e.g. a weeks a long time in politics!), there will surely be a few twists and turns between now and the end of the season!!

  172. Paddy Malarkey 18th February 2022 At 17:31
    %%%%%
    The link you provide, PM, has these comments:
    “Morton say they are “disappointed with the severity” of Imrie’s punishment and have asked for an explanation of the reasons.”
    and
    “BBC Scotland understands there are no suspicions of match fixing within the charges and the 14 cases, which were all made public at the same time, are not part of a coordinated investigation”

    I merely observe that a football club that for a decade evaded millions of pounds in tax by telling porkies to HMRC, and broke football rules by telling porkies to the SFA , was scarcely punished at all for such offences.
    I observe further that our Football Authorities are themselves a busted flush in terms of Integrity by countenancing the biggest act of sports cheatery ever carried out.
    I further wonder just how match-fixing
    by players ( so easy to miss a crucial penalty or to concede one],or
    by referees [ so easy for referees to make ‘honest ‘mistakes] or
    by managers [ less easy , but still possible to field an unnecessarily weak side to try to bring about a defeat]
    is prevented?
    Once your ‘ governance bodies’ lie about sporting achievements, the entire sport is suspect.
    And, sadly, we have a Big Lie at the very heart of our game, a lie created by our governance bodies- hell
    mend them if the entire sport goes down the plug-hole.

  173. John McLellan, ex-editor of ‘The Scotsman’ and current Edinburgh city councillor, expresses in today’s print edition of the paper, his fears that a recent judgment* of the Supreme Court threatens the basic principle that ‘truth is an absolute defence’
    * http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2022/5.html

    His own denial of the truths that RFC of 1872 ceased to exist as a football club participating in Scottish professional football in 2012 when it entered Liquidation [in which state it currently remains] and that The Rangers Football Club of 2012 foundation cannot possibly be the club that was founded in 1872 surely disqualifies him as any defender of Truth
    The blind hypocrisy of those who practice ‘borisism’ when it comes to ‘truth-telling’ is frankly, disgusting.

  175. Bigboab1916 19th February 2022 At 19:16
    “….what was the name of the holding company?”
    %%%%%%%%%%%%
    Bigboab1916-nice to see you back!
    I got the definitive answer to that question just before Christmas.
    I had emailed the FCA to ask the question. They replied that it was a Companies House matter and passed my query on to them.
    Here is the relevant email chain:

    “enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk
    To:[me]
    Mon, 20 Dec 2021 at 08:11
    Dear Customer,
    Thank you for your email.
    RFC 2012 P.L.C.
    Company number SC004276

    Free access to digital company data and images is available from the Companies House Service: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/
    The above search facility will provide you with details of Directors and Shareholders of the company.
    Companies House acts primarily as a registry of company information, our statutory duty is to register documents in line with the Companies Act and make them available for public inspection.
    If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
    To get in touch you can email us at enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk or call our Contact Centre on +44(0)303 1234 500
    Alternatively please visit our website at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
    Yours faithfully,
    K. Richards
    Customer Advisor ”

    “To:enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk
    Wed, 15 Dec 2021 at 12:55
    Dear Companies House,
    The FCA yesterday emailed me to say they had redirected a query I had made to them to you, as being more in your field.
    The query was simply: what is/was the holding company of Company number SC004276, which was a company that entered Liquidation in October 2012?
    Thanking you,
    [me]”

    “Freedom of Information
    To [me ]Sun, 12 Dec 2021 at 23:07
    Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority’s Information Disclosure Team. This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you that we have received your email safely. Please do not reply to this email. We will be in touch in due course.”
    —
    We see clearly that all the nonsense about it being ” the holding company not the club, that was liquidated” was a lie from beginning to end- as we knew, of course.

    And, do you know, I think I can detect , from the curtness of the Companies House reply, that they’re not too happy having to acknowledge that truth! [I have an earlier email from CH which I must now dig out and re-read, because it was on the same lines as the utterance of that HMRC bloke who gave the false assurance that ‘Rangers’ would continue]
    I am ready to believe that CH may have realised that they allowed themselves to be conned and taken in by the Big Lie , a lie which was apparently authorised by the FCA when they allowed RIFC plc to claim in their Prospectus that they were actually continuity Rangers of 1872.
    I think that there are hard questions to be asked of Companies House and the FCA about allowing a plc to make untrue statements in their launching Prospectus.
    But given the complicity of the SMSM in accepting and promoting the Big Lie, those hard questions are not even being asked, never mind answered, because
    BBC Scotland in effect disciplines anyone who raises the subject on air, and the print media are too feart/too partisan to report Truth.
    as, of course, are our ‘politicos’.
    Which of them , of any party, had or now has the guts even to ask questions?
    To do so would in their view might cost them their seats- whether in Holyrood or Westminster-so they have all rolled over and chosen to live with the lie.
    And it is such an absurd lie, laughable even, if its consequences were not so destructive of belief in the Integrity of our national sport.
    Honest to God!

  176. Has there been any update or resolution on Ranger’s on-going dispute with Scottish football administrators an the Cinch sponsorship. It has been fairly quiet in that regard lately.
    Now that Barry Ferguson has surrendered ( could not help but use that phrase) his coaching duties will we now have a daily dose of his football insights in the DR.
    Is Derek McInnes quietly paving the way to an Ibrox return with his glowing columns in regards to Ranger’s performances.
    Why are ex Rangers players and fans so fixated on game results from 15 — 25 years ago. Of course this a comment that could be levelled at a number of teams.

  177. Vernallen 20th February 2022 At 14:43
    Trying to convince themselves that the club they support is the same one that played in those games . In the same way GVB is a link to the past . They’ll have to produce a few players from the youth set up to keep the notion of continuation extant .

  178. With regard to the dominance of the two big Glasgow teams, it seems that the last few weekends have demonstrated the ability of other sides to compete on a match by match basis.
    It is becoming obvious to me at any rate that football coaching is now very efficient at levelling things up on the field of play. Strategies to counter attacking threats of more gifted players are becoming more and more successful, garnished with no little skill in teams throughout the top league.
    Maybe the main reason the bigger clubs usually end up occupying the top six places in the Premiership is their depth of talent. Squads are more and more instrumental in that regard, and the ability to use five subs will most definitely not be a further step towards a level playing field.

  179. Big Pink 21st February 2022 At 09:08
    “…and the ability to use five subs will most definitely not be a further step towards a level playing field”
    %%%%%%%%
    I totally agree.
    For a sport to be a sport there has to be meaningful competition.

    ” Fishing” by using dynamite is not angling, a heavyweight against a featherweight is not boxing, men footballers against boys is not competition- and a team that is not resourced at a level to be able to match substitution with substitution would be at a sporting disadvantage against wealthier clubs that have many more bodies and fresh legs at their disposal.

    Substitution for any reason other than injury was always a bad idea. Increasing the permitted number of subs would make a nonsense of football as any kind of sport.
    In my opinion.

  180. It always causes me to smile when I read of a manager’s “stroke of genius/inspired substitution” when said substitute makes/scores the winner/equaliser. Seldom is the question asked “why wasn’t he in your starting 11…?” The big teams beyond our “wee league” will not countenance a reduction in subs as it would make keeping their bloated squads happy much more difficult with less game time to dish out. If the name of the game is to have a more level playing field how about:
    1. Any player that is subbed automatically suspended for the next match – would also cut down on those time-wasting substitutions.
    2. Have a max squad size (as they do in Europe) to mitigate the tendency of big clubs to warehouse players.
    3. Bring back (at least I think it disappeared) a minimum number of under 21/23 players in the listed squad.

    I am sure there are pros and cons to the points above and many other ideas. Maybe if we want to be the “best wee league in the world” then we lead on some innovation to make a more competitive environment.

  182. Westcoaster 22nd February 2022 At 11:21
    “.Another 4m of shares issued yesterday @ 25p raising £1m. ”
    %%%%%%%%%%
    This is getting to be ridiculous, issuing shares like confetti to meet immediate cash needs!
    Does any sensible business do this except in dire emergency?
    It seems to me that RIFC plc is regarded as too risky for any commercial lender to think of lending them a few bob.
    Will they go bust before season’s end?

  183. John Clark – 22nd February 11.41

    “This is getting to be ridiculous, issuing shares like confetti to meet immediate cash needs!
    Does any sensible business do this except in dire emergency?
    It seems to me that RIFC plc is regarded as too risky for any commercial lender to think of lending them a few bob.
    Will they go bust before season’s end?”

    JC – as long as someone steps up with further cash I don’t see an immediate risk. The Rangers website hasn’t been updated so we have no means of seeing whether one of the usual suspects has put their hand in their pocket again or it’s someone else.

  184. Surely the latest share issue must have set another world record for Rangers ( aren’t they always trumpeting some form of world record). Is this money to cover the salaries of the recent top drawer players brought in on loan, does it help finance their European travels, or was it cover a payment to a creditor who was knocking on the doors of the hallowed marble stair case. Is the money earned so far in European competitions already spent.
    So many questions, so few answers.

  186. The shareholder information on Rangers website has now been updated to reflect the additional 4m shares. The shareholder ( >3%) and Director summary totals have not changed therefore those who have bought the latest shares are a minority shareholder(s), who is/are not Directors, with a holding(s) less than 3% of the total. 3% of the issued shares now represents 12,969859 shares.

  187. Westcoaster 22nd February 2022 At 20:35
    ‘.. therefore those who have bought the latest shares are a minority shareholder(s), who is/are not Directors, with a holding(s) less than 3% of the total.”
    %%%%%%%%%
    I wonder which minority shareholders (or, perhaps, persons who were not already shareholders?] were quietly approached and invited to buy? Family members of existing directors, perhaps? The odd public official maybe, or newspaper editor/journalist, or propagandist of the Big Lie?

  188. Albertz, thanks for your usual positive outlook on all things Rangers/TRFC – your post of 22/2 @ 15.36 reads to me like ‘How dare anyone suggest that they needed new money, it’s just an old loan now being converted’. You always make these statements as if you’re well-informed, are you?

    IMO Westcoaster’s update that the quoted holdings haven’t changed suggests the new shares are indeed new money – and, presumably, much needed new money – given that if it was an old loan being converted, that would more likely be from one of the more established, higher-shareholding types, thereby increasing their notifiable holding. Do you think?

  189. A wee change of topic …

    ‘Rangers Fans For Change have now called for an end to the song Billy Boys’

    ‘It’s obvious to most that ‘Billy Boys’ has no place in any stadium and no defined link to Rangers Football Club’

    When I read the above extracts from the group’s ‘mission statement’, I initially thought , admittedly somewhat cynically, that it must be the 1st April – but no, it seems pretty genuine. Then they go and score a credibility own goal by declaring that …

    ‘Rangers is an institution of 150 years and counting’ (roughly translated as ‘Let’s airbrush the L word).

    The statement could be tokenism but, at face value, RFFC seems sincere in this aim (I’ve no idea what else they hope to change), but I can’t help thinking that they will be on a collision course with a ‘substantial minority’ of the more ‘entrenched’ elements at Ibrox.

    In short – I can’t see it succeeding (though TRFC could help by not playing the tune!).

  190. During a recent unforeseen few days in hospital I took the opportunity to read a book I had been given at Christmas called ‘The Ghosts of Cathkin Park’, which detailed the inside story of Third Lanark’s demise. It was a compelling read, and both sad and angering in equal measure how a reasonably well managed football club so easily fell into the wrong hands and was run into the ground, seemingly due to one man’s personal greed. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Scottish football.

  192. Nawlite

    Thanks for that sobering info. Ah’ve been scammed – woe is me!

    In hindsight (ah that perfect science!), I probably should have gone with my first instincts!

  193. In other news RIFC seems to have dropped off the JP Jenkins share trading platform. I have no idea how the Jenkins business model works but it most likely is a periodic fee or commission basis.

    On the fee front it would suggest RIFC aren’t paying for the service anymore and may have defaulted.

    On the commission front it would suggest Jenkins can’t see any profitability. Last time I looked the last transactions were approaching 11 months ago and the shares have been so diluted since that the 19p value is out of touch with reality. Nobody is going to trade at that level even if the board can con(vince) diehard loanees to convert loans to new shares at 20-25p per new share.

    Of course there could be another plausible explanation for no more trading of existing shares.

  194. interesting, Tykebhoy. Perhaps someone more in the know might let us all know if they have indeed ‘dropped off’ and if so, what the reason is and what that might mean for TRFC. Albertz will be on before that to let us know they are in fact still on and merely choosing to hide their dealings because there are huge investments in the offing!!

  195. Upthehoops 23rd February 2022 At 16:58
    “..I had been given at Christmas called ‘The Ghosts of Cathkin Park’”
    %%%%%%%%
    Ach, Uth, I’m not that long back from a wee swally in Glasgow with two other auld men reminiscing about football as we experienced it in the late 1940s early 1950s.
    A time when I as a wee boy was allowed with my pal Tommy Thompson to sit in the open-backed wee Val de Travers lorry, driven by my pal’s dad , on our way to Cathkin Park.
    How powerful those memories are.

  197. SB – from the web – “From The nominal value, or book value, of a share, is usually assigned when the stock is issued. It’s the stated value of the security, as opposed to the market value of the security. The market value of a security reflects what the market is willing to pay for it.”

    In my experience nominal values are deliberately assigned to be a low value to attempt to avoid a scenario where the market value is below the nominal value. A penny is often used. Whatever value is used it is entirely arbitrary and has no link to market value.

  198. TB 23rd February – “RIFC seems to have dropped off the JP Jenkins share trading platform.”

    As of this morning – no change on the Rangers website.

    https://www.rangers.co.uk/investor-information

    “The Company’s ordinary shares of 1 pence each are admitted to trading on JP Jenkins’ matched bargain platform. JP Jenkins is the largest European platform exchange for unlisted securities and traces its roots back to the USM segment of the London Stock Exchange. “

  199. JP Jenkins made a statement that RIFC were no longer being traded on their platform but it didn’t state who made the decision . Shares are still being traded on Tifosy but I believe that is only for shares that were purchased through the Tifosy share issue . Some of these canny investors are asking for up to £10 per share but unsurprisingly there are no takers for them. As for nominal values a 1oz gold britannia coin has a nominal value of £100 but a true value of over £1500 , it is given a nominal value so it qualifies as legal tender . The real concern over at Ibrox may not be can they afford a demand from Ashley but with rising power bills can they afford to switch on the floodlights .

  200. Given that Ashley may be due a large cash sum before the new season gets underway. Will the club from ibrox suffer an administration event if they can’t pay? Will they find the money to pay if any bill lands on the door step? How many would stick around for a club starting the season on -25 points

  201. Delighted to see that Tavenier can score a goal without going to the penalty spot. This should now unleash a round of stories about him being sought by major clubs across Europe and a financial bonanza awaiting the powers that be at Ibrox. Having two penalties awarded in this competition should fan the flames for VAR and the conspiracy on referees assisting Celtic. Funny there was many complaints a few years back when they were awarded 4 (four) in one game. Possibly another world record.

  202. Cluster One 24th February 2022 At 12:41
    EDIT
    “How many would stick around for a club starting the season on -25 points”
    ————————————————————-
    It is now an initial fifteen point deduction Cluster. It has been more than five years since the last insolvency event concerning a member club playing at Ibrox and as we know, that was not the same one as currently being discussed in any case. Extract below from current SPFL rules listed at https://spfl.co.uk/pages/rules-and-regulations. Whatever the purse situation is the team last night managed a result that such be recognised and commended. Not easy to defeat a team of Dortmund quality.

    E3
    Where a Club takes, suffers or is subject to a Deductible Insolvency Event during a Close Season the 15 points deduction shall be applied in the immediately following Season, such that the relevant Club shall commence that immediately following Season in the relevant Division on minus 15 points, with the 5 points deduction being applied in the Season next following the immediately following Season, such that the relevant Club shall commence that next following Season in the relevant Division on minus 5 points.
    E4
    Where a Club, whether owned and operated by the same or a different person and whether such person or persons is or was a Member, has taken, suffered or been subject to an Insolvency Event which resulted in a deduction of points in terms of these Rules, whether a Deductible Insolvency Event or not, or in terms of the SFL Rules and within 5 years of the date of such Insolvency Event which resulted in a deduction of points takes, suffers or is subject to a Deductible Insolvency Event the 15 and 5 points deductions applicable in terms of Rules E2 or E3, in respect of such a Deductible Insolvency Event shall instead be 25 and 15 points respectively

  204. John Clark 23rd February 2022 At 23:05

    Ach, Uth, I’m not that long back from a wee swally in Glasgow with two other auld men reminiscing about football as we experienced it in the late 1940s early 1950s.
    A time when I as a wee boy was allowed with my pal Tommy Thompson to sit in the open-backed wee Val de Travers lorry, driven by my pal’s dad , on our way to Cathkin Park.
    How powerful those memories are.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That’s a wee bit before my time John, but having read the book, and having visited Cathkin Park itself about three years ago, I find it very sad I never attended a game there. I stood on the terracing for a while trying to imagine. I doubt there are any other former grounds of that size in the UK where so much of it is still intact.

  206. Fair play to TRFC last night and all good for the Scottish coefficient. Imagine a scenario whereby TRFC win the Europa thus gaining automatic entry to the Champions League. Celtic winning the SPL with automatic CL qualification and the (likely) 3rd placed team getting into CL qualifying…and CL TV revenues split 3 ways… I remain an advocate of socialising European monies but that scenario had never crossed my mind!!!
    And maybe with Gazprom income curtailed the money pot might be a tad reduced. What could be the implications?

  207. I find the amount of stats generated in regards to football interesting although somewhat over the top at times. You’ll have a team completing 700 passes in a game but how many are difficult and how many are just the tippy tappy back and forth over a couple of yards. Another is the distance travelled, how much is actual running, some jogging or just walking. What stat I would like to see is how much Aaron Ramsay has earned per minute of playing time for Rangers. That could make for interesting reading.

  208. I will say this:
    there is an infinity of difference between the effects and consequences of the lying words of a national Government and the lying words of a sports governance body in a small nation.

    What they do have in common is untruth.

    In my opinion, Scottish football governance is , in its own wee, petty way as far removed from truth and honesty as yer Putins of this world.
    The fact that their untruths do not have the murderous consequences of Putin’s lies does not excuse their lies.

  209. IF GVB is soset on having VAR implemented in Scotland, perhaps he could have a word with the Ibrox board and have a share issue put forward to such an end. Ibrox/TFRC could then donate the funds to the Scottish football suits and have the VAR in place for the league run in. Celtic may also look at throwing money at the project. If this isn’t possible, have GVB stop the moaning about the lack of VAR and get on with the game. Mistakes will be made as those involved in making those decisions are only human and they only have a split second to make the calls. Maybe GVB would be better suited to be an official than a manager as he seems to have difficulty sorting out the second half of recent league games. Also the DR trumpeting the fact that Dortmund has amassed a squad worth some where near 200 million. If you were to take the alleged value of the Rangers team, with numbers of 20 — 25 million for a number of players that gap would narrow sharpish. The only problem with these alleged values nobody has stepped up with offers to match.

  210. Vernallen 27th February 2022 At 22:53
    You don’t seem to understand . There was a referee’s assistant working at Ibrox today , who didn’t give the decisions required , and who also sported an Irish-sounding name .That’s why VAR is necessary .

  211. Paddy Malarkey 28th February 2022– 01:30
    How negligent of me. I forgot how much impact that someone with an Irish sounding name can be induced into missing calls. Perhaps if the constant moaning was to be wound back some of those 50/50 calls might go their way. Is it possible that the first chapter of the Rangers’ manager handbook is titled “blame the Refs”. There was an interesting post on another site yesterday indicating where the teams are point wise since GVB took over ( only including the games played since then) and it reveals a sizeable gap. Could this be an underlying cause for the constant cry for VAR.

  212. I haven’t seen anywhere else the substance of the story in the ‘ Mirror ‘ which I have just come across, on this link

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/companies-house-failed-probe-bosses-26277263

    I wonder would the Mirror be interested in looking at what I think is a far more important question: how thoroughly does the FCA/Nomad vet the Prospectus issued by any new would-be public company in its IPO?

    Ach, my hopes are dashed, and silly me!
    It’s owned by the same putins as own the DR!

    The ‘Mirror’ must therefore be presumed to be staffed by pseudo-journalists who are prepared to peddle untruths for the sake of a dishonest buck rather than report the truth.
    Not a hope in hell of it investigating the integrity of the authorisation by the FCA of the prospectus of RIFC plc!

  214. How long does it take for an international footballer to get into game shape. I see where Aaron Ramsay is not in the line up or on the bench again tomorrow. Based on the 94 minutes of game time actually played since his well trumpeted arrival in January, and, based on the reported loan figure involved, 2.5 million, he has cost Rangers just over 26,000 per minute, and, that doesn’t include any salary they maybe on the hook for. And, people wonder why there financials are so dismal. The other loanee from Man U hasn’t made much of an impact either.

  215. Paddy Malarkey 1st March 2022 At 15:21:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60570893

    I’m sure it does PM but there are many more clubs who will be now open to the same type of litigation. It is a subject that seems to ‘arm’ some people without actually thinking through the consequences of their faux advocacy. Personally I hope that every single sufferer of abuse gets their day in court and all football clubs should be willing to accept a lack of care and diligence did indeed exist for many years. When looking at the number of pro players who graduated from boys clubs then it is hard to distance the benefits from the responsibility. This whole process is dragging Scottish football and ,just now, Celtic through a dark period of reflection. Hopefully most fans and supporters are mature enough to recognise mistakes were made and need to be accommodated.

  219. Paddy Malarkey 2nd March 2022 At 18:46
    %%%%%%%%%

    The link given in your post tells us that ‘..the FCA have now dropped the charges, after it emerged Whyte hadn’t been contacted by his previous lawyers about the statutory notice to hand over the passwords.’
    Honest to God!
    Shoddy bloody work about which I think hard questions ought to be asked.

  220. PM

    So… no accountability for said Philadelphia Lawyers????

    It stinks tae high heaven this diz, and the whole shambles reminds cynical old me of (part of?) a line from a Tom Leonard poem:-

    ‘Another wan up fur the ludge’

    I wonder why.

  222. David Grier’s actions continue:

    From the Rolls of Court:
    LORD TYRE – TBC, Clerk
    Thursday 10th March
    Starred Motions
    between 9.00am and 10.30am

    CA86/19 David Grier v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland

    CA72/20 David Grier v The Lord Advocate &c Kennedys Scotland SGLD Ledingham Chalmers LLP

  224. Only 9 x SPL Premiership fixtures remain and it would appear panic stations setting in as the SFA look to their “trusted” MIB.

    Brothers Walsh and Madden handed key roles in the Livi v Celtic game while “safe pair of hands” Brother Beaton takes charge at Ibrox to ensure a smooth passage to 3 points for the home team.

    I await a weekend of “honest mistake” overload….

  225. Alistair Grant is , I believe, Political Editor of ‘The Scotsman’ and, presumably, an intellectual cut above your average sports hack.
    How then, one wonders, can he come out with the assertion that
    ” Few things get journalists more exercised than a secrecy row” [ [see page 2 of today’s issue of ‘The Scotsman’]
    when he must KNOW that neither he nor any of the sports hacks on ”The Scotsman” was or is in the least interested in the secrecy and deceit underlying the ‘5-Way Agreement”, never mind being ‘exercised’ about that distortion of Truth?

    Further, what trust can we put in ANYTHING he may have to say as a political analyst of weighty, serious matters of great consequence when , for reasons best known to itself, ‘The Scotsman’ had and has nothing to say about the relatively trivial matter of the cheap, disgusting and shameful betrayal of Scottish Football ( a mere sport!] by its weak, cowardly ‘governance’ bodies?
    Truth is indivisible:
    And Scottish Football as a Sport is badly distorted by the pretence that TRFC is RFC of 1872, and the genuine sporting efforts and achievements of honest clubs run by honest men and governance bodies are debased by the nonsense that a 10 year old club can claim honours for which it did not exist even to compete for let alone win!

  226. Paradisebhoy 4th March 2022 At 09:37
    re the Australian ‘friendly’:
    %%%
    I think I must write to Stewart Ayres, the Minister for Tourism and umpteen other things in the New South Wales government about his statement about the ‘ Sydney tournament’ and the way he has bought into the ‘Big Lie’, rabbiting on about the ‘Old firm’ .
    Either he was a supporter of Rangers of 1872 ( and is very Putinesque in respect of Truth] or he’s an asshole of an eejit politician.
    I have tried to email.
    His constituency email address refers me to his Ministerial address: and on that, you have to specify which Australian state you live in, and it seems, blocks you if you are not in Australia. [ But that might just be my incompetence and lack of patience]
    Snail mail to Australia takes an age! But I’ll write to him anyway.
    And give him the basic facts:
    that TRFC is not 150 years old,
    that there is no ‘old firm’ history with it,
    that Putin himself could not have any less regard for truth than our football governance bodies
    that the Scottish ‘Press’ peddles the Big Lie as willingly and knowingly as the Russian press peddles Putin’s pernicious lies
    that , sadly, the Celtic board have shamefully shown themselves to be ready to be the other cheek of a grafted-on ten year old transplant of a cheek!
    Oh, that it should come to this!

  227. Why didn’t the media pose a question to GVB today in regards to VAR. He is quite ready to hark on the virtues of VAR when calls apparently don’t suit him. Reports today indicate the winning goal may have been called back if VAR was available. Strange the silence that emulates from Ibrox when things fall in their favor. It’s easy to understand how Ibrox got themselves in the financial situation they are in if they believe that from 2012 to 2022 represents 150 years. What sham to put on a show celebrating a non existent anniversary.

  228. My post of 4th March 2022 At 23:37 refers
    I found an idle hour in which to try to find how to email the Minister for Tourism etc etc in New South Wales about the proposed Sydney Soccer Tournament. I found what I hope is his constituency address, in Penrith a suburb of Sydney.
    I fired this off to
    To:
    penrith@parliament.nsw.gov.au

    Sat, 5 Mar at 23:05

    Dear Constituency Secretary,

    For Minister Ayre’s information:
    The proposed Sydney Soccer Tournament about which Mr Ayres recently waxed eloquent will NOT feature the historic Glasgow Rangers, because that club ceased to exist in 2012.

    The present Rangers Football Club started life only in 2012 and therefore cannot legitimately claim to be 150 years old or to be the other cheek of the backside that historically constituted the ‘Old Firm’.

    A check with Companies House, London, will show that on 14 February 2012 Rangers Football Club plc , company number SC004276, entered Administration with huge debts outstanding.
    It shows further that the club changed its name to RFC 2012 plc on 31 July 2012, while still in Administration.

    The Administrators signally failed to find a buyer or to achieve a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement. They sold off the bulk of the remaining assets to a new company set up 29 May 2012 by one Charles Green- SevcoScotland, company number SC 425159, which changed its name on 31 July 2012 to ‘The Rangers Football Club Limited’.

    On 31 October 2012 the Court ordered that company number SC 004276 in Administration should be wound up, the Administrators to pass control of its affairs to the appointed Liquidators.

    On suffering this final Insolvency event, Rangers Football Club plc that had been founded in 1872 had to surrender its share in the then Scottish Premier League(‘SPL’). In consequence, it lost its entitlement to membership of the Scottish Football Association, and thereby ceased to exist as a professional football club participating in Scottish football.

    It is absolutely the case that the Rangers of 1872 was NOT brought out of Administration as a going concern, merely suffering another change in ownership, with all debts paid etc.

    The new ‘The Rangers Football Club’ ( company number SC 425159) had to apply for a share in a recognised League. It applied to the SPL. That application was categorically refused.
    It then applied for a share in the then Scottish Football League (‘SFL’). This was eventually granted this and it was accepted, as a new club, into the lowest division in that league.

    The old club ( company number SC 004276, RFC 2012 plc, formerly Rangers Football Club plc) is still in Liquidation, awaiting the finalisation of that process, at which stage it will be dissolved.

    It is a monstrous deceit, therefore, on the part of the new club to claim the record of sporting success that was held by the now dead club as belonging to the new club , when it did not exist even to compete over the 140 years when those successes were achieved.

    It is even more disgraceful that the SFA countenanced and permits such a lie in a matter of Sport!

    And I have to say to Mr Ayres that, by referring to the ‘Old Firm’ and to today’s ‘Rangers’ as being 150 years old, he is aligning himself with men as guilty of abuse of office and of the re-writing of history ( in a matter of Sport, for heaven’s sake!) as a certain Mr Putin is in much more grave and serious matters.

    I do not imagine that Mr Ayres has any more moral courage than the board of the SFA or of the Scottish Press, or any interest in proving me wrong.
    However, in fairness, I have to let him know that I will be posting this email tonight on a popular football blog here in Scotland; and, of course I would post any reply he might choose to make.

    Yours sincerely,
    John Clark
    Edinburgh,
    Scotland ‘

    Clearly, I send the email not in expectation that Truth , or the seeking of truth, is any more his bag than it is of any politico when acknowledging truth might be costly in votes or whatever. Just so that he knows the facts, as do the SMSM and the SFA.

  229. I saw the Livi manager’s interview after today’s game where he mentioned the ‘controversial’ corner decision that led to Celtic’s first goal. He claimed that both the linesman and the 4th official told him they told the referee at the time that it was a goal kick. Is that likely, that an official when challenged would grass the referee up like that? I feel the referee should have the final say on decisions anyway, but surely a colleague wouldn’t pile all the potential blame onto the referee like that?

  230. @Nawlite – I also found the comment odd, in particular with regard to the fourth official – who given his role would have been about 60 yards away with a not very clear view. The assistant referee is there to (in the words of the FA manual for refereeing) “assist not insist”. Clearly the wrong decision was made but not one that VAR would ordinarily get involved in methinks.
    I suspect that both officials were giving a view after seeing the incident on replay after the match that the wrong decision was made – I am sure the referee if asked would put his hand up and accept he got it wrong.
    But of course referees are not accountable to the public as they refuse to explain their decisions. My personal view is that this is an “own goal” from the refs as their silence let’s the pundits take centre stage with their dated interpretations of the rules. The phrase “that’s not a foul in my book” really gets my goat. It might not be a foul in the book of said ex pro who played when football was more thuggish, but it invariably is a foul is this day and age in the one book that matters – the Laws of the Game!

  231. Nawlite 6th March 2022 At 21:30
    ‘..surely a colleague wouldn’t pile all the potential blame onto the referee like that?’
    %%%%%%%%
    And surely, if either or both of the officials in question did in fact tell the manager that the referee got it wrong, they would be in breach of the disciplinary code?
    Presumably the linesman flagged for a goal kick, so HE should and would know that he had no need to explain himself in any way, post-match.
    And what business was it of the 4th Official, whose functions, as I understand things, do not relate to the on-field action [other than keeping the ref right about who was booked and such like] who ought to know NOT to discuss his personal view of the referee’s decisions.
    If they were unwise enough to speak ‘confidentially’ then they will have learned a lesson- not to!
    I think we need to hear something more about this, because never in all my puff have I heard of linesmen/fourth officials undermining the authority of the referee in such a way.
    Shurely shome mishtake!

  232. If the Livingstone manager’s comments on the officials are correct it places the SPFL in a difficult position. If you recall there was a similar situation in the NHL last year where a comment by a referee was picked up on a microphone about a call he made. He was fired the next day. Surely the SFPL and the SFA will have a long hard look at these allegations as it reflects poorly on the game, and, there has been more than enough moaning about the standard of officiating this year.

  233. My post of 5 March 23.28 refers.
    As I half-expected, the email address to which I sent my message to Minister Ayres in New South Wales was not the appropriate one.
    Nevertheless, I got this courteous reply:
    ” Dear Mr Clark
    You have forwarded your email to the Minister’s Penrith electorate office which deals with local constituent matters only and does not handle the Minister’s portfolio’s.
    The Ministerial office is a totally separate office and I forward your email onto the Ministerial office for their attention.
    Kind regards
    Rhonda
    Penrith Electorate Office of Stuart Ayres MP ”
    We’ll see if Mr Ayres’ staff will respond in substance. Odds, anyone?

  234. It’s well seen that we’re coming to the tickly bit of the season , given the differing coverage of the two cheeks on Sportscene .The host and panellists were very vocal about the legitimacy of decisions that they deemed had helped Celtic , but no mention of the fact that the ball clearly struck Aribo’s arm and deflected it off Roofe , who looked offside , for the goal . No mention either of Ferguson of Aberdeen being booked for preventing a quick free kick being taken , only to see Tavernier escape punishment for the same offence only minutes later , despite protestations to the referee PS the host and panellists had all previously played for one of the cheeks .

    • I don’t know what the role of the 4th official is in cases like the corner kick incident at Livi on Sunday, but I am pretty sure that the ref always has the final say. I am aware that officials speak to managers off the record during and after matches. Ordinarily those conversations are kept confidential, although occasionally I’ve heard managers break that accord. However there is no doubt that the ref got that one wrong. Quite how the 4th official is in a place to second guess the ref, I don’t know. I can also see how the linesman could have believed it was a corner (from his foreshortened viewpoint), and at the time, I assumed he had agreed with the ref for that reason.

      Perhaps it is my status as a Celtic supporter but it does seem to me that there is far greater scrutiny (and apportioning of blame on refs) when it is Celtic who benefit from decisions.
      My apologies if that is my own bias slipping through.

      I do think VAR is important and I really hope it is introduced, but I simply don’t trust the current regime to carry it out fairly and squarely. Along with VAR, there needs to be the appointment of of personnel who can carry the trust of all clubs. Otherwise, it will solve the square root of diddly-squat.

  236. @Big Pink – a fairly simple (and cost effective) way of implementing VAR would be to outsource the assessment element to the (English) team at Stockley Park who have a couple of years experience of using VAR. The infrastructure is all in place, the officials know what they are doing and (after a sticky start) have improved no end this season. I am sure that sharing the infrastructure costs would make it a cheaper option (for both parties – not that with the Sky largesse England need to save the pennies). What’s not to like?
    Oh wait I hear the Blazers saying it will threaten our right to compete at the Euros and World Cups (although they never explain how those wholly independent footballing nations San Marino and Andorra get to compete…). They couldn’t be afraid of the bright light of scrutiny on their competence could they?

  237. One thing I haven’t been able to check is how the linesman flagged at the ‘corner’. Haven’t seen a clip that shows whether he pointed for the corner or to the goal kick.

  238. One complaint I’ve seen about VAR is that there seems to be the ability to make the offside lines thicker or thinner, meaning you would be able to influence close decisions .

  239. Paddy Malarkey 7th March 2022 At 21:01
    ‘… the ability to make the offside lines thicker or thinner, meaning you would be able to influence close decisions .’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    Not sure about that, PM.
    Remember, the width of any pitch includes the width of the lines drawn.( That’s why the whole ball has to be over the line for a goal, and before it can be declared out of play for a throw-in.
    The same applies to the VAR line, thick or thin: if a player is in an off-side position some part of him must be further advanced over the Goal-Side-Edge of the line than the furthest advanced bit of the defender’s body.
    The width of the VAR line however thick or thin would always clearly show that
    a) no part of either player’s body was further advanced than the other player’s[ therefore no offside]
    or
    b) that some part of the defender’s body was further advanced than the attacker’s [again, no offside]
    or
    c) that some part of the attacker’s body was more advanced over the line than any part of the defender’s[ therefore offside]
    I think I’m right in that, but, as ever, I am open to correction.

  240. Big Pink 7th March 2022 At 18:25
    EDIT
    “..I do think VAR is important and I really hope it is introduced, but I simply don’t trust the current regime to carry it out fairly and squarely. ”
    ____________________________________________________

    As a trade unionist I have never been one to champion ‘outsourcing’ or Pfi. Seeing it as a way of abrogating responsibility and making it far more difficult for the general public( now referred to commonly as stakeholder ffs) to hold elected officials to account. In this instance however, I will advocate the capitalist approach of supposed value for money. Let the English/Italians/French monitor the game. Personally I don’t believe referees are anything but honestly incompetent ..at times. They are involved at a high level due to their love of the game and VAR will surely cut them some slack. The blazers will indubitably hide behind the refuge of patriotic duty.

  241. With the potential for VAR in the future why not go a step further. Give each team a manager’s challenge on questionable calls. That avenue is in use in most major sports in North America and has proved to be fairly effective. If the call is overturned there is no penalty, but, if the original call is correct that team that challenged, especially in hockey, is assessed a penalty with that team playing a man short for two minutes. It’s easy to kill two minutes in soccer but is the penalty was for a longer period it might rein in the complaints of the manager/referees on the sidelines. Also would it not be interesting to ask the reporters to answer a written quiz on the laws of the game, without benefit of a rule book at their side, to determine their alleged knowledge of the game.

  242. Big Pink 7th March 2022 At 18:25
    ‘..there needs to be the appointment of of personnel who can carry the trust of all clubs. ‘
    %%%%%%%%
    Sadly, we cannot look to the SFA for ‘governance’ that engenders Trust.

    In 2012, the SFA board sacrificed principle and honour and sold their very souls by adopting a policy of ‘appeasement’ (to use a word now being used again in the context of war,] to create the myth that TRFC is in fact Rangers of 1872.

    Rather than insist that TRFC be admitted into Scottish Football only on condition that it could not and would not claim to be RFC of 1872 and that the records would show that it had no sporting history prior to 2012, they sold Scottish Football by cobbling up the ‘5-Way Agreement’ with all kinds of specious nonsense about RFC of 1872’s share in the SPL simply being transferred to a new owner.
    And, most strikingly, they have never yet been able to explain how a club, as Liquidated as Third Lanark and Gretna, can be in existence 12 years after entering Liquidation?
    Doncaster and Regan always ducked the issue with weasel words, and the SMSM happily carry on propagating the lie, and asked and still ask no hard questions. ( they would slot in well in Moscow currently]
    Honest to God.
    And thank God it is only ( at the moment] ‘Sport’ that we are talking about. Because, n my view, if guys can lie about mere sport, what would they not be prepared to lie about to earn a few bob?

  243. Vernallen 7th March 2022 At 22:50
    ‘..would it not be interesting to ask the reporters to answer a written quiz on the laws of the game, without benefit of a rule book at their side, to determine their alleged knowledge of the game.’
    %%%%%%%%%
    It would indeed!
    Heaven knows, I’m no expert myself, but then I am not paid as an expert, and don’t have a privileged platform on BBC TV or BBC Radio Scotland to pose as if I were an expert!
    And I would say that, given that the majority of the SMSM football hacks do not tell the truth about TRFC etc, I would insist on a body search of those competing in such a quiz, to eliminate the possibility of cheating; because, by jingo, they sure as hell would cheat if it suited their barra.
    In my opinion.

  244. With regards to the laws of the game and the pundits I would like to see their fulminations in the following circumstance:
    Team A awarded a free kick due to a foul by team B in team A’s defensive third. Team A defender passes ball back to keeper who is out of position/misses the ball and ball ends up in back of the net. The referee correctly awards a corner to the attacking team. I think the ignorance in the commentary boxes and studios would be overwhelming (especially if a favoured team was considered to have been robbed of a goal!)

  246. John Clark 7th March 2022 At 22:21
    Well seen that you’re one of the good guys ! They can adjudicate on gaps that are mere millimetres , but can expand the lines to centimetres . You can take something that was marginally offside to being inconclusive . Control of the medium !

  247. @Ballyargus – Law 13, you can’t score an own goal directly from a free kick whether direct or indirect (and you can’t score an own goal from your own throw-in either).

  248. In my inbox at 20.49 tonight

    “MEDIA RELEASE
    For further information related to the CAS activity and procedures in general, please contact either Matthieu Reeb, CAS Director General, or Katy Hogg,
    Communications Officer. Palais de Beaulieu, avenue de Bergières 10, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland. media@tas-cas.org, http://www.tas-cas.org
    FOOTBALL
    THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) REGISTERS THE APPEALS
    FILED BY THE FOOTBALL UNION OF RUSSIA AGAINST THE DECISIONS
    TAKEN BY FIFA AND UEFA TO SUSPEND RUSSIAN TEAMS AND CLUBS
    FROM THEIR COMPETITIONS
    Lausanne, 8 March 2022 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) registered earlier today the appeals
    filed by the Football Union of Russia (FUR) against the decisions taken on 28 February 2022 by the
    Bureau of the FIFA Council (the FIFA appeal) and the UEFA Executive Committee (the UEFA appeal)
    (collectively, the Challenged Decisions) to suspend all Russian teams and clubs from participation in
    their respective competitions until further notice.
    The FIFA appeal has been filed against Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the
    Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the Polish Football Association, the Swedish Football
    Association, the Czech Football Association, the Football Association of Montenegro and the Malta
    Football Association.
    The UEFA appeal has been filed against UEFA, the Hellenic Football Federation, the Belarus Football
    Federation, the Danish Football Association, the Luxembourgish Football Association, the Austrian
    Football Association, the Malta Football Association, the Portuguese Football Federation, the English
    Football Association, the Spanish Football Association, the Irish Football Association and the French
    Football Association.
    In its appeals, the FUR requests CAS to set aside the Challenged Decisions and to reinstate all Russian
    teams and clubs for participation in FIFA and UEFA competitions. Together with each statement of
    appeal, the FUR has also filed a request to stay the execution of each challenged decision.
    The CAS Court Office has initiated two separate arbitration procedures and, in accordance with the Code
    of Sports-related Arbitration (the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures), will seek the position of
    the respondent parties with respect to the FUR’s requests to stay the execution of the Challenged
    Decisions and as to the organization and planning of each arbitration procedure.
    The CAS anticipates being able to share further information on the proceedings through a media release
    in a few days’ time, once a decision has been issued with respect to the requests for a stay.”

    Interesting not to see the SFA involved?

  249. Thanks WC, that’s clear enough, pardon my ignorance.
    JC, maybe it’s because there are no Scottish teams involved in playing against ones from Russia including the nation team. Just a guess without looking into the fixture lists.

    • WC
      Every day is a school day. Didn’t know that free kick/shy/own goal rule.
      John C
      I believe the thickness of the lines in VAR are predetermined at the start of the season. I think the English guys thickened the lines at the start of this season to avoid the millimetre offsides. Given that TV frame rate is 30fps, one frame could involve a distance the length of a school ruler.
      Technology/schmology

  250. Paddy Malarkey 8th March 2022 At 20:51
    ‘…but can expand the lines to centimetres . You can take something that was marginally offside to being inconclusive . Control of the medium !’
    Big Pink 9th March 2022 At 08:27
    ‘.. I think the English guys thickened the lines at the start of this season to avoid the millimetre offsides. ‘
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    Thank you for those observations.
    I suppose if there is an AGREEMENT that fractional ‘off-sides’ don’t count, that’s fair enough- provided always that the same measurement of what constitutes a ‘fractional’ offside is used in every match!
    One would hope that the SFA website will in due course explain in detail how they intend VAR to be operated in Scotland?

  251. There was much speculation on Nathan Patterson’s transfer to Everton with the media wildly guessing at the fee going to Ibrox. I believe someone posted at that time Everton’s financials were due out soon and that could possibly clarify the amount of money involved. Far be it from anyone in the Scottish media to follow up, but, perhaps someone who is a regular on here may have heard of seen something.

  252. Vernallen 11th March 2022 At 19:06
    ‘.. I believe someone posted at that time Everton’s financials were due out soon..’
    %%%%%%%
    yes, Companies House page for Everton show “Next accounts made up to 30 June 2021 are due by 31 March 2022”
    So they have another couple of weeks.
    But since the financial year to be reported on is the year 2020/June 2021 and the transfer was in January2022 (ie. in financial year ending June 2022) there might not be any way to assess from the accounts what the transfer fee was, until we see the accounts for 2021/22?
    I’m no accountant, of course, and may be hopelessly mistaken!

  253. A Court of Session judgment in an Appeal hearing was published today.
    On one level I found it an entertaining read for anyone: I could hardly believe what was reported as having been said and written by the appellant about the people who had brought the initial action against him.
    The case was not at all about a football matter and I was going to post a link to it merely to share the fun of it with readers of SFM.
    But I thought for a minute, and realised that in fact, the judgment touches on the very heart and substance of why I bang on with my repetitive denunciations of the SFA and the Big Lie.
    How so?
    Well, the judgment slaps the face of the Statutory body against whose decision the appellant was appealing.
    Why so?
    Well, the Court of Session concluded that the Standards Commission for Scotland abused its powers by including an element of punishment in its decision, when it does not have the legal power to do so.

    And what did the SFA do by cobbling up the 5-Way Agreement?
    What else but abuse their authority, by ignoring their own Rules , by manufacturing without authority new ones, and by presuming to use powers that they did NOT have to declare that a football club that they themselves had newly admitted into the SFA was the very same club that had, under the SFA’s own rules, ceased to exist as a football club entitled to membership of the SFA!

    Oh, Lord: how I wish I had the financial resources to take the SFA to Court.

    The link to the judgment is
    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csih15.pdf?sfvrsn=56e29906_1

    The case number is
    [2022] CSIH 15
    XA63/21

  254. JC I think you may be confusing public and statutory bodies with private ones.

    Of course the SFA can be subject to judicial review or what ever we call it in Scotland.

    In essence you would be suing a private company. That’s a very narrow path and highly unlikely to succeed.

  255. Dom16 12th March 2022 At 17:25
    ‘…In essence you would be suing a private company..’
    %%%%%%
    Yes, Dom16, I appreciate the difference: but I’d love to be able to have the whole question explored of whether RIFC plc’s ‘prospectus’ [which I think made misleading claims] might have been by nod and wink ‘supported’ by the fact that the ‘football authorities’ were ready to allow a brand new club to claim the sporting history of the still existing entity ( now in liquidation’] that was the football club that created that history!
    If I were ever to win the lottery, I’d be happy to throw few million at the question!

  256. I’ve been fiddling about on the web trying to get to grips with the Chelsea FC situation.
    It seems that the ‘special licence’ has been amended :
    “Under section 4.7 of the licence imposed on the club, Chelsea will be permitted to spend up to £900,000 when hosting games at Stamford Bridge. Previously, that had been set at £500,000.
    A limit of £20,000 to spend on away fixtures, however, remains and that raises serious questions as to whether or not Chelsea will be able to fulfill their Champions League round-of-16 fixture away at Lille later this month…”
    https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-fc-uk-goverment-licence-roman-abramovich-sanctions-premier-league-2022-b987681.html

    Now, as you might imagine, my interest in the matter is in the question of what the FA will do if Chelsea goes into Administration and if toss-pot Administrators fail to find a Candy-striped buyer to bring them out of Administration, but instead sell off the assets dirt cheap.. and liquidate the club
    Would the FA behave as the SFA did?
    Allow the purchaser of the ‘ assets’ [who did not pay all the debts] to claim to be the owner of the historic Chelsea FC?
    I hold my breath!

  257. Followed the Ranger game today on the DR’s update to reports. I cam across one item that seemed to show the bias of the DR. It involved the half time subs due to tactical reasons. That should have been more than ample for those following but the reporter had to add no injuries involved, thankfully. It should have been enough to clarify injuries weren’t the cause of subs, but to add the word “thankfully” was a little over the top.

  258. Vernallen 13th March 2022 At 21:42
    Same omerta wrt racist and sectarian chanting as other msm sites ? Acceptance of it is normalising it . It’s not even commented on , let alone raise an apology for transmitting it .

  259. Vernallen 13th 21.42

    With a potential last eight place in the Europa League at stake for a Scottish club then perhaps the comment is understandable.

  261. Paddy Malarkey 13th March 2022 At 22:30
    ‘..Big black mark on my tongue..’
    %%%%%%%%%
    There are bigger, more culpable black marks on the tongues of Pattullo and his counterparts in the SMSM who refuse to call the the Big Lie for what it is: the big LIE, cobbled up as blatantly and as nonsensically as any lie that the hound of hell in Russia has cobbled up so far.
    By geez, what those heroic reporters of the Ukrainian war must think of ‘journalists’ of the kind WE have in the SMSM who are afraid to say ‘boo’ to a lying football club and a lying football governance body!

  262. Based on last night’s performance, televised live to a global audience (ok, a small “g” for global), it’s not only the pundits that don’t have an up to date version of the laws of the game. Everyone makes mistakes and things can be missed, offside calls can be marginal either way and sliding tackles can be viewed as yellow or red depending also on fine margins. But not applying the handball rule as it is written in the Laws of the Game and making a rule up is another level. Fortunately for Mr Beaton his error didn’t affect the result as they say (although if Celtic had been 2 up at the break Utd may have thrown caution to the wind, so who knows). However regardless of consequence such an error must have ramifications on the referee? At the very least he should be called to account and asked why he was not applying the Laws of the Game. I won’t hold my breath…

  263. How pitifully cowardly must our SMSM football hacks and editors feel, who are either afraid to state the simple truth that TRFC is NOT RFC of 1872, or (perhaps worse] are willing propagandists for the biggest sporting lie in Scottish football’s history. Lying in a matter of Sport?
    What shame those who claim to be journalists must feel in their souls when they compare themselves with people like Marina Ovsyannikova who face imprisonment or worse for speaking the truth not to a mere provincial ‘ sports governance body’ or to the board of directors of a ten- year-old football club, but to a tyrannous government that will imprison them for years, if not quietly ‘disappear’ them.

  264. John Clark 15th March 2022 At 13:57
    I think they will continue to confuse the two clubs until the original entity is finally liquidated . While still in limbo , it can have its 150th birthday , and it was nice of the new club to host a party for them at the ground they used to play .

  265. In my inbox at 19.49 this evening:

    “Lausanne, 15 March 2022 – The President of the Appeals Arbitration Division of the Court of Arbitration
    for Sport (CAS) has denied the request filed by the Football Union of Russia (FUR) to stay, for the
    duration of the CAS proceedings, the execution of the UEFA Executive Committee’s decision to suspend
    all Russian teams and clubs from its competitions until further notice (the Challenged Decision).
    Consequently, the Challenged Decision remains in force and all Russian teams and clubs continue to be
    suspended from participation in UEFA competitions.
    The CAS arbitration proceedings continue. The parties did not agree to an expedited procedure and a
    hearing has not yet been fixed.
    In the arbitration proceedings brought by the FUR against the FIFA Council’s decisions:
    1) to suspend all Russian teams and clubs from participation in its competitions until further notice, and
    2) to give a “bye” to the team of Poland to the final of “Path B” of the European play-offs for the 2022
    FIFA World Cup, due to take place on 29 March 2022,
    the CAS decisions on the FUR’s requests to stay the execution of the FIFA decisions for the duration of
    the CAS proceedings are likely to be issued at the end of this week “

  266. Paddy Malarkey 15th March 2022 At 18:13
    ‘..While still in limbo , it can have its 150th birthday , and it was nice of the new club to host a party for them at the ground they used to play .’
    %%%%%%%%%
    Heh, heh, PM: that’s an interesting and entertaining take on the matter.
    And, technically, until RFC of 1872 is dissolved it has indeed been hanging around around like a bad smell in ‘legal’ existence since 2012: but not, of course, in any kind of football -playing capacity, having had to surrender its share in the SPL and losing thereby its membership of the SFA.

  267. ‘The Scotsman’s second leader today is a light-hearted piece about the ‘new’ job ,presumably to be known as FRO (Football Replay Operator) , working in the ‘VOR'( video operations room) of a football stadium.
    Apparently, this job will attract a starting salary of £22,280. So far, so innocent,
    However, it will attract a bonus of up to 10%.
    The Scotsman does not go so far as to indicate on what basis a bonus will be earned.
    Will it be the normal – based on ‘results’?

  268. What price real, honest, investigative journalism?
    From my inbox this morning:

    “As companies around the world distance themselves from doing business in Russia, the ‘professional enablers’ who have served powerful entities tied to the Kremlin are facing pressure to do the same.

    Today, American legal giant Baker McKenzie told ICIJ it’s leaving Russia and dropping Russian clients in response to sweeping new sanctions aimed at weakening the country’s war against Ukraine.

    Baker McKenzie was the focus of a major Pandora Papers exposé — which found that the prestigious international law firm had represented at least six sanctioned companies controlled by the Russian government.

    New global sanctions and overwhelming solidarity against the invasion have been “a public relations nightmare for big Western law firms that have acted as gatekeepers\facilitators for big Russian money,” says AML RightSource adviser Timothy White.

    ICIJ’s investigation on how Baker McKenzie served Vladimir Putin’s business interests around the globe was the latest chapter in our years of reporting on the powerful entities and enablers key to supporting the Russian president.

    Reporter Sydney Freedberg and ICIJ media partners discovered that Baker McKenzie had found lucrative work over the years with Russia’s largest state-controlled companies, winning a dozen contracts with sanctioned firms, including a military weapons maker, banks and an energy giant.

    You can find this story and ongoing reporting on the hidden wealth of Russian elites in ICIJ’s newly launched Russia Archive.”

  269. John Clark 16th March 2022 At 11:53

    ‘The Scotsman’s second leader today is a light-hearted piece about the ‘new’ job ,presumably to be known as FRO (Football Replay Operator) , working in the ‘VOR'( video operations room) of a football stadium.
    Apparently, this job will attract a starting salary of £22,280. So far, so innocent,
    However, it will attract a bonus of up to 10%.
    The Scotsman does not go so far as to indicate on what basis a bonus will be earned.
    Will it be the normal – based on ‘results’?

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Although the post will not be the ‘decision maker’ in terms of VAR, it is a pretty poor salary given what a VAR decision could cost a club in terms of finance, although I’m not sure how many hours per week the salary is for.

  270. Upthehoops 16th March 2022 At 15:28
    ‘ ,, it is a pretty poor salary given what a VAR decision could cost a club in terms of finance, ‘
    %%%%%%%
    Aye. I haven’t seen anything much about the whole business of operating VAR and the set-up,
    I assume the techies will be employees of the company engaged to provide the camera work and such.
    But will it be the match referee who, looking at a pitchside monitor, alone will interpret what the video seems to say, or will it be a separate referee ( or two or three!) sitting in the operations room who will give the football ruling on what decision is to be awarded?
    Has anything been handily published for the information of supporters?

  271. John Clark 16th March 2022 At 15:59

    Has anything been handily published for the information of supporters?

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I saw a video feature on the BBC website with none other than John Beaton explaining the process. I think what supporters need more than anything is a clear explanation of exactly what will and what will not be subject to VAR review, because our game is already plagued by Refereeing inconsistency.

  272. Upthehoops 16th March 2022 At 21:39
    ‘..what supporters need more than anything is a clear explanation of exactly what will and what will not be subject to VAR review.’
    %%%%%%%
    Well, that is the question.
    Foul tackles, shirt-pulling and shoving at corner kicks, elbows into the eye-socket in midfield headers…?

    When it comes to integrity in sport and sports governance, and attempts to ensure that we as punters who fund the feckin game get Truth in sporting competition we can hardly rely on what a lying SFA might introduce!
    God almighty, the SFA lie.
    Can we trust anything they introduce?
    Not in my opinion, because they sold their very soul in a base act of betrayal of truth and sporting principle by the stupid , stupid nonsense of ‘continuity’ RFC of 1872.
    There is no Zelensky in Scottish football governance.

  273. Braga v TRFC . Could be a wee bit of a culture clash . From Wiki
    Braga’s emblem is the city of Braga’s shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus with the blue from the city’s shield changed to red. On the top of the emblem is the golden Mural Crown of Braga, with the name “Sporting Clube de Braga” on it. Many Braga fans have said that Mother Mary gives them luck.

  274. Interesting to note this in the ‘Scottish Sun’ today (online update at 9.28 a.m.]
    “TICKETS for the controversial Sydney Super Cup Old Firm clash went on sale at 3am last night – as a report claimed Rangers could be pondering an 11th hour withdrawal from the event.”
    I hope TRFC do pull out so that the whole feckin lying nonsense of them being continuity Rangers will not get an airing and no one makes money out the pretence that they are!
    And bloody Celtic need their arse kicked for having been ready to sign up to the very idea of TRFC taking part!

  275. It’s difficult to understand how the DR keeps referring to the Rangers reaching the final 8 for the first time since 2008. Once could be understood as a simple mistake as their reporters have a colored version of history. To repeat the same assertion a second time in really a show incompetence. And one other point why is it that Kris Boyd only seems to comment when Rangers win and hardly a peep when they lose. Is there an update on the potential injury to Morelos last night.

  276. Passing through St Enoch’s Square the other day I noticed The Rangers shop had closed down. A small notice in the window confirmed its closure. Has anyone any information?

  279. Ballyargus 18th March 22.25.

    Shop was operated by Elite/Hummel.

    No Castore merchandise and not endorsed by the club. Litigation is ongoing.

    Official Rangers shop in the city centre is at the top of Buchanan Street.

  280. I’ve just been reading the nonsense about TRFC being RFC of 1872 at this link

    https://sydneysupercup.com.au/#about

    It irritated me.
    I therefore visited the website of ABC Australia ( TV news] and I’ve sent to their ‘Check facts’ email
    address a copy of my recent email to Minister Ayres, suggesting that they might want to check the actual facts about the Liquidation of RFC of 1872 and its cessation of existence as a football club entitled to play etc etc. (and et bloody cetera]
    Surely to God, whatever else about the ABC, it cannot be staffed by hacks such as we have in the BBC, who fed for many years on the succulent lamb of a shamed knight and had a vested interest in propagating the Big Lie?
    In which connection, there has not ever to my knowledge , been any hack prepared to go into print to show the reasons why he argues that a 10 year old creation can possibly be considered as being entitled to claim to be a much older club.
    Perhaps that is only to be expected; because when a QC can tie himself in knots blathering on (to the mild amusement of the Court] about the ‘whatness ‘ of what makes a football club: the fans! the history! the what-it’s-all-about-ness!, I imagine that the kind of SMSM hacks we have would make even bigger ars.s of themselves!

  281. Albertz11 19th March 2022 At 07:29
    ‘..Shop was operated by Elite/Hummel. No Castore merchandise and not endorsed by the club. Litigation is ongoing.’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    When you say ‘ litigation is ongoing’ , Albertz11, are you able to give details of when an actual Court action was raised, and if any actual hearing in that action has already taken place in ( I suppose] the English Commercial Court ?
    Or are parties still simply discussing/negotiating to try to avoid the expense of Court action?
    From the outside, it looks to me that all three parties were actually at the madam, or at least very, very casual in their approach to checking the legitimacy of what they signed up to.
    I would imagine that none of the parties wants to risk having to pay legal expenses, if they were to lose on the merits. Better to cut a deal.

  283. John Clark 19th March 2022 At 22:41

    I’ve just been reading the nonsense about TRFC being RFC of 1872 at this link

    https://sydneysupercup.com.au/#about

    That url link https://sydneysupercup.com.au/# about this tournament and the printed contents within are the biggest load of shite i have read for a long while. 55 is a lie for obvious reasons. same team as old is a lie for obvious reasons , demoted is another lie as the club never existed after liquidation to be demoted unless it achieved a CVA.
    If this was world war 2 and German propaganda you could understand the reason for the lies and the need for morale; but it’s not it’s peactime and this is simply football and the death of an incorporated football club, They died end of and the evidence is easily obtainable for anyone interested.

  284. “Rangers set for controversial post-split Premiership benefit …The Scottish Premiership split looks set to hand Rangers a controversial boost and Celtic given the opposite … (George Overhill – Ibrox News).

    IMHO -Naw it’s no!

    This inane drivel is nothing short of a pathetic plea/invitation to the football authorities to ‘pockle’ the fixture list in favour of a 10 year old club which has inherited entitlement DNA from its predecessor.

    Here’s what must happen:-

    Post-split, Celtic should play 3 home games (including one against TRFC) and 2 away games, with TRFC having 2 home games and three away (including one v Celtic). This equates to 19 home and 19 away games for each team. If this does not happen , there will be some ‘stooshie’!

    Admittedly, there may be some imbalance for other clubs, who may feel ‘hard done by’ – but not as argued by Mr Overhill

    Against whom they will play, other than each other and Hearts, is, right now a matter of exciting conjecture – leading, no doubt, to some (wild?) speculation in the next few weeks – so for the record, and with apologies to St Johnstone and Dundee who cannot make the top six, on completion of the first 33 fixtures, Celtic will have played TRFC, Hearts, Hibs, Livi, Motherwell, and Aberdeen twice away, whilst TRFC will have travelled to Dundee United, Ross County, and St Mirren twice.

    Go conject!!

  288. Could Rangers face disciplinary action for the toilet roll/tennis ball farce at Dundee. What happens if this occurs at Ibrox or the Sottish Cup semi final. Should the board be in front of this rather than facing another hit to their pocketbook. Keith Jackson takes a subtle shot at Rangers and the return to their infamous songbook. He doesn’t outright criticize or call for action but does highlight it and its about time someone in the media brought the issue to the forefront.

  289. The other day it was being reported that
    “The governor of the Bank of England has been accused of falling asleep in meetings about a serious pensions mis-selling scandal.
    Andrew Bailey, who was then boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), allegedly nodded off in 2019 discussions with advocates for the victims of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) debacle. ”

    He certainly , in my opinion, was sleeping on the job at the FCA when his people allowed RIFC plc to issue what to my mind was a wholly misleading Prospectus!
    There’s something not right about the FCA, what with Bailey’s successor Charles Randell having handed in his resignation ( to demit office in June 2022.

  290. I was watching golf and curling on the weekend and marveled at the precision required to make a successful shot. Inches or millimeters can substantially change the flow of the game and outcome. I then went back to the memory bank and the 3 goals chalked off for off-side in Rangers home game recently (EL game). Since the players can’t hear a flag being raised and have minimal chances of seeing it being raised, the question is did the Rangers players play through waiting for a whistle, or, did they pull up anticipating the off=side call. If its the latter case that could be a reckless attitude to develop especially when the majority of off-side calls aren’t that easy to detect. NHL games, played at a much quicker pace, and linesmen are responsible for off-side calls. In order to keep the game flowing the linesmen will holler out to both teams that an off-side has taken place enabling the offending team to tag up and re-group in the on side position, while the defending team also gets to re-group and offer a counter attack. Coaches can challenge what they believe was missed off-side call, if, they aren’t successful the team is assessed a minor penalty.

  291. Vernallen 21st March 2022 At 21:48
    ‘..Since the players can’t hear a flag being raised and have minimal chances of seeing it being raised, the question is did the Rangers players play through waiting for a whistle, or, did they pull up anticipating the off=side call.’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    That made me smile, Vernallen.
    I have maybe lost touch with some of what is happening in football generally, but surely it cannot be the case ( or maybe it can , these days) that the maxim ‘play to the whistle’ has been abandoned?
    Or that players are on ‘their honour’ to declare that they know themselves to be offside?

    Apart from the universally recognised ‘moral’ requirement that an opposition player should put the ball out of play as soon as he realises that a player on the other team might have been badly injured, it would, I think, be too much to expect players to referee themselves.
    And if they did, their manager would have a fit!

  292. My post of 20.16 refers.
    I revisited the site where the story about Andrew Bailey allegedly sleeping on the job was reported
    I noticed that the report asked what readers thought.
    Oh, how I wrestled with temptation! But in the words of the old song ” my resistance was low”
    And I sent a wee email to the FT.
    “john clark
    To:
    FTAletters@ft.com

    Mon, 21 Mar at 22:07

    Dear FT,
    I have just come across Sonia Rach’s ‘ Andrew Bailey’ story.

    I invite you/her? to have a wee look at this post that I’ve put on the football blog sfm.scot/blogs [look for ‘questions, questions, questions’ and scroll to today’s date and a post at 20.16 by John Clark].
    Therein you/she will find what I think!

    If you want anything further, let me know, and I’ll be happy to explain.

    Yours in a spirit of truth ,
    John Clark,
    Edinburgh.”

  295. Interesting commentary on Twitter from Jason Boyd. According to him

    Duff and Phelps have paid BDO the £4.3m awarded by Lord Tyre for failing to consider a fire sale where in his words “the company would have been liquidated, the team disbanded, and Ibrox and Murray Park sold for alternative uses” Neither party is appealing the ruling……….

    In Jason’s world that means Rangers FC Ltd aren’t being liquidated.

    If you want to read more @Jas72Boyd

    Anyone seen anything about this?

  296. Like buses –
    2021/22 UEFA Europa League
    Rangers FC vs. Borussia Dortmund (2:2), 24 February 2022
    Rangers FC
    Incident and decision:
    • Invasions of the field of play, Art. 16(2)(a) DR
     Fine: €5,000

  297. Paddy M, with King back in the picture more visibly, do you think this might be Club1872 agitating on his behalf, or more likely at his instigation? The fact that they specifically mention their aim to buy his shares among the other scattergun issues raises my suspicion. And the fact that the board see fit to respond so quickly and quite vehemently with wording like ‘people who wanted to be on the board’ makes me think they know it’s him as well. I hope it is more infighting that splits the board like the last time King was around.

  298. Nawlite 22nd March 2022 At 14:53
    I think Mr King is looking to get out of Dodge with his saddlebags full at the earliest opportunity and never look back .He isn’t concerned about any collateral damage inflicted on the 12 year old club – remember , he knows where the original club languishes and even spoke about resurrecting it .
    Wrt the disruption of the game at Dens on Sunday , strange that it seems to have affected only one group of players .

  300. Paddy Malarkey 22nd March 2022 At 13:58:

    You can almost taste the staunchness -TRFC statement .

    https://www.rangers.co.uk/Article/club-statement-220322/2h9XppImmXcboZdN8fF4kX

    Paddy Malarkey 22nd March 2022 At 14:05

    Apparently in response to this –
    https://club1872.co.uk/news/club-1872-concerns-over-rangers-executive-management/
    ————————————————————-
    PM ,I thought the staunchy statement was aimed at the coterie known as union bears rather than club1872 . are they one and the same ?

  301. Gunnerb, Judean People’s Front versus People’s Front of Judea. Aaah, it’s been a while since we’ve had the Monty Python discussions relating to ‘Rangers’! Brilliant if we can now have it regarding their supporters groups, too!!!!

  302. Paddy Malarkey 22nd March 2022 At 13:58:

    ‘..You can almost taste the staunchness -TRFC statement .’
    %%%%%%%%%
    ‘Staunchness’? You’re too kind, PM.
    Bone-headed , unintelligent , nasty belligerence from some thicko thug is perhaps a better description!
    Was there ever a board of directors so quick to issue veiled threats
    ” Rest assured, we will address the disruptors and their propaganda war at the end of this season”
    ( Rangers statement at
    https://www.rangers.co.uk/Article/club-statement-220322/2h9XppImmXcboZdN8fF4kX ]
    It reads to my eye like something a mad thug like Putin would write .
    The Club 1872 statement by contrast is very nearly a model of reasoned peaceful and almost conciliatory protest.
    Let’s hope that TRFC dies at the hands of it own Board ,just as RFC of 19872 did in 2012

  303. Just in the passing, let me mention that I’ve had a pleasant time over the last half-hour so , reading over Lord Tyre’s judgment of 6 October 2021 in the BDO v D&P case.

    Now, I appreciate that reading judgments of the Court is not everybody’s bag.

    Nevertheless , I think that besides giving a link to the judgment, it might be helpful if I give a short extract which states the facts on which I base my oft-repeated assertions that TRFC is not and cannot possibly be the Rangers of 1872.
    The extract is the whole of paragraphs 30 and 31, as Lord Tyre wrote them.
    It’s a bit of a nuisance that I can’t on this blog highlight in bold, or in italics , or by underlining, the particularly interesting facts, but can only do that by using capital letters which I don’t like using except sparingly [ note to BP: we used to be have those kinds of editorial/presentation facilities. Could they possibly be restored?]

    Here are the paragraphs.
    “[30] On 29 May the respondents issued their formal proposal for a CVA to the company’s
    creditors. The proposal was that Sevco would make £8,250,000 available for creditors, as a
    loan to the Company, and pay a non-refundable exclusivity fee of £250,000. After the costs of
    the administration, there would be a fund of around £5 million for the creditors, in addition
    to other assets as outlined in the proposal. A meeting of creditors was fixed for 14 June. On
    8 June, HMRC gave notice to the respondents that they would vote against a CVA. As HMRC were by far the Company’s largest creditor, this meant that the CVA proposal could not succeed.
    The business and assets of the company were, accordingly, sold to Sevco for £5,500,000 in terms
    of the 12 May agreement. Sevco Scotland Limited subsequently changed its name to The
    Rangers Football Club Limited.
    [31] After the sale of the business and assets, a number of players declined to transfer to
    Sevco and instead registered with other clubs, in England and elsewhere. Sevco sought to
    argue that it retained the players’ registrations and was entitled to transfer fees. Certain
    clubs made payments to Sevco to avoid litigation, including Southampton (for Steven Davis)
    and Coventry (for John Fleck). No transfer fee for any of the players was payable to the
    company. ON 4 July 2012, THE SPL MEMBER CLUBS VOTED TO REFUSE TO ALLOW RANGERS’ SPL SHARE TO BE TRANSFERRED TO SEVCO. The club was accepted instead into the third division of the
    Scottish Football League for the season 2012-13”
    The learned Judge was savvy enough, perhaps disappointingly so, not to mention that, of course, the non-transfer of the RFC of 1872 share in the SPL meant that RFC of 1872 had automatically lost its membership of the SFA;
    and that the new Sevco/TRFC had to apply AS A BRAND NEW FOOTBALL CLUB only just become a member of the SPL , for membership of the SFA.
    A link to the full judgment is
    https://scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2021csoh994db16e7faaf44562b70dd717109201c0.pdf?sfvrsn=b8f1694d_1&msclkid=1e42019aaa2611ecba2c90f6eb39f554

    [2021] CSOH 99 seems to be its court of session outer house number.

    [I have not thus far found it on BAILLII, and I did not find on the ‘Court of Session judgments’ page either. But that’s maybe just me]

    • Been out of commission lately, largely due to a broken leg, and some SFM housekeeping has been put on the back burner, including making the site ad-free, catching up on some podcast action, and updating the news on the recent fundraiser.

      After four weeks laid up, I am now almost pain-free and ready to get mobile again. I will look at John Clark’s request for some formatting improvements, and reconvene an SFM get-together in Glasgow sometime in April.

      The dog, who is responsible for my injuries due to the inhospitable areas where she chooses to do her business (and where owners work poo-bags fear to tread), is in the , er, doghouse. She’s won’t be out of there until my recovery is complete.

  305. Big Pink 22nd March 2022 At 23:21
    ‘..Been out of commission lately, largely due to a broken leg,.’
    %%%%%%%
    Dear Lord, BP!
    I’m very sorry to hear that, and hope that you are on the mend.
    And that you accept that my post was not any kind of criticism of the blog operators, more an indication that I am just a baby when it comes to the technicalities of how blogs work.
    I wish you a very speedy recovery to full fitness.
    And how I wish that, after dislocating my shoulder in a fall last time I visited Australia, I had followed the exercise prog of the physio at the Edinburgh Royal infirmary: my left arm is noticeably thinner than my right!
    But then, of course, I’m an auld man!

  306. Hope you recover soon BP.

    I’m doing some dog walking for a friend who broke her wrist walking her dog.

    Occupational hazard for dog owners it would seem.

  308. I was surprised yesterday to see that the ‘Scotsman’s letters page carried a letter which contained this:
    ” Another weekend, another mysterious Rangers penalty in a domestic match whenever they are behind and look like they’ve zero chance of equalising-and right after half-time too! By Jove, it’s almost as if someone’s had a wee word with the match officials…..”
    Very brave, the letters editor!
    For the avoidance of doubt, I was not the letter writer. [ I hope he doesn’t mind me quoting him without naming him ]

  309. LORD BRAID – C Stark, Clerk
    Friday 25th March

    Procedural Hearing
    between 9.00am and 9.30am

    CA71/20 Duff & Phelps Ltd v The Lord Advocate
    A & W M Urquhart SGLD

    I imagine this is D&P [the firm] trying to sue for compensation for the damage allegedly done world-wide to the good name of the firm by the wrongful arrest and detention of Whitehouse and Clark..
    As said before, I think it’s likely that the proven incompetence of the pair in their handling of the Administration was likely to be far more damaging than any proven-to-be- wrongful arrest/detention.

  310. Big Pink 23rd March 2022 At 21:15
    My mate broke his ankle in November while walking his dog . Unfortunately he was in the wilds and he was lying in the rain for 4 hours before they could get an ambulance to him . He then spent the night in a hospital corridor before they could find him a bed , and his op was postponed twice due to staff covid infections . And he still has the dog !

  311. So the CEO of P&O can sit cynically and calmly before a Parliamentary Committee and say that he chose deliberately to break the Law. And it seems that nothing can be done in terms of prosecuting him personally or
    the Company!
    So it’s not just football club shysters who can get away with untruths in matters of business due to the incompetence of Regulatory authorities.
    One wonders why there is any legislation whatsoever in the field of business failures, insolvency, administration and liquidation when there is little serious intent on the part of authorities to nail crooked, lying , contemptuous ‘businessmen’

  314. Paradisebhoy 24th March 2022 At 14:38
    ‘..There may be trouble ahead.’
    %%%%%%%%%
    The most recent Court action I’ve seen , Paradisebhoy, was the hearing on 3 December 2021, judgment deemed handed down on 13 December2021 ( [2021] EWHC 3364 (Comm)). The judge ,Peter MacDonald Eggers QC (acting as Deputy Judge of the High Court (England)) concluded as follows:

    “For the reasons explained above, I allow SDIR’s application for an order under paragraph 18 of CPR PD51U for the disclosure of the Castore Agreement, as well as the Castore Quarterly Statements (to include documents containing the accompanying information within the meaning discussed above) for the 2020-2021 season, but not the Quarterly Statement for the first quarter of the 2021-2022 season.
    In my judgment, an order for specific disclosure within the meaning of the second sentence of paragraph 18.1 of CPR PD51U is justified given that the documents sought are specifically identified or fall within a narrow compass and relate to Issues for Disclosure, even if they do not fall within the date range within the Court’s order for Extended Disclosure dated 16th February 2021. Insofar as it is relevant, I would alternatively have been prepared to make an order varying the Court’s order for Extended Disclosure to embrace these documents.”
    If the videocelts speculation has legs, the assumption has to be that TRFC decided not to appeal, has , complied with the court order and provide are the Castore info, and are trying to negotiate a damages figure with Ashley.
    I doubt if TRFC/RIFC plc have the wherewithal to pay even a few million let alone anything like £10 million. Squeaky-bum time again, I imagine!

  315. The D&P business this morning;
    Lord Braid, after the morning greetings, acknowledged Mr Moynihan QC as appearing for the defender[the Lord Advocate] and asked whether the Dean of Faculty was expected? He wasn’t
    Lord Braid said he understood that Parties were in agreement that mediation would possibly be best way forward with a date in August in mind?
    There was then a very brief discussion around the need for an August date – further document disclosure and time for adjustments, but with an eye to the possibility of mediation in July, was required
    Mr Moynihan QC said he had asked for a guaranteed date for delivery of documents, so the beginning of June is the earliest date for release, then a period for adjustment-earliest is July, but no date fixed as yet for mediation…and no certainty of availability of the mediator.
    Judge agreed continuation to 20 August suggested by Clerk as being free
    The proceedings took only about 10 minutes, and the line wasn’t very clear.

  316. I think the Rangers board, who have enough troubles at this time, should be wary of a South African businessman bearing gifts. The offer to pay the penalty should they opt out of the Sydney Cup has somewhat of an odor about it. What is required in return. It may carry more weight with the board if he offers to pay the potential multi million pound settlement with Sports Direct since he appears to be the person who caused the problem in the first place

  317. Vernallen 25th March 2022 At 21:42
    ‘..should be wary of a South African businessman bearing gifts. ‘
    %%%%%%%
    As Ally would say: “Absolutely!”
    The man who would be King has grievances as deep as any that Putin has.
    SDM’s actions seem to be at the root of those grievances: he put one over King, no mistake.

    In a fight between those two, do I take sides?
    Naw.
    Not any more than I would have taken sides between Mussolini or Hitler.
    Each as bad as the other, although to the SMSM , SDM seems to smell of roses [ I’m told that eating succulent lamb too often affects one’s sense of smell] while , despite Jim White, the King boy still reeks a little of the stench of criminal conviction.

    But who am I to judge?
    judgment is for the people who paid their money to fund a cheating sports club that died because of its cheating, but who continue to fund a club that lies about its history but which also treats them like dirt.
    Honest to God.
    What ARE they like?

  318. So, ex-MP Brian Wilson, referring to the Ferguson ferries debacle, has the gall to write in today’s ‘ The Scotsman’,
    ” This scandal cries out for a public inquiry to get at still -concealed evidence” and calls for government action to ” charter the vessels required to relieve the hardship this cocktail of political chicanery, utter incompetence and disregard for consequences has created”
    As an islander, Wilson may be justified in getting his Harris tweeds in a twist.
    I would have thought that, as a Celtic plc non-exec director, he had a duty to shout out loud on behalf of the shareholders for an independent review of the award in dubious circumstances of a UEFA competitions licence to CW’s RFC of 1872 .
    When guys like Wilson bump their very selective gums a feeling of nausea comes over me.

  319. On a lighter note, let me give credit to Aidan Smith of ‘the Scotsman’ for his reportage [today] of his interview with the admirable Leanne Crichton, for whom I have both the highest appreciation of her undoubted talents as a football pundit and tremendous respect for her down-to-earth forthrightness in her observations.
    Speaking about ex-player pundits who are now old men who played in a different era e.g. Sounness and Roy Keane ,Leanne remarks that they (and others) are ” speaking from a place of opinion which no longer exists”.[a very neat turn of phrase]

    Leeanne goes on to say that some other ‘pundits’ “are just not educated enough so they ‘ll go flippantly off track to deflect from the fact they don’t know how to dissect or understand”

    Smith writes very well and entertainingly on a variety of topics not necessarily related to football, and Leanne is head and shoulders above many of the male pundits in her ability to make and convey to the listener the kind of analysis that the later Sportscene people can show on the freeze-frame screen.
    But, sadly, both Leanne [at least now] and Aidan [from old] are of the SMSM. Neither has made a journalistic/pundit challenge to the Big Lie.
    They keep schtum… and by their silence endorse and propagate the untruth at the very heart of our game.
    ———
    It is grotesquely ironic that the SFA arranged an international friendly the proceeds of which will go to help refugees from Ukraine fleeing from the lying Russian invaders, when it has destroyed its own credibility by having created the stupid, stupid, lie that TRFC is the very same RFC of 1872 which they themselves stripped of its membership in 2012!
    The canting hypocrisy of those who are selective of which ‘truths’ they will adhere to is utterly repulsive.

  320. Have the SFA or SPFL, or indeed any Scottish Football Club taken the time to congratulate ‘Rangers’ on their 150th anniversary? I’ve had a quick look, certainly not a detailed one, and can see no evidence of this. I think it would be normal to expect the authorities and at least some clubs to congratulate another club in this way. Why has it not happened if we are told incessantly by the media that it is beyond doubt they are the same club, and are regarded as such by the authorities and other clubs? I may of course have missed it.

  321. Upthehoops 27th March 2022 At 15:10
    ‘..Have the SFA or SPFL, or indeed any Scottish Football Club taken the time to congratulate ‘Rangers’ on their 150th anniversary?..’
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    Ha, ha! I haven’t seen anything here, UTH, but a quick google came up with a birthday greetings message from Hamburg’
    This annoyed the hell out of me so I fired off this email:

    “john clark
    To:
    info@hsv.de

    Sun, 27 Mar at 16:23

    Dear HSV,
    I refer to your birthday greetings message to The Rangers Football Club, which I found on this link
    http://www.hsv.de/en/hsv-congratulates-rangers-on-150th-birthday

    Sadly, you have been misinformed.
    Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 went into Administration in 2012. The Administrators were unable to find a buyer willing and able to rescue the club by paying all its huge debt. The club consequently entered Liquidation with millions of pounds of unpaid debt outstanding.

    Some of the major assets were bought in what some people describe as a ‘fire sale’ by Mr Charles Green. He did not buy ‘Rangers of 1872’
    Instead, he had to set up a new football club. Before it could apply for membership of Scottish Football Association(‘SFA), the new club had to apply for a shareholding in a recognised football league.

    It applied for share in the then Scottish Premier League Ltd(‘SPL’)
    The other Premier League clubs voted against that application.

    It applied for a share in the then Scottish Football League Ltd. It was granted a share and was admitted into that League’s bottom-most position as ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’, a brand new club.
    Only then did it become entitled to membership of the SFA and gained thereby entitlement to participate in Scottish professional football.

    It is therefore an absolute untruth that the new The Rangers Football Club that was created in 2012 is the same club that was born in 1872 because that club ceased to exist as a club in 2012 when it had to surrender its share in the SPL, and lost its entitlement to membership of the SFA: there is no continuity of sporting existence once a football club has entered Liquidation.

    Your message of ‘ congratulation’ is therefore ill-founded and merely encourages untruthful men to keep propagating a fiction, and brings shame on HSV.

    Yours sincerely,
    JC”

  322. UTH

    Not to my knowledge – for to do so, OVERTLY, would be tamtamount to claiming the impossible – that the ‘Big Lie’ is truth and reality. Most of the allusions to continuity that I’ve come across, have been subtly suggestive, inviting people to believe the myth (not on SFM they don’t!). The SFA, SPFL and other clubs are too ‘feart’ to use the ‘L’ word, but their silence speaks volumes and tells you all you need to know – that the mighty, corrupt Glasgow Rangers ‘died’ in 2012. Those cowards know, but will not openly admit, this.

    ( In fairness – aye right! – I guess claiming that it is 150 years since (the original) Rangers ( now TRFC) was founded has some veracity – in a 150 minus 10 kind of a way).

    The twisted wishful thinking , campaigning, and lying will only be dispelled when the final dissolution comes around (how will that be covered by the SMSM I wonder) – and even then … .

    This must not be allowed to happen, and is the main reason why I continue to contribute to the SFM – and so, a final acknowledgement to you, JC, for your admirable, and unrelenting focus on the ‘Big Lie’!

  323. Bect67 27th March 2022 At 20:45
    ‘..I guess claiming that it is 150 years since (the original) Rangers ( now TRFC) was founded has some veracity .’
    %%%%%%%%%
    It is an absolute fact, Bect67, that it is 150 years since the year in which one of my grandfather’s was born. He was born in 1872.
    It is also an absolute fact that the Rangers of the four young men was founded in 1872, and that it’s been 150 years since then.
    It is also absolutely the case that that grandfather of mine died in 1951, aged 79 and that it’s 71 years since then.
    My grandfather was loved and is remembered (by me anyway] for his magnificently imposing white moustache and his mock-serious frown when his daughter-in-law [my mammy],partnering him at whist, played the wrong card.
    But, of course ,all the wishing in the world, all the emotion, all the remembrances , cannot bring my grandfather back. He is dead.
    In like manner, the Rangers of 1872 foundation, having had to surrender its share in the SPL on being Liquidated, died as a football club in 2012.
    And all the grief and sense of loss so deeply felt by supporters of that 1872 club is perfectly understandable : they truly suffered a bereavement .
    And to make matters worse, it was a bereavement brought about , first, by the hubristic David Murray’s vainglorious boasting and tax cheating , and secondly, by his desperate readiness to be ‘duped’ by the likes of CW-touted by Keith Jackson to be a Motherwell-born multi-millionaire!
    But the fact remains: the Rangers of 1872 ceased , on entering Liquidation, to be a recognised football club entitled to membership of the SFA.
    And all the understandable emotion in the world does NOT permit the SFA, as a governance body, to manufacture a fiction that a club whose membership of the SFA was withdrawn by the SFA itself, is somehow still alive and operating 10 years after its death.
    The Rangers of 1872 is dead.
    Its tremendous record of sporting achievement died with it, and cannot possibly be attributed to the new entity that did not exist to kick a ball until 2012.
    And it is quite, quite wrong that the SFA should have been prepared to lie and continue to lie.
    And it was and is utterly unacceptable that the BBC and the SMSM should support and propagate that lie.
    Like most people, I never thought for a moment that the Rangers of my street pals in the early 1950s would not be bought out of Administration! Someone would surely buy them, for heaven’s sake, I thought.
    But none, NONE, of the big-talking chancers did so, so great were the debts.
    And the jackals are still disgustingly sniffing about, looking to cash in, while the genuine supporters, the members of Club 1872, whose donations give them, individually, NOTHING get nothing but abuse and threats!

  324. Has there been any update on the dispute between Rangers, the SFA and the cinch promotion. Or are two of the parties using a Ranger’s tactic of dealing with it at the end of the season. Its hard to resolve disputes when you keep pushing them down the table.

  325. Vernallen 28th March 2022 At 13:59

    Has there been any update on the dispute between Rangers, the SFA and the cinch promotion. Or are two of the parties using a Ranger’s tactic of dealing with it at the end of the season. Its hard to resolve disputes when you keep pushing them down the table.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The SFA found they had a case to answer over the 2011 European Licence, then just decided to drop it without an explanation. I don’t expect anything will come of the Cinch matter and it will also be dropped without explanation.

  327. After all the news about the questionable EBY scheme you would have thought a recipient of such a program would tread carefully when dealing with the taxman. I believe the taxman would have a long and unforgiving memory when it comes to those who played fast and loose with the rules regarding taxes. Will McCann now follow the route another recipient took and transfer any assets to his partner or declare bankruptcy. Will SKY stilll want to employ him and will the DR still favor its readership with his slanted views of the game.

  328. Vernallen 28th March 2022 At 13:59
    “..Has there been any update on the dispute between Rangers, the SFA and the cinch promotion. ..”
    Upthehoops 28th March 2022 At 18:14
    ‘.. don’t expect anything will come of the Cinch matter and it will also be dropped without explanation.’
    %%%%%%%%
    I haven’t seen anything since the judgment of 20 October 2021.
    I think the SFA cannot be blamed for thinking that Arbitration between TRFC and the SPFL was the proper way to go.
    But I think they ought not to have sought judicial review of the lower Court’s decision that was based on a quite different interpretation of the ‘rules’.
    That review by 3 judges of the Inner House ( 20 October 2021] upheld the right of Park’s (Holdings] to be regarded as an ‘interested party’ to any Arbitration proceedings between TRFC and the SPFL. [and, apparently, cinch could also claim to be an ‘interested party’ if they so desired]

    So, the SFA cannot set up an Arbitration Tribunal unless they invite [Park’s Holdings] and cinch to be represented. For all I know, they might be going down that road even as I speak.
    I suspect that, AT BEST, TRFC are just acting the madam for the sake of it. Like the scorpion in the fable, it’s just what they do!
    I say that because if TRFC did/do have a contract with Park’s [Holdings] signed and dated[ or otherwise attested] before ever the SPFL negotiated and signed a contract with cinch, all they had/have to do was/is to produce it, with evidence that they had told the SPFL of their Park’s sponsorship deal before the SPFL committed itself to cinch.
    At worst?
    Well they might not have a signed contract with Park’s of Hamilton that pre-dates the cinch contract!
    I mean, if a 10 year old club can claim with clenched teeth and out-thrust jaw to be 150 years old…what would they not be ready to assert?

  329. Vernallen 28th March 2022 At 22:50
    ‘..Will McCann now follow the route another recipient took..’
    %%%%%%%%
    Apparently , Vernallen, the taxman is not seeking to impose penalties on McCann, so, as with the BBC high-roller presenters who set themselves up as ‘companies’ and were paid by the BBC as companies providing services for a fee and not as salaried employees of the BBC, he is not deemed to be a tax evader, just as having misunderstood /been misinformed of his taxable status.
    He, like they, will have to pay the tax due , but without penalty, and possibly by some not too onerous arrangement.
    He will no doubt want to kick the ar.e of his tax adviser. Might it have been the porn film star of EBT notoriety? What was his name again ?

  330. John Clark 28th March 22.58

    ” if TRFC did/do have a contract with Park’s [Holdings] signed and dated[ or otherwise attested]”
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    A written contract has been in existence since June 2015. It was
    renewed on 17 May 2021.

    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2021csih61.pdf?sfvrsn=f0711814_1

    No obligation on Rangers behalf to disclose sensitive contractual information, especially given the relationship, or non relationship, between both parties.

  331. Albertz11 29th March 2022 At 07:51
    01Rate This

    John Clark 28th March 22.58

    ” if TRFC did/do have a contract with Park’s [Holdings] signed and dated[ or otherwise attested]”
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    A written contract has been in existence since June 2015. It was
    renewed on 17 May 2021.
    ,………………….

    It’s interesting that Rangers has made a submission to the court that a contract has existed with Parks since 2015.

    What has not been submitted, is that the contract included such terms that Parks should expect exclusivity in relation to Rangers commercial relationships with the motor trade.

    The image in the following article (from 2019) suggests no such exclusivity rights exist.

    https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2019/08/rangers-punished-again-by-uefa-for-more-sectarian-singing/amp/

  332. Albertz11 29th March 2022 At 07:51
    “..A written contract has been in existence since June 2015. It was renewed on 17 May 2021.’
    %%%%%%%%%%
    I expressed myself badly when I wrote ‘ if TRFC did/do have a contract with Park’s [Holdings] signed and dated[ or otherwise attested] before ever the SPFL negotiated and signed a contract with cinch, all they had/have to do was/is to produce it, with evidence that they had told the SPFL of their Park’s sponsorship deal before the SPFL committed itself to cinch.’ I had, of course, already read the judgment an should not have used a ‘hypothetical’.
    And it was important that you made it clear that the Court was satisfied of the bona fides of the contract with Park’s Holdings.
    As regards there being no obligation to disclose sensitive contractual information , it is surely arguable that TRFC as a shareholder club in the SPFL should have been ready to prove to the SPFL board , in absolute commercial confidentiality, that they were contractually bound to Park’s Holdings and therefore could not comply with the terms of the cinch contract?
    Or did TRFC not know that the SPFL was looking to cinch for sponsorship of the SPFL and forewarn them that TRFRC would not be able to be part of that?
    Or was it against SPFL rules for an individual member club to do its own thing sponsorship-wise, and that made TRFC reluctant to show the contract?
    It’s been a piece of unnecessary nonsense and expense at all events, in my opinion, with the SFA not being too clever either.

  335. HirsutePursuit 29th March 2022 At 21:57
    “..What has not been submitted, is that the contract included such terms that Parks should expect exclusivity in relation to Rangers commercial relationships with the motor trade.

    The image in the following article (from 2019) suggests no such exclusivity rights exist.”
    %%%%%%%%%
    That’s a very interesting observation, HP.
    I have to say that I took it for granted that the Court both saw the original contract, and checked that when it was renewed in 2021, the terms of renewal were the same as those of the original, and if the terms were in any way materially different they would not simply have used the word ‘renewa’l but would have adverted to
    any change.
    The presence in the stadium of adverts for Central Car Auctions in 2019 seems to indicate that the 2015 contract with Park’s did NOT confer ‘exclusivity’ on Park’s Holdings.
    It would follow that if the 2021 ‘renewal’ was indeed simply a renewal of the 2015 contract in the same terms, then clearly Park’s Holdings still had no exclusive rights to the advertising of second-hand car sales, and the SPFL rights to secure sponsorship on behalf of the whole SPFL could properly be exercised and the contract with cinch would be binding on TRFC.
    There must be a whole lot more to this than meets the eye: for it’s unthinkable that the Court of Session would accept that Park’s had ‘exclusivity ‘ that had not been part of the contract between TRC and Park’s.

    Will we ever hear the full story, unabridged, unvarnished story?

  336. So these accounts won’t cover Patterson’s January transfer, BigBoab1916. Still interesting to see how they present detail of transfers, though. By the looks of it, they won’t break down individual transfers sufficiently to allow us to see the actual amount paid by Everton, even if t was only a first tranche. Shame.

  339. Thanks PM – I’m trying to get my head around the “tournament organisers were unwilling to fulfil their commitments”. Would these be contractual commitments? I will be curious to see what happens next here.

  340. Wokingcelt 31st March 2022 At 17:30
    I don’t think they could come out and say that it was because their fans were revolting , so putting the blame on the organisers is a no-brainer . Out of court settlement ?

  341. Paddy Malarkey 31st March 2022 At 15:56
    “..https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60946014”
    %%%%%%%%
    Good spot, PM!
    And what a gutless , useless reason TRFC give for ‘pulling out’ of the Sydney tournament.
    “After it became clear the tournament organisers were unwilling to fulfil their commitments to Rangers, we have, with immediate effect, terminated the club’s agreement with the organisers.”
    They blame the organisers? No, I think they were too feart of the power of Club 1872 to admit that it was Club 1872’s objections that forced them to withdraw, but couldn’t admit that, without strengthening Club 1872!
    But of course that’s exactly what they have done.
    They must be the most inept board of directors in Scottish Football.
    May their stupidities and general attitude have the same ultimate result as SDM’s hubristic cheating did in relation to the dead RFC of 1872.The Tournament organisers will have no bother finding a more notable club to invite than a ten year-old facsimile of a club.

  342. John Clark 31st March 17.40

    You vastly overestimate the power of Club 1872 John. With a membership of around 6-7000 and falling, having no relationship with the Club due to their own failings and no hope of buying DKs shareholding in the timeframe set out they are a busted flush.
    Rangers participation in the Sydney tournament actually united the Rangers support in their opposition to playing any part in it. The reasons for the withdrawal will become apparent in time.
    You may change your viewpoint if early indications behind this decision are proved to be correct.

  343. PM, WC and JC

    “Unwilling to fulfil their commitment to *Rangers blah, blah”.

    Good God in Govan – No wonder their follow, followers were throwing toilet rolls at Dens Park – what a load of s****!

    (As for their demand (for that’s, in essence, what it was) to have the Old Firm branding included, there is no Old Firm. It has already been clearly stated, by CFC supporters , that their club is not half of anything).

    TRFC also simply don’t want to be playing ‘second fiddle’ at AP’s coming home party and were looking for an ‘out’.

    Logic would tell you that this 10 year old Govan outfit were presented with a heaven sent opportunity to help ‘grow’ an international brand (not many clubs as young as this one will get such an opening), but, once again, we have, in this farce, been presented with an example of the WATP, entitled, self-appointed elite (in their eyes) mentality. (can someone remind me how many trophies they’e won?)

    If things don’t go their way, the go into a strop and take a severe ‘cream puff’. They also play the ‘victim card’ and …

    … that summarises their moralistic ‘stance’ for me!

  344. Bect67 31st March 2022 At 20:18

    I wonder when the organisers got/get the info that TRFC have aborted ? Most folk in Oz would be a-bed at the time of the announcement .

  345. Paddy Malarkey 31st March 2022 At 21:11
    ‘..I wonder when the organisers got/get the info that TRFC have aborted ? ‘
    %%%%%%
    PM. I emailed ABC Australia Radio at 18.40 this evening to ask if they had reported the story. Nothing there.
    I had earlier scanned ABC TV Australia all-night news live, but had seen/heard no mention of it on their ( Sydney] frequency about twenty minutes after reading your post.
    It will be interesting to see how they report it, as they surely will?

  347. Just noticed this on ABC Australia TV news:

    Rangers back out of Celtic match in Sydney
    Rangers won’t play their planned Sydney Super Cup clash with Celtic after claiming organisers were “unwilling to fulfil their commitments” to the Ibrox club.
    Digital Staff / Soccer / Updated 4 hours ago [Sydney time]
    Rangers have pulled out of their contentious Sydney Super Cup clash with Celtic, saying organisers were “unwilling to fulfil their commitments”.
    Fans of both Glasgow giants had protested against their clubs’ decision to sign up to play a friendly in Australia during the break in domestic football for November’s World Cup.
    Rangers have now announced they will not take part – three days before Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side visit Ibrox in a top-of-the-table Old Firm clash in the
    A statement on Thursday read: “Rangers can confirm the club will not be participating in the Sydney Super Cup in November 2022.
    After it became clear the tournament organisers were unwilling to fulfil their commitments to Rangers, we have, with immediate effect, terminated the club’s agreement with the organisers.”

    It is understood Rangers cited issues over branding and payments, plus the timing and manner of the initial announcement.

    A number of Rangers supporters were unhappy at the perception they would be playing support act to a homecoming jamboree for Celtic’s Australian boss Postecoglou.

    Rangers supporters disrupted the Premiership win at Dundee several times before the international break by throwing toilet rolls and tennis balls on to the pitch.

    Club 1872, a fans’ group which owns about five per cent of the shares in Rangers, had also criticised the Australia tournament amid other concerns with the Ibrox hierarchy.

    The withdrawal comes ahead of a crucial period in Rangers’ season, with their Europa League quarter-final against Braga and a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic to come in April.

    Some Celtic supporters had also criticised their club’s decision to sign up to a friendly against their city rivals.

    The Glasgow teams had been due to meet on November 20 at the 83,500-seat Accor Stadium as part of a tournament also featuring A-League teams Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers.

    Rangers commercial director James Bisgrove had claimed his club would earn the equivalent of a season’s worth of domestic broadcast revenue by featuring in the competition.
    “So it is something that the board have unanimously seen as a positive opportunity for Rangers Football Club,” he added in early March.
    Rangers are now believed to be exploring other commercial opportunities for the World Cup break.”

    Ha, ha: ” Rangers cited issues over branding and payments, plus the timing and MANNER of the initial announcement.”
    Honest to God, what are they like?

  348. Timing is everything and the thought of Sunday’s game being disrupted must surely have been of major concern to them. What will be interesting is if Dave King’s offer to foot the bill was accepted or as unconfirmed reports have said was rejected by the Ibrox Board . Up to 3m participation fee will now not be forthcoming but a bill for a similar amount could be making its way to Mr Park’s inbox. Park and Co will claim they listened to the fans concerns , King will claim he forced them to back down and the lawyers will claim another healthy fee trying to defend a threadbare case but as always it will kick the compensation demand down the road . Unfortunately the fans will believe that their actions prompted the decision and they could be right but it will just encourage them to resort to this behaviour again when things are not to their liking. If they want a good chance to recoup their losses then they should nip down to Ladbrokes and put a hefty wedge on a penalty to Rangers* for Sunday.

  349. I agree with Timtim that fears of another Dundee debacle was upper most in the board’s mind when it came to cancellation. Why risk such a display with a world wide audience watching on tv, what would potential investors think, what would casual fans think, and what if this audience was treated to the usual sing song. The Scottish media which is quite willing to dig into world wide sources to celebrate a Rangers win in Europe may want to reach out to those in Australia and find out what caused the withdrawal, or, will that responsibility fall to someone who does a lot of digging into the matters the mainstream media tend to sweep under the carpet. Law firms must have Rangers on speed dial hoping to feast on another misstep. Does anyone on the board read or understand contracts, seems like they might have another Sports Direct situation coming down the pipe.

  351. I had a nice wee laugh when I read this piece in this morning’s ‘The Scotsman’:
    ” There will be other ways to generate revenue , but after being accused of putting ‘money before morals’ by one fans’ banner this is the first step in healing the rift that has developed between the Ibrox board and the disenfranchised element of the ‘Rangers’ support over this most controversial issue-the Old Firm Down Under.”
    David Oliver , who wrote the piece, seems to believe that by withdrawing from the Tournament the board are taking the first step in ‘healing the rift’ between fans and club.
    Is he not aware that TRFC have done little else but ‘put money before morals’?
    They lie about how they came into existence, and lie about their sporting history, claiming to be 150 years old, and to be entitled to the sporting successes of a quite separate, truly historic, club which has been in Liquidation since 2012.
    As said before, the lies of a football club are bad enough.
    Poor , self-protective or partisan ‘journalism’ such as denies the Liquidation of RFC of 1872 and its death as a football club in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, makes me glad that we do not have a military invasion to contend with.
    What stories would we get then, I wonder?

  352. Albertz11 31st March 2022 At 18:41

    John Clark 31st March 17.40

    You vastly overestimate the power of Club 1872 John. With a membership of around 6-7000 and falling,
    ———–
    Maybe so, but they claim to have documentary evidence of some serious wrong-doing. ….In Sevconia that is the currency of power. …..I doubt those allegations will be tested now.

  354. From the Sydney Morning Herald :
    “The decision to withdraw from the Sydney Super Cup will come at a hefty cost for Rangers, with overseas reports indicating they would be hit with a legal bill for breach of contract in the event of a withdrawal”

    Didn’t King pledge to make up the loss of revenue if the Board withdrew,?
    Will he also pay the costs if breach of contract action is taken and the organisers of the Tournament win?
    How many instances have there been of RIFC plc/TRFC taking legal action only to lose?
    I suspect that they must get very poor legal advice generally.

  355. How long will Bisgrove remain at Ibrox, I wonder?
    I’m astonished that he hasn’t got off his mark before the Board get rid of him for his mis-judgment that caused a world-wide PR disaster, loss of £3 M and potential Court room embarrassment and further loss.
    Oor Keef will have a field day and I look forward to him venting his rage and calling for Bisgrove to go!

  356. Happened to catch Mark wilson on a football podcast discussing referees and their approach to the game with particular reference to this weekend. Very disappointed to hear him say that referees should mibbees let a few early clashes go until the game settles down and then in the same breath to mention consistency!. A yellow card offence is a yellow card offence either in the first minute or the last and that is why supporters are so frustrated with ‘consistency’. This from a former pro.

  357. @JC
    King’s offer of compensation if they withdrew was reported to have been rejected by the Ibrox board (the red top that reported it is of low quality and has a history of misinformation) If they did accept it then I hope they got it in writing as he has a habit of making promises he doesn’t keep. The last time he put money into the club* he had to charge a large interest rate which he blamed on Sth African authorities and I doubt regulations have changed . The last thing Park wants is for King to come back with any sort of clout in the boardroom . I think his cold shoulder is still active but even on expiry he has been tainted by that terminally in the business world. I can only surmise that King wants his shares bought out asap and club* 1872 won’t have the funds for a long time which leaves the board as the only other option . King can and will cause problems but will the board pay up to be shot of him , can they afford to?

  358. Timtim 1st April 2022 At 22:25
    ‘…King can and will cause problems but will the board pay up to be shot of him , can they afford to?’
    %%%%%%
    I’m beginning to wonder whether my long ago view can be correct ,that King is motivated solely by his rage at having been stung for millions ( in his view) by that wretch of a human being , David Murray, and that King’s desire is simply to get his lost millions back, pure and simple.
    But perhaps, after all, King aims to be King of TRFC and be another David Murray, working his way to majority shareholding?
    Perhaps fanciful, but if King were to buy Club 1872’s shares ? ..and it’s roon about there that I get lost!
    But it’s great fun to speculate.
    And there’s something very satisfying when baddies fall out, and their Board is divided and there’s rancour and blame – and a useless Commercial director and even more utterly useless PR chief who cannot find a way to make the baddies smell good!
    Honest to God! The sheer bloody incompetence of it all!
    Who would invest in or be interested in a 10 year old football club that is so badly directed by such an overall incompetent board?
    I will write to Minister Ayres in the New South Wales Parliament to say something like ‘ There you are, cobber: that’s yer ‘Rangers’ for ya.’
    Or words to that effect!

  359. Enjoying a lazy Saturday morning and saw on the Sky Sports ticker that the EPL had reported that £272.6m had been paid to agents between the 2nd Feb 21 and the 31st Jan 22. Nearly spilled my coffee…… No wonder the games finances ( and sporting integrity) are going to Hell in a handcart.

  360. Gunnerb 1st April
    ‘Happened to catch Mark wilson on a football podcast discussing referees and their approach to the game with particular reference to this weekend. Very disappointed to hear him say that referees should mibbees let a few early clashes go until the game settles down and then in the same breath to mention consistency!. A yellow card offence is a yellow card offence either in the first minute or the last and that is why supporters are so frustrated with ‘consistency’. This from a former pro.’

    Few who saw Kyle Lafferty’s head high kick on Morton’s Lewis Strapp with 90 secs on the clock last night would disagree.

    On a positive note it was great to see Killie’s away support arrive in such numbers. It makes a pleasant change from looking at a near empty Wee Dublin end at Cappielow.

  362. Corrupt Official 2nd April 2022 At 11:45
    “…Is that where we are now in Govan?..’
    %%%%%%%%%
    Yes, CO, I’m inclined to believe so.
    TRFC/RIFC plc are in as dark a place of lies and deceit as the now liquidated RFC of 1872 were in the days when David Murray hid from the SFA (if you believe the SFA) the true wages being paid to players and the truth about the EBT scheme.
    I would suggest that they are possibly in an even darker place. I believe that they claimed ,and continue to claim, in the wider world of business and commerce, to be the Rangers of 1872 foundation, and that TRFC was floated as a public company on that basis of factual untruth.
    It would be no surprise to me that there may be the odd e-mail or recording in the possession of persons who were privy to damning conversations and who carefully kept little reminders, just in case..?

  363. John Clark 2nd April 2022 At 12:36

    Yes, CO, I’m inclined to believe so.
    xxxx

    A dark place right enough John. I believe every fan-base on the planet would be demanding the release of documentary evidence supporting such allegations, whether they went to Australia or not. It’s the casual acceptance of the fan-base, that this is the normal way of things in the Sevco boardroom that gets me.
    Albertz may point out that there is a falling membership, but for a while it was large, and stocking it with vast sums of hard earned cash…..However they appear to have lost their tongues.
    It really is a sad indictment of those fans that they are not demanding, “Get it oot anyway!”

  364. Would the Club 1872 evidence of serious wrong doing by the board have similar weight to the dossier assembled by the Rangers in regards to the SFPL/SFA a while back. We know how that ended. Lay your cards on the table and if is there sufficient evidence call for an emergency meeting to discuss.

  365. Vernallen 2nd April 2022 At 16:30
    10Rate This

    Would the Club 1872 evidence of serious wrong doing by the board have similar weight to the dossier assembled by the Rangers in regards to the SFPL/SFA a while back
    XXXXX
    That is always a possibility Vernallen, but there is one subtle difference. One set of allegations did not achieve its objective, whereas the other did.

  366. In my post of 1st April 2022 At 23:28 I wrote ” I will write to Minister Ayres in the New South Wales Parliament to say something like ‘ There you are, cobber: that’s yer ‘Rangers’ for ya.’”
    I have just this very minute sent this to him on his Parliament email address
    “Dear Minister,
    I refer to an earlier email of mine which , I believe, was forwarded to you by your constituency office. I had, in mistaken ignorance, directed it to them and I pay tribute to them for their ‘politesse’ in dealing with a non-Australian voter!
    In that email I pointed out that to refer to ‘Rangers’ as if it were the Rangers that was founded in 1872 is quite, quite wrong, as is any reference to there now being an ‘Old Firm’ .
    That Rangers club is in Liquidation.
    The present ‘The Rangers Football Club'(TRFC) has been in existence only since 2012: ask the SFA when it was that TRFC was admitted into membership if you want to check that.
    You get the measure of that new club by its readiness to tell the world ( before it told the very organisers of the tournament!) that it had pulled out of the Sydney Tournament .
    I think you were ill-advised to signal any kind of endorsement of their invitation and the false nonsense of ‘the Old Firm’.
    But now that they have pulled out, it doesn’t matter.
    All they have done is disgrace themselves as badly as David Murray disgraced the now Liquidated-in-2012 original ‘Rangers’ of my grandfather’s day by his EBT scheme ( hidden from the SFA and the taxman) and the ultimate cause of the death by Liquidation of that football cheating club.
    I will say nothing about the organisers of the Tournament except, perhaps, to say that they might be a wee bit out of touch with reality.
    Anyway, all’s well that ends well. I’m sure the organisers will find another British/European club of some standing to replace the false ‘Rangers’.
    And I wish the Tournament well -and would love to be able ( might possibly be able, on a hoped for visit to my son and his family in Brisbane) to be with him and his pals, who have their tickets bought and paid for!)”
    —
    Well, Mrs C and I hope to be able to visit Brisbane sometime this year and it may as well be in November, running into Christmas.
    But will Mrs C wish to a) come with me to Sydney? or
    b) allow me masel to go down with son and pals ?
    I’ll wait till we get there (if we do, of course] before I ask!

  367. Will the SFA address the second incident in recent weeks where Ranger fans have caused a delay in a game, and, look into the incident where someone from Celtic was struck and required stitches. How many more similar displays will occur prior to the end of the season. Will the Scottish media be digging into reports from around the world regarding Celtic’s win, it doesn’t take them long to find such stories on the back of a Rangers win.

  368. My goodness me!
    I have , in what I believe is computer-speak, ‘refreshed’: and what do I see as the most recent post but my own at 3rd April 2022 At 01:44.
    Where is everybody?
    I missed today’s [yesterday’s now , I note as I write] proceedings at Ibrox because I was in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary visiting Mrs C [there are , as we all know, more important things than football].
    But I did catch on radio the utterly unbelievable , the criminal, the f..king Putin-like insanity of the truly evil sods who threw, in the half-time interval, shards of broken glass into what was to be the goal-mouth area of Hart .
    God Almighty , that there should be such people!
    Honest to God!
    From childhood I remember bottles being thrown: easily seen and not likely to shatter when they hit the turf.
    But individual bits of glass being thrown in quantity in what must have been a planned operation? ,
    Now, that is evil , criminal , and lunatic. intent there
    No question!
    I make no comment other than that the TRFC/RIFC plc boards are in no position to cast a stone , they themselves being beyond the Pale in living ,and presumably profiting from ,a sporting lie, and only too ready therefore to placate the howling mob and yield to the basest sections of their ‘support’
    Dear God Almighty , that our game, our national sport, should have been so corrupted by the very governance bodies who…., ach, words fail me!
    How to describe those who allow a club that they admitted as a new club in 2012 to claim to be what they are not?
    Dirty work at the crossroads,, no mistake, with a dirty wee ‘5-Way Agreement’ to bind the liars together in an unholy ‘legal’ conspiracy.
    And , here’s the thing: the individual members of the SFA board and the SPL and SFL boards of the time, KNOW, they KNOW, that they have no defence against the charge that they were party to a stupid, stupid fraud.
    They know it.
    And they KNOW that they have no defence against the charge that they behaved dishonourably, for filthy lucre’s sake, and that they will go to their graves in what? less than , for the youngest of them, say 50 years? KNOWING that they are despised on that account.
    [Note: I’ve just this minute seen Vernallen 4th April 2022 At 01:22.]

    • John C
      The character and recidivism of the Rangers* support apart, there is a quite separate and serious point about this violent behaviour (see also recent laser pen attacks) which, if not adequately dealt with by the authorities will lead to a real tragedy.
      It’s a well known fact amongst the Casual community that “life bans” from stadia are non-enforceable. Even those criminally convicted of offences are only required to attend police stations on certain occasions.
      Punishment, such as it is, of offenders is no deterrent whatsoever. It leads one to the conclusion that Strict Liability is perhaps the only solution.
      Whatever the rights and wrongs of that, we can say with some certainty that it is the only mechanism that has not been tried, and that the violence is getting worse, despite the other mechanisms currently in place.

  369. What I don’t get with Strict Liability is the accepted difference from our clubs on the rules for domestic games versus European matches.
    UEFA has not been slow to penalise clubs for fan misbehaviour, regardless of the local rules and laws. When you look at the repeat offences though it does question whether the bampots who cause the problems pay any attention – the use of flares and pyrotechnics would appear to being worse. Said fans are clearly not supporters of the clubs they purport to support given the penalties and costs they impose on their club. Would closing stands and playing games behind closed doors provide sufficient deterrence? I’m not so sure. Maybe the clubs putting in place comprehensive CCTV and the Courts really coming down hard on hooligan behaviour with big fines and match day community service might have more impact.

  370. I see strict liability rearing its head again. My view has always been that Scotland is not a fit nation to have such a system. You only need to take a look at how arbitrary the application of the disciplinary process is to fear that the application of punishment under strict liability would be exactly the same. We can’t have the media deciding which incidents deserve punishment and which don’t by choosing what they highlight and what they ignore. Strict liability is also wide open to abuse by rival fans. It’s not for me.

  372. Big Pink 4th April 2022 At 12:03
    ‘..It leads one to the conclusion that Strict Liability is perhaps the only solution.’
    +++++++++++++
    I have the greatest difficulty in accepting the principle that any company or business in the entertainment/sports industry can be held responsible for the criminal actions of its customers/patrons.

    They are of course responsible for the safety of their patrons by taking all the legally required measures relating to the physical safety of their premises , crowd control , fire prevention ,first aid facilities, stewarding and all that important stuff.
    And it is right that they be called to account if they are remiss in any of that and people sustain injury or loss on that account
    But it seems to me to be very questionable whether a company of any kind ( a cinema or theatre or football, rugby club or other such ] which has done all that is statutorily required in relation to the control and safety of its patrons should be held responsible for the criminal actions of any its patrons simply because those actions happen on their premises!
    If some lunatic in a theatre stands up and yells ‘Fire! Fire!’ as a wicked act of malice and causes a stampede that results in injury or death, no rational , reasonable person could possibly argue that the theatre company was liable [except for things like inadequate emergency exits or lack of training of their staff]
    Some sad soul[s] / psycho bast.rd[s] clearly waited until half-time at Ibrox yesterday to throw either a bottle which broke on impact (or perhaps, pre-prepared handfuls of broken glass?] into the goal-mouth area that would be occupied not by TRFC’s goalie, but by Hart.
    Now, unless I’m gravely mistaken, stewards at football grounds do not have powers of body search ( nor do the Polis, I think].
    If some nutter has a shiv up his sleeve and runs on to the Ibrox pitch to stab a Morelos/ Tavernier or a Kyogo/ Jota, in what possible way could it be’ just’ that RIFCplc/TRFC be held responsible? ( Who was responsible for killing Abraham Lincoln? the guy that did it, not the owners of the feckin theatre where it happened]
    No.
    If Parliament ( question: does the Scottish Parliament have pre-eminence in this area?] wants to apply ‘strict liability’ in spectator sports, it would have to give greater legal powers to clubs and impose obligations on them that would cost them money to comply with. To do what is the job of the Polis-prevention of crime!
    Responsibility for criminal actions lies with the criminal[s].
    But sadly, even sophisticated CCTV coverage seems not really able to make identification of the particular hooligan basta.ds involved in any particular incident.
    However, I am no politician or lawyer or businessman. Just an individual whose very soul recoils at the idea of anyone or any organisation being held criminally/civilly responsible for the crimes they do not commit and could not prevent.

  373. Was it a penalty or was it not a penalty. The shirt tug in Sunday’s game is open for debate. It appears in a picture in the DR that the Ranger player also had a hold of the Celtic player’s jersey. Might have been a good no call.

  375. John Clark 5th April 2022 At 00:29
    I have the greatest difficulty in accepting the principle that any company or business in the entertainment/sports industry can be held responsible for the criminal actions of its customers/patrons.
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    While I fully understand your point of view and have some difficulty in arguing against it, I think that there comes a point when drastic problems require drastic solutions.

    Your theatre analogy illustrates the problem perfectly, but it doesn’t take a massive leap to imagine the site of that theatre instead housing a raucous nightclub filled with noisy, over-exuberant, drink and/or drug-fuelled patrons fighting, smashing bottles and glasses and damaging the property before spilling out onto the surrounding streets and debasing the neighbourhood.

    Any such law-abiding club (or its operating company) could hardly be blamed for the actions of its clientele, yet it would be in danger of having curbs and restrictions imposed and, ultimately, facing closure. Why should football clubs be any different, particularly clubs with decades-long histories of trouble?

    The problem is that strict liability can only be introduced in Scottish football if there is a will among the clubs to bring it in, but that would be like turkeys voting for Christmas, particularly for the bigger clubs. The alternative involves political intervention, which itself is fraught with danger as UEFA and FIFA don’t take kindly to political interference in the game.

    Finally, while recognising they’re not quite comparable, the other minor problem I have with the argument that the club/company did all that it could and can’t be held responsible for the actions of individuals, is that it could be claimed, for example, that a rogue individual such as Craig Whyte was entirely to blame for the demise of Rangers Football Club, while the club itself was blameless. Spurious nonsense on many levels of course, but the kind of verbal diarrhoea that emanates from Govan and the Scottish media nonetheless.

  376. @Vernallen – being based in England I find it difficult to watch any match without having VAR in mind. From how VAR is applied in England (based on available TV footage -coverage is more comprehensive in EPL) then my tuppennies worth:
    1. MacGregor on Maeda – clear penalty on VAR as keeper got none of ball and brought down the player (no card)
    2. CCV shirt pull – clear penalty based on tv pictures (yellow card as competing for ball)
    3. Giakoumakis on Jack – yellow card correct but VAR would have looked hard at Jack’s reaction – forceful hand to face and suggest red card.
    4. Lundstrum on Giakoumakis – I have seen the ref asked to look at the monitor for similar down here and the card being upgraded to red.

    In all of the above it is completely understandable that the ref didn’t see as blindsided/speed of play (although I think Lundstrum may have seen red if he had tackled a smaller/slighter player in same way)

  377. @Highlander

    You raise some interesting questions regarding behaviour at a night club and a football stadium.

    The night club is subject to the Licensing Scotland Act 2005 and the features of this Act are quite heavy for any licensed premises.

    They are responsible for behaviour of patrons outside the premises. Regular police activity at the premises will result in a hearing at the licensing Board.

    Certainly behaviour inside the premises is part of the license. It’s illegal to serve a drunk person. They must be refused. Staff must be trained. CCTV must be available. Police have right of entry as do licensing standards officers.

    As with outside problems, any breach of license discovered by police or LSO results in report to Board.

    I’m aware of premises in Falkirk being required to ticket and have door stewards for football games on TV.

    Why similar requirements can’t be imposed on football stadia is a question that the Scottish govt needs to answer.

  379. Highlander 5th April 2022 At 10:10
    ‘.. I think that there comes a point when drastic problems require drastic solutions.’
    Dom16 5th April 2022 At 17:33
    ‘..Certainly behaviour inside the premises is part of the license. .’
    ++++++++
    Good points all in what you both say.

    But I speak about these things kind of from an emotional stance, remembering the days of the ‘belt’ when, against every notion of ‘justice’ everyone in the class got the belt ( geez! how did our Local Authorities and Government, never mind our parents/grandparents, happily allow teachers to assault their kids with a leather strap?!] because the actual ‘baddy’ or ‘baddies’ couldn’t be identified?
    Oh, for the happy days when , as a wee boy, ( and , I think, as an adult still into the nineteen nineties?] I was fascinated by the steady , evenly spaced and evenly paced tread of the polis round the track, and the sudden burst of activity as half a dozen bobbies would get right into the terracing and haul out one or two punters, and march them round the track, arm up the back, to wherever .
    No question of ‘stewards’ with no legal powers (and possibly no inclination either] getting in there among bottle-throwing or pyrotechnic lunatics , as well as not being able to get to them because of the seating!
    But I digress.
    We can see that the preferred option of the Boards of RIFC plc/TRFC and Celtic plc is to save each other expense in stewarding by reducing the number of ‘away’ fans.
    And possibly, they themselves would ask, might have asked, the ‘licensing board of Glasgow city Council’ to MAKE it a condition of their licences that they do not permit ‘away fans’ at all, to any match between 1888 Celtic and 2012 Rangers, so as to be able to shrug their shoulders and say ‘it’s the law’.
    I wouldn’t be surprised by anything the Boards of each club did, after that disgraceful Sydney Tournament nonsense, when Celtic were prepared to play in an ‘Old Firm’-billed match, again putting financial gain above sporting truth, in the same way as they refused to insist on an investigation into the Rangers UEFA licence.

  380. On VAR proposals:
    I am given to understand that current proposals to introduce VAR to the professional game in Scotland will be voted upon by all members of the SPFL. VAR is not mandatory outside of the EPL in England and I presume the same would apply in Scotland. Begs the question, with no dog in the fight, why votes outside the SPL and the Championship would carry such weight?

  381. ‘Pinch of salt , I suppose, but worrying’

    Objects being thrown at Celtic players at Ibrox (taking corners for example) has been a regular occurrence in recent years – although, given the relative lack of coverage by the SMSM, you might not have thought so.
    Sunday’s incidents (assault on CFC physio resulting in cut head, smashed bottle, and coins thrown at Jota) were symptomatic of progressively more sinister, violent and dangerous behaviour at Ibrox – fueled, quite simply, by hatred and desperation (that he league title might be slipping away).

    Some theories have emerged that the bottle first hit the crossbar, and, on smashing, scattered over a considerable part of the penalty box – a view that I don’t find credible, given the area covered by the splintered/broken glass.

    Regardless of the ‘steward source’, to me, the idea of a pre-smashed is more likely – and alarming.

    If this had happened in a European game, UEFA would have come down heavily on the club, and I have found Doncaster’s feeble response pathetic.

    I realise some (many?) might disagree, but the club must, in some way, be held accountable here.

    p.s How did all those ‘buckie’ bottles get smuggled in?

  382. Big Pink 6th April 2022 At 09:31
    “Guy on Twitter claiming to be a steward at Ibrox says bottle thrown on to pitch at half time was pre-smashed.
    Pinch of salt I suppose, but worrying.”
    +++++++++
    The Glasgow Times had this:
    BY EWAN PATON
    @epates_22
    SPORTS WRITER
    “SPFL address Rangers bottle throwing incidents during Celtic clash
    THE SPFL have issued their response to yesterday’s events at Ibrox in the derby clash between Rangers and Celtic.

    League chiefs are urging supporters to contact Police Scotland after a number of crowd-related incidents at the game.

    Broken glass was thrown from the Copland Road end of the stadium onto the pitch before the re-start of the game at half-time, as Celtic keeper Joe Hart alerted referee Willie Collum and his officials to the situation. … ”
    And I heard on the radio one of the commentators say ‘broken glass’ not ‘bottle’.
    A further advance into savagery.”

  384. MercDoc 6th April 2022 At 19:00
    “Instead, I argue that the social reality of Rangers Football Club continued, and this continuity should be the test we use to decide how many titles Rangers has won.”
    +++++++++
    I wonder was it Dr Hardman who briefed the QC who wittered in Court a few years ago about it being the ‘what-ness’ of a football club, the ‘what-it-stands-for’ , the ethereal essence ,the passion and belief of its the supporters, that make a football club?
    We laughed in Court at such blethering nonsense!
    And I laugh, now, at Hardman’s meaningless phrase ” the social reality of Rangers Football Club continued”
    He really is playing silly buggers – disgracefully so ,in my opinion.

    He knows damned fine that, as a matter of law, Rangers Football Club plc entered Liquidation in 2012:there was no holding company:-the football club was the company, and the company was the football club.
    The kudos of having the capitalisation to admit of ‘going public ‘ did NOT create another entity: the same football club that had been Rangers Football Club Ltd simply changed its status in the market place, not its identity.
    Hardman knows equally well that in consequence of suffering the insolvency event of liquidation, that same Rangers Football Club, now a plc, had to surrender its share in the SPL in 2012.

    And he KNOWS or should know, that a football club that is no longer a member of a recognised Football League ceases, ipso facto, to be entitled to membership of the SFA, and therefore ceases to exist as a professional football club entitled to play in any League recognised by the SFA.

    And he knows , or should know, that under the rules and constitution obtaining at the time, such a club is DEAD and unable to add one little bit of sporting success to the tally of such successes it had already earned by its sporting efforts when alive.

    HE FURTHER KNOWS THAT Charles Green did NOT buy RFC plc out of Administration, and therefore did not own RFC plc, . but merely a bunch of human assets ( all of whom, whether player or admin etc staff, were legally entitled to break their contracts and walk away) and some real estate.

    It follows that Hardman knows, or should know, that there was NO transfer of RFC plc shares to the new RIFC plc: that new entity was created by the one-for-one swap of the SevcoScotland/TRFC shares for shares in the new RIFC plc.
    SevcoScotland /TRFC became a football club only when it was admitted as a new club to the SFL , and to the very bottom end of the bottom division- just as every successful new applicant for admission has had to do.

    ‘Social reality’, if it means anything at all, means that thousands of people so wish that RFC of 1872 had not died that they live in a fantasy world, aided and abetted by people like Hardman and the cynical , or partisan, or self-deluded ‘journalists’ of the BBC and print SMSM.
    Reality is, however, no matter what any liar in football governance may say, and no matter what fantasy any ‘bereaved’ and suffering supporter of the dead RFC plc may create to comfort himself, TRFC is not, and cannot possibly be the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872.
    And I’m sure that there are still plenty of creditors who would very much like them to be, so that they could get all of the money owed to them by the liquidated club!
    Now, it’s bad enough that ‘businessmen’ should play fast and loose with truth and reality to make money.
    And it is unacceptable that ‘journalists’ should play loosely with objective fact.
    But It is unforgiveable that an academic lawyer should join their ranks.

    I will copy this post to Dr Hardman just as it is. I couldn’t be arsed creating an email specially addressed to him.

  385. “Incidentally, Celtic undertook a corporate reorganisation in 2002.
    “So if we used such a narrow technical legal reading, Celtic has won 14 titles rather than 51.
    “This reorganisation was within the same corporate group, rather than to a totally new ownership structure, but shows the danger of relying too closely on this technically narrow test.”

    Is this guy high?

  387. Nawlite 6th April 2022 At 23:15
    ‘..That lucky, but perfectly honest, Mr Murray/……’
    +++++++++
    Would there ever have been any doubt that that wretch who killed the Rangers football club of my grandfather’s day wouldn’t get his way?
    I don’t think so.
    He and his like are too powerful behind the scenes, as witnessed by the fact that he , whose stupid, arrogant loud-mouthed ,hubristic tax -evading nonsense was the ultimate cause of the death of RFC of 1872, walked away unscathed and uncriticised by fans or by the succulent lamb eaters!
    Never was there such a phoney ‘ I was duped’.
    As if !

  388. Referring to my post of 6th April 2022 At 22:10, in which I said
    ‘.I will copy this post to Dr Hardman just as it is. I couldn’t be arsed creating an email specially addressed to him.’
    I did email that post to him, but with a word to explain that, having put my opinions in print on a football blog which has a considerable readership, but which he himself may not be aware of, I felt obliged to let him know; so that he may, if he chooses to do so, ‘defend’ himself by showing how exactly , in terms of the Law, TRFC can be the liquidated RFC of 1872,
    If he replies, I will of course-as I told him- post his replies.

  389. JC 7th April @ 23.05

    If you do get a response JC (I’m a bit dubious if you will), he will ignore the indisputable legal fact and go down the ‘hearts and minds’ route as justification for his argument (?!).

  390. Bect67 8th April 2022 At 10:36
    ‘… he will ignore the indisputable legal fact and go down the ‘hearts and minds’ route as justification for his argument (?!).’
    ++++++++++
    Heh, heh: I think you’re .
    I’ve some abstract sympathy for the supporters of any club that dies, of course.
    But I cannot pretend to them or to myself that RFC of 1872 did not die, and say encouraging things like ‘it’s all right, don’t greet ,son, we’ll all kid on that they’re still alive and well and that it’s no really them that are in the morgue of Liquidation,”
    Supporters can think what they like if it eases the ache,
    But the SFA and SPL/SFL have no power to award the titles and trophies won by a dead club over its 140 year life span to a brand new club that did not exist over that time.
    The whole idea that the sporting successes of one club can be transferred to another club makes a nonsense of sporting competition and sporting success.
    Most of us know that instinctively.
    Our SFA betrayed its office as Guardian of the sporting ethos of our game, They are as despicable in my eyes as any blowhard of a cheating knight of the realm ,
    Their allowing TRFC to claim 54 titles etc has made liars of them and truly brought the game into disrepute as being governed by persons unfit for their office.

  391. Nicely summed up by Dermot Desmond
    “We do not want the club to get into a financial state where the club goes into liquidation and there is going to be a new Celtic. We want our history to be continuous, not to be curtailed through financial mismanagement.”

  392. Well spotted Paradiseboy – I just wished he had been a tad more specific with his ‘dig’ i.e :-

    “…where the club goes into liquidation – just like the erstwhile other half of the so called ‘Old Firm’ did in 2012”

  393. My post of 8th April 2022 At 14:50 is missing the word ‘right’ in the first sentence, which I am sure most people will have understood, Apologies.

  394. Paradisebhoy 8th April 2022 At 15:52
    ‘..Nicely summed up by Dermot Desmond..’
    +++++++++<#.
    I hadn't been aware of that remark by DD, Paradisebhoy. The man has gone up a notch or two in my estimation for saying as much.
    But words are cheap, and I think he ought to have insisted on the Celtic plc board forcing an independent investigation into the Res 12 matter , because bad and all as it is for a club to false information, it would be very much serious if the SFA or one of its officer connived in deceit.

  395. John Clark 8th April 2022 At 17:31
    My take on it is that he’s saying that it’s a dead club and can’t be sanctioned . Once it died , CFC’s interest in their alleged misdemeanours died too .

  396. Paddy Malarkey 10th April 2022 At 18:19
    ‘..My take on it is that he’s saying that it’s a dead club and can’t be sanctioned . Once it died , CFC’s interest in their alleged misdemeanours died too .’
    ++++++++++
    At least, PM, Dermot Desmond is( I would say] the highest placed board member of any club to say out loud that RFC of 1872 is dead, and its history dead with it; so I give him some credit for that.
    But he was quite wrong if he thought that the main point was that sanctions could not be applied to a dead club.
    The much more universally important question was/is whether the SFA board may have been party to a deceit that cost Celtic shareholders a few million quid.
    That is still a question that needs a definitive answer after independent investigation.
    And in my opinion ,the SFA showed that they had something to hide by refusing to allow such investigation.

    Celtic, for the good of Scottish football should have pursued that question regardless of whether RFC of 1872 could, as a dead football club, be sanctioned.
    NO, a strong enough possibility existed that a crime may have been committed, possibly even warranting criminal investigation.
    So, demerits to DD on account of not going down that path.

  397. If it was revealed that the SFA decieved the public which in turn had implications for shareholders, would DD not been in breach of his duties to his and the clubs shareholders, which would make DD gulty, IMO, within the companies acts regulations.

  399. So Dave King finally gets his “lost” cash back…. wonder if he will now do walking away and leave the club in peace. His attack dogs have served their purpose then.

  403. Bigboab1916 11th April 2022 At 21:14
    ‘…If it was revealed that the SFA decieved the public which in turn had implications for shareholders,’
    Paddy Malarkey 12th April 2022 At 17:22
    Your reference to https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/6108678 gives this “..Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini to go on trial in June to face corruption charges”
    +++++++++
    As ever, we have to remember that the fact that they have been charged does not mean they are guilty of the charges.
    What it does mean is that ‘suspicions’ were INVESTIGATED, and that people think there is a case to answer.
    If we look in our own backyard, the award of a UEFA licence to CW’s RFC of 1872 threw up some facts that gave rise to suspicion about how they could have been perceived to be entitled to that licence.
    Quite properly, an independent investigation was sought.
    Farcically, it was the very governance body on whose ok the licence was granted who refused to have an independent investigation carried out.
    Now in a society in which not even the Prime Minister of the UK can block an investigation into his alleged personal breaches of the law, I find it extraordinary that the governance body of Scottish Football can be allowed to do so.
    How very convenient!
    But how damaging to trust in the integrity of the SFA that refusal was and remains.
    The charges against Blatter and Platini seem not even to be related to interference in immediate football matters , matters affecting the actual sport of football and football competitions!
    Whereas , in the case of the SFA, the suspicion is that one football club was awarded a competition licence to which it was not entitled, bilking the shareholders of another club of some guaranteed millions of pounds and the possibility of many more millions.
    In years to come, of course , the truth will out.
    It always does, even if only after the deaths of the people involved!

  404. Today we are treated to another world reacts to Rangers win. It was somewhat disappointing to see the Guardian of London lending credence to the continuity myth with their statement of reaching their first European SF since 2008. Either they don’t follow Scottish football that close and aren’t aware of the events of 2012 and the birth of a new Rangers/Sevco/TRFC or whatever name they choose to attach to their operation. Now we have concerns being raised about a jammed schedule. What’s next, repealing the rule regarding goal difference.

  405. If my memory serves me well , RFC asked for rescheduling help in 2008 , and managed to get one game delayed/postponed . I would imagine TRFC will be asking the same , but their fans all say that no help was given to the old club . False memory on my part ?

  406. I am not so naive as to believe that taking one for the team doesn’t happen as a method of defence but for this quote from the Fulham manager to go unquestioned in the media and apparently not draw a charge of disrepute is sad. Maybe a difficulty with translation? Straight out of the special one’s playbook.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61033751

    “Back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, that is not a matter of focus. Tonight we needed to be more aggressive. We had to stop attacks with tactical fouls.”

  407. Gunnerb 16th April 2022 At 01:49
    ‘.. We had to stop attacks with tactical fouls.’
    +++++++++++++
    At least that was only the manager of a club demonstrating his lack of belief in the sporting ethic.
    Our very GOVERNANCE body demonstrated their personal moral weakness, their corporate venality and their utter contempt for the concept of sporting integrity by creating the monstrous lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872, and by aiding and abetting the Board of RIFC plc to trade (possibly illegally] on the sporting successes of a club that is in Liquidation.
    The FA might well ‘do’ Marco Silva, the Fulham manager, for bringing the game into disrepute or some such. I hope so.
    But who is going to ‘do’ the lying, cheating SFA?
    That’s what we are up against: a Boris/Putin sort of SFA-absolutely without principle when it really matters.

  409. Paddy Malarkey 16th April 2022 At 18:57
    ‘Prescient or what ?!
    https://www.thenational.scot/sport/20073638.giovanni-van-bronckhorst-rangers-fixture-plea-club-appeal-spfl-europa-league-schedule/
    +++++++++++
    As if, PM, there could be any doubt that the bully boys at Ibrox would not get what they demand-at any time!
    Their very club lives on a LIE of monumental proportions, claiming as it does, with the blessing of the governance body, to be 150 years old when that very self-same governance body admitted it into Scottish football only in 2012!
    A lie supported and propagated by the sports hacks and sports editors of the SMSM- all of whom who would get a job with Putin’s press with no bother at all as deniers of actual truth and fact!
    Clearly, if one lies in order to sell newspapers, or for partisan reasons, in a matter of Sport, what might one not lie about in really serious matters of life and death when it is a matter of war?
    There are no Orla Guerins in the SMSM when it comes to reporting the truth in relation to the death of RFC of 1872.
    No, we expect nothing from the SMSM except propagation of the Big Lie.
    The one or two journalists who attempted to report truthfully [honour to them] suffered for attempting to do so.

  410. I’m on holiday at the moment and was wearing a Thistle top down the beach and enjoying the usual banter with the fans of the cheeks , especially given the score yesterday . We did , however , reach consensus that today’s game and others between them should be referred to as “The Scum Game” , as that’s how they often reference each other.

  413. What an odd weekend.

    Matt Lyndsey writing drivel on how VAR would have The Rangers 1 point ahead simultaneously avoiding any scrutiny of other controversial decisions in matches with Motherwell and Aberdeen.

    I wonder how VAR would have impacted yesterdays semi final match where some “robust” challenges went unpunished?

  414. Dom16, answer is ‘Not at all’ as VAR doesn’t look at challenges other than for penalties. It might have looked at offside for the winning goal, though I personally feel that was so close that it should have stood.

  415. I think VAR is used for serious foul play review such as red card incidents. Given that the referee yesterday was erhm….relaxed about many robust challenges then again, VAR would not have been employed outside of the third goal and I agree with Nawlite on that.

  416. Nawlite 18th April @ 14.53

    As I understand things, the 4 categories are:-

    1. Goal/no goal
    2. Penalty/no penalty
    3. Direct red card
    4. Mistaken identity

    Are you saying that, with VAR, a direct red card is only associated with a penalty kick incident? If so, my humble apologies for questioning, in my ignorance, your reply to Dom16

    I’m thinking particularly about Goldson’s tackle on Kyogo – so does that mean that VAR would not look at the incident?

  417. Didn’t see the game, so not sure what the Goldson incident was, Bect67. I’m no expert, but I think if the ref misses an OBVIOUS red card anywhere on the pitch, VAR might intervene, but from what I’ve read, I don’t think there were any individual tackles that might have fitted the bill. Most complaints seem to be that Lundstram or Aribo had so many ‘bad’ ones that they should have eventually seen red.

  418. Thanks nawlite

    I take your point about that haven’t read about Goldson’s tackle. This is probably due to the fact that it was not widely reported on (this is not sour grapes btw!).

    However, I witnessed the tackle, and there are images of it to be found, which make it look very much like Goldson deliberately targetted Kyogo’s ankle (I accept that this is my version!).

    I have opined before that such a tackle deserves a red card (irrespective of who commits it – from any team (e.g Starfelt should have seen red for his season ending tackle on Scott Nisbet at Easter Road), and I would hope that such behaviour would warrant a look by VAR – regardless of where it occurred on the pitch.

    It’s one of the most dangerous, and increasingly widespread, fouls in the game.

    Anyway – rant over – and thanks again for your post.

  420. Well by all accounts VAR should be voted in today. I didn’t see either semi-final other than brief BBC highlights. The decision that truly baffled me was the booking for McGregor. The commentary (and suggestion from Madden’s gesture) was that it was for a failed attempt from McGregor to trip the TRFC player where ref played advantage. This being the case the booking was. Issued in error as in such a circumstance the laws of the game are quite clear: law 12, section 3 – where advantage is played and foul was an attempt to stop a promising attack the player is not cautioned. Now you might not agree with the laws of the game, but they are what we play to. I completely get marginal offside calls being made/not made as at the pace of play it’s completely understandable. But for a FIFA referee to go back and make a decision that is contrary to the laws as stated in the Laws of the Game is a new level of incompetence.
    What VAR does bring is a wider critique of the referee’s performance than of the narrow areas of its application – using it to support decisions in some areas but not others gives an after-match “compare and contrast” session for the pundits – and it should “encourage” referees to raise their game.

  421. Just seen that VAR has been voted in favour. Picking up on earlier posts of when it will be used, of the seven areas listed on BBC website, I think #4 is somewhat open-ended:
    “For serious misapplication of the laws – such as a goal scored direct from a dropped ball or throw in.”

    Who defines what is a serious misapplication? I would argue booking a player against the explicit laws of the game is a serious misapplication. I would also suggest stopping the game to allow a player treatment when not a head injury (as happened with Jota earlier in the season against (I think) Hearts was a serious misapplication.
    With the levels of refereeing incompetence on show on a regular basis, games could take forever to complete with VAR checks…

  422. Wokingcelt 19th April 2022 At 12:38
    ————————————————————-

    Well I will go to the foot of our stairs! The number of times I have witnessed a referee being lauded for allowing the game to flow and then hearing the commentary team state that the referee will book that player when the ball goes out. I never knew about law 12, section 3 .Thanks Wokingcelt .As they say everyday is..etc

  424. UTH – the obvious answer would be to take advantage of the experienced VAR refs from some of the leagues that implemented earlier. I am sure the setup / experience at Stockley Park could be used at least for next season to upskill our refs in the application of VAR (and the Laws of the Game!)

  425. How long will it take for managers to complain about the rulings from VAR. How long will it take for one set of fans see another team benefitting from VAR decisions, while they moan about decisions not going their way. Will VAR put to rest the notion of one club getting all the decisions. VAR could possibly open another can of worms. Will the SFA provide full instruction to the operators and will some of the head strong referees fall into line when they are consistently overruled. Interesting times ahead.

  426. Vernallen 19th April 2022 At 22:44
    ‘…Will the SFA provide full instruction to the operators .’
    ++++++++++
    Short answer: the SFA will do SWFA to defend the integrity of the game if push comes to shove.
    By ‘recognising’ the new 2012 TRFC as being the undead RFC of 1872 they lost any credibility as a sports governance body.
    We may be sure that honesty and integrity are concepts as foreign to them as they are to Putin.
    Truth is indivisible.
    The SFA lie about RIFC plc/TRFC.
    They will lie when it suits them.

  428. Dom16 20th April 2022 At 12:54
    ‘…Does make me wonder why people on such significant income levels seek ways to avoid paying tax.’
    +++++++++++++
    I think the word ‘greed’ comes into it somewhere, Dom16!
    BUT in saying that , I have reminded myself of two famous sayings:
    “Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes”
    Gregory v. Helvering, 69 F.2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934)
    and
    ” Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.”
    Commissioner v. Newman, 159 F.2d 848, 851 (2d Cir. 1947) – dissenting opinion’

    The problem with SDM’s EBT scheme was that it was such a try-on that he had to disguise the truth from the taxman and the Football Authorities; the problem for McCann [ who , I am ready to believe, was not deliberately trying it on] was that he simply could not show that he was ‘in business on his own account’ rather than just a paid employee.
    Unlike the very smart Kaye Adams ( or her smarter lawyers] who found a legal way of demonstrating that she was not an employee of the BBC, to the satisfaction of the Upper Tier Tax Tribunal.
    She herself is not paid by the BBC: it is the company of which she and her life- partner are the sole shareholders that has the contract with the BBC, and it may have contracts with other businesses to which it offers its services.
    It is that company that is paid.
    But of course, as she and her partner own the company, they get the dosh!
    Legally.

  429. From the DR:
    Robbie Copeland Live Sports Writer
    20:02, 21 APR 2022 UPDATED20:54, 21 APR 2022
    “Gerrard led Rangers to a famous 55th league title last season but after only adding to the championship-winning squad with free transfers he voiced his frustrations in a thinly-veiled press conference jab – complaining that the club “hadn’t spent a penny.”
    And while he takes responsibility for the club failing to qualify for the Champions League, the Aston Villa boss admits he was frustrated and “wanted a bit more” from the board.”
    There goes the good old lying DR!
    Completely dependable in the matter of propagating untruth!
    Kind of reminds me of the Pravda of former times- a messenger and propagator of lies, denying as it does the death of RFC of 1872 in 2012 and therefore denying the truth that the in no way did RFC of 1872 even exist to make it possible that it won 55 titles!
    Really and truly, I see no distinction between the ‘journalists’ who propagate the Big Lie and the really , really evil sods of ‘journalists’ who report the lies of madman Putin.
    The fact that the DR lies do not have the same terrible consequences as those of madman Putin does not change the fact that the DR guys are propagandists of an untruth.
    They know it.
    But put their pay cheques and/or personal bias first and foremost.
    To their eternal shame.

  430. Today’s leader in ‘The Scotsman’ has this:
    “ MPs’ decision yesterday to ask the Privileges Committee to investigate whether Johnson misled them over Partygate is a welcome sign of hope that a Prime Minister who lies blatantly and breaks the law will ultimately not be allowed to stay in office”

    What a perfect example of ‘holier than thou’ hypocritical cant!

    ‘The Scotsman’ [ along with the rest of the SMSM] sedulously fosters and propagates the absurd LIE that a 10 year-old football club named The Rangers Football Club is the self-same club as the football club named the Rangers Football Club that died the death of Liquidation [aged 140 years] in 2012 , and is somehow entitled to claim the sporting history of that liquidated club!

    A newspaper that lies in the relatively [ peace to the shade of Shankly!] trivial matter of football is in no position to throw stones at any other liar.

    The editor of ‘The Scotsman’ should face up to his journalistic/editorial duty to honour the promise made by the ‘Conductors’ of the newspaper in 1816 who ‘pledge[d] themselves for impartiality, firmness and independence…their first desire is to be honest….’

    Truth is indivisible.
    If the ‘The Scotsman’ wants lying Prime Ministers to be called out, it should also want lying sports clubs/governance bodies to be called out, exercising the requisite impartiality and ‘courage and industry’ for the task.

  431. I had to chuckle at Barry Ferguson’s comment on Celtic bottling the title run in. What team enjoyed a six point lead earlier this year and all the chat surrounded the title staying at Ibrox and the club rolling in the riches of the CL. What team is now six points behind. And, is there not pressure on them to win on Saturday to stay within touching distance of first place.

  432. Here I am, sitting drinking [coffee!] from my SFM mug which has the mantra ‘ Scottish Football needs a Strong ARBROATH’ emblazoned on its side.
    I honour the poster on this blog whose cry that was. [ was it Red Lichtie? or some such?- he/she seems not to have posted for quite a while?]
    I watched the first half of tonight’s game live., but had to vacate the tv room at half-time so that Mrs C could have her nightly phone chat with her friend in Glasgow, so have only just watched the recorded second half.
    For ‘red lichties’ sake[ as a fellow poster on the blog] I would have wished that his team had won, without particularly wishing that Killie would lose!
    Whatever, it was a very entertaining football game that I would have happily paid as a neutral to go and see.

  434. JC 22nd April 23.58

    ‘Whatever, it was a very entertaining football game that I would have happily paid as a neutral to go and see.’

    JC – I was the lucky recipient of a ‘comp’, courtesy of a Killie sponsor, for last night’s game. Some of the football wasn’t pretty in the first half but the atmosphere was terrific and it was fantastic to see such a large crowd, including a large Arbroath contingent.

  435. After ALL clubs contributed to the cost of VAR for the good of the game, do you think there might be a will after last night’s result for perhaps all Premiership clubs to contribute to replacing both carpets with grass for next season.

  436. Andy Walker was a game or two early with his comment, when do Rangers get their penalty. Sure enough 10 minutes to go that get the penalty that puts the game out of reach. How will the official in tomorrow’s game react.

  437. So, The Rangers have refused all season to promote Cinch, the league sponsor. Even to the petty point of covering up the sponsors name at an away venue today. Surely then the SPFL should withhold any money due for 2nd place finish?

  438. Weescotsman 24th April 00.37

    Really?
    The SPFL signed a contract with cinch knowing that Rangers had a pre- existing contract that precluded them from fulfilling parts of this deal. What exactly have Rangers done wrong?
    You should instead be questioning the competency of those representing the SPFL in this case.

  439. Weescotsman 24th April 2022 At 00:37
    ‘.. Even to the petty point of covering up the sponsors name at an away venue today’
    +++++++++
    The Court of Session seemed to be satisfied that TRFC had indeed a prior contract with Park’s of Hamilton, and had informed the SPFL of that fact before the SPFL entered the deal with cinch
    For the SPFL either to be unaware of its own Rule I (7 (i)] or to be ready to ignore it is an indication of unacceptable incompetence or sheer bloody stupidity.
    The Rule puts TRFC in the clear in its refusal to advertise cinch at Ibrox.
    But I doubt if TRFC has the authority to forbid Motherwell ,or any other club in the SPFL that is bound by the cinch contract, to dishonour that contract by not exhibiting the agreed level of cinch advertising in its own ground.
    cinch now has two clubs in breach of the contract with the SPFL.
    A right sodding mess that can only cost the SPFL dear?
    cinch would be well within their rights to call for a drastic revision or cancellation of a contract that is not being honoured in full.
    And someone’s head at Hampden should be rolling.

    • John C
      Rangers* get away with so much I think because they have balls the size of the moons of Jupiter. It may lack class and display a brazenness associated with “wee man” syndrome, but it goes unsanctioned. Perhaps the reason they will escape such sanction on this occasion is the fact that it may bring the incompetence of the SPFL into relief.
      Sticking a middle digit upwards in the direction of the SPFL (if the claims they make are true) is one thing; assuming ownership of a host team’s possessions in order to vandalise them is quite another.
      The parallels with the National situation where people see the damage the governing rabble cause, but just shrug their shoulders and forget it ever happened, is very stark.

  440. John

    I’m unable to recall if the wording was on the advertising after the last Old Firm FC visit to Celtic Park, and am wondering if GVB presented himself for interview with Cinch as part of his backdrop (I haven’t read if this was the case). Hopefully, CFC would not have been part of any taping shenanigans.

    Notwithstanding that, who, In the name of the wee man, who are the ‘eejits’ who sanctioned the Fir Park Tapegate? All just to appease the unappeasable (the peepul ye ken). Motherwell should have said NAW!

    I appreciate that we would not have had a TRFC interview had they done so (big deal) – but what would the ‘punishment’ have been for Motherwell – who would have risen certainly in my estimation?

    A real ‘riddy’ for Scottish football – and I imagine Cinch (who will also be ‘ragin’)…

    … and a final poser – who stuck the tape up? Wiz it the wee Ibrox handyman? I demand to know his name!

  441. Big Pink 24th April 2022 At 19:56
    ‘..assuming ownership of a host team’s possessions in order to vandalise them is quite another.’
    Bect67 24th April 2022 At 19:58
    ‘.. who, In the name of the wee man, who are the ‘eejits’ who sanctioned the Fir Park Tapegate? All just to appease the unappeasable (the peepul ye ken). Motherwell should have said NAW!
    ++++++++
    I am a little unclear whether the cinch advertising stuff was vandalised by supporters of TRFC and the vandalism was not undone by Motherwell FC ground staff for fear of causing a riot;
    or whether it was deliberately taped-over PRE -match by Motherwell ground staff on instruction from their CEO?
    In either case, Motherwell’s hands are not clean.
    cinch can have some fun and games in the matter of failure by the SPFL to ensure that its member clubs honour the sponsorship contract.
    And Motherwell FC could be called to account for any vandalism: and called even more to account if they themselves were responsible for ordering the cinch advertising not to be visible.

    Ach, what am I saying? Called to account? By whom? A Board that lost its integrity in 2012, and is in no position to sanction anyone when it itself should be sanctioned as having no moral authority whatsoever on account of having created the nonsense of the Big Lie, that a 10 year old club is somehow the undead 140 year old RFC of 1872?

  442. Albertz11 24th April 2022 At 10:22
    ‘..What exactly have Rangers done wrong?’
    +++++++++++
    Well, where to start?
    As the whole world knows, Rangers of 1872 cheated Scottish Football and the British taxpayer for at least a decade under SDM, and were liquidated in 2012 because they could not pay the huge debts they owed, and not just to the taxman!
    And TRFC of 2012 creation is a living lie of a football club in claiming to be RFC of 1872!
    But you and I appear to be in agreement on one point : that TRFC of 2012 creation had a prior contract with Park’s of Hamilton and that the SPFL made a balls-up of the contract with cinch in not taking that into account.
    Having said that, I think I can reasonably opine that TRFC were unnecessarily playing silly buggers by not responding to the SPFL’s request for information/proof of their contract(s) with Park’s of Hamilton. They could easily have provided evidence that there was a contract without disclosing the confidential details of the contract?

  443. Albertz11 24th April 2022 At 10:22

    The SPFL signed a contract with cinch knowing that Rangers had a pre- existing contract that precluded them from fulfilling parts of this deal.

    How do you know this ? I’m pretty sure that’s what the court is being asked to determine . The last court date was procedural , to determine who was entitled to be represented at the hearings on the provisions contained in the contracts .

  445. John Clark 24th April 23.05

    Well, where to start?
    ……………………………………..
    As i’m sure you’re aware i was referring to the cinch deal.

    Talk of vandalism and potential riots. Really?. A bit of tape was placed over the cinch logo whilst the interview was being conducted. I’m sure it could easily be removed afterwards.

  446. PM 25TH April 00.40

    Stewart Robertson 4th August 2021.
    ……………………………………………………………………..

    And now Gers Managing Director Stewart Robertson has hit back in a letter penned to clubs.

    Crucially he claims Rangers made it clear to the SPFL there was an issue BEFORE the deal was signed.

    Robertson has written: “We have been in private dialogue with the SPFL Executive since 8 June on this topic but, given that they have sought to make the issue public, it is appropriate for you to be aware of the circumstances involved.
    “For the avoidance of doubt, Rangers continues to comply with the rules of the SPFL.

    “One of the key rules that protects the commercial interests of all members is Rule I7.

    “When the SPFL Executive put forward the written resolution with regards to the new sponsorship contract, Rangers immediately notified Neil Doncaster that, in line with Rule I7, we would be unable to provide the new sponsor with many of their rights due to a pre-existing contractual obligation.

    “We cannot breach an existing contract. This is a legal principle which is founded in Scots Law and is the reason that the SPFL has Rule I7 within its rules.

    “Rangers has complied with and will continue to comply with the SPFL rules and fulfil all sponsorship obligations which do not conflict with our pre-existing contractual obligations.

    “However, this situation has raised some questions which the members may well wish to ask of the SPFL Executive:

    Given the possibility of Rule I7 being relied upon by members, did the SPFL Executive/legal advisors include a clause in the contract with cinch, which allows the SPFL not to provide rights to cinch where members rely upon Rule I7? If not, why not?
    Given that the issue was raised by Rangers (when there is no need under the rules for Rangers to do so) immediately after the written resolution was raised, why did the SPFL Executive proceed to sign the contract when they knew there was an issue and without further checking with Rangers as to its extent?
    Did the SPFL Executive inform cinch prior to the contract being signed that it could not provide all of the rights it was contracting to provide due to SPFL Rule I7?
    It was interesting that the Chairman provided the Chief Executive with the credit for closing the deal when it was introduced to the SPFL by an agency that will receive c.£100,000 pa in fees for each of the 5 years of the deal. That is c.£500,000 of cash that will be leaving the Scottish game. Is this the best use of Scottish Football’s limited resources? Could this money have been better spent by employing a full time Commercial Director?
    “I trust that this clarifies the position. Best regards. Stewart Robertson

    Managing Director.”
    ………………………………………..
    As JC points out ( 24thApril 14.46) the COS seemed satisfied that this was indeed the case.

  447. Paddy Malarkey 25th April 2022 At 00:40
    ‘..I’m pretty sure that’s what the court is being asked to determine .’
    ++++++++
    The Court’s judgment has this, PM. I assume that these are what the Court accepted as being the ‘facts’ of the case.
    “Facts
    [4] The petitioners specialise in the sale of new and used cars. They have a longstanding
    commercial relationship with Rangers. This includes advertisement by Rangers of the
    petitioners’ business. A written contract has been in existence since June 2015. It was
    renewed on 17 May 2021. The following month the SPFL entered into a sponsorship
    contract with Cinch; a business concerned in the sale of second-hand cars. Previously,
    Rangers had expressed their concerns to the SPFL that the terms of the two contracts might
    conflict with one another. Subsequently, Rangers have refused: (a) to provide the SPFL with
    the rights, facilities and properties required under SPFL’s contract with Cinch; and (b) to
    produce a copy of their contract with the petitioners.”
    As you rightly say, the Court was only deciding whether cinch and Park’s were entitled to participate in any Arbitration process that the SFA would set up, and decided to uphold the decision of the judge of first instance that they are indeed so entitled. They were not deciding whether TRFC were right in saying that Rule I (7)(i) allowed them to ignore the SPFL/cinch contract.
    One wonders what the heck the SFA is planning to do to sort out the matter.

  448. I’ve just noticed that the SPFL signed a deal a few days a ago with some games non-fungible tokens games company called Sorare,
    TRFC have said they cannot join in because they already have a separate contract with another such company with two years to run.
    This time the SPFL are having regard to their Rule I [7(i)] , and not insisting that TRFC should be part of the Sorare deal, so they have learned something from the cinch nonsense.
    I gather from ‘Ibrox News’ that there may be some concern at TRFC being ( as they put it, I think) ‘excluded’ from sharing in the deal if Sorare develops in a big way!

  449. Big Pink 24th April 2022 At 19:56

    Rangers* get away with so much I think because they have balls the size of the moons of Jupiter. It may lack class and display a brazenness associated with “wee man” syndrome, but it goes unsanctioned.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++

    No other club would be tolerated behaving in this way in my opinion. The massive number of Rangers* supporters in the Scottish media wouldn’t overlook it for a start.

  450. How long before the SFA/SFPL take a stand against Rangers. They agree to re-schedule a game to assist in their EL travels, then the team turns around and embarrasses them by taping over the name of a league sponsor. Granted their is some dispute about an existing contract at Ibrox with another car dealer but they could have just as easily moved their interviews to an area with no sponsors board, or just used one of their own. Still no action in regards to the throwing of toilet rolls and other objects at an earlier game, and, still no action on the glass throwing at their own stadium. It does appear strange that if Ibrox did have another sponsorship deal with a car dealer there doesn’t appear to be much publicity surrounding it on their jerseys, on the boards around the stadium etc. I think if the car dealer was interested in sponsoring he would want some form of positive p.r., rather than having it drug through the courts, but, again that’s the Ranger’s
    way, when in doubt go to court. Its time someone at the governing bodies stood up and said enough is enough.

  451. Albertz11 25th April 2022 At 09:47
    John Clark 25th April 2022 At 11:02

    Rangers had expressed their concerns to the SPFL that the terms of the two contracts might
    conflict with one another.

    They might conflict but they may not . If that’s not what the court is deciding , then what ?

  452. P.T. Barnum once said “ There is no such thing as bad publicity “.
    Some posters have suggested that Cinch will be raging at the actions of TRFC . I think they will be absolutely delighted . I had personally never heard of Cinch before this season but now every football fan knows where to go if they want to buy a car online .

  453. Big Pink, that letter has always been great evidence that the 2 entities existed side by side, but I’ve only just noticed the biggest giveaway to the truth contained in that letter – the heading actually confirms the fact that Rangers FC itself KNOWS that the club IS the company.
    The heading reads The Rangers Football Club PLc (In Administration) (“the Company”) I hadn’t really noticed that before. I know they are using (“the Company”) there to indicate that any time the words ‘the Company’ appear in the body of the letter they mean The Rangers Football Club (in Administration), but nonetheless it proves that they know the Club is the Company in my opinion. That letter is more important than I had realised, I believe.

  454. Paddy Malarkey 26th April 2022 At 12:39
    ‘…They might conflict but they may not . If that’s not what the court is deciding , then what ?’
    ++++++++
    I think , PM, that the Court is no longer involved. They have said that cinch and Park’s MUST be invited to be represented/present at any Arbitration Tribunal the SFA may set up between TRFC and the SPFL. That is, the Court has not ruled on the question of whether TRFC are in breach of the contract with SPFL, since they were not asked to do that
    If the SFA sets up a Tribunal without those parties being at least invited, they will be in breach of interdict.

    Since , as far as I know nothing has been said by the SFA or SPFL , perhaps the SPFL has reached some quiet agreement with cinch to re-cast the terms of the sponsorship deal to take account of TRFC’s non-participation, and the SPFL is no longer interested in trying to sue TRFC for not participating?

  455. Nawlite 26th April 2022 At 13:40
    ‘… the heading actually confirms the fact that Rangers FC itself KNOWS that the club IS the company.
    +++++++++
    The main point ,of course, is that the existence of the club as a football club with registered players permitted to play football was acknowledged ONLY UP TO ‘ the date that the members of the SPL, in general meeting, have consented to the transfer of the Company’s SPL share to the Dundee Football Club’.
    At that date, of course, RFC plc ceased to be a member of a recognised football league, and automatically ceased to be entitled to membership of the SFA.
    Immediately, a spin was put out by sundry folk that ‘Rangers plc share had been transferred to SevcoScotland /TRFC.
    Up to that time, the football authorities had behaved properly in accordance with existing constitutions and rules of both the then SPL and the SFA [as Doncaster in somewhat injured tones was at pains to tell me in reply to a letter I wrote to him back in the days when I first began to understand the enormity of the Big Lie]

    It was immediately after that that the rot set in, and governance integrity disappeared.
    The notion was paraded that ‘Rangers’ share had been transferred to SevcoScotland/TRFC , so that
    SevcoScotland/TRFC was the same club, inheriting the trophies etc etc of RFC of 1872, while some ‘holding company’ fell into Liquidation.
    The sheer unadulterated falsehood and nonsense of that notion was A STAGGERING INSULT to anyone’s intelligence and could have been accepted as ‘truth’ only by venal or wickedly partisan men in Football Governance, who yield in the most cowardly and abject way to the blustering threats from marchers on Hampden, and no doubt from other quarters, and with not only the passive acceptance of those threats by the SMSM, but with the active propagation of the underlying untruth that RFC of 1872 was no more.

    The fiction, the myth of ‘continuity Rangers’, simply cannot be allowed by the general run of clubs to continue.

    It has soured the whole face of not just Scottish Football, but has caused the whole concept of honest sporting endeavour being ignored in order to appease malcontents whose anger ought properly to have been directed at those whose vanity and hubristic and recklessly cynical exploitative behaviour killed their club.

  456. The DR has outdone themselves today printing a guide for anyone wanting to go to Seville for the EL final. If only they could channel some of that “investigative” reporting into some of the ills surrounding Scottish football.
    What are Rangers finances really looking like, when will there be reform in the referees ranks, when will Scottish football land a sponsor who is not in conflict with any club, will the SFA step in regarding plastic fields.

  458. Vernallen 26th April 2022 At 17:48
    “will the SFA step in regarding plastic fields. ? “
    I wish someone would .
    I remember the SPL rejecting Falkirk from the top league due to their stadium not being to the required standard.
    Surely , this is the ideal opportunity for the SFPL to say to Kilmarnock that only a grass pitch is suitable for the Scottish Premiership .
    I appreciate there will be costs involved, not only with the installation of a new pitch but also with lost revenues, but I’m sure a financial solution could be found . Interest free loan from SFPL ? Contributions from other Clubs ?
    They would also have to look at the situation with Livingston . We simply cannot return to the situation we had last season where 25% of our top league games were played on artificial surfaces ,

  459. Paradisebhoy 27th April 2022 At 15:03
    ‘..Surely , this is the ideal opportunity for the SFPL to say to Kilmarnock that only a grass pitch is suitable for the Scottish Premiership ‘
    ++++++++++
    The strongest arguments put forward for the use of artificial pitches were, if I remember correctly,
    that winter weather conditions would not cause postponements or cancellations of matches and
    that pitch maintenance costs would be considerably reduced. It’s been a good few years since the first artificial pitches were introduced into Scottish Scotland [I was astonished to learn that the very first use in the world of such was in 1966/67, in the States!]
    It’s not a subject that I was ever particularly interested in, and I have never played on any kind of artificial pitch , so I can have no real basis for airing an opinion.
    But It seems extraordinary that ,as far as I can ascertain, no national football governance body, or UEFA, or FIFA has either banned them or made them compulsory.
    The reason , I assume, must be that there is no strong evidence either way.
    But if the climate of opinion is moving in the direction of insisting that all SPFL clubs should have ‘real’ grass pitches I feel that those who do not should not have to bear the cost of reconversion entirely by themselves, there having been no official opposition to their choice , legitimate at the time, to instal an artificial pitch.

  460. I agree, JC. Like I said the other day, wouldn’t the other Premiership clubs be willing to share the cost ‘for the good of the game’ the way they have just done for VAR?

  461. Paddy Malarkey 27th April 2022 At 11:59
    ‘..Back to the original hearing set-up but with an added number of participants ..’
    ++++++++++
    Not quite, PM: it’s kind of back to the very beginning, really.

    If the SPFL still want their dispute with TRFC to be dealt with, they must ask the SFA to set up an Independent Arbitration Tribunal.
    But in setting up such a Tribunal [ which does not involve the SFA itself : their job is just to arrange the mechanics and they have no part in the proceedings] the SFA MUST , by Court order, invite cinch and Park’s as interested parties and ,if they so wish, must allow them to participate.
    The SPFL didn’t want them to be able to participate. And the SFA apparently did not reckon that they had a right to participate.
    Park’s appealed to the Court and the Court forbade the SFA to appoint a Tribunal without inviting cinch and Park’s. And the Appeal court upheld that judgment.

    The SPFL clearly didn’t wish to have cinch give evidence about how , under their understanding of the sponsorship deal, the SPFL were not honouring the contract.
    Nor did they wish Park’s to have the right to explain how damaging to their contract with TRFC the participation of TRFC in the cinch deal might be to Park’s interests.

    I suspect that any Arbitration Tribunal would have difficulty in supporting the SPFL’s apparent recklessness in signing the cinch contract in spite of Rule I [7.(i).

    My guess is that for, all round tidiness and minimisation of future difficulties, cinch and the SPFL will come to a wee deal that gives cinch a cheaper sponsorship cost than was originally agreed.

    But I suspect that the membership of the SPFL will not be too happy at the next AGM!
    Who knows, though?

    The fact remains that there was a costly balls-up, in terms both of money and of administrative credibility on the part of the SPFL and probably also the SFA.
    Surprise, surprise, I hear you say!

  462. John Clark 27th April 2022 At 19:35
    ” I have never played on any kind of artificial pitch”
    I’ve got one up on you there JC .
    Glasgow Council used to have an Astroturf park at Helenvale St . Parkhead ( an area well known to you , I believe ) , I had the dubious pleasure of playing works football there ( Big Pink might have been in the same team )
    It was like a thin carpet laid over hard concrete – a wee bit better than the red and black ash pitches we were used to – but not much .
    Obviously , technology has improved the surfaces since then but still not as good as grass .
    Very few games are now postponed during the winter now – undersoil heating has seen to that .
    I agree with you and Nawlite that financial compensation should be made to Kilmarnock, Livingston and Hamilton if they achieve promotion .

    • Paradisebhoy
      Indeed, I recall that Helenvale pitch. The scorch marks on my withers are a constant reminder.

      Brings to mind the quote from Joe Namath, the famous American quarter-back. When asked if he preferred Astroturf to grass, he said: ‘I don’t know, I never smoked Astroturf.’

  463. Paradisebhoy 27th April 2022 At 23:20
    ‘..Helenvale St . Parkhead ( an area well known to you , I believe ) ..’
    +++++
    Oh, how happily cruel of you to bring me back to Helenvale St!
    Brings all kinds of association with my childhood memories relating to my dad and the old Parkhead tram depot!
    And of, later in life, associations with my job.
    I now go to bed with happy memories.

  464. Paradisebhoy 27th April 23.20

    Glasgow Council used to have an Astroturf park at Helenvale St
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    Pretty sure that American Football (Gridiron) used to be played there in the late 80s.

  465. Albertz11 28th April 2022 At 09:43 Edit

    Pretty sure that American Football (Gridiron) used to be played there in the late 80s.
    ________________________________________________________

    Think it was where the Glasgow team (can’t remember their name) played their matches?

  466. From the Court of Session Rolls
    “LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
    Wednesday 4th May
    Continued Procedural Hearing
    between 9.00am and 9.30am
    CA144/21 Imran Ahmad v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland”
    Here’s oor Imran looking for some dosh.

  467. ‘Case update:
    RFC 2012 PLC (FORMERLY THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB PLC) – IN LIQUIDATION
    27 April 2022’
    —
    The latest report [27 April 2022] of the Liquidators of what used to be Rangers Football Club plc is to be found at
    https://www.bdo.co.uk/getmedia/7d832153-5230-4874-8152-6cc05f98fe3f/Notice-to-Creditors-26-April-2022.pdf.aspx
    The club it was that died: not some holding company, but the actual club that was a member of the SFA and former shareholder of the SPL Ltd.

    And we had the usual ar.eholes on BBC Radio Scotland talking about tonight’s match v Leipzig being as big a match as any match in ‘Rangers’s’ history, with references back to 2008 and before: at which time of course TRFC did not exist even to kick a ball!
    Honest to God!
    Such liars have they CONSCIOUSLY made of themselves in a matter of ‘sports reporting’ that I now seriously question anything what they report on more important matters: because the heid bummers in Pacific Quay KNOW the truth because they/their predecessors in office actually reported the Truth until their shabby old BBC Trust (happily now as defunct as RFC of 1872] told them not to.
    In my view, the BBC Controller, Scotland, ought to have resigned rather than obey that order.
    The fact that he did not told me all.
    We see with horror Putin’s denial of truth and his wild, lunatic fantasies. They have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands.
    The lunatic [ or coldly calculated ]fantasy that TRFC is RFC of 1872 is every bit as much of a Lie: even if the consequences are not so dire.
    And those who propagate the Big Lie are as unworthy of trust as any Putin.

  468. Now we have Kenny Miller questioning Celtic’s ability to withstand pressure should they lose on Sunday. Could someone ask Kenny how Rangers handled the pressure when they were six points clear and seemed to home and hosed. One thought for the SFPL/SFA when it comes to chasing sponsorships. Perhaps Rangers could identify to the boards which groups can be approached without conflicting with current Rangers sponsors. This could stem arbitration cases, conflicts, etc.

  469. Vernallen 29th April 2022 At 22:44
    ‘..Perhaps Rangers could identify to the boards which groups can be approached without conflicting with current Rangers sponsors. ‘
    ++++++++
    We are not likely to get the full story of the sponsorship balls-up.
    But what you suggest seems now to be kind of obvious- if clubs were asked by the SPFL whether they had pre-existing contracts before the SPFL began to negotiate contracts on behalf of all the clubs in the SPL then that kind of balls-up wouldn’t have happened.
    Simples, no?
    We have been very ill-served by our Football Governance bodies even in practical matters, never mind in ‘Integrity’ matters.
    In other words, they have been incompetent as well as unprincipled.

  470. On a quiet night blog-wise, and just to remind myself of the cowardice of the BBC and the Football Authorities, I had a re-read of the minutes of the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee’s meetings of April and May 2013, issued in June 2013.
    I present to you [ again] the’ ready-on-command’ acceptance by the BBC of the Big Lie:

    “The Committee began by looking at the events surrounding the administration of Rangers
    Football Club plc. The Committee noted that ASSETS [my capitals] of that company were sold to a
    company called The Rangers Football Club Limited (which changed its name from Sevco
    Scotland Limited in July 2012). The Committee considered that differentiating between
    these two companies and the football club could potentially make this a complicated story
    to explain to a wide audience .[ I ask you! lying rather than spend time explaining a hard truth to the masses is a preferred option ?]
    “The Committee noted, however, that the administrators of Rangers Football Club plc, its
    LIQUIDATORS and those representing the Scottish football authorities had taken a common
    approach when explaining how the football club had been affected by this process. The
    Committee believed that these groups had made clear that in their view the club was a
    separate entity from these two companies [ but they did not, and could not, name this ‘separate entity.] and that its operations were unaffected by either its previous owner being placed into administration or its SALE to a new company [there’s the lie : the club was NOT sold: only some assets were sold: if the club had been sold whole and entire , the new owner would have been liable for all the debts] and the purchaser of those assets had to apply o the SPL to buy a share in that Limited company [ which was refused] and then had to beg to be allowed to buy a share in the SFL [ good old whassisname, Longmuir?] in order to be eligible to apply for membership of the SFA.

    You have to scroll to page 25 on this link
    http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/appeals/esc_bulletins/2013/apr_may.pdf

    The facts are blindingly obvious. Lies have been told by shifty men with vested interests.
    It is appalling that such men could influence the BBC in such a way.
    As said before, it is one thing for ‘businessmen’ to be liars, another thing for sports governance bodies to help create a tissue of lies. BUT it is quite, quite unconscionable for the BBC to help them with their lies.
    It was RFC plc that had the share in the SPL on which basis it was a football team eligible to participate in Scottish professional football. It was not Craig Whyte or Wavetower or some other entity. It was RFC plc that lost the share in the SPL and membership of the SFA, and died as a football club, just as other football clubs of cherished memory have died because they could not pay their debts.

    And the BBC in Scotland should be ashamed of itself for having given in to bluster and bullying.
    Who, since 2012, can any longer instinctively take a BBC Scotland report on ANY subject as being true?
    I certainly don’t.
    Because I reckon that if they can lie on behalf of conmen in sport, what will they not lie about under pressure from really powerful people in Government of Finance?
    Where are the Laura Kuenssbergs in BBC Scotland?

  471. What with the rise of nationalism at the moment (and tragically in Ukraine) I can’t help but think that supranational bodies such as UEFA should take an additional responsibility to level the playing field for teams in their competitions to draw the venom from national organisations.
    Obviously not for this season as you cannot change rules mid-flight. But I note that Leipzig are playing tomorrow in advance of an away semifinal on Thursday and I compare with the understandable push to pull forward TRFCs match v Motherwell. I do think that UEFA should look to claim primacy on fixtures before their matches with minimum rest time (at least the knockout rounds) to provide balance and avoid any potential bias in member country associations (there is only one other club in Scottish football history that has had fixtures moved by the authorities for their European adventures- that would be RFC 1872…)

  472. In other news I see that Maurice Ross reckons that John Lundstram is worth twice as much as Ryan Kent. Talk about damned by faint praise…Ryan Kent (in old money) is a forward. A forward who this season has scored 2 goals in the SPFL ..who wants to start the bidding?
    Maybe off-piste and apologies to those who think so, but personally I think the above plays to the wider governance of Scottish Football.

  473. So Rangers are upset with the activities at the end of today’s game with reports of objects being thrown, fans attacked etc, and possible hate crimes. Is this a case of pot/kettle/black. Where was the concern when glass/bottle were thrown in a recent game, what about the tennis balls and toilet rolls, what about the offensive song book. And to top it off you have the story of an alleged Ranger’s fan and his conduct and actions with the police in the news today. Perhaps cleaning up their own backyard would go a long way to easing this faux outrage.

  474. Wokingcelt 1st May 19.56

    “there is only one other club in Scottish football history that has had fixtures moved by the authorities for their European adventures”
    ………………………………………………
    Not true i’m afraid.

    In 2003 Celtic’s fixture v Dundee was brought forward from the 17th to the 14th of May to allow them more time to prepare for their final v Porto in Seville the following week.

  476. Vernallen 1st May 2022 At 22:57
    ”..Where was the concern when glass/bottle were thrown in a recent game, ,’
    +++++++
    We never have heard whether it was indeed handfuls of small pieces of broken glass that were hurled into the goal-mouth area, did we?
    In fact, we haven’t heard anything since, about that incident, from the forsworn governance bodies created and sustains the ridiculously childish Big Lie that a club created in 2012 is identical to the Rangers FC of 1872 creation! By doing so , they abandoned any kind of moral authority as governance bodies, and are rightly now treated with contempt by some of those whom they would ‘govern’.

  478. @Albertz11 – I stand corrected re Celtic in 2003, thank you. I do however stand by my wider point that UEFA should look to mandate minimum clear days between matches going forward (and of course do not suggest changing rules mid-flight as it were).

  480. INNER HOUSE ROLLS
    Thursday 5th May
    EXTRA DIVISION
    Summar Rolls [ and that is NOT a mis-spelling of ‘summer’, btw!]

    at 10.30am
    Thursday 5th May
    Procedural Hearings

    CA86/19 Reclaiming Motion (Lord Tyre) David Grier v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland

    CA72/20 Reclaiming Motion (Lord Tyre) David Grier v The Lord Advocate

    +++++++
    David Grier appealing against Lord Tyre’s January judgments, which dismissed his claims
    see the judgments here
    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh02.pdf?sfvrsn=d620d954_1

  481. I think it is now the time to ban away supporters from all Glasgow Derby games both at Celtic Park and Ibrox .
    Having token numbers of away fans (700 etc ) only sets them up as easy targets for abuse and violence .
    Much better to have Home fans only at these games – less toxic atmosphere, easier and cheaper to police and a better environment to introduce new supporters to our game .

  482. Paradisebhoy 3rd May 2022 At 15:43
    ‘…I think it is now the time to ban away supporters from all Glasgow Derby games both at Celtic Park and Ibrox .’
    +++++++
    If the clubs involved choose to do so, fair enough. How they manage their businesses is for them to decide.
    But if you mean that some external agency ( such as Glasgow City Council or Police Scotland or the Holyrood Government) should impose such a ban, then I have difficulty.
    Because for them to do so would be an admission of an absolutely unacceptable failure in their duty to protect us as citizens from baddies.
    It is for Police Scotland to protect us against fkn hooligans ( and the occasional murderer]
    It is not for us to limit our freedoms to suit them, or the City Council, or the Scottish Government.
    In my strongly held opinion!

  483. The DR continues as a public relations arm for Rangers. I know its exciting to be on the verge of a major final but harking back to games in 60/61, 66/67, etc to show how they fared at home is a bit much. First that look into history has nothing to do with a club formed in 2012 and the game back then is far different from today’s game. I guess its anything to keep the Rangers fans onside and purchasing papers. Its time to stop living in the past and work toward improving today’s game and the reporting of the same.

  484. Vernallen 4th May 2022 At 01:32
    ‘..The DR continues as a public relations arm for Rangers’
    +++++++
    There are many lying ‘journalists’ in the SMSM, of course, ready to earn a dishonest crust by knowingly propagating a lie as ludicrous as any that spring forth from the mouth of a Russian madman murderer- in a matter of sport!
    God alone knows what they would be prepared to lie about if something more than their pay packet was involved!

  485. Anent my post of 9.44 this morning, my inbox has this from the ICIJ

    “Investigations
    Russia Archive
    MEET THE INVESTIGATORS
    ‘There is no freedom and there is no press’: How one Russian reporter approaches journalism in the age of Putin
    Roman Anin shares his journey to investigative journalism, and talks about the dangers of working as a reporter in Russia, the challenge of holding powerful people accountable in the face of constant threats.
    By Nicole Sadek
    May 3, 2022
    “The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists collaborates with hundreds of members across the world. Each of these journalists is among the best in his or her country and many have won national and global awards. Our monthly series, Meet the Investigators, highlights the work of these tireless journalists.
    In April, we spoke with Roman Anin, a Russian reporter who founded and runs IStories, short for “Important Stories,” a nonprofit news outlet focused on publishing investigative journalism.
    Anin has been labeled a “foreign agent” and the head of an “undesirable organization” by Russian authorities for his dogged reporting critical of President Vladimir Putin and his allies.
    Before IStories, Anin worked for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which partnered with ICIJ on some of the earliest investigations into offshore finance.”
    How many of our SMSM people would be taken on by the ICIJ?

  486. How come my ‘thumbs up’ vote does not register. ie the number remains the same?

    In fact I just gave John’s last post a thumbs up there and the 1 vote already recorded – disappeared!

  487. What does it say about European football, when a semi-final of one of its competitions is between two clubs one of which was founded in 2009, the other in 2012?
    What does it say about the sporting integrity of German football administration that the club founded in 2009 [RB Leipzig] was not permitted [if they even asked!] to claim the sporting history of any older club.
    And what, by contrast, does it say about the honesty and integrity of the SFA which happily permits a living lie of a club to go on living and profiting from the lie that it is 150 years old?

  488. John Clark 6th May 2022 — 9:59

    How can you expect people to believe the facts and actions of 2012 if the SFA follow the lies. The DR yesterday still persisting in calling it the 150th anniversary of the club and the 50th anniversary of the former teams European Cup Winners title. Some of the Scottish papers should abandon all pretense of being neutral and use a blue top instead of red. It would be correct to point out that this is Rangers first European final as the 2008 final was a different Rangers club. Good luck with that happening Hopefully the folk who control things in Seville are well aware of what happened in Manchester and are drawing up plans to stem the activities of the Rangers fans.

  489. Vernallen 6th May 2022 At 13:43
    ‘..It would be correct to point out that this is Rangers first European final as the 2008 final was a different Rangers club.’
    ++++++
    No one knows that better than the very SPL and SFA liars.
    Remember, the SPL applied their Articles of Association and required RFC plc to surrender its share in the company.
    The SFA had perforce to apply its membership rules. Under those rules, RFC of 1872 , had to surrender its share in the SPL Ltd.
    No longer ,therefore, a member of a recognised league, it ceased to be entitled (like Third Lanark, like Gretna, etc] to membership of the SFA.
    The SFL granted TRFC a share in the SFL Ltd, and on the basis of being a shareholder in a recognised league, the SFA accepted TRFC into membership as a new football club.
    Everything else was all smoke and mirrors and damned lies!
    And I am still somewhat amazed that RIFC plc got (gets) away with trumpeting in the market place that it is the holding company of the historically very successful football club that was the Rangers Football Club that was founded when my grandfather was a young man!, and not of the shabby outfit put together from the bundle of assets sold to CG dirt cheap by the Administrators , who failed to find a buyer to rescue that historic Rangers from Administration.
    As a plain matter of law, the Rangers of my granddad’s day died the death of Liquidation [as spectacularly reported by one James Traynor and the rag he worked for at the time]- which was as honest a piece of reportage that that (to me) unpleasant individual ever filed.

    But the print press is one thing: the BBC is something else.
    And the liars therein are undoubtedly to be assigned to a level in Dante’s ‘Inferno’ much deeper than even CG and the governance bodies of Scottish football will be found.
    No getting away with it, in the long term.
    The gaping wound in the body of the Integrity of Scottish Football will not be surgically closed except by an honest facing up to the truth; and the painful recognition that TRFC is a 10 year old football club which (readily admitted by me] has done extremely well over its short life.
    And its players are personally entitled to praise .[ I accept that the players are but mere blameless pawns who do not know that they are party to a Big Lie!]

  490. My post of 22.53 refers..
    I think you can delete
    ‘The SFA had perforce to apply its membership rules. Under those rules, RFC of 1872 , had to surrender its share in the SPL Ltd.’
    I wasn’t quick enough in editing.
    You will know that without being a member of a recognised league, a football club has no entitlement to membership of the SFA.
    And RFC of 1872 had to surrender its share in the SPL on account of its insolvency. That is the hard truth.
    As a football club, it is as dead as my grandfather, who is ‘alive’ to me in memory, of course, but in no way is an active participant sharer in current life!
    Whit? stand up the boy who said ‘zombie!’

  491. You have to like the optimism by some of the reporters for the DR. Today Craig Swan offered up the following ,mathematically Rangers could catch Celtic for the title and the goal difference could be overhauled. Considering the goal difference after today’s game stands at 22 and Rangers only have three games left that is quite a stretch. To score at least 7 goals in each of their last three games and hope Celtic don’t score or give up a bucket full takes some wishful thinking.

  492. Vernallen 7th May 2022 At 22:44
    ‘..You have to like the optimism by some of the reporters for the DR. ‘
    +++++++
    Eh, what?
    ‘reporters’ ? ‘reporters??
    Like the likes of yon James Traynor ,for instance?
    who , one day is truthful reporter of the liquidation and death of RFC of 1872 as a football club entitled to participate in Scottish professional football and the next is a propagandist of the lie that RFC plc of 1872 was not liquidated?
    God give me strength!
    Scottish Football reporting will never be truthful until the the last liquidation denier is strangled by the last wipe-ar.e copy of the DR.

  493. ” still mathematically possible” , Until recently, the phrase that’s maintained our interest in every World Cup and European Championship for a generation of Scotland supporters. It enables a slower death of dreams but does little to ease the pain. I guess it has more traction at the end of the domestic season when play off places, relegation and promotion are in the offing. It’s more pertinent in a race with more than two horses.

  494. Well Celtic haven’t lost a league game by more than a single goal all season and I believe the record for goals in the SPFL is 9. I don’t know what odds I would get on TRFC retaining their title, but I’m keeping my pound in my pocket!

  495. I have just read a Scottish Football Supporters Association communication that shocked me.
    It congratulated TRFC on its great success in reaching the final of the whatever European competition,
    But rather than congratulating a 10 year old club [ deserving of congratulation], it unnecessarily bought into the lie that TRFC is continuity ‘Rangers’ .
    Pity.
    Because I would think that truth actually matters.
    TRFC is in actual, everyday fact, not RFC of 1872,
    That fact must be recognised.
    Advancing fan involvement in football by assisting in the propagation of a lie is not any way forward- for it plays into the hands of a football governance body that is rotten to the core.
    I’m bloody annoyed.

  497. JC, like McFurgly “I’ve given up on them” When I first heard about the group being set up, I hoped it would be a good thing with fans of all clubs fighting against corruption, for fair governance etc. Indeed, I am sure BP was quite forthright in asking for members here to join them for that very reason. I seem to recall the big selling point was that they weren’t affiliated to the SFA like Supporters Direct. Immediately, though, it was obvious that they were not going to rock any boats and weren’t at all interested in challenging the corruption pre- and post the death of the old Rangers. I’ve posted my disgust a few times on here about the wee jokey articles they write about important issues of that sort. Without reading the article you refer to, I can imagine them doing nothing more than reiterating the Big Lie. Like BP, a large number of people were duped by them. As you’re fond of saying, they should hang their heads in shame!

  498. With regard to the Scottish media, I see some comments about the inappropriate entertainment/atmosphere at the Scottish Sportswriters Awards dinner. Well done to Eilidh Barbour for calling this out. How on God’s earth anyone would think that type of behaviour was appropriate for a “professional group’s” dinner is beyond me. But then again maybe I should just look at the standard of reporting and not have too high expectations of the people involved.

  499. The manager of the year debate continues with some of the die hard media holding out for a EL win by Rangers as a vote for GVB. However its been pointed out this award and all the others are based on domestic schedules and some such as the players awards are voted on by players. While its an unique experience to reach a final they still haven’t won anything and while the gaping holes in the Rangers trophy case await an occupant there is still the matter of games to be played and in a one off situation anything is possible.

  500. Wokingcelt 9th May 2022 At 14:13
    ‘..Well done to Eilidh Barbour for calling this out. ‘
    ++++++++
    Yes, well done , indeed, and I of course applaud Ms Barbour ( and the other women who joined her] in the anti-sexist drive.
    However, as said before, truth is indivisible. Ms Barbour would be even more praised by me if she had been as quick to protest at the nonsensical lie at the heart of Scottish Football.
    If women are demeaned as women by male football journalists, we are ALL demeaned as football supporters by the perversion of the sporting and legal untruth, foisted on us by the game’s very governance body, that TRFC is Rangers of 1872!
    Ms Barbour might like to consider that, and I think I am entitled to expect her to start reporting on, and referring to , TRFC as being the club founded by CG in 2012, and therefore not entitled to claim any sporting successes prior to their creation in 2012!

  501. Not only that, JC, it would be great if she was as offended by the anti-Irish racism she hears being sung at every TRFC game she attends to commentate/punditise on, would it not? Or is she, like most of the media, selective in the words her ears find offensive and the locations she chooses to walk out of?

  504. I hate to belabor the point but the DR appears to come up short again today in factual reporting. Graeme Young claims in his article that Rangers could win their first European final in 50 years, Quite a feat for a club formed in 2012. Why let the facts get in the way of purporting to be a genuine newspaper. Please supply those hacks with a dictionary tabbed at the page where the word liquidation appears and if necessary highlight the word so the truth finally dawns on them. After all this is the same paper that ran with the story in 2012 that Rangers were dead. Heaven forbid they should win next week and the deluge of BS that will ensue.

  505. Rangers & Sports Direct agree to out of court settlement with all proceedings discontinued with immediate effect.
    This has been the case since 23/02/2022.

  506. nawlite 9th May 2022 At 12:22
    ———-
    Sorry about the delay in replying.
    Yes, they have became a neutered PR arm of the SPFL. Any thoughts of having an independent, critical, supporter forum for change has, with them, gone. Their emails make me cringe I’m afraid. There remains a void therefore, for any group that wants to challenge the current power structure. This lot have turned out to be Henry McLeish’s diversionary strategy, fearing an insurrection and diverting energy from the real issue.
    Let me say, fair play to TRFC in their final, but all the financial corruption during the 90’s, (allegedly) ,and beyond and the subsequent nonsense over the liquidation of Rangers, as well as 80 years of sectarianism needs to be aired, acknowledged and apologised for before catharsis and progress on the field of Scottish football will happen. What appeared initially to be a hope, has turned out to be a hope successfully integrated and managed by those in power. Over to you Donald.

  507. Albertz11 — 11th may 2022 — 19:30
    It will be interesting to see what the financial outcome of this court battle is. Since the PR arm of Rangers has been strangely quiet I sense that the settlement could have been substantial. If we have to wait for the next set of financials it could be well buried under a miscellaneous expense heading.

  508. Vernallen 12th May 2022 At 01:38
    ‘..Albertz11 — 11th may 2022 — 19:30
    It will be interesting to see what the financial outcome of this court battle is.’
    +++++++++++++
    I’m in Texas at the moment.
    I have just read ‘ The Athletic’, on-line journal of ‘The Athletic Media company ‘
    https://theathletic.com/news/rangers-settle-lengthy-dispute-with-sports-direct/KUeGITaH3NWo/
    I haven’t yet tried to look up the [English] High Court document, but will do so tomorrow. ( it’s only 11.07 pm here at the moment]
    I feel a wee email to ‘The Athletic’ coming on, just to let them know that the Rangers of which they speak is not the historic Rangers of 1872.
    Just to keep my hand in!

  509. LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
    Court 6 – Parliament House
    Wednesday 18th May
    Continued Procedural Hearing
    between 9.00am and 9.30am

    CA144/21 Imran Ahmad v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland
    Pinsent Masons LLP SGLD Ledingham Chalmers LLP

  510. I know we all have opinions but I don’t understand why Albertz11 gets 3 thumbs down for reporting a matter of fact. If I have missed something I would appreciate being corrected but I don’t see why his post deserves a thumbs down.

  511. I happen to notice that the top Rangers currently wear appears to lack the 5 stars that were on former tops. Is this just a mistake, or, are my eyes playing tricks on me. If the stars are missing could it be an admission that they aren’t the same team as the one that sported the five stars and they are actually a new team.

  512. Remember when a real journalist was reporting on the Administration [ so truthful in his reportage that he was threatened by some thuggish hack(s) in the SMSM] ?
    I give you Alex Thomson: and remind you of how so terrified of Liquidation 3 of our then MSPs were[because they knew damned fine that it would be the end of RFC of 1872] that they tried to use their political muscle to tell D&P to avoid Liquidation at all costs.
    If they could felt they could influence Administrators [who acted as officers of the Court!], how much more would they have been able to influence the already morally weak-minded personnel in Scottish Football governance?
    Have a read [or, perhaps, a re-read] of this.
    https://www.channel4.com/news/by/alex-thomson/blogs/rangers-political-interference-case-msps
    Thomson seems to have sussed the the whole wicked intent create the myth that RFC of 1872 survived Liquidation without paying its millions of pounds of debt , while other football clubs bust a gut to avoid Liquidation knowing that Liquidation is death.
    The rank rottenness of the SFA and the SFL/ SPL in 2012 was appalling.

  513. Wokingcelt 12th May 2022 At 22:35
    ‘.. I don’t understand why Albertz11 gets 3 thumbs down for reporting a matter of fact. ‘
    +++++++++++++++
    Possibly it’s to do with the fact that he is very selective about which facts he reports, refusing as he seems to do to report the fact[not an ‘opinion’] that RFC of 1872 is in Liquidation, and the fact [also not an ‘opinion’ ] that TRFC is a club brought into creation in 2012.
    There is no room for an ‘opinion’ about what are absolute matters of fact and of Insolvency law and of straightforward application of SPL/SFL articles and the articles of the SFA.

  514. Woking Celt, Albertz11 certainly didn’t deserve thumbs down for that post, but I think many share my view that he only posts here either to highlight good news or counteract bad news for TRFC. As a result of that view, those thumb downers may be querying why he thinks this is good news for TRFC. I’m making an assumption on why he posted what he posted – he may simply be making us aware of something I wasn’t aware of and, if so, I thank him.

    Albertz11, it would be useful to know if you think this is good news for TRFC. Obviously the closure of proceedings is a good thing in itself, but given the court had already found against TRFC in this case, with only quantification of the settlement to SD outstanding, closure comes at a financial cost. This had been rumoured to be significant and tying this up with Phil’s recent piece about TRFC seeking investment, he hints that this settlement could be a cause, at least in part. Do you have a view, or any insight?

    Finally, to be less placatory, what do you think of the new Orange 3rd strip for use in the EL final? (and I don’t mean in respect of its design etc)

  515. @Nawlite – I see no answer from A11 to your question on the Orange strip…for me it is clearly pandering to their base/lowest common denominator, to max revenue, which wallows in a violent, sectarian, misogynistic and dystopian world. As I have posted before there was a chance to acknowledge liquidation/ death and the establishment of a new club without the baggage of success funded on institutional bigotry and to attract fans to a vision (maybe even a dream). But they missed that chance / chose to not take it. Why – who knows, maybe there were not the fans/customers/mug punters to support such a vision. But then again there were not enough fans/customers/mug punters willing to “invest” to keep RFC1872 alive…
    Commiserations to Arbroath fans here (no disrespect to ICT fans!)

  516. Wokingcelt

    I agree with your reply to Nawlite wrt the orange strip – this ‘statement’, especially the timing, is right out of the WATP ‘playbook’, I seem to recollect this having been used before (Scottish Cup Final ??? – not too sure about the date) when the strips were described as mandarin/ tangerine – with advance apologies if I’m wrong about my last point. At any rate, your point about indulging the hordes is spot on.

    n.b. honesty, humility, and contrition (e.g. about liquidation) are not part of said playbook.

    Nawlite

    You won’t get a direct answer to your question about the details of the settlement, although I’m sure Big Mike will be happy being several (?) mill better off. In addition, should Sevco not win the Europa league their already well documented financial woes (amply evidenced by ever decreasing activity in transfer windows) will increase exponentially. Squeaky bum time methinks – till Wednesday at least!

    Finally, lest we forget (some might if SMSM etc had anything to do with it), and to end on a legally factual note…

    “Rangers Football Club. Born 1872, died 2012” (The Herald)

    …and Redliichtie’s right – Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath!!

  517. I feel for Hugh Keevins today as his column is somewhat less than factual. I believe Celtic have already qualified for CL group stages and unlike Rangers are not waiting on the outcome of Wednesday’s game to determine qualifications. If Ranger should win on Wednesday, the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes. Sometimes sports reporters, like older athletes, stay at the table a little too long.

  518. Vernallen 15th May 2022 At 17:29
    ‘.., the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes.’
    +++++++++++
    Ach, I wouldnae bother with what , to me masel and in my opinion, is a tiresome auld scunner of a football hack. He bought into the absurd nonsense that RFC of 1872 is not in Liquidation, so anything he has to say about anything in football is about as valuable as an auld man’s passing of wind.
    Ignore him, is my advice.
    If he was ever a journalist of merit, those days are long past, in my opinion.
    He’ coming up for 74, so like me, he has probably not many more than the short number of years of TRFC’s existence to continue to propagate the untruth that TRFC is 150 years old.
    If his conscience , with death only that far away, allows him to.

  519. Keevins will do whatever he is told. His Grandkids will one day not be able to look him in the eye, as he is not the grandfather they thiught he was

  520. “Vernallen 12th May 2022 At 01:38
    Albertz11 — 11th may 2022 — 19:30
    It will be interesting to see what the financial outcome of this court battle is. Since the PR arm of Rangers has been strangely quiet I sense that the settlement could have been substantial. If we have to wait for the next set of financials it could be well buried under a miscellaneous expense heading.”

    I think it is a fair assumption that the timing of the news release of an out of court settlement allowing it to be hidden under the barrage of good news stories points to a significant settlement. To date, I have only seen one unsubstantiated figure touted and that is just North of £11.5m.

    Reviewing last year’s RIFC accounts the combined Current and Non-Current accruals were £8,790,000. We have no idea what is included in this number, in addition to the SDIR case, but it does guide us that this is the upper limit of what the RIFC board may have presented to the auditors as the contingent liability for the SDIR case.
    Since then, RIFC have lost a further case forcing them to disclose the details of their Castore contract. This loss would seem to have been the catalyst forcing RIFC to settle as it would seem highly probable the details of the Castore contract were prejudicial to their case. If that is the case then the £11.5m number might well be correct.

    Whether we will see the detail of the settlement within the next accounts, or not, is of less importance than the fact that the settlement will have to be funded. If indeed the number is £11.5m then that effectively wipes out the Patterson sale gain.

    Viewed another way £11.5m would have effectively allowed the board to buy out the GASL. It is ironic that it was King who agreed the contract with SDIR and was the main instigator in it’s breach.

  522. John Clark 16th May 2022 At 01:02

    “Vernallen 15th May 2022 At 17:29
    ‘.., the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes.’
    +++++++++++
    Ach, I wouldnae bother with what , to me masel and in my opinion, is a tiresome auld scunner of a football hack. He bought into the absurd nonsense that RFC of 1872 is not in Liquidation, ”

    I don’t think a man of his intelligence bought into the lie, more I think he helped with others to create it in order to protect his wages and ensure that some sort of old firm is kept alive to protect sports hacks from been made redundant, The man is a snake oil salesman who looks down on people who are more intellegent and clever in their opinions reyling on facts and refuse to lie for the wonga.

  523. Is it not somewhat embarrassing that Rangers have to put former players front and center asking fans to behave in Seville. This is something you would expect from a group of teenagers on a school trip to a foreign country with a few teachers as chaperones. Hopefully the fans will heed the message and not repeat the efforts of Manchester.

  524. Bigboab1916 16th May 2022 At 18:38
    ‘..I don’t think a man of his intelligence bought into the lie, more I think he helped with others to create it in order to protect his wages and ensure that some sort of old firm is kept alive to protect sports hacks.@
    +++++++++++++++
    I know what you mean, of course, Bigboab1916.
    And that is why, in my opinion, the really bad guys, the really, really bad guys of the saga are the guys in the SMSM.
    SDM, whose hubris was the principle cause of the debt that killed RFC of 1872? – just an everyday businessman who f.cked up and killed the club, [suffering no great personal loss, of course]

    CW?…[ in my opinion ] was a chancer from no-wheres-ville who couldn’t have given a tuppenny toss about the RFC of my grandfather’s day and tried to make money out of the situation

    Clark and Whitehouse as Administrators ?… for one reason or another , made an absolute balls of the Administration [in the judgment of a Court]

    All of THEM can be, in my judgment, slated for killing the football club of the 4 young men on Glasgow Green
    That’s one thing, and bad enough in itself.
    But we might expect individual , localised failings from such folk.

    However, for the very Governance body of a Sport to create and permit the sporting lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872 is unbelievably wicked and perverse in comparison with clubs telling porkies to HMRC about what they are paying their players.
    And when it comes to ‘journalists’ of the print media, acceptance and propagation of untruth is even more unacceptable, but again , can be expected of venal hacks and the newspapers they get paid by.

    But for the BBC to join in in propagating the really, really stupid lie is , to me, absolutely mind-blowing.

    Each and every one of the chaps and girls on BBC Scotland who speak of TRFC as being the RFC of 1872 can expect from me nothing but the very deepest contempt- for holding on to their jobs by buying into the propagation of untruth.
    In a matter of ‘Sport’:
    While others of their London colleagues journalist risk their lives in attempting to report the truth , or attempting to uncover the truth, in much more serious matters of life and death.
    Very black marks indeed to Controller, BBC Scotland for allowing the propagation of a factual untruth for base, unworthy, cowardly reasons.
    Get it sorted.
    If the BBC can lie to us with impunity in a matter of sport, they can lie about anything.
    ps .Had a great day shooting with rifle and pistol with a friend of my son ,on a ranch about two hours drive from Fort Worth.
    This guy was with the the Navy Seals . And, bejasus, his gun safe was about the size of my boxroom
    with God knows how many guns of different calibre.
    He happens to be a surgeon.

  525. Westcoaster 16th May 2022 At 13:11
    ‘..It is ironic that it was King who agreed the contract with SDIR and was the main instigator in it’s breach.’
    ++++++++++
    I think we should commission the intrepid Jim White [was that his name?] to go to Gauteng province and do an ‘in depth’ interview with the Castlemulk son of a police officer!
    We would surely get to the heart of that contradiction?
    Like ..ck, would we!
    Having said that, I have to say again that King has acknowledged that the RFC of 1872(now in liquidation as RFC 2012] could be still be bought out of Administration if someone paid all its debts.
    And that was an explicit acknowledgement that TRFC is not RFC of 1872
    He knows that TRFC is a new creation.

  526. There’s a BBC Online article today asking if it’s a good thing for Scottish football to have two clubs in the CL next year. The writer – Thomas Duncan – includes this remarkably factual sentence “In football, a greater wage spend generally correlates to success”. Were the BBC ever so bold when playing down the impact of EBTs? I wonder if Thomas Duncan recalls both D Murray and A McLeish admitting under oath in court (FTT is akin to court proceedings) that EBTs allowed them to employ better players than they would otherwise have been able to?

  527. Nawlite 17th May 2022 At 18:03
    ‘..Were the BBC ever so bold when playing down the impact of EBTs? ‘
    ++++++++
    When it comes to playing down the part that money plays in buying the best football talent Lord Nimmo Smith takes the biscuit.
    I doubt if there was ever a more fatuous pronouncement than that RFC of 1872 did not gain a sporting advantage by spending huge sums (undeclared to either HMRC or the SFA ] on buying some of the best footballing talent available over a decade or so.
    The SFA should have pounced on the fact that a retired Judge is not in any position to make such an absurd observation in a matter of Sport.
    But it suited their lying barra, just as it suited them to manufacture the myth that TRFC is RFC of 1872, knowing that the lickspittles of the print SMSM would sign up to propagate the myth, and that the BBC had been cowed by the then BBC Trust into accepting and broadcasting the lie.

  528. All true, JC. Unfortunately, so is the truth that LNS was a set up by all interested parties including Celtic so as to not rock any boats. Disgraceful, but true.

  529. Of course, the money that TRFC will not now get will in no way weaken their capacity to buy the best talent, will it? Not according to the thinking of NS and the SFA….

  530. Nawlite 18th May 2022 At 17:30
    ‘.. LNS was a set up by all interested parties including Celtic so as to not rock any boats.’
    ++++++++++++
    Yes.
    ‘Money’ counted more than any principle, whether of sporting integrity or basic truth or adherence to Articles of Association ..
    And all so unnecessary!
    Because how could anyone in football have believed that, if the SFA Board and the SPL/SFL boards had told TRFC of 2012 that it would NOT be regarded as ‘continuity RFC of 1872′ , Ibrox stadium would not be as full at home games as ever it was? or that the travelling support to away games would be reduced?

    The panic was absolutely unnecessary.

    And our football Governance bodies, and -aye! – our football clubs’ directors, including the directors of Celtic,
    betrayed the integrity of the Sport in their gutless concession to CG to allow TRFC to claim to be RFC of 1872.
    And made both liars and arses of themselves in so doing.
    And, of course, if serious questions had been asked about how SDM/Sounness could get some of the best football talent in Europe for the journeyman wages declared to the SFA and UEFA ?..the whole feckin dirty cheating scam might have been detected at an early stage, been dealt with by appropriate penalties, and the whole sorry tax debt saga avoided.
    And RFC of 1872 would not have died.
    ps. it’s now 23.46 Wednesday, Texas time.
    I’m told that we are off to the ‘grassy knoll’ in Dallas tomorrow.
    The truth is always out there somewhere -in politics and in football governance

  531. It was interesting to read an article on the EL final that apparently shed a different light on the former Rangers team and the current Rangers team. The article stated that this was the sixth European final for either version of the club and that the combined record in these finals was one win and five losses. Some how the Scottish media either glossed over that record, or were caught up in a blue wave of happiness and didn’t want to rain on the parade with copious amounts of good news regarding the team(s) depending on your stance in regards to the not so trivial matter of liquidation.

  532. Vernallen 20th May 2022 At 01:32
    ‘..It was interesting to read an article on the EL final that apparently shed a different light on the former Rangers team and the current Rangers team. .’
    +++++++++++++
    If you can, Vernallen, could you point me in the direction of the article, please?

  533. John Clark — 20th May 2022 — 05:30
    John the article originally appeared on an msn.com news site and was referenced back to NBCsports.com. Had a quick look earlier tonight and could not find it. Another avenue may be Europa League final game reports. Happy hunting and the info can be confirmed by googling Glasgow Rangers results in European finals.

  534. Vernallen 21st May 2022 At 01:33
    ‘.. the article originally appeared on an msn.com news site and was referenced back to NBCsports.com.’
    +++++++++++++++=
    I’ve had no success finding it, either, Vernallen.
    What I did find was a piece by some guy who would get a job on the DR or with the SFA anytime as a ‘journalist’ either ready to compromise himself as any kind of truth-teller or betray a woeful ineptitude as a fact-checker.
    I give you one James Benge!
    Have a look on this link to see the kind of ignorant or biased crappy type of journalist who gets paid by cbs for false rubbish.
    https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/eintracht-frankfurt-vs-rangers-europa-league-final-live-stream-tv-channel-watch-online-start-time-odds/
    He says
    “Many could not have imagined this day would have come a decade ago when Stirling were the opponents in the Scottish third tier, Rangers brought low by years of financial management that forced them to reform and drop into the lower leagues.”
    Ignorant s.d appears not to know that RFC of 1872 are in Liquidation or what Liquidation means. Or does know, but is ready to defend a dirty, dirty lie.
    Have guys like that no sense of shame at being propagandists of an untruth or useless at their trade?
    The kind of shame that bent cops must feel, or bent referees ,or bent athletes , or bent “guardians of the integrity ” of a sport must feel?
    How can they live with themselves?
    PS: was at the ‘grassy knoll’ yesterday thinking of of the really, really bad lying bast.rds involved in the Kennedy assassination.
    All of a piece, really, the lying game whether in national politics/assassination or in football/rigging of the rules and telling porkies about sporting achievements over 150 years by a club that is ten years old!!
    Honest to God

  535. Vernallen 20th May 01.32

    Rangers have played in 5 finals and not 6.

    1961 Fiorentina 0-2 & 1-2
    1967 Bayern Munich 0-1 aet
    1972 Dinamo Moscow 3-2
    2008 Zenit St Petersburg 0-2
    2022 Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 (4-5pens)

    Can’t be counting the 1961 games as two separate finals surely?

  537. Looking at the bbc football headlines today, it will be interesting to see how things unfold with Everton and question on their financial losses and how this is judged regards “sporting integrity”… Of course in Scotland some thing that spending money on first team players doesn’t affect results…

  538. “Rangers have played in five finals and not six ”

    Whit a sneaky and unsuccessful attempt to try and claim continuity (!) so, in the interest of factual and legal accuracy, as well as the credibility of this blog, the above statement should perhaps have been submitted along the following lines …

    “Rangers (1872-2012) played in four finals and not five. The current incarnation of the aforementioned (TRFC) has played in one final ” Only then has the statement credibility.

    Admittedly, for a ten-year old club to reach a European final, was quite an achievement.

  539. Does anyone else like me consider just how close Rangers* policy of running up huge losses to gain Champions League cash came to succeeding? It’s highly unlikely they will be reaching Europa League finals on a regular basis, but they were a penalty shoot out victory away from a CL pot one place. This would simply not have been possible without huge year on year losses. Why are other clubs so against domestic financial fair play, especially when most are run on a sensible financial basis already?

  540. @UTH – couldn’t agree more. What I don’t understand is the disconnect between UEFA rules and domestic rules. A few years back Man City were being threatened with expulsion from UEFA competitions due to their FFP numbers. What I don’t understand is how clubs can/would operate in their domestic leagues with weaker financial rules/ratios than UEFA insists on. Even if domestically there are no rules, surely you need to comply to play in UEFA comps.

  541. Wokingcelt 21st May 2022 At 20:48
    ‘.. Of course in Scotland some thing that spending money on first team players doesn’t affect results…
    +++++++++
    It’s encouraging that Leeds and Burnley are pushing for an investigation.
    There is ,as far as I know, no football institutional culture in the FA (or in Engerland generally] that affords Everton FC immunity from investigation such as that which existed, and exists, in the SFA : as demonstrated by the Big Lie and the point-blank refusal to allow an investigation into the UEFA licence award to CW’s RFC .
    Leeds or Burnley are facing losing the millions afforded by being in the EPL.
    They are prepared to fight to ensure that there was no jiggery-pokery in the finances , no nods and winks from the Governance body, and that their share-holders had not been diddled.

  542. Lord above!
    A Derbyshire educated Indian journalist sending copy to Reuters is , it seems, in hock to the myth!
    This is from Reuters :
    “…Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who won the competition twice as a player during his three-year spell at Ibrox, capped an eventful first season in charge by guiding the club to their first Scottish Cup triumph since 2009.”
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/soccer-rangers-dig-deep-to-win-first-scottish-cup-in-13-years/ar-AAXz9PW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d2ff6d3979f423a9c4f59bba6c00dd4
    Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris [Bengaluru was better known as Bangalore]
    Does Ms Sharma know that TRFC weren’t in existence in 2009?
    If so , she would get a job with the SMSM anytime. If not, then she’s a rubbish ‘journalist’. Or allowed her ‘editor’ to amend her report.
    [I can’t/ don’t use Twitter: maybe someone who does can tweet to let her know the footballing truth and refer her to this SFM blog?]
    Incidentally, I walked down a street in Fort Worth today to the ‘Liquor Store’ [ none of this being able to buy liquor in a supermarket!]
    The temperature was a mild 25 or so, but there was a breeze that made it necessary to hold on to my[yes], cowboy hat.
    Anyway, the young guy behind the counter was Nepalese, which gave me the opportunity of using a couple of words I had learnt from a colleague in my working days in HM Civil Service .
    It was a happy experience , buying a wee quarter bottle of Johnny Walker Red label, trying to explain that I was not English. The usual stuff when you have to talk to folk who think the UK is ‘England!’
    Me masel personally, I tell them different
    I am happy that there’s a wee guy from Nepal who might go home tonight who knows now that Scotland is not England, and that being ‘British ‘ is a kind of artificial piece of nonsense ,such as being Ukrainian means that you are Russian!

  543. John Clark 21st May 2022 At 23:39

    There is ,as far as I know, no football institutional culture in the FA (or in Engerland generally] that affords Everton FC immunity from investigation such as that which existed, and exists, in the SFA : as demonstrated by the Big Lie and the point-blank refusal to allow an investigation into the UEFA licence award to CW’s RFC

    +++++++++++++++++++++++

    In my opinion the culture which exists in Scotland which permits what you refer to goes way beyond football, although it manifests itself in football much of the time. I also know it was a culture which had an impact on me and many others deemed to ‘kick with the wrong foot’ in my earlier working life. Only when the company I worked for fell out of Scottish control did we get more of an opportunity to advance. One area where it still seems prominent is the BBC, where it is beyond dispute that ex-Rangers players are overwhelmingly favoured by Sportscene and Sportsound to work as pundits.

  544. Upthehoops 22nd May 2022 At 07:08
    ‘..the culture which exists in Scotland which permits what you refer to goes way beyond football,’
    +++++++
    Ha ha, Uth.
    in 1963 ,the guy who interviewed me for a job in Lanarkshire County Council , referring to my ‘cv’ ,used an expression to which even I , mild mannered as Clark Kent , made me turn Superman and challenge him with a ‘how dare you use such an expression’
    I got the job.
    The poor man must have realised that he was no Peter Thomson of BBC infamy who got away with utterly outrageous discrimination;
    The malevolent ghost of said Peter Thomson has influenced and brought about the acceptance by the BBC of
    a lie .
    An absolutely and insultingly stupid lie.
    The thing is: if the people in Pacific Quay are liars in a matter of Sport, what will they not lie about in matters of more importance?
    PS. We drove through Irving [ I think] on the way back to Fort Worth, and passed the windowless building of the Freemasons’ hall.
    Windowless building!
    FFS, one would say… until one thinks of TRFC and the SFA; a new club allowed to claim a 150 year history?

  545. Broadly speaking more a probity matter than specific to Scotland but nonetheless. Leeds United retain their EPL status and Burnley are relegated. I am quite sure that Leeds previous position regarding Everton’s potential financial impropriety will suddenly not be quite so belicose. It’s a dog eat dog world but I hope Burnley still feel sufficiently aggrieved to pursue the matter.

  546. Gunnerb 22nd May 2022 At 18:17
    ‘… I am quite sure that Leeds previous position regarding Everton’s potential financial impropriety will suddenly not be quite so belicose.’
    +++++++++++
    I tried to find an email address for Leeds so that I could email their Board to encourage them to follow through with their promise to join Burnley in demanding an investigation into Everton’s finances.
    Couldn’t find one on their website.
    I do hope that they are people of integrity enough to honour the agreement with Burnley.
    Failure to do so would remind one of the lawwellistic readiness, eagerness even, to keep the head down, ask no questions, tell porkies to shareholders, and accept a possibly corrupt act of football governance involving the loss of a couple of million quid , for the sake of future revenue, when that future revenue would not have been at risk if the truth had been told!
    As said before, no one could seriously have thought that TRFC would not have been considered by the loyal fans as anything but RFC of 1872, even if the official records of the SFA showed that they only came into existence in 2012.
    To bend the truth is always wrong.
    To do so unnecessarily is unforgivably stupid.
    Let the SFA sort it out: forbid TRFC to claim falsely to be RFC of 1872.
    That restores truth to Scottish Football as a sport. [ Mind you, it might add to doubts about the legitimacy of RIFC plc’s Prospectus on its launch in the market]
    [Not that the Financial Conduct Authority is any kind of effective disciplinary body!]

  548. Fitbawfan 25th May 2022 At 12:11
    ‘..Another one for you to put right JC..’
    ++++++++++
    I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Fitbafan, unless it’s the misprint 1987 instead of 1887 for the year of Celtic’s founding?

  549. Would it be possible for one of the members of the Scottish media to ask Stewart Robertson if the figures being bandied about in regards to their European run are based on the gross income or the net income. If they are indeed net income well done, but, if they are of the gross income variety the picture is not as rosy. It would be helpful if the media pointed out to the numerous Ranger fan websites the difference between gross and net income as they are clamoring for the number quoted to be spent on a re-build, new contracts, etc. I wonder what Mike Ashley thinks about this type of number and what his cut is/was. Oh to be able to see into the future and the next set of Rangers financials.

  550. Vernallen 25th May 2022 At 22:55
    ‘Would it be possible for one of the members of the Scottish media to ask Stewart Robertson ..’
    +++++++++++++++++
    Possible indeed, but not likely to happen!
    The SMSM print media and the BBC are so hopelessly thirled to the Big Lie that they either DARE not, or willingly CHOOSE not to, ask any kind of serious question about the finances of the ten year old club .

    Not just the football hacks!
    The financial/ world of business hacks as well!
    None of THEM has ever asked how RIFC plc was allowed to claim to be and launch itself on the Market as being the holding company of a club that was founded in 1872 but which died the death of a shameful Liquidation, when in fact and law it was the holding company of a football club admitted into Scottish professional football only in 2012.
    Bad cess to the liars, and may the worm of dishonour munch at their souls for the rest of their contemptible lives.
    More contemptible even than the life lived, in relation to Rangers of 1872, by SDM.
    And that’s saying something!
    ps. as you can see from the date of this posting I am back from a really good couple of weeks in Fort Worth.

  552. I confess to being a wee bit disappointed at the CL Final result , if only because I have a Liverpudlian cousin! I would have liked to send him an email of congratulation .
    Not a spectacularly good game, with only the odd flash of clever brilliance from each side.
    Our man Robertson? A wee bit off the pace once or twice, I thought?
    Salah very unlucky once or twice.
    And UEFA/the French FA need a right good boot in the ars. for the failures of organisation that practically invited the Gendarmerie to over-react! Tear gas ffs! before a match !

  553. Where to start. I’ve been away for a few days ( nothing as glamours as Texas) but still good to be away. The mayor of Seville says the city enjoyed a financial bonanza of 68 million due to their recent hosting of a EL final. What is difficult to swallow is the DR translating that to the fact Rangers fans were responsible for it. I believe there was another team at the final and brought a significant fan base who probably spent money in Seville as well.
    Then we have a failed manager turned pundit claiming three Rangers players could net the club 30 million plus. Whatever he is drinking or smoking I’ll have some. They have sold one player in recent years with a wide variance of what the sale pulled in. Only time will tell what the real number is.
    Then there is the ultimate hanger on, Paul Murray, with his opinion on the value of Calvin Bassey based on a six month resurgence in his career. A 7 figure valuation is beyond the pale.
    Finally, UEFA in major disruptions in two of their glamor finals Who the hell organizes these events and how many brown envelopes change hands. The scenes in Paris, showed around the world, are disturbing and disgusting.

  554. @Vernallen – I’m not yet convinced by the reporting of the Champions League final. No question there were problems but…bear in mind as French police/stewards:
    1. Think Wembley and behaviour of English fans at Euro final last year.
    2. Last week or two with pitch invasions at Everton and Patrick Vieira ( a French hero) being abused on the pitch.
    3. And go further back to the Euros that were held in France (8 or so years back) and riots with English fans.
    As I noted there were problems/mistakes, but let’s not forget context. I do think the English press are not presenting a rounded view here and wonder how much we would have heard of these problems if Liverpool had won…

  555. Wokingcelt 30th May 2022 At 22:13
    ‘.As I noted there were problems/mistakes..’
    +++++++
    “.. ‘UEFA has today announced it has commissioned an independent report into the events surrounding the UEFA Champions League final in Paris on Saturday, May 28.”
    Independent? Who will conduct the review?

  556. The passing of the racing legend Lester Piggot brought to mind that he was jailed and stripped of his OBE for tax fraud. What a strange thing to happen. Anyway RIP The Long fellow.

  557. Gunnerb 31st May 2022 At 18:11
    ‘..he was jailed and stripped of his OBE for tax fraud. ‘
    +++++++++++
    I think I first read of ‘knightly chivalry’ and ‘honour’ in reading a children’s version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table when I was about 8 or 9 or so. Very stirring and noble ideas!

    There was, of course, no mention of the adulterous deeds of Sir Lancelot, whose wretched dishonourable and disloyal behaviour led in the end to the break-up of the Round Table of honourable knights.

    Piggot’s tax cheating was a personal matter, which had no discernible effect on the sport of kings/ queens. But it was scarcely an honourable thing.

    The RBS chap as far as I know did not gain personally from his mismanagement of the Bank, but it caused huge problems for the banking industry. His reckless foolhardiness , though, was far from being ‘knightly’.

    SDM ‘s vainglorious boasting and the reckless , feckless use by RFC of 1872 of what they must have known or suspected, to be a dodgy EBT scheme [ given that they told porkies to ( a perhaps already aware SFA?) about what they were paying their players] resulted in the death of RFC of 1872, AND the loss of trust in Scottish Football governance by its manufacturing of the Big Lie, the nonsensical, insulting Big Lie that a club newly created in 2012 is the same football club as the RFC of 1872 which Companies House records show as being in Liquidation.
    That has not resulted in any punishment of SDM whatsoever!

    I cannot be alone in wondering why the hell not?
    And while I wonder about that, I also wonder if the said SDM is any the happier as a human being for getting away with it, knowing at the same time something of the contempt that many people feel for him?

    Perhaps he doesn’t do ‘knightly chivalry’, and laughs at the very concept?
    That would not surprise me, even as it saddens me.

  558. The ‘living lie’ of a football club that is TRFC issues a ludicrously pompous a.se of itself in a ‘statement’:
    ” This morning , representatives from Rangers met with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss the issues faced by our support in Seville before, during and after the Europa League Final”

    [‘The Scotsman’ reports more truthfully ‘ Rangers have met with government officials’]

    Honest to God, what a laughable bunch of grubby little self-important tossers sit on the Ibrox Boards blowing smoke up their own fundaments in an effort to legitimise themselves.

  560. As your man Zelenskiy said
    “Joy to our soldiers, joy to the entire country. We are all fighting, everyone on their own front. “We will fight on, we will withstand everything, we will win. For we are Ukrainians.”

    By gum, if the Ukrainian sojers are as highly motivated as that Ukrainian team tonight, it’s no wonder that they have done so well against the Russkies!
    I would have to say that we simply did not turn up tonight.
    Lots of huff and puff as we were run ragged and seemed incapable of playing football!
    Big punts up the park to nobody!
    Not one of our players ,except Gordon, played to anything like their club standard.
    Pathetic.
    But perhaps a symbolic, condign punishment for a lying SFA.

    • John C
      The pomposity of that TRFC statement is quite amusing. One the TRFC mouthpieces in the media also referred to communication at ‘very high levels’ of government?
      I think you are correct on your analysis that they need to legitimise themselves as ‘big players’ in a World & European level. Having the compliant media give them a wee leggy-up to help sell it to the easily confused but hard of understanding is a bonus. ‘Higher and higher, it’s a living thing’, as Jeff Lynne was once wont to say ?

  561. Big Pink 3rd June 2022 At 15:25
    ‘..The pomposity of that TRFC statement is quite amusing..’
    ++++++++++
    I think, BP, I can say with truth that there will be very few PR guys and gals in the UK who would have presented such a script to their client!
    I remember posting some time ago about the fact that there was one statement by TRFC that made its points in a very moderately expressed way, but all the more effectively for that reason!
    There has not been another such!
    The Ibrox Boards know themselves to be claiming FALSELY to be the Directors of the ‘holding company’
    of RFC of 1872[ a football club/ company in Liquidation!] and not the holding company of a ten-year-old creation.
    They must needs strut and bluster ( as CG did before the cowed , spineless, dishonourable men who were supposed to be the guardians of the integrity of Scottish professional football] in order to defend the lie.
    Not from them any attempt at a quiet , reasonably toned word of ‘explanation’ [well, none such is possible, but they could have tried]
    No, they HAVE to shout and bawl and threaten in defence of the indefensible, so weak is their case.
    I would ask them:
    what financial loss would you suffer IF you acknowledged that TRFC has no football success history before 2012? and that it is not[however sadly] RFC of the 4 young men and is therefore not entitled to claim the footballing success of RFC of 1872?
    Would Ibrox not still be filled to capacity?
    Wouldn’t the concept of ‘Rangersness’ carry on , unabated?
    Of course it would.
    The turnstiles would click as merrily as before and season ticket sales would not drop.
    The Big Lie was absolutely unnecessary if the Truth had been acknowledged at the time!
    I venture to suggest that not only are their PR people useless, but also that their moneymen completely misunderstood the underlying realities.
    As did the forsworn SMSM.
    ps. I was already well into my thirties, and overseas, I think, when I heard the ELO version. I was old in attitude before my time!

    • JC wrote,

      “ps. I was already well into my thirties, and overseas, I think, when I heard the ELO version. I was old in attitude before my time!”

      Never too old to rock John?

  562. John Clark 3rd June 2022 At 23:18
    EDIT
    “Wouldn’t the concept of ‘Rangersness’ carry on , unabated?
    Of course it would.”
    ————————
    Agree John ,Crazy panic at the time and I can’t get it out of my head.

  563. After a very enjoyable afternoon in the sun in our small crescent with neighbours from Jamaica , the Punjab, Australia, Nor’n Ireland, Aberdeen, Hungary , exotic Fife , even more exotic Yorkshire , I sit relaxed quietly re-reading the iniquitous “liars’ charter” that was the Joint Statement
    https://spfl.co.uk/news/joint-statement-2012-07-27
    The lying sons of bitc.es tried to assert that there had been a ‘transfer’ of RFC of 1872’s share in the SPL to a new owner and a corresponding ‘transfer’ of SFA membership.
    It was such a deliberate attempt to deceive that it is incredible that the SMSM and the BBC bought into it.

    SevcoScotland /TRFC had to apply, as a NEW SHAREHOLDER in a recognised League, for membership of the SFA.
    There was , and is , no way that TRFC could in any sense be regarded as ‘continuity RFC of 1872’ as if there had been a mere change of ownership.

    No, It is a 10 year old club, with only a 10 year record of participation in Scottish football, and ,in terms of sporting achievement, with absolutely no right to claim as being theirs the sporting history and successes of a now dead football club.
    The whole thing is just nonsense: propagated not only by the liars who hope to make money, but by lying, compromising journalistic hacks who are a disgrace to themselves and their profession, and, of much more sinister import, by the lying BBC Scotland.
    May every lying son of a b.tch in Scottish Football governance who was, is, party to the Big Lie be brought to account -preferably in this life when we could all see the ‘accounting’ process.
    The comforting and sure thing is that they themselves know who and what they are!
    Liars and betrayers of any kind of trust.
    Daddy, what did you do in your job? Why, son, I lied.
    Daddy what did you do in your job? Why, son, I propagated a lie.
    Daddy, in your publicly funded BBC job what did you do? Why, son, I broadcast on radio and TV perhaps the biggest sports lie there ever has been in this country!
    Wowwee, daddy! aren’t you nothing but the very best scum of the earth?
    Honest to God!

  564. John Clark 5th June 2022 At 00:08

    From the joint statement:
    “We are pleased to confirm that agreement has been reached on all outstanding points relating to the transfer of the Scottish FA membership between Rangers FC (In Administration), and Sevco Scotland Ltd, who will be the new owners of The Rangers Football Club.”
    /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    Several things are striking from that joint statement. Firstly, as we are all well aware some ten years into ‘the saga,’ the name of the entity that went into administration followed by liquidation is the Rangers Football Club plc, an incorporated football club.

    How peculiar then of the football authorities to ascribe those insolvency events to Rangers FC, rather than its operating company.

    Then they refer to Sevco as the new owners of The Rangers Football Club, NOT the owners of Rangers FC. Yet we know that TRFC only came into existence in 2012.

    Further on in the joint statement, reference is made to RFC(IA).

    You have to feel a smidgen of sympathy for our obviously confused band of inquisitive journalists for failing to challenge the blatant anomalies in the official statement when my six year-old grandson could pull it apart in seconds and show it up for the concocted work of fiction it truly is.

    ps I’m well aware that you and I are supposed to swallow the fallacy that Rangers FC was the owner and operator of the club, but I’m confident that you’re not gullible enough to fall for it either. If the football club owned and operated by the Rangers Football Club plc wasn’t Rangers FC or RFC, each of which died a self-inflicted death of liquidation, who exactly was it?

  565. Getting back to the statement that Rangers reps met with officials of Her Majesty’s Government to discuss Seville. What level of official did they meet with. Most levels of government have numerous people in positions to justify a wage and a [pompous title, (under assistant to the assistant to the secretary of the minister of whatever portfolio). I’m sure the higher ups passed this meeting off to the lowest level of minions. Where is Allly McCoist and his demand to know who are these people.

  567. Paradisebhoy 5th June 2022 At 18:35

    Wales v Ukraine , nothing to do with England . However this did not deter the Commentator “ Aaron Ramsay may be the first A.Ramsay to reach the World Cup since 1966 “ Unbelievable !
    ——————–
    Caused an uproar of hilarity in my local. Sides split, lager expelled onto walls etc…..

    Regarding the other topics, Leigh Griffiths will in due course be recognised to have had the final word on the matter: “Your club’s deid”.

  568. Vernallen 5th June 2022 At 18:16
    ‘..What level of official did they meet with. ‘
    ++++++++++
    Well, Vernallen, remember that the ‘Rangers’ name was powerful enough to let the Big Lie be endorsed in certain quarters such as the mercifully now defunct BBC Trust [ despicable bunch that they were] and by our less than honest SMSM hacks, and by the likes of Murdo whassisname , MSP ,and Alex and one or two other [relatively] influential folk in the murky world of Scottish politics.

    But one may as well ask a question, to see what kind of response one will get,

    It is a cardinal sin, of course, for anyone in government office [or any civil servant off his own bat] to to be caught out in an actual untruth when replying to a question from a member of the public.
    So, I have in mild amusement sent off this email to the email address of the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Digital Cultural Media and Sport..
    ‘To:
    enquiries@dcms.gov.uk
    Sun, 5 Jun at 22:38
    Dear ‘enquiries’,
    I understand from a report[ in what I freely admit is a not terribly informative or trustworthy tabloid newspaper] that Rangers International Football Club plc, the holding company of ‘The Rangers Football Club’ which applied for and gained, for the first time, membership of the Scottish Football Association in 2012, recently met with ‘ the UK Government’ to raise concerns about the way fans of the club were treated in a recent match in Seville.
    May I ask whether Mr Huddleston MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, chaired the meeting, and whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was represented at some level ?
    I ask because as I understand things Sport is a matter devolved to the Scottish Government, and I am interested in the finer workings in situations of shared(?) responsibility.
    Yours sincerely,
    me

  569. That is one belter of a question to ask, John! One of those questions that is better to give than to receive. I for one can’t wait for the reply to that one.

  570. Mordecai 6th June 2022 At 02:04
    ‘..I for one can’t wait for the reply to that one.’
    +++++++++
    I think , Mordecai, we may have a long wait!
    The site says merely ‘we will try to respond within 20 working days’

  571. Just a quiet reflection afore I go to bed, nothing to do DIRECTLY with football :

    D-day, June 6th 1944, was 10 days after my dad ,serving with ‘S’ company Scots Guards attached to the Coldstreams, had had his leg blown off on Monte Piccolo , after moving out of Cassino , after the Monastery was finally taken by the Poles, and the Germans had moved up the road to Rome.

    One of my fondest memories as a child is of my wee brother and I lying in bed with my dad on those occasions when my mum’s sister would stay overnight ( having to sleep in the same bed with my mum, while dad had to sleep in our bed].
    And we would ask him; ‘what would you do if a German attacked you?’
    And he would say ‘ Kick him a kick in the privates’ , as he lifted his arm ( with my head on it) to have a draw at his fag [Capstan cigarettes!] , with the bright red glow in the darkness.
    I’m smiling to myself as I write this.

  572. John Clark 1st June 2022 At 10:43

    ” This morning , representatives from Rangers met with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss the issues faced by our support in Seville before, during and after the Europa League Final”

    I wonder if the Government rep reminded them of the issues caused to the public purse by the illegal withholding of tens of millions of pounds in social taxes by a club that they still claim to be? A breakdown of just what the amount illegally with held could have bought for the NHS, Schools, or their beloved Armed Forces would have been a timely reminder. Or perhaps the UK Government were honoured to be cheated out of tax by the glorious, mighty Rangers. Just like the Scottish Government and Scottish Media were honoured. Now we are paying out an even bigger sum in compensation to people who were maliciously targeted in an attempt to absolve ‘Rangers’ of any wrongdoing. Why is there not an absolute uproar about this? In my view the fear of officialdom in having to admit there is indeed institutionalised bias towards ‘Rangers’ is the reason. If they admit it once, we are then entitled to ask just how many other times it has happened. Any public inquiry won’t give use the answer, that’s for sure. They might as well ask a certain demographic to write the conclusions in advance.

  574. Paddy Malarkey 7th June 2022 At 11:40
    ‘…Meet the new board , same as the old board ‘
    ++++++++++
    ‘ leopards and spots’ immediately come to mind.’
    Honest to God, I can almost smell the rotten reek from Ibrox here in Edinburgh.

  576. So … the GASL is back with a vengeance:-

    ‘ Dave King hits back at *Rangers CMA price fixing accusations and insists the club is not complicit in shirt deal’ (Football Scotland)

    Q: Was was complcit then?

    and it gets better …

    ‘ The South African based former chairman insists he kept a close eye on everything to make sure it was by the book’ Whit a belter that wiz!

    Q: What book are we talking about here!?

    Ye should jist keep yir trap shut Dave.

  577. Bect67 8th June 2022 At 11:17
    ‘..‘ The South African based former chairman insists he kept a close eye on everything to make sure it was by the book’’
    +++++++++
    Thanks for giving me a good laugh on a damp miserable morning!
    Holly Williams in today’s ‘The Scotsman’ has this:
    ” It [ i.e the CMA] also said that Rangers Football Club took part in the alleged collusion.”
    Mind you, that was ” only to the extent of fixing the retail price of adult home short-sleeved replica shirts from September 2018 to at least mid-November 2018″
    Well, that’s all right, then: just a wee bit of commercial dishonesty , not many fans ripped-off!
    Honest to God, what ARE they like ?

  578. I think the problem for TRFC/RIFC is that they appear to have instigated the price fixing and have yet to acknowledge their part ion fleecing their fans or apologise to them for their actions .

  579. ‘The Sun’ reports
    “..The South Africa-based businessman, who stepped down as Rangers chairman in March 2020, says it would have been IMPOSSIBLE for such arrangements to have happened without his knowledge.
    Speaking to the Herald, King said: “I was absolutely not aware and, due to the club’s prior embarrassments with retail, James Blair and I kept such a tight control over all commercial contracts that I don’t believe it was possible for Stewart (Robertson), or any other executive at the club, to enter into such an arrangement without my knowledge…'”
    We know what a judge in South Africa said about DK.
    Here is what Lionel Persey QC (sitting as a Judge of the High Court )had to say about Blair at para 87 of his judgment in the case of
    SDI RETAIL SERVICES LIMITED
    Claimant
    and –
    THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED
    Neutral Citation Number: [2019] EWHC 1929 (Comm)
    Case No: CL-2018-000631

    “87. Those rights were not only not offered to them but Rangers, through Mr Blair, untruthfully asserted that Hummel had not been granted any Offered Rights and did not provide SDIR with a copy of the Elite/Hummel Agreement. ”
    I think I would be a trifle unwilling to accept at face value any statement about the commercial affairs of a football club (which is itself living a lie about its own origins) made by DK or by Blair.

  580. Just for fun, while listening to the Armenia game, I have sent this email to the Integrity officer of the All India Football Federation:
    To:
    aiff@the-aiff.com

    Wed, 8 Jun at 21:23

    For the attention of Mr Javed Siraj,

    Integrity Officer

    Dear Mr Siraj,

    I was intrigued to see that the All India Football Federation recently entered into ‘partnership’ with The Rangers Football Club Ltd

    What really intrigued me was what Mr Savio Medeira, Technical Director and Head Coach Education, AIFF, said:

    “I am honoured that Rangers FC have signed an agreement with us. We are trying in our own way to be self-sustainable in various technical programmes. The association with this historic club (my italics) will add extreme value to our coach education programme, scouting processes, talent identification,and analysis amongst others, all in our endeavor (sic)to move forward together.”

    May I suggest, with all due deference, that you, as Integrity Officer, ought to explain to Mr Medeira that :

    ‘The Rangers Football Club’ to which he refers has no footballing history earlier than 2012. It was only in that year that it becme a share-holder in the then Scottish Football League, in right of which share-shareholding it became eligible to apply for membership of the Scottish Football Association(“SFA”).

    It did apply for, and was granted, membership of the SFA as a new football club into Scottish professional football in 2012.

    It is clear that Mr Medeira got confused ,or was led to believe that the ‘partnership’ entered into by the AIFF was with a quite different club- ‘Rangers Football Club’ that was founded in 1872!

    Sadly, that football club ( having changed its name to ‘RFC 2012 plc’) went into Liquidation in 2012,.

    It had to surrender its share in the then Scotttish Premier League. It ceased thereby to be entitled to membership of the SFA. It therefore died as a football club participating in Scottish Professional Football. ( A look at the UK’s Companies House records will show that it is in Liquidation still, as RFC 2012 plc, its huge debts to the tax-payers of the UK and to other creditors still unpaid)

    To many people here, a 10 -year-old football club that falsely claims to be 150 years old and to be entitled to the sporting honours of a dead club is somewhat lacking in the ‘Integrity’ department.

    I expect that football fans in India would think likewise.

    Yours very sincerely

    JC,
    Scotland

  581. Two comments from me:
    1. I see that the French authorities are now accepting that policing of the Champions League Final was flawed. I had previously noted my caution in following the media storm at the time. Happy to accept that things could have been better policed.
    2. I saw a tweet yesterday from TRFC promoting an event with the Scottish Government “celebrating” their 150th birthday. Was this for real? Leaving aside the obvious falsehood, I can’t comprehend the “English” (aka UK) government celebrating a “birthday” of a Man U, Arsenal, Wigan etc… Is the Scottish political-government-legal-professional classes so parochial???

  583. John Clark 9th June 20.21

    Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club, playing in the SCOTTISH league, having represented SCOTLAND in a European final and having recently won the SCOTTISH cup no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.

    • Albertz,
      Yes I do think it is strange. There is probably a fairly mundane explanation, but I sense (CAPS alert) the victim card being played again?
      Are you inferring that the Scottish Government are anti-Rangers? I would suggest that the phantom birthday party being held by ScotGov suggests otherwise …

  584. I routinely enjoy doing the mini quiz in ‘ The Scotsman’ .
    Today I had extra fun!
    “Q4. when is the feast day of St Valentine?
    Q5. which plucked stringed instrument has a body in the shape of a half pear?”

    An additional question sprang immediately to my mind:
    Q. in light of the CMA’s provisional findings: what play-on-words association of ideas might there be between the answers to those two questions and anything TRFC may have to say today about their current revenue figures ( as reported by David Oliver in today’s paper] ?
    No prizes for making the right connection!

  586. Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 10:01
    00Rate This

    John Clark 9th June 20.21

    Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club, playing in the SCOTTISH league, having represented SCOTLAND in a European final and having recently won the SCOTTISH cup no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.
    ———————–
    Fair play Albertz, cracking fishing trip.
    I genuinely laughed out loud when I read it, and I applaud you for it.
    When even your own clubs founding fathers, Green and Ahmed, know that the club they set up was brand new, then how can you expect politicians to go to an event that is a lie?
    Your new club have, since the day they were formed been in more courts than Nadal, appealing everything and anything, no matter how trivial.
    Yet when they started life in the 4th tier they didn’t appeal this, inexplicable if they thought it was the same club, especially so with the difference in revenues obtained in the 4th tier rather than top tier, especially when they regarded it as ‘the journey’.
    Why take part in the journey if the destination is a simple court case away.
    You constantly hear from sevconians that Uefa Fifa, Sfa, Ad agencies, and every other party you can think of, say its the same club, if so, all they had to do was what they do with everything since they were formed, just appeal.
    It would be an open and shut case and the compensation due to being incorrectly placed in the 4th tier would be enormous, especially if, as we keep hearing, Uefa say it’s the same club.
    Hey, maybe they preferred playing brickies, plumbers and welders rather than full time footballers, especially if the managers don’t turn up for matches, for instance if they decide to get married on the day instead.
    So, in summary, if your own clubs founding fathers don’t think they are the same club as the one that died, then politicians are surely obliged to believe the same.
    As I said, brilliant fishing trip.

  588. Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 10:01
    ‘,,Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club…… no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.’
    Paddy Malarkey 10th June 2022 At 13:17
    ‘..Were they invited , Douglas Ross and all ?’
    ++++++++++
    It was because I didn’t, and still don’t, know whether RIFC plc/TRFC extended an invitation to the Scottish Government that I wrote to the ‘UK Government’ instead of to Holyrood.
    I think it is safe to say that a football club dependent on its fervent loyalty to ‘Unionism’ is scarcely likely to invite the arch-enemies of Scottish political independence to any kind of celebration!
    No, I suspect that they are much more comfortable with the Borisonians, who speak the same false language as themselves, incapable of distinguishing truth from falsehood.

  590. My guess is that the SNP were not invited. I also don’t quite understand the auspices of the event. Who paid? Who did the invites?

    I’m also guessing that A list celebrities were thin on the ground if Alister Jack was the keynote invitee 🙂

  591. my post of 13.56!
    Obvious mistake: line 4 – arch-enemies’ should read ‘arch-proponents’ . (I was interrupted mid-post and lost my concentration)

  592. Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 13:44
    Oh , deary me , where to start with that pile of fish ? Pity they let the old club meet it’s demise .Celebrating the 150th birthday of an institution just before it croaks smacks of desperation , The new club is doing better than alright , so why hang onto the coattails of a failed and corrupt enterprise ?

  593. Paddy Malarkey 10th June 2022 At 14:22
    ‘… so why hang onto the coattails of a failed and corrupt enterprise ?’
    ++++++++++
    And why didn’t the ‘UK government’ [ in the shape of the Insolvency Service, the FCA, HMRC ] pursue TRFC for the tax debts of RFC of 1872 if the latter did not die as a result of Liquidation?
    They cannot have it both ways: RFC of 1872 owes millions :there was no other entity that incurred the debt, no ‘separate ‘ holding company’ , but only RFC plc of 1872 under the reckless, feckless, unchallenged hubristic SDM.
    It follows that if TRFC is RFC of 1872 then TRFC owed and still owes the money, and that only some really dirty work at levels of football governance and UK Government allowed the monstrous Big Lie to be created and supported .
    This was not, and is not ,merely a simple ‘sports’ story .
    And it is a shameful indictment of the SMSM in particular that they have not only supported the Big Lie but have propagated it for ten years.

  594. Oh for the good old days, when the BBC investigated, asked hard questions, and published the truth!
    I had another wee read of what the BBC was saying on 23 May 2012.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18169501
    How they changed their tune and bought into the Big Lie later on when leaned on by the BBC Trust instead of resisting to the point of crisis resignations!
    What was in it for Pacific Quay?
    Had they followed up appropriately, there would have been no question of the SFA daring to create the nonsense of a lie that the new club they admitted into Scottish Football as ‘Sevcoscotland’ could be regarded as RFC of 1872.
    Honest to God, how those people can live with themselves.

  595. a wee change of Sport to see a bit of condign punishment for cheats:
    CAS Media Release (tas-cas.org)
    [control +click to open this link to a CAS judgment in a canoe/kayaking Russian doping case going back a few years. The World Doping Agency won its appeal against the decision of the International Canoeing Federation in the case of some Russian competitors , and the dope- using athletes were stripped of medals, honours, prize money and banned for a period.
    They do things better in some sports!

  596. Following up a tweet by CQN today , I discover ( from reading ‘Automotive Management online’] that Celtic’s league championship win has eased the SPFL’s/Doncaster’s problems over the balls-up he made of the cinch sponsorship deal, in that cinch has benefited from a degree of brand exposure from that balls-up that it could never have afforded to buy!
    I assume the inference is that cinch may be more relaxed about the need to pull the SPFL contract on the grounds of breach of contract by the SPFL? Which might let Doncaster / the current SPFL board off the hook.

    https://www.am-online.com/news/latest-news/2022/05/23/scottish-football-s-8m-cinch-sponsorship-row-eased-by-celtic-league-title-win
    Mind you, If cinch don’t go after the SPFL for breach, I’ll be so disappointed that I will not ever give cinch MY custom!
    ( Aye, a’ right! I know that’s a bit like the’ Skibbereen Eagle’ newspaper which, in 1898, ran a famous editorial that declared: “We will still keep our eye on the Emperor of Russia and on all such despotic enemies, whether at home or abroad, of human progression and man’s natural rights . . .”]
    But still….

  597. The commercial director for Rangers should be reminded of the old saying, “loose lips sink ships” when it comes to crowing about their income garnered through commercial and football sources. I’m sure the CMA folk will be keeping a sharp eye on these numbers as the collusion case unfolds. Some of the investors and loanees may have a look and decide maybe I’m due some return on my flutters. With the global economy nearing free fall pennies will need to be pinched at all levels. Will any of this income be allocated to the massive losses accrued over the last few years. The next set of financials should paint a cleared picture of what really transpired, and, will show the actual (hopefully) net of these numbers and not just the gross. Will any of it be allocated to the 150th anniversary which if you go by months starting in 2012 almost comes to 150.

  598. That smirking face of whassisname ( Bennet?] prompted me to send this email to my MSP .
    To: Ash.Regan.msp@parliament.scot

    Fri, 10 Jun at 23:22

    Dear Ms Regan,
    I understand that on 8 June the Secretary of State for Scotland hosted a party in Dover House to celebrate the 150th(?) birthday of Rangers Football Club.
    Can I ask you, please, to let me know whether the Scottish Government were invited to that party?
    And if so, whether the invitation was accepted?
    May I further ask you find out and let me know whether the costs of that party were met by HM Government at UK tax-payers expense?

    Yours in Scotland,
    (me)

  600. Looking forward to another new season and what disputes and court cases the ibrox club will bring us this season. One thing is sure in life they will not dissapoint.

  601. Remember the journalist who was sentenced to 8 months for contempt of court during the Alex Salmond trial?
    The normal avenues of appeal were unsuccessfully pursued, but he appealed to the ‘nobile officium’ which is pronounced in Court as ‘ nobbily offik-y-um’ [ Scots law:the equitable discretion of the Court of Sessions to afford relief in cases where none is possible at law]
    I’ve just come across the outcome of that appeal on BAILLII.
    Quite interesting reading.
    https://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotHC/2022/2022_HCJAC_14.html

  602. I find it interesting that Keith Jackson is calling for Steve Clarke to step aside. With some of the tripe he prints this could be construed as pot-kettle-black. For someone who has been around Scottish football for sometime he does come up with some off the wall stories and ideas. Also some recent stories regarding the Scotland/Ireland game with constant references to Celtic flop Shane Duffy were a little over the top. Granted he didn’t show his ability in Scotland and along with a number of Celtic signings that failed to impress also labelled as flops. Strangely you rarely see that title attached to some well known names that have graced the team sheet for Rangers, i.e., Ramsay, Barton, Diallo, etc.

  603. Out of curiosity and starved of my ‘fix’ I watched the world cup play off qualifier between Australia and Peru. The infra dig ‘not getting those two hours back’ was never more appropriate. A turgid tense affair only entertaining at the last when Australia brought on a penalty saving specialist goalkeeper. (Commentators description not mine.) The said supersubs ability seemed to consist of dancing across the penalty line while waving his hands in the air like a demented windmill of sorts in order one presumes to distract the penalty taker. The Australian coach will no doubt be credited with some kind of masterstroke as they won the shootout and qualified for the world cup finals.The beautiful game indeed….

  604. Daily Record reports ;
    “ A UK Government spokesperson said: “Rangers Football Club held an event in Dover House last week to mark their 150th anniversary. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack attended the event and made a short speech. The reception was organised and paid for by the football club.”

  605. Paradisebhoy 14th June 2022 At 00:51
    ‘..Scottish Secretary Alister Jack attended the event ‘
    +++++++
    But in the same piece, the deceitful DR brazenly says
    “Rangers mark 150th anniversary with Scotland Office event HOSTED (my capitals) by Alister Jack”

    and the accompanying photograph of Jack has the subscript
    ‘.. Alister Jack PUT ON (my capitals) a reception for Rangers FC in the Scotland Office’

    while Robertson is quoted “I believe it speaks volumes for the contribution Rangers has made to our nation in a positive sense over these years that the club is being recognised in this manner”

    Geez, these guys out-do Putin in disseminating ,at best, desperate half-truths in an attempt to legitimise the illegitimate and shore up the Big Lie that TRFC is RFC of 2012.

  606. ‘Most insecure club in world football’ ‘So they paid for the entire gig’ ‘Inventing fake honours’ Fake News 150th Anniversary is exposed

    Joe McHugh
    |
    08:20 14/06/22

    Management at the Daily Record might be discovering an unexpected truth this morning. There is a market for honestly covering events at Ibrox.

    Ten years ago today creditors, including Her Majesty and Dave King rejected the offer of a CVA pushing Rangers into the liquidation process. BDO are still on the case.
    Those front pages on June 14 and 15 were conveniently pushed aside as the Lie/Myth was launched with every media outlet in Scotland on board with Charles Green.

    Apparently the businessman from Yorkshire bought the ‘history of the club from the administrators, gifting the new club a clutch of honours dating back to the 19th century.

    Other lies have been launched down the years, Andy Gray and Richard Keys hosted an on-pitch ceremony for the 140th anniversary with a bizarre campaign of ‘Going for 55’ accepted without any question despite Rangers resting in the football mortuary alongside Third Lanark, Gretna and Airdrie.

    Last week the club’s PR team released details of how HM Government had held a dinner at the Scottish Office to celebrate the 150th anniversary.

    Free-loaders Alex McLeish and Mikey Gove turned up with glowing accounts shared of the event which seemed to be aimed at London based firms targeted for commercial link ups.

    Craig McCall, of the Political Desk at the Daily Record decided to send out a couple of enquires. In reply it was discovered that rather than HM Government hosting the event and sending out invites the whole affair had been bought and paid for by the club.

    Since Aaron Ramsey relaunched The Banter Years in Seville it has been a rich summer with Watergate followed up by other events with the Fake 150th Anniversary dinner typical of a club trying too hard to cover their tracks.
    ————————————-
    Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 10:01
    02Rate This

    John Clark 9th June 20.21

    Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club, playing in the SCOTTISH league, having represented SCOTLAND in a European final and having recently won the SCOTTISH cup no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.
    ————————
    Albertz
    Now that yet another lie from Sevco has been exposed, and bearing in mind how you unwittingly were backing them up at the expense of the Scottish Government just a few days ago, do you want to take your comments back?
    Will you be asking for your club to apologise to all it’s fans for deliberately and cynically lying to them and to yourself?
    All done to keep the big lie going from the present board, while your clubs founding father congratulated and thanked the Scottish football authorities for permitting them into the 4th tier in 2012 and the memory of it is conveniently forgotten.
    Does that sound like the actions of a man who thought his club had been ‘demoted three divisions’
    while there is no mechanism anywhere for doing so?
    Will you apologise for your unfounded and unwarranted criticism of the Scottish government and instead actually praise them for not taking part in such a sham, if they had indeed been invited, especially when you take into account the Charles Green trial where he confirmed under oath that he tried to buy the club but failed , and instead only bought the assets to start a new rangers, to which even the lawyer for new rangers admitted that the idea of the club surviving liquidation ‘….was something that the law of the land had still to catch up with….’

  607. https://thecelticstar.com/acting-like-a-10-year-old-spoiled-brat-cringeworthy-fake-news-and-their-desperation-for-legitimacy/

    ‘Acting like a 10 year old spoiled brat’, ‘Cringeworthy’ – Fake News and their Desperation for Legitimacy
    By SHAUN RILEY 14 June, 2022

    After (fake) news broke of a celebratory reception in London – apparently from the UK Government at the Scotland Office – to mark the (cough) 150th anniversary of a club that has only been in existence since 2012, it now appears that the party ‘invite’ was nothing of the sort, instead theRangers paid for the soiree themselves. A bit like hiring out a room at the Vatican for your grandparents ruby wedding anniversary and telling all the guests the invitations were from Papa Francesco himself.

    Or sending yourself a Valentine’s card…

    In a statement released before the event on 8 June, theRangers managing director Stewart Robertson, as reported on their official website, said:

    “We are very honoured and grateful to have been invited by the Secretary of State for Scotland to this very special event to mark the 150th anniversary of Rangers Football Club.

    “I believe it speaks volumes for the contribution Rangers has made to our nation in a positive sense over these years that the club is being recognised in this manner, and we look forward to promoting the good name of Rangers even further this evening to invited guests from across the political spectrum, as well as wider society.”

    That approach was quickly clarified after a few questions from Deputy Political Editor at the Record – well it was never likely to come from the Sports Desk – Chris McCaul, as a far shorter and significantly more honest quote emerged.

    “Rangers Football Club held an event in Dover House last week to mark their 150th anniversary. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack attended the event and made a short speech.
    “The reception was organised and paid for by the football club.”

    This is the sort of embarrassment that would have any self-respecting football club’s board hiding under the duvet for weeks, but when you are in charge of Old Firm FC, create fantasies of going for 55 titles in less than a decade and are desperation for a continuity myth to be accepted then you need a group of staunch men in your boardroom who couldn’t have their neck marked by a blow-torch.

    Thankfully in this case it appears the deputy political editor of the Record doesn’t have quite the same constraints on reporting – or indeed asking questions – as those on the sports desk, who are all too happy to fall into line and publish questionable stories as factual without the merest of fact-checking being applied – a bit like the lack of due diligence applied to sponsorship deals at Ibrox.

    Perhaps a new crypto-currency sponsor will be announced today to deflect from another fine story to add to the Banter Years.

    Shaun Riley
    —————
    Sevco,,,compulsive liars.

  608. A final point on the Sevco tweets.
    It’s really unbelievable how a clubs employees can just lie and lie constantly.
    They probably do it hoping to build a siege mentality among Sevconians.
    And sadly it has worked out well among the brain donors in their support.

  609. The reply I received from my MSP to my queries re the Dover House party:

    “Mon, 13 Jun at 12:27
    Dear Mr …
    Thank you for your email, I am Caseworker to Ash Regan MSP and contact you as such today in regards to information you seek on the recent 150th anniversary of Rangers Football Club celebration hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland at Dover House.

    All of your questions can be personally raised by yourself with a FOI with the Scottish office as our office is not permitted to do this on your behalf.

    I have linked below the contact details for your convenience.
    ​​​​​​
    To request information you can:
    email ceu@gov.scot
    write to:
    ​​​​General Enquiries Scottish Government
    St. Andrew’s House
    Regent Road
    Edinburgh
    EH1 3DG

    I hope this information is helpful to you.

    Yours Sincerely ”

    And my acknowledgment of that reply :
    Tue, 14 Jun at 23:28
    Thank you, Ms —-, for your reply and please forgive my ignorance in these matters.
    As it happens, I see from Press reports that the initial information provided by ‘Rangers’ was cringe-inducingly misleading in that it strongly suggested that the ten-year-old ‘The Rangers Football Club’ was being ‘honoured’ in England by the Secretary of State for Scotland for its contribution to the ‘nation’ .

    The truth now appears to be that rather than ‘hosting’ the celebration, the Secretary of State for Scotland was merely a guest, (he himself, perhaps, even feeling honoured to be a guest!) having permitted the birthday celebrations to be held in Dover House, a venue described breathlessly as being ‘close to Downing Street’ (big wowees!) ,and that all expenses [ tax deductible], perhaps?] incurred are said to have been met by The Rangers Football Club.

    Yours sincerely,.”

    Good fun, except that it’s serious that a ten year old football club’s lie that it is 150 years old should be endorsed by any government representative happy to be a Boris.

  610. Vernallen 13th June 2022 At 22:41
    ‘..I find it interesting that Keith Jackson is calling for Steve Clarke to step aside.’
    +++++++++
    The really interesting thing for me as I listened was that Tom English was the first on BBC radio Scotland to begin the attack , subtly enough , on Steve Clarke after the RoI game.
    As I have said before, or implied, I believe that English is less than journalistically objective in the same way as most of the SMSM, working for the BBC .

  611. Wednesday 15th June 2022

    SPFL NEGOTIATES NEW CINCH DEAL
    PRESS RELEASE: 15 JUNE 2022

    The SPFL have agreed a revised title sponsorship deal with cinch, effective immediately, which protects cinch’s pivotal investment into Scottish football.

    Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, said: “Under the terms of the revised cinch contract, Rangers are no longer required to participate by providing the sponsorship inventory that they have so far not provided, whilst, crucially, the overall income to Scottish football is expected to remain materially unchanged over the original five-year term of the sponsorship.

    “This revised package has now been approved by cinch Premiership Clubs.

    “It’s extremely good news that we have been able to work with our partners at cinch to develop an updated sponsorship package which delivers the same level of financial support to Scottish football, whilst providing additional SPFL media assets to cinch to compensate for loss of Rangers-related rights. It is testament to the strength of our relationship with cinch, and the high value they place on it, that they have agreed to move forward with us on this basis.

    “This deal gives us further confidence that we will exceed our budget and deliver fees to Clubs of more than £27.5 million for Season 2021/22.”

    Murdoch MacLennan, chairman of the SPFL, added: “This is a great outcome for the entire game in Scotland. Our friends at cinch have been brilliant to deal with throughout this whole process.

    “There is so much to celebrate in the SPFL as cinch and our clubs look forward with excitement to the launch of the 2022/23 fixture list this Friday.”

    A spokesman for cinch said: “We welcome the evolution of our agreement with the SPFL and are proud of our continued investment into Scottish football across all four cinch SPFL leagues. We are very much looking forward to next season and to continuing the stellar growth of our business in Scotland.”
    ………………………………
    Pretty much vindicates Rangers position in this shambles.

  612. I see on BBC that TRFC are being excused from obligations under the cinch deal. Clearly a bit of an omnishambles by the SPFL but what is not reported with any clarity is whether TRFC are also being excused from sharing in the associated revenues from the cinch arrangement. I would expect this to be the case but would be foolish enough to presume that it is the case…

  613. Well, there we have it!
    “SPFL’s new cinch deal grants ‘vindicated’ Rangers exemptions as club makes pointed statement on matter”
    ‘The Scottish Professional Football League has agreed a revised sponsorship deal with its current partners cinch, which will allow Rangers to be excluded from displaying the car firm’s branding’
    (from ‘ The Scotsman’ )
    By Mark Atkinson
    Wednesday, 15th June 2022, 8:05 pm
    Updated
    2 hours ago
    https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/spfls-new-cinch-deal-grants-vindicated-rangers-exemptions-as-club-makes-pointed-statement-on-matter-3733429
    —
    So Doncaster and the other board members of the SPFL , in spite of
    having given the nod to the nonsense that TRFC is RFC of 1872
    and of having prostituted themselves in allowing RIFC plc to market itself as being the holding company of RFC of 1872 against every canon of Scottish football regulation , plain common sense and insolvency legislation, are having their feeding hands bitten by the cheating RIFC plc/TRFC .
    Honest to God!
    Scottish Football is now a farce. The SPFL was a necessary party to the Big Lie. And by its cowardly kow-towing to other liars, lost all authority.
    And further , by not even understanding its own feckin Articles of Association, is now having its feeding hand being bitten by those whom it fed.
    Hell mend the whole lot of them.
    But, fair do’s, TRFC appear to have had right on their side in the matter of prior contracts.

  614. Wokingcelt 15th June 2022 At 22:23
    ‘…Clearly a bit of an omnishambles by the SPFL but what is not reported with any clarity is whether TRFC are also being excused from sharing in the associated revenues from the cinch arrangement.’
    +++++++
    I hadn’t seen your post, Wokingcelt, before my post of 23.19 tonight.
    But I see where you’re coming from!
    Do you think we will ever hear from anyone in the SPFL?
    Not a chance!
    And why? Because their Articles of Association say nothing about whether a club that cannot , because of a pre-existing contract, be part of an SPFL sponsorship contract that does not include them, should not get anything from that contract!
    TRFC are laughing all the way to the bank!
    As they have been laughing at the SPFL since their success in having the Big Lie endorsed in 2012 by a cowardly governance body or two.
    Lord, how I long to spit as much physically as metaphorically on those ‘governance’ persons .

  615. Mike Bedigan , of PA Media, reports as follows in today’s ‘The Scotsman’:
    ” Dozens of UK journalists and media sanctioned by Russia say an imposed travel ban will “not silence” their work and have vowed to keep reporting ” independently and fairly”…BBC journalists Nick Robinson , Orla Guerin and Clive Myrie, who have all reported from the ground in Ukraine and its capital of Kyiv also feature [ on the list of those ‘sanctioned’ by Russia]
    A spokesperson for the BBC said: “we will continue to report independently and fairly”

    I wonder how the BBC Scotland football ‘journalists’ can look at each other without a feeling of shame at their own personal refusal to report truthfully that TRFC is a 10 year old football club absolutely not entitled to claim the sporting successes and honours of the defunct RFC of 1872?

    I would imagine that the likes of Orla Guerin and other real journalists who risk their very lives in pursuit of facts and truth would have nothing but contempt for such BBC ‘colleagues’ and the hierarchy at Pacific Quay.

  616. Albertz11 15th June 2022 At 20:16
    Pretty much vindicates Rangers position in this shambles.
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    Surely it could only be the entirely separate and unrelated operating company that was vindicated, not the metaphysical football club, whose only function is to collect kudos, trophies and titles, even those that it didn’t win.

  617. I meant to add to my previous post of 10.54am that Neil Doncaster is coming under increasing attack from Rangers* in view of his woeful incompetence in the cinch contract cock-up. Remember though, this is the same woefully incompetent Neil Doncaster whose word is nonetheless supposedly sacrosanct on the sole matter of club continuity, where his word is law and must not be questioned.

  618. Statement from Parks of Hamilton Ltd

    A spokesperson for Parks of Hamilton Ltd said: “We were not surprised to learn from the media announcement last night that the SPFL have finally acknowledged Rangers legitimately engaged rule i7 in June of last year and thus, vindicated the stance held by the club for over a year. It is not for us to speculate as to why the SPFL leadership sought to ignore their own rules for so long.

    “The fact that the SPFL prevaricated and continued to stall an arbitration process they themselves initiated in August last year, and which was ruled upon by the court of appeal in October, underlined the weakness of the case they truly had. Were it not for our interim interdict, it is clear their strategy was to try and bully one of their members and shareholders; a strategy which they have employed on numerous occasions.

    “Throughout the last year, Park’s have kept their counsel as the SPFL leadership insulted us and misled the SFA, their member clubs, their title sponsor, and various other stakeholders in Scottish football.

    “We have a long standing and proud association with Scottish football, and it was entirely wrong that we were compelled to take the SFA to court because the SPFL decided to abuse the SFA’s arbitration process. We believe that the SPFL and members of its leadership have brought the game in to disrepute and have failed, as have the SPFL as an organisation, to act with the utmost good faith towards their members.

    “The SFA must carry out an independent investigation into this issue which has cost all parties involved hundreds of thousands of pounds. Despite being awarded expenses in court, Park’s will not recover all their legal fees nor be compensated for the reputational damage caused by the SPFL.

    “Finally, the glaring omission from the SPFL’s statement was an apology. The SPFL leadership owe their members an apology, they owe Park’s an apology, they owe the SFA an apology and they also owe an apology to Rangers. Unfortunately, they seem to lack any accountability and would rather spend their members money than admit their failures.”

  619. Albertz11 15th June 2022 At 20:16
    Pretty much vindicates Rangers position in this shambles.
    ——————————————————————————–

    Or we can acknowledge and applaud the flexible pragmatism of a major sponsor.This does not let either party off the hook for incompetence and bloody minded obstinancy.Only Cinch come out of this with any credit.There is most certainly no moral high ground for The Rangers…..the very thought!

  620. To my prior post, the Daily Record (I know) reports that TRFC gets to share in the deal. I’m sorry but I don’t get why this should be the case. If TRFC home games are “cinch deserts” then why should they share in revenues as presumably they won’t be showing or wearing cinch branding. I get the away team will be wearing cinch on their sleeves, but TRFC don’t share in shirt sponsorship of the opposition. And away games – again not wearing any cinch brands.
    A contract requires that some value must be exchanged between both parties. What value are TRFC providing IF they are receiving payment? If this basic question has not been asked then please tell me who are the SPF’s retained legal advisors?.

  621. I refer to this link
    https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/rangers-and-cinch-row-another-major-twist-as-spfl-responds-to-parks-of-hamilton-with-blistering-statement-3734965

    I love it when the baddies fall out with other!

    I hope that the SPFL recognises their folly in having shared in the Big Lie of the ‘5-Way Agreement’ which allowed a club newly created in 2012 to purchase a League company share which allowed it to apply for membership of the SFA and falsely claim sporting honours won by a now defunct club.

    They can see clearly now that that abandonment of Sporting Integrity has left them with even less moral authority than the Boards of TRFC and RIFC plc.
    The time has come for honest men/women to demand a return to sporting truth: to tell RIFC plc that it is NOT the holding company of Rangers of 1872,and will not be allowed any longer to claim to be so.

  622. I find it amusing that Mr. Parks makes reference to Rangers long standing and proud association with Scottish football in the latest statement regarding the cinch mess. This surely must have been delivered tongue in cheek as it is difficult to build such a relationship in ten years especially when you are taking pot shots at the governing body on a regular basis, delivering a limp wristed dossier on all the evils that befell said club and then have the gall to claim a piece of the sponsorship money for not participating. It is interesting to note that, as far as I can ascertain, the Parks promotion of the Ibrox club has been fairly secretive as I have yet to see any signage on crests, nothing in the stadium etc. Surely if you were spending promotional funds on your brand you would want the reputed world wide audience of millions, and, the 50,000 fans every second week to be aware of your sponsorship. Invisible signage does not sell cars. Once and for all the governing bodies should stand up and call these people out. Of course this could lead to their favorite sport legal action where they have enjoyed tremendous success over the years.

  623. With regard to Mr Parks claim of costs of damage to reputation is this in connection with the reporting last week of increased brand awareness of cinch as a result of the protracted dispute? Perhaps the law of unintended consequences has struck again…

  624. Vernallen 16th June 2022 At 22:46
    ‘..It is interesting to note that, as far as I can ascertain, the Parks promotion of the Ibrox club has been fairly secretive as I have yet to see any signage on crests, nothing in the stadium etc. ‘
    ++++++++++
    And ,of course, Vernallen, given that TRFC lie about their very date-of-birth as a football club, it is not to be wondered at that ,when they played silly buggers by not simply letting the SPFL see evidence of their pre-existing Park’s contract, suspicions were raised that they might have been lying about that as well.
    The Court of Session seemed to be satisfied that there was a pre-dating contract
    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2021csih61.pdf?sfvrsn=f0711814_1

    at para [4] from which I cite this

    “Facts
    [4] The petitioners specialise in the sale of new and used cars. They have a longstanding
    commercial relationship with Rangers. This includes advertisement by Rangers of the
    petitioners’ business. A written contract has been in existence since June 2015. It was
    renewed on 17 May 2021 ”

    It seems rather odd that Park’s did not , does not, insist on some fairly prominent advertising material being regularly displayed within Ibrox, if their sponsorship contract included such a condition: and it’s hard to see how such a condition would not be part of the contract!

  626. FIFA referee Bobby Madden is quitting Scottish football to move to the English system.

    Madden, 43, became a FIFA ref in 2010 and has taken charge of Scottish Cup and League Cup finals across a career which has seen him appointed to over 1,000 matches in Scotland..

  627. Vernallen 16th June 2022 At 22:46
    They wouldn’t have been shovelling money in on the pretext that they were paying for advertising , would they ? That would be against the rules , surely . As you say , zero visibility of any adverts for Parks of Hamilton .

  628. Paddy Malarkey 17th June 2022 At 20:56
    ‘…They wouldn’t have been shovelling money in on the pretext that they were paying for advertising , would they ? That would be against the rules , surely ..’
    ++++++++++
    I’ve had a quick look at Section 8(11) and 8[12] (which relate to requirements to provide financial accounts] ,of the Club Licensing Manual 2022 Edition National & UEFA
    https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/8470/scottish-fa-club-licensing-manual-2022.pdf
    Section 8(12) says (among other things)
    “The reporting perimeter shall also include any entities included in the legal group structure which generate revenues or perform services for the club in respect of ticketing; SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING;[my capitals]; broadcasting; merchandising and hospitality; club operations; financing;
    use of stadium and youth operations.”
    I take it from that that clubs have to report what sponsorship deals they may have.
    It does not mention any requirement to report the receipt of any cash gifts or donations?
    In the abstract, therefore, no club needs to report that Mr X made a ‘free’ gift of a substantial sum of money.
    So perhaps any football club needn’t report that one of its directors is very generous donation wise, unconnected with ‘sponsorship’ of the club or in expectation of a cash/shares/dividend return?
    In the abstract, if a club was in financial difficulties and a wealthy individual gave them a monetary gift, or regular gifts, to tide them over, there would seem to be no breach of the Rules?
    It’s damned difficult to find out!

  629. Paddy Malarkey — 17th June — 20:56
    Is it possible that the Park’s contract with Rangers was of the “in kind” variety. Parks supplies cars for players and staff during the season for mention in programs, media ads, etc. This could the reason for the apparent lack of signage in the stadium and no cresting on sweaters. Its a fairly common practice with some sports teams in North America. Dealer supplies vehicles and is known as the official vehicle supplier for such and such team. If that is the contract in place with Rangers and Parks I don’t see a conflict with the cinch promotion. However, as long as they can play the victim card their fans will see them as hard done by. I note today with the release of the upcoming season’s fixtures list the fans are already complaining about a norther trip on Christmas Eve. How long will it take the club to issue a scathing statement over the fixture’s list.

  630. I read yesterday Henry McLeish’s piece in ‘The Scotsman’ in which he bemoans again what appears to him to be the take-over of the SFA by the SPFL, to the detriment of the national game.

    I set the newspaper aside to have another, more considered read of the piece today, in the quiet of a Saturday evening , with my snifter of no longer ‘Whyte and McKay’ because Morrisons have put 50p on the price, but good old Grant’s, and went to find it a few minutes ago.

    Alas and alack, Mrs C tells me that it is out in the recycle bin!

    If I was not already in my lightweight ‘fabindia’ brand woven cotton kind of pyjama-like trousers I would go out and howk it out of the bin. But it’s nowhere near dark enough, and I wouldn’t want to frighten the horses.

    So all I can say from memory is that McLeish is advocating the creation of some kind of oversight body composed of people like Craig Brown to work within the SFA to ensure that the National game is fostered and protected against the self-serving interests of a few powerful clubs.

    My initial reaction to that is that there is no need for anything other than that the voting members of the SFA should take their individual responsibilities seriously-and appoint to the Board of the SFA men/women of INTEGRITY in Scottish Football, instead of unprincipled wimps who are easily influenced by the clubs they are attached to or others who are prepared to abandon principle for base monetary considerations.

    ” Oh, granddad ! You were actually on the Board of the SFA! Wowee! What did you do?”
    “Ach, boy, it was great! I helped to create a fantastic miracle! I was on the very Board that created the myth that a dead club was still alive, even though in 2012 I dealt with its application for membership as a new club”
    ” Why did you lie, granddad?”
    ” It’s complicated, son, but basically ….”
    ps: I began this post while it was still broad daylight about an hour ago, but got diverted and have only just come back to it.

  631. I haven’t seen any follow up in ‘ The Scotsman’ to Henry McLeish’s piece to which I referred in my post of 18th June 2022 At 22:58
    Is he a busted flush as far as exercising any influence on Scottish Football?
    We might get some idea during the SFSA’s zoomed AGM on 26th, when he is a guest.
    I have my ‘ticket ‘ for the event , at which the CEO of the English Football Association is also to be a guest.
    It’s to be hoped there will be something more than mere pious platitudes and vague generalisations.

  632. Interesting article released today about the best run football clubs in Europe. It must be a tough pill for Celtic fans to swallow as their club came in at 75th. An even tougher pill for Rangers as they landed at 107th ( this out of 185 cubs surveyed). Will it be navel gazing time for both of these clubs as only one of them seems to have a clear picture of the path going forward, well the other is still trying to find an identity, when where we formed, how old are we, etc. Must be getting close to statement time with the SPFL getting the blame for the ranking.

  633. I note that about 2 hours ago Simon Kelner , journalist and former editor, asks this question about a [political] matter not immediately related to the relatively trivial business of ‘sport’:

    “Not least”, he asks, ” why did some other mainstream media organisations, and in particular the BBC, ignore both the story itself and the fact that it may have been suppressed?”

    I would suggest to him, that they did so for the same reasons that caused the SMSM generally and BBC Scotland in particular to sell their rotten souls to the devil and agree to propagate the Big Lie.

    For the BBC to lie about sport is one thing, evil and wicked enough.
    To pull a serious political story on a phone call from Downing Street is a truly dangerous indicator that the BBC is as rotten in serious matters of state as it is in matters of mere football.

    This is the link to the story I refer to ( Boris’s alleged job offer to his girl-friend]
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-pulled-carrie-johnson-story-raises-questions-we-simply-cannot-ignore/ar-AAYFLqW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f20e3ac8ab7242e49f9469677214626c

    Back in 2016, Kelner wrote:
    ” Many years ago, when I was a cub reporter at a weekly newspaper in South Wales, I had the responsibility of covering the local rugby club. It being Wales, this was a important job.

    At the end of one season, they held a public meeting to discuss how things had gone that year. The club secretary, in his closing remarks, addressed the journalists. “It is great to see so many members of the press here,” he said, “and I’d like to say a particular thanks to you for keeping all those things out of the paper”.
    The pervasive feeling among sports organisations was that journalists were there to protect them rather than expose them”
    Whatever about Wales, we here in Scotland learned that the SMSM and the BBC in particular saw, and see, their main sports function to be the propagation and fostering of the Big Lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872!

    I feel a wee letter to Kelner coming on, to put to him the peculiar set of circumstances that allows RIFC plc to claim to the holding company of a liquidated club-without a query from the Insolvency service, the FCA, or HMRC. I think there’s a bigger story than ‘football’ to be explored there.
    A wee story that other football clubs who may enter Administration
    could learn from!
    And I ask myself again: why the hell Hearts didn’t do what Rangers did?

    • John C

      The BBC has indeed become rotten to the core, largely because of its politicisation by David Cameron after the 2010 General Election, when political appointees became the norm. BBC Scotland is following that model even more fiercely imo, but additionally, the sports department corruption at BBC Scotland is (historically) more of a reflection of local, er, cultural conditions.

      However it it is I think fair to say that those cultural considerations are very much in sync with the political climate in a Scottish sense. Defence if the Union is very much in keeping with defence of the staunchly Unionist establishment club.
      So a perfect storm is brewing perhaps.

      It is in some ways an insult to decent Unionists that they are pigeonholed in the same dovecote as the George Square rabble, and is a huge boon to those supporting Independence.

  634. Vernallen 20th June 2022 At 22:40
    ‘..Interesting article released today about the best run football clubs in Europe.’
    +++++++++
    What I found interesting was this:

    “When asked about St Johnstone, Dundee and Hamilton – the other clubs who appeared in Scottish football’s top flight last year – OTP replied: “Some do not figure due to lack of transparency in accounts.”
    Surely to God every club has to be at least as ‘transparent’ in their accounts as every other club? Or are different accounting systems allowed for in European football?
    What data are being used by ‘Off the pitch”? What are the criteria in determining ‘best run’?
    It’s all rather fun and games, I suspect!
    I’ll maybe fire in a question to Cosgrave on ‘Off the Ball’!

  636. The CEO of the SFA is reported [by Alan Pattullo] in today’s “The Scotsman” as follows:
    ” Arbitration is closed. The SPFL have written to us to say it was their arbitration, they instigated it and they have withdrawn their notice. So the arbitration as far as we are concerned is over. In terms of ‘Rangers’ and the SPFL , if they have a misunderstanding , or there’s a complication around the rules or there’s question mark around how they should be interpreting the rules then that’s actually for them to sort out among themselves. The SPFL can set up their own independent inquiry to go and look at that and make sure everyone understands exactly how the regulations work going forward. I don’t think that’s something for us.”

    What a fatuous self- exculpatory statement, following the SFA’s stupidity in acceding to the SPFL’s request that an Arbitration Tribunal be set up, without being sure that the setting-up procedures were soundly based legally!
    The SFA cocked things up the first time by not inviting Park’s of Hamilton and cinch to any proposed Tribunal; and compounded the cock-up by appealing against the decision of the court of first instance (after Park’s had challenged them)
    The PR people at the SFA are nearly as incompetent as the PR people at Ibrox-and that’s saying something!

  637. SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has told Rangers and the SPFL that their dispute has nothing to do with the Scottish game’s governing body, as he denied the request of Ibrox chairman Douglas Park to hold an independent investigation into the dispute involving the Premiership’s main sponsor, cinch.

    Park and Rangers claimed victory after the long-running saga finally ended last week with the SPFL renegotiating it’s deal with the firm so that the Ibrox club were not required to display their branding at their stadium or on their jerseys.

    A statement from Park’s Motor Group though slammed the SPFL for their handling of the issue, and demanded that the SFA investigate after the reputational damage and financial losses they have incurred throughout the legal process.
    Maxwell says though that the SFA will not look to get involved beyond the arbitration process they previously facilitated, and he sees no reason why the SPFL couldn’t set up an independent investigation of their own.

    “The arbitration is closed,” Maxwell said. “The SPFL have written to us to say it was their arbitration, they instigated and they have withdrawn their notice. So the arbitration as far as we are concerned is over.
    “In a broader sense, none of those disputes can be good for the game. There have been two or three since I have been in the post that we have had to deal with. They cannot be good for the public perception of the game because it is in-fighting and actually you need to get round the table and sort things out.
    “The arbitration has been dealt with. In terms of Rangers and the SPFL if they have a misunderstanding or there’s a complication around the rules or there’s a question mark around how they should be interpreting the rules then that’s actually for them to sort out amongst themselves.
    “The SPFL can set up their own independent enquiry to go and look at that and make sure everyone understands exactly how the regulations work going forward. I don’t think that’s something for us.

    “It is an internal disagreement on the interpretation of their rules – that is how we got to this point. Obviously the arbitration process is now closed down so I think it is one for the SPFL board. There is no reason they can’t set up something to have a look at that.
    “If there is a breach of regulations we get involved. We would not get involved in anything outside of that. You would end up getting involved in absolutely everything. There has to be a line somewhere.
    “We have a judicial panel process. If there’s something comes to light that we have to look at from that perspective then we do it.
    “From an arbitration perspective, the simplest way I can define this is that it is a debate that happens in our house. We just get one party to talk to the other party and they sort it out between themselves.
    “We are not actually involved in a meaningful way. It is just we organise a process and make sure things happen the right way and try and find a resolution.”
    …………………………………………………………………..
    “misunderstanding”, “complication around the rules”, “question mark around how they should be interpreting the rules”. “make sure everyone understands exactly how the regulations work”
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Rangers seemed to understand all the above.

  639. Interesting in what way, Albertz? Genuine question. Your post above indicates only that the SFA do not see a justification for them to review the outcome of the Cinch arbitration. That would appear to draw it to a conclusion. Are you hinting that there’s more of interest to come? If so, please explain what?

  640. Nawlite 22nd June 2022 At 17:57
    ‘.. the outcome of the Cinch arbitration. ‘
    ++++++++
    Just for the sake of the casual reader, Nawlite, we must remember that there has been no ‘Arbitration:’ The SPFL asked the SFA to arrange an Arbitration Tribunal. The SFA made a balls of it by not inviting interested parties [ cinci and Park’s of Hamilton]
    Park’s went to Court and the judge forbade the SFA to set up a tribunal unless cinci and Park’s were notified and invited to attend and be represented.
    The SFA appealed, and lost.
    And the SPFL withdrew their request for an Arbitration Tribunal hearing, which let the SFA off the hook.
    The deal between cinch and the SPFL was revised, but nothing has been said (that I’m aware of) about the underlying dispute with TRFC, or apologies being made by the SPFL, or about TRFC seeking compensation!

    Scottish Football governance is NOT in a happy place, which is what happens when various kinds of baddies fall out with each other.

  641. Bigboab1916 — 21st June:21:40
    I don’t think this is the first time that a Ranger’s top was shown without the mystical five stars around the crest. I believe images surfaced a while back showing the blue tops minus the stars. Surely this is mistake on the part of Castore but apparently hasn’t been rectified as yet. Maybe the board is to tied up trying to sell players and navigate through the cinch mess.

  642. @nawlite, @johnclark . The Atlantic (behind a paywall) are apparently running a story that alleges the new Cinch contract absolves TRFC of requiring to comply with ANY SPFL sponsorship deal for the next 4 seasons. I’m not sure what effect that has on the deal with Betfred who sponsor the SPFL arranged Scottish League Cup or any replacement for BetFred when that contract expires. The chatter on Twitter is that one or two clubs did question the smallprint but the SPFL didn’t highlight it at the Board meeting that “signed off” the contract. Doncaster, an amateurishly trained lawyer, claims it isn’t Cinch’s intention to enforce the “Any” but if not why was it there and why didn’t Doncaster object to it.

    For those arguing TRFC should not benefit from the sponsorships they refuse to comply with. The vast majority of the Cinch money along with the vast majority of the money from the appalling TV deal with Sky, also negotiated by Doncaster, is the prize money for the League positions or for Befred the Cup round reached. The SPFL could only feasibly withhold that with the full backing of the SFA and unless there is a plan B to the arbitration then it looks like the SPFL aren’t looking for SFA support. Note feasibly is doing heavy lifting there. It would almost certainly be subject to legal challenge from a Clumpany no stranger to litigation.

  643. Tykebhoy 23rd June 2022 At 09:25
    ‘@nawlite, @johnclark . The Atlantic (behind a paywall)..’
    ++++++++++’
    Nawlite, did you mean the ‘Athletic’? I don’t see any reference in the ‘Atlantic’, but the Athletic has this last week at https://theathletic.com/news/rangers-spfl-sponsorship-deals/lMJIaRPeUJ5y/
    free to read, and a further bit behind a paywall.
    As with anything to do with the SPFL and TRFC I believe that untruth is at the heart of the matter.
    Did TRFC inform the SPFL that they had a prior contract with Park’s before the SPFL signed a contract with cinch? They say they did.
    If so, did the SPFL simply go ahead and sign the contract anyway without checking their own Articles of Association? If so- a sacking offence in my view!
    If , on the other hand, the SPFL had asked for evidence of the prior contract BEFORE they signed with cinch, and only signed with cinch when TRFC REFUSED to provide such evidence, then TRFC were, in my opinion, maliciously playing silly buggers and were not acting in utmost good faith. The fact that they had better legal guidance and were sure of their ground does NOT in my view absolve them of bad intent: a simple production of evidence of their prior contract and a discussion of the Articles of Association would easily have cleared matters up.
    Instead of that, thousands of pounds in legal expenses were needlessly incurred , with, in my opinion, the sole intent to cause trouble for the board of the SPFL
    I was intrigued, incidentally, to learn that political writer Edmund Burke in the 1700s said ” Having looked to government for bread, on the first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them” .It comes from the idea that horses, if you’re not careful, may bite when you feed them by hand.
    Perceptive man, Edmund Bourke!

  646. I’ve just seen this on the Rolls of Court:
    “COURT OF SESSION
    CALLING LIST
    Thursday 23rd June

    CA54/22 Park’s of Hamilton (Holdings) Ltd v The Rangers Football Club Ltd ”

    I’m puzzled?
    Anyone?

  648. @PM – whilst your link is to the Evening Times, I see that the BBC Sports page has not reported this news. I am not saying that they should, but I am pretty certain that such “good news” would have been trumpeted if it was in relation to TRFC. And no I am not paranoid, but maybe a tad on the cynical side of skeptical…

  649. Wokingcelt 23rd June 2022 At 21:58
    ‘..@JC – maybe “when bad guys fall out?”’

    ++++++++
    That gave me a good laugh, Wokingcelt!
    Could the action be at all related to the cinch matter?
    It’s probably unconnected, and more to do with a wee spat about the contract between Park’s of Hamilton and TRFC.
    Whatever it may be, it’s a very poor image it sends to the world, PR-wise: the majority shareholder of Park’s of Hamilton is , of course, Douglas Park.
    And Douglas Park is a director of RIFC plc, which is the holding company of the 10 year old football club TRFC , against which Park’s of Hamilton have brought legal action.
    You very nearly couldnae make it up!
    But , I ask, what kind of businessmen are they that they are so ready to go to law?

  650. Wokingcelt 23rd June 2022 At 22:11
    ‘.. but I am pretty certain that such “good news” would have been trumpeted if it was in relation to TRFC.’
    ++++++++
    Of course it would!
    Just as (bad) news that a ‘ Celtic plc director’s personal business brings legal action against Celtic fc’ would have been headline news!
    I’m not the only one who reads the Rolls of Court!
    There are ‘journalists’ out there who know that Park’s of Hamilton are taking legal action against TRFC.
    It has not been reported by them.
    They are either useless feckin journalists,
    or cowardly journalists ,
    or biased to their very hearts and a disgrace to their profession, and spitters on the bodies of real journalists who died in the pursuit of truth

  651. John Clark — 23rd June — 23.37

    Has it got to the point that the need for legal action at TRFC Ltd. that a sponsor has to sue the club. The lawyers must be having a good laugh over this. Could the club be in violation of the contract by not wearing the sponsor’s logo and providing signage in the stadium. Or is the need to have legal action of any sort as part of the club’s daily activities. Trust you’ll have an update.

  652. Vernallen 24th June 2022 At 01:31
    ‘ .Has it got to the point that…. that a sponsor has to sue the club.’
    +++++++++
    And not just any old sponsor !
    The legal action is in effect being taken by Douglas Park who in practical terms IS Park’s of Hamilton (Holdings) Ltd: given that he has 15,938,378 of the total [20,000,004] shares in that company. (see the Confirmation certificate received by Companies House on 3 May 2022)
    That is, a significant shareholder and Director of RIFC plc is taking legal action against TRFC of which RIFC plc is the holding company…
    All cannot be well in the RIFC plc boardroom where there is that kind of self-destructive in-fighting. May it last long enough to cause serious financial damage as well as attracting the worst kind of publicity.

  654. There seems to be a growing consensus online that TRFC aren’t spending until this financial period ends on June 30th . We might be in for a fight between the cheeks to “own” the weekend .

  656. Paddy Malarkey 25th June 2022 At 19:12
    ‘…VAR in Scotland .’
    ++++++++++
    PM, having listened earlier today to Maxwell, and various others on Sportsound, I enjoyed the wee clip of David Currie being a VAR !

    I’m not quite sure who it was who made the point that ‘wrong’ decisions on, for example, whose throw-in it should be, or whether it was a corner kick or a by-kick, can seriously affect the outcome of any game: many a goal has been scored from corners and near goal-line shies …!

    What I don’t know ( in spite of the wee clip!] is whether it has been definitively decided by FIFA/UEFA/ National Associations WHICH incidents are subject to VAR?

    More generally, and perhaps of more importance, is the question of who appoints/pays the VAR people used for any particular game?

    You can see where I’m coming from, I imagine.
    The SFA and the SPFL have already soiled Scottish Football with the creation and propagation of the nonsensical lie that RFC of 1872 [in Liquidation] did not cease to exist as a football club in 2012 when it had to surrender its share in the then SPL , and lost its membership of the SFA.

    Who on earth can now believe that they have the integrity and moral authority to inhibit any kind of jiggery-pokery in the operation of VAR if they thought such jiggery-pokery was ‘financially’ or ‘socially’ desirable?

    That’s what happens when liars lie- they tend not to be trusted ever again!

    Let them prove their integrity by stopping the nonsense that TRFC is RFC of 1872. Get rid of that lie, and Scottish Football might just redeem itself.

  657. Paddy Malarkey 25th June 2022 At 18:21
    ‘… We might be in for a fight between the cheeks to “own” the weekend .’
    ++++++++++
    Curiously enough, PM, the 12-page ‘Weekend Sport’ section of today’s “The Scotsman” has not one word about TRFC.
    There is a double-page spread about Lee Johnson/Hibs , a half-page about the Scotland women’s national team, a match report of the pre-season friendly between Falkirk and Kilmarnock, a nearly full page about Peter Haring and Hearts, a column about the Ibrox women’s team , a quarter-page bit about Petrov’s view of Postecoglou’s approach to the CL, and a nearly full page about Goodwin/Aberdeen.
    Not a word about TRFC!
    Next week, perhaps?

  658. Well, I missed the first twenty minutes of the SFSA’s zoom discussion [ partly because I’m not very good at the techy stuff, but also because I had a visitor for ten minutes or ]
    The input from Kevin Miles of the English FSA was interesting, as he talked about the effect of Bury’s death and the nonsense of the proposed ‘super league’ , and how even a Conservative government has had to consider the need for Independent Regulation of the business of English Football. (I hadn’t known before today that a White Paper is to be published on the subject which will lead to a Bill and debate in Parliament ].
    That point was not particularly picked up and discussed in terms of the desirability of a statutory football regulator.
    Ian Murray, MP, highlighted how narrowly Hearts had avoided extinction by clawing its way out of Administration to avoid being Liquidated.
    There was general agreement that the ‘big’ clubs were greedy, and that it is not a healthy situation where the clubs the SFA plays has been reduced to in effect playing second fiddle to the SPFL , whose most powerful members have a disproportionate influence which they exercise in their own narrow interests.
    Someone observed that there is such a thing as the ‘blazer’ syndrome, which affects would-be reformers who ,once they get the blazer, tend to forget their reforming zeal!
    Other subjects discussed included schools football, football provision for disabled players ( ‘power-chair’ footballers], the desirability of a Supporter Liaison Officers committee being represented on the SFA Council, better provision for disabled supporters, the ‘closed shop’ nature of Hampden where supporters/supporters’ groups are seen as hostile critics against whom the wagons have to be circled, rather than as people eager to help advance and improve the game from top to bottom…
    Simon Barrow of the SFSA made the simple point that football is a business but also is not a business : there is no silver bullet, but the health of the whole game and all its parts is critically important.
    Quite an interesting gathering, well chaired by Heather Dewar.
    I’m glad I tuned in

  660. Nawlite 26th June 2022 At 20:34
    ‘…were there any actual action points coming out from the meeting?’
    +++++++++++
    I think it was not that kind of ‘executive’ meeting, Nawlite.
    It was, I think, more about reinforcing and deepening the perception that the community-rooted sport of football is not being at all well served by the present set-up, in which the dead hand of some of the bigger clubs thwarts any move to spread more evenly the bread and butter revenue ( which comes in only because other, ‘lesser’ clubs are there to provide competitive opposition and without whom there would be no games, no sport, and no revenue ]
    I think the English FSA chap, Kevin Miles, when talking about the daft ‘super league’, mentioned that there has recently been mention of an EU league- which would exclude UK teams, and the mere thought of which turned the EPL chairpersons white to the gills!
    I think today’s discussion , if picked up and pursued by thoughtful football writers and far-seeing clubs (and perhaps also at Scottish government level in a sensible non-party-politics way] will further advance the cause of sensible , supporter-involved , reform of football governance.
    It’s not an impossible goal , as the German experience suggests.
    I certainly buy into the aims of the SFSA.
    I realise that the SFA is ( probably always has been!) a bit of a dinosaur. And in addition, it disastrously shot itself in the foot in 2012 by creating ,in a ‘business’ panic, the ridiculous and utterly, utterly childish and absolutely unnecessary nonsense of the Big Lie .
    But the brightness of Truth might yet shine forth if the majority membership of the SFA can be persuaded to listen to and engage with the SFSA’s points of view and begin to think of the general good of the whole of Scottish Football, from national team down to SPFL down to school football and amateur football, and of its financial and sporting Integrity and fair dealings.
    That’s my reading of today’s Zoom meeting-which was wonderfully relaxed in tone.
    Andrew Smith , as the host, did the honours with panache.
    [ It would be interesting to see what kind of numbers of members of the SFSA tuned in to the Zoom meeting. I hope it was a great many, from every part of the Scottish football world]

  661. Unusually, we might have to agree to disagree on the merits of the SFSA, JC. What you’ve described sounds to me like a group of people who sit around and comment on how bad things are, with no idea – let alone a plan – of what they should do to effect any change in what they don’t like. Recruiting a number of people to join them and providing a place to discuss the things they dislike isn’t really anything more than what Big Pink has done with this forum. A goal (to improve Scottish Football Governance, perhaps?) without a plan is just a dream.

    It seems to me that they’re just a bunch of guys chatting online about how things could be better, just like us. Except we at least talk about the biggest, most visible governance problem while they shy away from it because they’re so desperate to appeal to all fans.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m no better – after all these years since RTC I still can’t see how we shake the applecart sufficiently, given the support for the status quo from the clubs, media and government but I’m not the one setting myself up as a fans organisation to improve governance.

    Until they have a fighting Mission Statement; a structured plan for effecting change and a means to make a Change Manifesto public, I’m afraid they’re a bit of a waste of time imo.

    I’m glad you took the time to check them out though. That’s more than I did.

  662. Nawlite 27th June 2022 At 13:16
    ‘… Except we at least talk about the biggest, most visible governance problem while they shy away from it because they’re so desperate to appeal to all fans.’
    +++++++++
    Perhaps, Nawlite, if we had had in 2012 a statutorily independent Regulator of football , the SFA/SPL/SFL of the time would never have got away with letting a new plc float itself on the market with the misleading claim in its IPO that is would be the holding company of a 140 year old famous football club!

    I agree with you, of course, that the running sore of the Big Lie has to be dealt with definitively by the SFA by a public statement that TRFC is not entitled to claim to be ‘continuity’ Rangers of 1872, and that all official football records will show TRFC as having no sporting history predating the granting of membership in the the then SFA in 2012
    Ultimately there can be no truthful decent governance until the Big Lie is acknowledged as such by the SFA. RIFC plc/TRFC would rant and rave like demented people :but they would not leave Scottish football, the supporters of TRFC would still there in their tens of thousands, not a penny of revenue would be lost to the game, but Truth would be restored and we could all ‘move on going forward’

  665. Paddy Malarkey 29th June 2022 At 12:10
    ‘.. if this was enacted in Scotland..’
    +++++++++
    I have seen no reference to this change in England on either BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Scotland TV sport?
    Surely, if there is one of the UK constituent countries where ON-LINE (as well other means of) communicating criminal racist/religious abuse can be expected it would surely be Scotland!
    I’m astonished that the Scottish government did not act in parallel with the English.
    I’m equally astonished that BBC Scotland chooses not to report the change in English football banning authority’s powers! Or maybe their English colleagues didn’t share the news with them?

  666. John Clark 29th June 2022 At 17:56
    Sport is devolved to the Scottish Parliament . Douglas Ross is a fitba’ man ,so mibbes he’ll propose that we follow suit . The link is from BBC Sport .

  667. If I may, can I refer to my post of 5 June at 23.24, in which I copied my letter to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, asking about the meeting between ‘RIFC plc/TRFC and the Government’?

    I note that I got a reply of sorts last Wednesday, which I have only just noticed,

    ” Ministerial Support Team

    4th Floor
    100 Parliament Street
    London SW1A 2BQ
    E: enquiries@dcms.gov.uk
    http://www.gov.uk/dcms

    22 June 2022
    Our Ref:
    TO2022/07951/ES
    Dear Mr
    Thank you for your correspondence of 5 June to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
    Sport, regarding a meeting concerning events at the UEFA Europa League Final in Seville on
    18 May. I am replying as a member of the Ministerial Support Team.
    Department officials met with representatives of Rangers Football Club and discussed their
    submission to UEFA on their experiences at the Europa League Final. Fans deserve better
    than experienced in Seville, and subsequently in Paris. The department looks forward to
    UEFA’s consideration of both these events.
    Thank you again for writing to the department.
    Yours sincerely,
    Edward
    Ministerial Support Team ”
    Well, the ‘Edward’ boy shows promise as a future ‘Sir Humphrey’ – replying to only one part of a letter, and telling truth enough not to be caught out in a lie ,and avoiding any observation that might indicate a ‘departmental’ view that someone could reasonably take serious [party political] objection to!

    ‘Edward ‘ ( and his Civil Service seniors] would not know who the letter-writer was ( just a name and an email address] but a reference to devolved powers from someone writing about a Scottish Football club would , I imagine, ring a wee alarm bell.
    I suppose I could have fun.
    But since it is clear from ‘Edward’s’ reply that no member of Government met ‘Rangers’ , only departmental officials,
    and that , as we already know, no member of Government ‘hosted’ a celebratory party and that that toss-pot Jack had merely been a guest, I won’t waste my time, enjoyable as the exercise might be.

  668. Paddy Malarkey 29th June 2022 At 18:13
    ‘.. Douglas Ross is a fitba’ man ,so mibbes he’ll propose that we follow suit ‘
    ++++++++
    Sadly, he, in my estimation, has no credibility as being any kind of man of principle.

  669. John Clark 25th June 2022 At 22:24

    ++++++++++++++++++

    Personally I welcome VAR to Scotland as I believe it gets more right than wrong, however that won’t stop the arguments, that’s for sure. As we have seen in some games outwith Scotland it comes to utterly baffling decisions at times, and equally baffling is the refusal to refer certain incidents to VAR for a second look. Neither will it satisfy those who believe Scottish Refereeing is influenced by bias, as they believe that bias will simply be transferred to the VAR room.

  670. @UTH – I agree with you on the pros and cons of VAR. What I am looking forward to is whether we will have the equivalent of Peter Walton in the studio interpreting decision-making via VAR. Invariably he corrects the pundits and explains the rationale based on the rules which with VAR is usually black or white (might not always agree with the rule but it’s the rule – thinking of that daft decision in the Euro’s last summer when because the defender tried to intercept the ball then Mbappe was deemed to be onside and subsequently scored). I saw a number of decisions last year for which there was no basis in the rules for the decision to be made. Who is going to be that wise owl? (I was going to saw Yoda rather than wise owl – then I saw this quote from Yoda and thought maybe he doesn’t apply to Scottish Football: “Train yourself to let go of everything you are afraid to lose”!

  671. Wokingcelt 30th June 2022 At 11:55

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    The media will remain a problem with VAR in the same way they remain a problem with wrong refereeing decisions. We have seen them twist themselves into absolute contortions in the past trying to justify a referee decision that was blatantly wrong, and the fallback always is ‘if you’re good enough the Ref doesn’t matter’, which is utter nonsense in my view. If the default becomes ‘if you’re good enough VAR doesn’t matter’ then where do we go? There is also the problem of Sportscene being extremely selective in what they highlight and what they ignore. VAR won’t ever change that just like it won’t change the fact that Sportsound have only once invited the head of refereeing onto their programme to discuss a decision despite numerous other decisions over the season which could have received the same level of forensic analysis.

    • There is no doubt in my mind that VAR will be used to assist the financial agenda of the authorities. If an incident was deemed crucial enough that the decision could see a club who was deemed to be necessary to the Scottish game either thrive financially or go bust, I have no doubt that sporting integrity will once again become a casualty.
      Of course, if it is being run by the refereeing service, need we say more.
      Shitshow in the offing I’m s afraid.

  672. UTH – don’t disagree but I do think VAR will shine a light on the competence of our referees. For example if every goal is subject to a VAR check then the decision is effectively taken by the computer/camera. If a referee overrules VAR he risks ridicule. If VAR is used selectively – was their “enough” contact to award a penalty for example then hopefully any bias is shown up for what it is. VAR itself is not a magic bullet but a combination of the embarrassment factor for a referee to be shown to be consistently wrong and for these errors to pretty much go viral on social media should help to raise standards.

  673. Still rumbling on :
    From Rolls of Court today
    “LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
    Court 6 – Parliament House
    Friday 8th July
    Hearing on Note of Objections and Answers
    CA9/20 David Whitehouse v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland &c”
    I have had another read at the judgment, in October 2019, of the Inner House of the Court of Session, in the Clark and Whitehouse cases.
    I hadn’t previously noticed the the straightforward reference to ‘Rangers’ , and not to any ‘company’ separate from the club that went into Liquidation!
    You will find this at Para 101 o Lord Carloway’s judgment:
    “101. …….There are probably almost no such cases now , other than those relating to the Rangers’ winding-up’…”
    https://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/2019/2019_CSIH_52.html

    It’s clear to me that Lord Carloway felt no need to pretend that RFC of 1872 , the football club founded by the four young men , did NOT cease to exist as a shareholding club in the SPL and as a member of the SFA. He , I imagine, knows that there was no ‘holding company ‘ that held the share in the SPL or the membership in the SFA, No, it was Rangers Football Club , incorporated in May 1899, which was the shareholder in the SL and which had membership of the SFA. On filing to exit Administration, the shareholding had to be surrendered and SFA membership withdrawn.
    And RFC of 1872 died the death of Liquidation and the capacity to add to its many sporting triumphs on the field of play.
    Incontrovertibly and

  674. Just by the by, I seem to remember that some time ago there was a ‘contempt of court’ charge brought by the FCA against a very wealthy son of a policeman because he had allegedly failed to comply with a court order.
    The details escape my ageing memory, but it seems that, on the promise-after lots of Court time and expense – that he would comply with the Court order , he was not in any way punished by the Court.

    I mention this recollection [ damned if I can remember the guy’s name!] because I’ve just been reading the sentencing judgment [in a wholly unrelated case] to be found at this link
    https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/F00DD664-Dudley-MBC-v-Stead-Sentencing-7.6.22-V1.pdf

    okay, England isn’t Scotland, and annoying/frightening one’s neighbours is maybe as serious as a millionaire giving two fingers to a Scottish Court order!
    But still…..

  675. Just reading the reports on the saving of Derby County by David Clowes buying the club out of administration. As a lifelong Derby County fan David Clowes has taken on the debts of £60m plus (with HMRC owed £36m) as he wouldn’t have been able to “look myself in the mirror if he hadn’t done everything possible to protect it [Derby County].
    Not a trace of irony in the BBC’s reporting…

  676. I see the silly season has commenced with Barry Ferguson trumpeting the fact Rangers could reek in $55 million for the sale of three players. Recently Kenny Miller was claiming if $6 million was offered for Morelos they should snatch it. Meanwhile some of the more astute folks on Rangers website are trigging to the fact that they professed interest in Morelos for numerous clubs may not not be all that keen. However they have completed deals for players who maybe more suited for 5 aside old timers teams. However across the city numerous signings and apparently a hunger for more. JC is there any update on Parks vs. Rangers as posted earlier.

  677. Vernallen 1st July 2022 At 23:03
    ‘..JC is there any update on Parks vs. Rangers as posted earlier.’
    ++++++++++
    Nothing that I’ve seen, Vernallen. Early days yet!

  678. Wokingcelt 1st July 2022 At 22:09
    ‘..Just reading the reports on the saving of Derby County by David Clowes buying the club out of administration..
    +++++++
    I make two observations:
    First, a wee reminder of what happens if a business is NOT brought out of Administration!
    Para 5.18 of the Derby County Administrators’ “Statement of Proposals”, issued to creditors on 15 November 2021, has this:
    ” If no successful sale ..takes place, then the Joint Administrators will have no other option but to close and place the companies in Liquidation. The result would be catastrophic in that all staff would be made redundant and the football club would be expelled from the football league”

    Second, unlike the Court-criticised D&P Administrators of Rangers Football Club plc, the Administrators of Derby County [great credit to them] found a buyer ready to take on the debts and keep the club in existence as a football club, and did not strike a deal with some gimcrack buyer of cut-price assets, while the football club had to surrender its share in the SPL and in consequence lost its entitlement to membership of the SFA- with the consequence that the buyer of (only) some of the assets HAD TO seek a shareholding in a league and apply to the SFA for membership as new club!

    There will be no need for the EFL to cobble up any ridiculous lie .

    The shame that our Scottish Football governance bodies have to live with is that , having done the right thing to begin with- that is, the SPL called in Rangers’ share, and the SFA withdrew the club’s membership- they crumpled before vile threats and the imagined future loss of revenue, and cast the integrity of the Sport and their own personal integrity to the wind by creating the farcical notion that TRFC, newly created in 2012, is RFC of 1872.
    Looked at in the cold light of day, no circle of hell would be too hot for wretches such as those on the boards of our football governance bodies for such an outrageous abuse of office.
    And they know it!

  680. Paddy Malarkey 2nd July 2022 At 12:44
    ..The Goalie gone .And Drew Busby .’
    +++++++++
    I will say this, whatever else about anything else, the phrase ” Gorum would have saved that” has for years come readily to my lips when watching goalkeepers, in a one-on -one situation ,going down much too early, allowing the striker to evade them.
    May Andy Gorum and Drew Busby rest in peace, and my condolences to their families and friends.

  681. There was a quite good discussion/explanation of VAR arrangements by Crawford Allan on BBC Scotland Sportsound, just finished.
    I didn’t hear it all, but from what I heard of how it will be operated I was reasonably reassured that jiggery-pokery will be very difficult to engineer: it would require an unconscionable level of conspiracy involving too many and various people without sufficient time for them all to sign ‘non-disclosure agreements’ such as were required for the creation of the Big Lie!

  682. John Clark 2nd July 2022 At 12:58

    I’ll second that. Football is not more important than life or death, despite the famous quote from the great Bill Shankly.

    Rest in peace Andy Goram and Drew Busby.

  683. John Clark 2nd July 2022 At 16:23

    Like you I heard part of the VAR discussion on Sportsound, but not all. I was intrigued that the intention is to show incidents on replay in stadiums which have big screens. How many is that? I can only think of Celtic Park, Hampden, Ibrox and (possibly) Easter Road.

  684. Upthehoops 2nd July 2022 At 18:47
    ‘.. VAR discussion…….. I was intrigued that the intention is to show incidents on replay in stadiums which have big screens. ‘
    +++++++++++
    I think I heard [ I may be wrong ] Crawford Allan explain that there was no suggestion that grounds without big screens will be required to incur the expense of installing them. It would be up to the clubs to choose whether to provide the facility for their supporters?
    I would like to hear that whole piece by Allan again- particularly the bit about the 3-second delay , and the fact that those in the separate ‘Communications Room’ will not be allowed to have their mobile phones or other means of communication by which they could communicate with the VAR techies, replay players, or screen watchers before the final referee decision is made.
    I would also like to hear again the bit about the ‘space ‘between body parts of attacker and defender in offside decisions, and the offside line, and something more about what distinguishes an ‘opinion’ from a ‘fact’!
    I would suggest that Sportsound should re-run that session with Crawford Allan as soon as possible!

  685. VAR – as fate would have it my teenage son was completing a refereeing course with The FA yesterday. Whilst picking him up and walking back to the car with another parent and son, the boys were messing around with the other boy showing his dad a yellow card. I commented that at home parents are VAR – to which my son responded “refs make the decisions, VARs only a tool to assist..” that was me told!! ?

  686. Wokingcelt 3rd July 2022 At 20:52
    “….to which my son responded “refs make the decisions, VARs only a tool to assist..”
    ++++++++++
    Indeed, VAR is a tool that is available to referees- just as [in old language] ‘linesmen’ were.

    But referees were able to exercise their own discretion and disagree with a linesman’s decision if his reading of the situation happened to be different.

    And his word would be law! Television replays might clearly show that in fact there was no room for a different ‘opinion’ and that the linesman was right, and the referee wrong.
    But , of course, the game was over, the ref’s decision could not be changed…

    VAR technology changes that, in the sense that rather than disagreeing with the linesman’s flag and waving play on, the referee can be whistled up to go and look at a multi-angled view of the ‘incident’.

    The expectation is that a referee will then be better placed to think about the incident and either review or maintain his decision .
    The further expectation is that the referee is honest and unbiased and un-bribeable.

    It is not outwith the bounds of possibility that some rogue referee might fly in the face of the evidence from VAR and choose, deliberately, to ignore clear evidence ( clear to the VAR people and to those supporters whose stadia have ‘big screens’] knowing that his decision , however contrary to the evidence, will stand!

    And he then packs it in as a referee , quietly pocketing as much money as will set him up for life, his decision to ignore the actual clear cut evidence[ a decision which cannot be changed retrospectively] having enriched the undeserving( sport-wise] club owner who bribed him.
    I suppose I’m asking the question: if the whole world of football can see live, during the game, that a referee is clearly wrong in his ‘opinion’ of what is a matter of recorded observable fact to VAR and to the spectators who see the VAR replays, must his contrary decision have to stand?
    Should there not be a change in the IFAB rules, such that they would not allow the possibility of any referee being able to cheat the evidence of VAR , and for a perverse decision to be overturned there and then, in the live game?
    We know that there have been bad bst.rds in the world of football-some perhaps even at the very top, internationally.

    Perhaps it’s time that clearly evidenced wilful ‘mistakes’ seen live by VAR technology should be whistled up then and there and NOT allowed to stand?

  687. John Clark 4th July 2022 At 00:16
    The referee is the final arbiter , regardless of the number and types of assistance available to him . I think it would be impossible for any to get away with the scheme you outlined as the scrutiny by authorities and bookies would be a major deterrent , and the Police would be keen to follow the money . And what some may see as bias , others will see as incompetence . Every day being a school day , I learned a new acronym used in VAR protocols -DOGSO . Look it up yourself !

  688. Just had a chuckle at hearing a Scottish-accented (politics] Reporter on BBC Scotland expressing the annoyance that his colleagues feel at being taken for a ride by Downing St , being fed a load of unbelievable guff [ my words] about what Boris knew or didn’t know.
    It’s quite possible that the same journalist will, like his sports-hacks counterparts, have been only too happy to go along with the monstrous fiction foisted on Scottish Football , the fiction known as the Big Lie that TRFC are RFC of 1872 , inn spite of having been created only in 2012, while RFC of 1872 is languishing in Liquidation as RFC plc 2012.
    There are lots of Borises in Scottish Football reporting who operate on the same basis of selective definition of Truth as he appears to do. A false journalist is, in my book, more deserving of scorn and contempt than people in the world of lies and half-truths that is Politics.

    We kind of expect politicians to lie.
    We expect unadulterated Truth from journalists.

    And we are not getting it , and have not had it since 2012, from our football hacks and sports editors.
    May they be sent into the 10th Pit of the Eighth Circle of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ as ‘falsifiers’.

  690. Macfurgly 6th July 2022 At 15:39
    ‘..Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.’
    ++++++++++++++
    An absolutely appalling appointment .
    In my opinion, McIntyre has none of the skills required of a discussion leader/presenter: more of a ranter than an expounder, with nothing to commend him as an objective interviewer or balanced ‘holder of the jackets’ in a discussion.
    The Pacific Quay establishment shoots itself in the foot again.
    Bad cess to them.

  691. Macfurgly 6th July 2022 At 15:39

    Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    It already is. They have umpteen ex-Rangers players as regular and occasional contributors. Far, far more than any other club. It is actually shocking that a publicly funded programme can be so imbalanced in terms of pundits.

  692. Upthehoops 6th July 2022 At 20:10
    ‘…It is actually shocking that a publicly funded programme can be so imbalanced in terms of pundits.’
    +++++++++++++++++
    I’ve always assumed , UTH, that the BBC Sports staff-recruitment people would, as a matter of course, recruit their ‘ex-player’ pundits or ‘co-commentators’ on the basis of how they met three criteria:
    -relative articulacy /verbal expression
    – knowledge of the game as it currently is played and assuming that they have kept up to speed with developments since they they themselves stopped playing
    -their ‘status’ in terms of being well-known and respected players across the spectrum of football radio audiences/ football support

    On that assumption, over the years since the concept of having player-pundits and co-commentators was first introduced [ anyone tell me when that was?] a number of ex-Celtic players MUST surely have been approached?

    The fact that, off the top of my head, I can name only Packy Bonner might signal that other ex-Celtic players may indeed have been approached over the last 12 years but said ‘NO’ to the prospect of working for BBC Scotland.

    The appointment of McIntyre might suggest that my fair-minded assumption was wrong, and that no attempt was made to recruit ex-Celtic players- unless the player had a strong Irish accent, to represent a club that is seen in certain quarters, not excluding Pacific Quay, not to be really Scottish!

    BBC Scotland was only too ready buy into the Big Lie for me to have any trust in it whatsoever: if it can swallow and propagate the Big Lie, it can lie about more serious matters.

  693. upthehoops 6th July 2022 At 20:10
    —
    Heavily weighted certainly, but Richard Gordon managed to keep the overall commentary lively, well informed and entertaining. The best presenters are those who can communicate their own enthusiasm for the game. The midweek show used to be good too, until Macintyre arrived with his surly, occasionally spiteful hectoring and his audible salivating at anything pro-Rangers. I stopped listening. Which other radio stations cover the fitba on a Saturday afternoon?

  694. In my inbox this afternooon:

    “ICAS DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR CAS ARBITRATOR
    ALIAKSANDR DANILEVICH
    Lausanne, 8 July 2022 – The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) has learned that
    Prof. Aliaksandr Danilevich, PhD in Law, a successful Belarusian lawyer and a Member of the Court of
    Arbitration for Sport (CAS), was arrested on 20 May 2022 by the Belarusian police. At the end of
    February 2022, he co-signed a statement calling for the immediate termination of the hostilities in
    Ukraine.
    To the ICAS’s knowledge, the professional reputation of Prof. Danilevich, who was also a member of
    the Disciplinary Committee of Rugby Europe, has always been impeccable. Therefore, it is particularly
    hard to understand that pre-trial restrictions in the form of detention were immediately implemented after
    the investigation started. The ICAS expresses its most serious concerns with respect to Prof. Danilevich’s
    situation as a political prisoner. The ICAS very much hopes that he will be released soon in order to
    return to his legal practice and to pursue his missions with the CAS.”

    I don’t disagree, of course .
    I admire Prof. Danilevich’s courage as a lawyer.
    I just wish we had football ‘administrators’ in the SFA with even the tiny wee fraction of Danilevich’s level of courage that would have been required to insist in 2012 that TRFC was not, is not and could not possibly be RFC of 1872, and that it would not be allowed to claim to be RFC of 1872.
    Sadly, we did not have then, and do not now have, people in Football Governance who have even basic levels of personal integrity to discharge honestly their primary duty : to ensure that Scottish Professional football has no room for cheating and deception by any club, however powerful.
    Danilevich could see the lie being propagated by the Russian State machine, but is prepared to go to jail rather than accept it.
    Our worthies on the board of the SFA actually CREATED and authorised the Biggest Sporting Lie in Scottish Football!, and continues to support and propagate it, out of fear of what? one football club under their own immediate authority!
    Men of straw, indeed!
    I spit upon them ( only metaphorically ,of course: I wouldn’t waste even my sphit on them]

  695. Catching up on the Blatter/Platini story, I note this :
    “Prosecutors alleged this payment from FIFA, authorised by Blatter, had been “made without legal basis”.”

    That made me reflect again on what the legal basis for TRFC’s claim to be RFC of 1872 might be??

    No one has yet given a satisfactory explanation as to how a football club created in 2012 was(is) allowed to market itself as being the very same club as a much older club that at the time was (and still is) in Liquidation?
    The (possibly illegal and therefore not binding on any of its signatories) 5-Way Agreement is still top secret!
    Or as to how a plc incorporated only in 2012 as the legal ‘holding company’ of a now 10 year old football club gets away with claiming to be the ‘holding company’ of a quite different football club which entered Liquidation in 2012?
    Send for Lorenz Erni! [How I wish I had the money to get right in there to expose what I think needs exposing in Scottish football]

  696. Macfurgly 8th July 2022 At 18:32
    ‘…but Richard Gordon managed to keep the overall commentary lively, well informed and entertaining.’
    ++++++++++
    I am , as I think I mentioned a few years ago, biased in favour of Richard Gordon because he was of help to my son in Paris on a World cup occasion. Won’t hear a bad word against him, on that account!
    You’re right of course, Macfurgly, and I would add that Richard has the knack of being simultaneously self- effacing and authoritative !
    He has the gift of remembering both that the show is not all about him, and that it’s not all about any other participant either, and manages argumentation with a light touch and with respect to others.

    • John C
      Came across Richard Gordon often in my previous occupation. Really good bloke. Intelligent, partisan-but-fair Don, witty, very dry, a wink never far away from his countenance.
      He is irreplaceable. One difference between he and Kenny Mac is that Kenny believes the same-club mythology; Richard unequivocally didn’t, he just parroted it

  697. Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.
    I never listen, as you already know what you are going to get.

  698. John Clark 6th July 2022 At 22:33

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Pat Bonner is the only ex-Celtic player to regularly contribute to Sportsound. Prior to Bonner, the token ex-Celtic player was Murdo McLeod. I think when you see over the years there have been so few that BBC really don’t see ex-Celtic players as adding value to their output. It is also no surprise to see that ex-Rangers players are the largest group by a distance.

  699. Have Rangers hired a ventriloquist to aid their new signings in interviews. Tom Lawrence signs similar to Aaron Ramsay, here to win trophies, world famous, etc. One part I had difficultly swallowing was that he was on better financial terms then those available in the English Championship. If that’s the case what is in store for all those players whose contracts are running down. Certainly gives them an upper hand in negotiations. The amassing of young talent to fill out the B team is also interesting. Hopefully these starlets ( a term that is most distasteful when describing a young athlete, would prospect not be better) that’s what they are and the gamble is that they become a viable asset and generate future transfer fees.

  700. @BP – my working assumption is that the fee is undisclosed as it is nearer to £5m than £10m and the sell-on clause is more wishful thinking than something one could take to the bank!

  701. Big Pink 9th July 2022 At 20:23

    I note yet another “undisclosed fee” today. The new £30m ?

    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Not just an undisclosed fee, but a ‘significant’ undisclosed fee…however, not significant enough to tell us what it actually was!

  702. Is it only me?
    Not all that long ago, it seems to me, we read about football teams as a whole, and whether they won or lost any game, and who the goal-scorers were , and a very generalised description of the match.
    Then in the later 1950s we began to read about superstar footballers..
    And then in the 1960s and 1970s about ‘managers’ , and ‘superstar’ managers…or ‘coaches’ as they came to be described in the 1980s and ’90s….
    Now we read about the ‘back-room staff’!
    I mention this because
    a) I remember that Postecoglou kind of surprised the Scottish football world when he did not bring with him his former backroom staff ..
    b) I read today a wee piece in today’s “The Scotsman” (by Jon Ball ?) about Postecoglou bringing in another compatriot [ Kewell] to his back-room team.

    I’ve no problem with that, of course because these days , sophisticated techniques are required to get an athlete to the peak of physical performance and full development of technical footballing skill ; and [ just as important]the gift of the talent to motivate people is indispensable.

    It prompts me to wonder whether ‘back-room’ staff chaps have their own ‘agents’, in the same way as players? And put themselves on the market?
    Is there already a body of knowledge on the subject?
    Is there a mechanism through which people who want to be ‘back-room ‘ staff [ e.g, club doctor] at a football club ( any football club] can apply, as any other ‘vocational’ job applicant can?
    Or is it all down to chance, or luck, or ‘connections’?
    I think , if I were a sports journalist, I would have a wee exploration into that subject. If it hasn’t already been done.

  703. Interesting comments from Aaron Ramsay today. In what appears to be a back-handed swipe at GVB and his management team, Ramsay claims with the right management team he could stay fit for a long period of time and play many games. Is it possible that GVB and his backroom staff couldn’t/wouldn’t handle Ramsay. Is this a harbinger of things to come as their highly valued squad fall prey to injury and derail plans for European and domestic success.

  704. Vernallen 9th July 2022 At 18:12
    ‘…Have Rangers hired a ventriloquist to aid their new signings in interviews..’
    +++++++++++
    Even a ventriloquist has to have a script, Vernallen, and I have frequently remarked that there appears to me to be no PR person at Ibrox capable of writing a half-way believable script about anything!

    Basil Brush [ I thought of him this evening as I watched one of our local foxes casually stroll through the back garden casting a disdainful eye at me!] would make a much better fist as a PR writer than whoever does that job at Ibrox.

    However, to be absolutely fair, whoever does that job has to have his stuff vetted by the Board -and we know what they are like when it comes to truth-telling!

    All of a sudden , I am reminded of my favourite opera, ‘Boris Godonov’, by Mussorgsky.

    Can’t think what the connection may be?

  705. Vernallen 10th July 2022 At 22:52
    ‘.. Is it possible that GVB and his backroom staff couldn’t/wouldn’t handle Ramsay.’
    ++++++++++
    I see this in the ‘Sun’
    https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9137183/rangers-aaron-ramsey-juventus-return-transfer/

    ” it’s been widely reported that Juventus are keen to reach an agreement that will see Ramsey exit the club, with suggestions that the Serie A giants are willing to pay £3.5 million to get him off the books.’

    Poor chap!
    To have your employer ready to pay millions to get rid of you must hurt.

    But that that kind of situation should arise raises a whole lot of questions about the recruitment of players and who does the recruitment.

    Vague memories come to mind of people getting paid substantial sums tax free from clubs that they used to manage years before, for signing players from their former club.

    Who in Juventus signed Ramsey?.. is a question I would ask.

  706. This link is quite amusing:
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/former-celtic-man-reveals-why-tom-lawrence-could-regret-making-rangers-move/ar-AAZsHUv?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=550a47f0c91d4443a505b2ae81ce0738

    I had a wee laugh at the last sentence of that utterance of Frank McAvennie, which is
    “The manager[GvB] will have a look at the players, he obviously fancies them. They’re at the right price, Lawrence was on a free.”
    A priceless and surprisingly clever wee jibe at the transfer recruitment policy of the [basically cash-strapped] RIFC plc board!

  708. Upthehoops 12th July 2022 At 12:02
    “Elgin …. fielding an ineligible player. They really need to up their game and illegally with hold tens of millions from HMRC, while failing to declare contracts to the SFA, then it will just be ‘nothing to see here, move along’.
    ++++++++++
    How absurdly rotten at its very heart is Scottish Football!

    Lie and cheat on a big enough scale over ten seasons or so, and you walk away instead of being humiliatingly expelled with disgust and shamed before the world of Sport.

    That any officers of the SPFL have the brass neck and hypocrisy to bring any disciplinary charge against any club given the enormity of the Big Lie which they continue to sustain and foster marks them out as shameless abusers of office and as despicable as any of the lying politicians we are hearing about.

  709. John Clark 11th July 23.41

    We have another 7 weeks or so John before the transfer window closes.
    One player out for £6 million with the potential for it to rise to £10 million.
    Four players in for a combined total of £4.3 million.
    There will, imo be more players arriving and departing in the remaining weeks so always best waiting until midnight on the 31st of August before reaching any conclusions.

  710. Only 3 weeks until your first game in CL Qualifying (3rd round) though, Albertz. That’s probably a more important date than the closure of the window.

  711. Tom Lawrence looked very impressive in the video posted recently, displaying the skills he’ll bring to Rangers. Its easy to be impressive when you don’t have the pressure of game situations, someone marking you and a goalie who makes more than a half hearted effort at a save. Lets see what he can with a defender in his face.

  712. Nawlite 13th July 19.32

    No doubt about that, Nawlite. The qualifiers will determine the shape of any future transfer activity, both in & out at Rangers imo.

    Vernallen 14th July 01.20.

    Pretty sure that TL has played in game situations, with defenders marking him, and with a goalkeeper trying to prevent a goal being scored. Having said that i have seen more talented and higher profile players struggling to cope with playing for either half of the Old Firm.

  713. Albertz11 14th July 2022 At 09.52
    ‘.. Having said that i have seen more talented and higher profile players struggling to cope with playing for either half of the Old Firm.’
    +++++++++++++
    Just for the record, Albertz11, and as you very well know, there is no ‘Old Firm’.

    One of the two football clubs whose readiness to ‘fix’ games for a ‘draw’ so as to get revenue from replays , [as alleged by a far more honest Press than we have had for some considerable time!] no longer exists -except ‘In Liquidation’.

    By no stretch of the imagination could TRFC of 2012 creation be that half of the ‘Old Firm’ that was RFC of 1872!
    Now, whether those allegations were true at the time is , in one sense, unimportant: the important point is that there were sports journalists who were prepared to think that it was at least a possibility that it was true!

    And given the refusal in more recent times by the other partner of the ‘Old Firm’ to insist on an investigation into the granting of a UEFA licence ( the Res 12 issue] to RFC of 1872, who is to say that the original allegations were not well-founded?
    The half-arsed ‘one club since 1888’ is an expression of weakness, a capitulation to untruth motivated by something less than principle, a pretendy statement that Celtic does not recognise TRFC’s claim to be entitled to the sporting honours of the now deceased RFC of 1872.
    Honest to God!
    My grandads are birling in their graves.

  714. It can be interesting when football fans disagree over the transfer fee for a player especially when the selling club is trying to establish itself as a player in the transfer market. What is more interesting when the financial wizards at the DR enter the fray. Keith Jackson of the billionaire type boast has a fee of $25 million attached to Bassey. A fellow reporter in the same publication, Gavin Berry, has a fee of $20 million. Who to believe? And why can’t they address the fee for Aribo as $6 million plus potential add ons raising it to $10 million. The purchasing club controls the potential add ons and if the player was to get close to costing them $ million, even in the rich EPL, could game time be reduced negating the potential payout. I have seen that happen in other sports, why should football be any different.

  715. Vernallen 15th July 2022 At 01:41
    I think quite a few players have found themselves sitting in the stands until they find a new club , with their employer reluctant to play them due to the financial implications of another appearance .And remember that Club 1872 claimed to have evidence of TRFC telling porkies regarding transfer values .

  717. At first blush there is no connection with football matters in Lord Ericht’s ‘opinion’ published today

    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh48.pdf?sfvrsn=5f7b3b55_1

    Lord Ericht was dealing with a request for ‘judicial review’ [in a political asylum matter] of the decision of the Upper Tribunal, which had upheld the decision of the First Tier Tribunal to knock back a Vietnamese chap who had been trafficked into the UK .

    The chap had taken part in a demonstration outside the Vietnamese embassy in London.
    He argued that if he were returned to Vietnam, his life would be in danger.

    The First Tier Tribunal looked at photographs of the embassy demonstration, and concluded that the guy could not be recognised.
    And concluded that he would not be in danger back in Vietnam.
    The Upper Tribunal agreed.

    Now, I’ve just this minute asked Mrs C her opinion on whether demonstrators/demonstrations outside an embassy in London might be comprehensively , hi-tech, filmed by people INSIDE the embassy.
    Without a doubt, she replied. Obvious.
    Lord Ericht was of the same opinion.
    ‘..In my opinion it is arguable that by concluding that there was no reliable evidence
    that the Vietnamese authorities would have been aware of his attendance at the Embassy
    demonstration without taking into account its finding that he was present, the First-tier
    Tribunal has erred in law in leaving out a relevant matter and reaching a conclusion on the
    facts which is irrational (MA (Somalia) v SSHD [2010] UKSC 49 at para [44]). ‘

    So, he has allowed an appeal to be made against the Upper Tribunal’s decision to deny an appeal .

    Connection with Scottish Football, anyone?
    Well, perhaps it’s the irrational finding that having more money[ by cheating the taxman] doesn’t give you an advantage over others when buying football players!
    As the utterly fatuous Nimmo Smith concluded.
    And him a judge too!
    Stop that giggling!

  718. @Vernallen – no doubt there is jiggerypokery when it comes to the buying club massaging appearances and game time if it were to trigger additional payment. Of course we don’t know what the triggers are in the case of Aribo. I had to take a second read over the summer when I read that Real Madrid winning the CL had triggered a significant payment (£20m) to Chelsea as part of the ‘add-ons” for the transfer of Hazard. Never mind that I was almost as close to the Madrid first team squad as Hazard was last season!!!
    The only guarantees with add-ons and trigger clauses is that the lawyer fees for drafting the contracts will be higher!

  719. So the latest on BBC sport on Bassey has him joining Ajax for a deal “worth in excess of £20m…”. My question (and it does not apply only to this deal but many others) is what do they include in the “deal” these days. Is it just the transfer fee or does it include signing on fees, wages, contingent payments, etc.. It would be good to have more consistency and transparency in the wider football world.

  720. Wokingcelt, I was looking and it seems the most Ajax have ever paid for a defender was for Daley Blind from Man U a couple of years back – a vastly experienced Dutch international (90 caps) who helped the Dutch to the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup. He had good experience in the Top 5 Leagues, winning league titles and cups with Ajax as well as the Europa League with Man U. They paid £14.4m for him with that record, so I’m not buying £20m+. He was 28 to Bassey’s 22, to be fair.

    Other than him, the most they have spent on a defender is £9m – Owen Wijndal, a 22yr old left back from AZ Alkmaar. They signed him in June for this season. He has 12 caps for Holland, having been capped at all levels from U15. Compare that 22yr old’s record with 22 yr old Bassey – does anyone really think Ajax would pay more than twice for Bassey what they did for Wijnald?

    I can confidently predict that this one will go through as ‘undisclosed’.

  721. Wokingcelt 16th July 2022 At 22:10
    ‘..what do they include in the “deal” these days.’
    +++++++++
    Well, the word that is missed out is ‘ potentially’.
    Geez, any football player is ‘potentially’ worth millions.

    In reality, there is no likelihood that TRFC has pocketed anything approaching 20 million for the penalty kick misser!

    I am happy to accept that I have no right to know the everyday business affairs of any plc or limited company.

    And I can accept that any business will always try to be upbeat.

    But I am not happy that the SMSM should simply roll over and accept PR handouts without question.

    As they did in 2012, when the very guys who should have torn a faithless, unprincipled ‘Governance’ body apart for its abject surrender to somebody like CG not only failed to do so, but supported with all its strength the Big Lie!
    Whit? I never mentioned the new pensioner Jim White.

  722. It’s ironic that the media was trumpeting GVB’s knowledge of Dutch football as a gateway to untold signings of emerging superstars to reinforce the Rangers team. With one of his star players potentially moving to Ajax it appears the Dutch have a better understanding of Scottish football than GVB and his team have of Dutch football. Perhaps one of the media stalwarts go do some digging on the alleged fee as well.

  723. Where does claiming over inflated transfer fees get you ? Is it the hope that other players of similar ability will command the fees claimed , is it hoped to encourage fresh investment from those seeking a good return. For every Ying there’s a Yang and players coming to the end of current deals will want far better deals if they believe the club* is cash rich as will any club looking to sell to the Ibrox outfit. There is also the fans who will not tolerate any austerity when it comes to replacements. Of course the accounts should reveal more reality than the account given by their PR dept. Does anyone really believe the 16m figure for Nathan Patterson even though the caveats “potentially” and “up to” were included. The run to the EL final has undoubtedly brought much needed income along with these sales and hopefully enough to pay Mike Ashley his dues . Could they finally after a decade of trying now break even?

  724. Timtim, only one reason for claiming £20m imo. They have been using the hyped fee for Bassey for months to stop the fans looking at the SD court costs; does Ashley have claws in Castore etc. You just need to read the fan forums, who have believed all the months of deflection stories about £20m for Bassey to realise that if they were really ‘only’ getting £9m for Bassey (per my suggestion above) there would be riots.

  725. Away back in the late 1950s the Daily Record had a regular column by ‘Pat Roller.’

    Just into my early teens at the time, it was a wee while before I learned that there was no ‘Pat Roller’: and that the column was just the pasting, in one place , by whatever sub-editor was on duty, of little bits of ‘news’ that had come into the news room in the time that had passed since that morning’s edition until the next morning’s edition was going to bed.

    I mention this because I noted today that two reports of the Bassey transfer referred to their source as being one Fabrizio Romano.
    I googled him.
    Boy, he’s some guy! There seems not to have been any big transfer in European football that he wasn’t the first to report!
    He is a real person, born in Naples in 1993(!) , educated in Milan at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, entered the world of journalism at age 18 and now has zillions of followers on Instagram and such, working for Sky Italia, and also writing pieces for ‘The Guardian’ and what-not. He is a Watford fan.

    And he is, apparently, the go-to guy for news about transfers.

    But, I ask, is he merely a ‘ Pat Roller’ who is provided by clubs with Press statements about what THEY want reported?(like our SMSM folk?)
    Or is he a down and dirty actual journalist, investigating and questioning and digging out information for himself?
    Would he ever be accepted into the ICIJ?
    It would be interesting to know.

  726. I see that the DR still has no grasp on history. The sub headline in the Thomas Buffel story states that Rangers hope to reach the CL group stage for the first time since 2010 if they can navigate the qualifying rounds. That’s quite an accomplishment for a team founded in 2012. Also the stories keep referring to Rangers in the CL but should it not be the qualifying rounds of the CL. Can’t imagine the flowery stories of Rangers past, prior to 2012, and all the teams that crumbled before them.

  727. Here is the draft of a ( snail mail) letter I am considering sending sometime soon:
    “Dear Helen Stevenson,
    Today I have been reading the Annual Report and Finance Statements of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail’ for the 52 week period ended 27 December 2020 [ the latest available on Companies House website]
    Among interesting things I learned is the fact that the ultimate parent company of that newspaper company is Reach PLC.

    This prompted me to have a look at the most recently available Annual Report of Reach PLC.
    On page 5 of that Report, there is this boldly confident statement of purpose:

    “ At Reach, we have a clear core purpose: speaking up and shining a light on the truth”
    Sadly, I have to say that I question whether the Board of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail ‘ ever bought into that stirring journalistic ideal.
    To this very day, those newspapers have refused to declare the truth in a number of different but connected matters, namely,
    first, the truth that the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 , having failed to exit Administration because no buyer could be found , entered Liquidation where it now remains, under the name of RFC 2012 plc; and the truth that it had to surrender its share in the then SPL, and had its membership of the SFA withdrawn, therefore ceasing to exist as a recognised football club entitled to participate in Scottish professional football;
    second, the truth that Charles Green did not buy Rangers Football club of 1872: he bought some assets, while the club slid or crashed into Liquidation: there was ‘holding company’ at the time!
    third, the truth that the IPO issued on the launch of Rangers International Football Club plc contained the misleading ( in my view, seriously misleading) information that investors would be investing in the ‘holding company’ of Rangers Football Club of 1872, one of the most successful clubs in the world, not the ‘holding company’ of a club newly admitted to Scottish Football.
    And fourth, the truth that a new club founded in 2012 cannot possibly have a sporting history going back earlier than that.
    I understand that you are the Senior Independent Director on the Board of Reach PLC.
    Perhaps you might think it appropriate to ask the Board whether they are satisfied that the Board of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail ‘speaks up and shines a light on the truth’.
    their handling of the objective facts of the death of Rangers of 1872 and the birth of TRFC would most definitely suggest that they do not.
    Yours sincerely,

    John C.

  728. Big Pink 20th July 2022 At 13:31

    As you say the devil is in the detail, but the statement issued by the BBC comes close to a groveling apology in my opinion. BBC Sportsound and Sportscene is already heavily imbalanced in terms of Rangers minded pundits, and Sportsound has recently appointed an overtly Rangers supporting Saturday host. This does not bode well for the future. After this statement, and with the existing imbalance in terms of pundits and coverage, it’s difficult to see how BBC can possibly be fair and balanced.

  729. Big Pink 20th July 2022 At 13:31
    “..Some folk on Twitter, including me at first, seeing it as a climb down by Auntie”
    +++++++
    The BBC statement has this:
    “..The BBC acknowledges that there have been occasions when parts of the coverage of Rangers FC have not met its editorial standards. It has apologised for those instances and is happy to repeat those apologies now.”
    Oh, the unconscious irony!
    That statement is true: the BBC has failed to meet its editorial standards since 2012, when it adopted the Big Lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872 ,and still, with partisan delight and/or craven cowardice, continues to foster and propagate that lie.
    I thought that SDM and others who were involved in the EBT scandal were bad enough.
    But they are innocent as babes compared with the truly perverted minds of those in governance of the BBC in Scotland who betray a far more sacred trust than tawdry business men or sports governance bodies are invested with.
    The BBC has never seriously examined or explained how a club that lost its membership of the SFA in 2012 can be the RFC of 1872, or how a new plc could claim to be the holding company of a liquidated football club when it was and is the holding company only of SevcoScotland aka TRFC , a football club created only a few weeks before the launch of that new plc? and has never investigated the ‘5-Way Agreement’ by which Scottish Football was perverted and lost its Integrity.
    Its failure to do so in spite of the objective , verifiable facts suggests to me a blind partisanship and/or a level of contempt for truth that should see them in hell.
    I call out Pacific Quay as being lying propagandists for a lying football club, and I wonder what more serious lying propaganda it indulges in-at our expense.
    Bad, bad articles they are.

  730. Rangers may have backed themselves into a corner when it comes to purchasing players. A Turkish team is claiming a Ranger’s target will not go for less than $6 million. Rangers have apparently balked at said price for a full international. However the spent $3 plus add ons for a player who was purchased for $300,000 and barely featured for Liverpool and ended up on loan. Selling teams will have a look at this deal and start licking their lips at any potential sales to Rangers. Also someone should remind Rangers fans that the much ballyhooed transfer income does not land in one payment. Aren’t they normally spread out over a number of years. $19 million sounds good but a good chunk of that will be coming in down the road.

  731. You’ve read the BBC announcement about resuming coverage of Rangers* very differently than I did, BP, if you think that reads like Rangers* capitulated. With all the non-specific explanations about the BBC reporting ‘not meeting its editorial standards’ and their apology for not reporting in an accurate and balanced way in the past, I read it very much as the BBC caving in by admitting it had reported things that weren’t true pick from a menu including the sectarian singing; the liquidation; how well-off they are etc etc. Believe me, the TRFC fans are reading that non-specific apology as meaning that the BBC has lied about EVERYTHING bad they have ever reported and see this as a big win. Here’s a selection of quotes from the BD –
    “Happy days. Between this and Kenny Macintyre taking the lead on Saturdays sportsound is good moves.”
    “Mixed feelings on this. Glad to see them apologise and almost grovelling even just a little bit. On the other hand I quite liked having them nowhere near us.”
    “They’ve apologised and acknowledged previous biased reporting, I’d chalk that up as a win.”
    “This is the result we (fans) wanted I expect. An admission of wrongdoing by the BBC followed by a normalisation in relations. In which case, good.”

    By the way, Phil has read it the same way I did. https://philmacgiollabhain.ie/2022/07/20/the-bbc-capitulate-to-sevco/#more-25703

  732. Nawlite 20th July 2022 At 18:15
    ‘..quotes from the BD –
    “Happy days. Between this and Kenny Macintyre taking the lead on Saturdays sportsound is good moves.”’
    +++++++
    Mrs C thinks that McIntyre got the job as an appeasement and the price of getting the BBC back into Ibrox.
    I am ready to concur.
    Unprincipled to the nth degree!!

  733. John Clark 20th July 2022 At 20:06

    Nawlite 20th July 2022 At 18:15
    ‘..quotes from the BD –
    “Happy days. Between this and Kenny Macintyre taking the lead on Saturdays sportsound is good moves.”’

    +++++++++++++++++

    BBC Scotland’s Scottish Football coverage is already massively overloaded with ex-Rangers players in comparison to other clubs. With Kenny MacIntyre now in the chair for Saturday Sportsound it doesn’t bode well. No matter how much anyone protests it’s simply not possible to have coverage with such an imbalance and expect the pundits to be impartial. This HAS to be by design. A person, or persons of influence within BBC clearly believes that people from a Rangers background are more trustworthy and reliable. Fans of all other clubs will have their views, but mine as a Celtic fan is that having ‘token tim’ Pat Bonner as the only regular Celtic contributor smacks of employment practices when I started working. It’s just not good enough to have such an imbalance towards Rangers…this is being funded by public money.

  734. Upthehoops 20th July 2022 At 21:02
    ‘… A person, or persons of influence within BBC clearly believes that people from a Rangers background are more trustworthy and reliable’
    ++++++++
    UPH,
    I’m not the most proficient user of the internet, but I have found it difficult tonight to find out who is ‘in charge’ at Pacific Quay, and who might be ‘Head of Personnel’ or ‘staff hiring, promotions, etc etc’.

    Beyond finding that there is a BBC ‘Scotland Committee’ [on which Muriel Gray serves as chair, I think] and not finding any fairly recent minutes of that committee and therefore not finding any note of discussion of ‘audience’ numbers and such like, I cannot get anywhere near finding out who appointed McIntyre as a possible move to conciliate the lying football club.

    I haven’t even found the name of the current Controller[ Scotland]!
    Mea feckin culpa!
    Whoever he or she [ the last one might have been a ‘they’ for all I know] may be, he/she is ultimately responsible for the disgraceful failure of BBC Scotland to tell the truth about the death of Rangers and for propagation of the lie that RIFC plc is the holding company of the Rangers Football Club of both my grandfathers’ days!
    Honest to God, you couldn’t be up to the duplicity and deceit at the heart of BBC Scotland and the print SMSM generally.
    They KNOW the truth.
    Yet, wilfully, and for the meanest and self-degrading motives, they protect and propagate a lie.
    And cannot even BEGIN to defend that lie by reference to objective fact.
    That’s the test!
    And the BBC , once revered by the whole feckin world ,as well by me, as a bastion of Truth has for the meanest of commercial and/or sectarian partisan reasons, sold its soul.
    God, the contempt welling up in me is indescribable.
    Guys like mad Putin at least lie in important matters.
    Pacific Quay lies in the relatively trivial matter of football!
    And no abstract notions here: there are individual rotten liars and deniers of truth in office at Pacific Quay-whose salaries we are all paying!
    They know who they are.
    We ,unfortunately, do not- so cannot dig into them and their motives or ask them personally why they propagandise a lie.
    May they never sleep with an easy conscience , as betrayers of the Truth.

  735. Upthehoops 20th July 2022 At 21:02
    ‘… A person, or persons of influence within BBC clearly believes that people from a Rangers background are more trustworthy and reliable’
    ++++++++
    UPH,
    I’m not the most proficient user of the internet, but I have found it difficult tonight to find out who is ‘in charge’ at Pacific Quay, and who might be ‘Head of Personnel’ or ‘staff hiring, promotions, etc etc’.

    Beyond finding that there is a BBC ‘Scotland Committee’ [on which Muriel Gray serves as chair, I think] and not finding any fairly recent minutes of that committee and therefore not finding any note of discussion of ‘audience’ numbers and such like, I cannot get anywhere near finding out who appointed McIntyre as a possible move to conciliate the lying football club.
    I haven’t even found the name of the current Controller[ Scotland]!
    Mea feckin culpa!
    Whoever he/or she [ the last one might have been a ‘they’ for all I know] may be, he/she is ultimately responsible for the disgraceful failure of BBC Scotland to tell the truth about the death of Rangers and for propagation of the lie that RIFC plc is the holding company of the Rangers Football Club of both my grandfathers’ days!
    Honest to God, you couldn’t be up to the duplicity and deceit at the heart of BBC Scotland and the print SMSM generally.
    They KNOW the truth.
    Wilfully, and for the meanest and self-degrading motives, they protect and propagate a lie.
    And cannot even BEGIN to defend that lie by reference to objective fact.
    That’s the test!
    And the BBC , once revered by the whole feckin world ,as well by me, as a bastion of Truth has for the meanest of commercial and/or sectarian partisan reasons, sold its soul.
    God, the contempt welling up in me is indescribable.
    Guys like mad Putin at least lie in important matters.
    Pacific Quay lies in the relatively trivial matter of football!
    God rot its soul!

  737. I suppose if I was cynical I might think that the powers beyond Pacific Quay have an absolute requirement for Scotland’s voices of unionism to be working together over the next year or so.

    As we head towards 2023, things are likely to get very serious.

    I’d assume an order to ‘get things sorted – whatever it takes!’ will have come from London.

    If you thought the media generally failed to present a fair and balanced view in the lead up to INDYREF1, you may well see the BBC Scotland/Sevco reconciliation as a frightening portent of things to come.

  739. Upthehoops 21st July 2022 At 20:59
    ‘Surely these teams being punished for one player would have been far better playing a huge amount of ineligible players over an entire decade?’
    ++++++++++++++
    And ” Hibs issued an apology to supporters…”
    Honest to God, what a farce that there should still BE any ‘ ineligibility’ rule in the book, after that lying RFC of 1872 spent whole seasons fielding dozens of ineligible players and went unpunished!
    Why all hell wasn’t let loose against the habitual, serious sport cheating by the thankfully now dead RFC of 1872 shows what rotten governance structure there was then, and what weak, cowardly club boards we had then and still do have, to accept being ‘disciplined’ by hypocritical lying governance bodies.
    Scottish Football will never recover its lost honour and integrity for s long as 10 year old club is allowed to claim titles and honours that should have been stripped from SDM’s cheating Rangers.
    Our club owners should show a bit of gumption and self-respect and refuse to accept being disciplined for ‘ineligibility’ offences until RFC of 1872 is expelled retrospectively for its mass cheating, and all honours etc won in the EBT years stripped from it.

  740. HirsutePursuit 20th July 2022 At 23:43
    ‘..I’d assume an order to ‘get things sorted – whatever it takes!’ will have come from London.’
    ++++++++
    No doubt, HP.
    The BBC is quintessentially English in that it equates ‘english’ with ‘british’, as do most people in England. It sees ‘Unionism’ as Putin sees Ukraine as being Russian, as if Scotland was merely a subservient part of England since history began.
    Of its own accord, the BBC abhors the idea of Scotland asserting its right to dissolve the Union, if it were to decide so to do by the democratic vote of the people.
    It will therefore quite happily kow-tow to a football club whose substantial numbers of follow followers need to be appeased and who are politically like-minded.
    BBC Scotland lied in 2012 on behalf of TRFC and continues to lie on their behalf to ensure votes for the Union.
    It will lie again as often as required to support politically the ‘Union’.
    No doubt about it.

  741. I read recently that around 75% of under 35’s in Scotland support Scottish independence. The same report states that for the over 55’s, it’s about 70% in favour of the Union.

    What’s interesting about that, is that the younger generations are tending to move away from standard ‘linear’ TV viewing. If a young person watches BBC output, it is more likely binge-watching a drama series via the iPlayer. The same would be true for STV/ITV output. Consequently, the opportunity to be exposed to random news and current affairs output is much more limited than it has ever been in the past. With physical newspapers a thing of the past, Scotland’s young people have never had such an opportunity to make up their own minds – free of the influence of an inherently biased media.
    The UK government knows who makes up the BBC’s audience. It is absolutely not the majority of the young people of this country.
    It’s a large section of the older generation, desperately clinging to an idea of Britishness that, in my opinion, hasn’t really existed since the 1970’s.
    The BBC in Scotland will be working even harder than usual over the next year to persuade as many people as it can that being British still means something.
    It can’t do that if it has alienated the unionist leaning audience it is seeking to speak to.
    As BP says, there is a much bigger game being played here.

  742. I hope the forum doesn’t descend into an independence bandwagon. There are plenty of other places on social media for that. On other football forums where independence is heavily debated the level of insults and intolerance from many angles belies the notion of the fairer, more tolerant world most people would want to see. I even saw on a Celtic forum people saying if you don’t vote SNP you are not welcome in Celtic Park. Words fail me. Everyone is of course entitled to whatever opinion they choose, as long as it is respectfully presented. Personally I see the BBC capitulation to Rangers as nothing other than the same old cultural bias towards Ibrox that we’ve had to put up with for decades. I seriously doubt it is part of a wider push against those who wish to see Scotland become independent.

  743. @JC – you are not alone in struggling to get any corporate data out of the BBC website. I have submitted a FOI request seeking information from them on their “line-ups” on Sportsound over the course of last season and the cost of these pundits. They promise a response within 20 days…

  744. Upthehoops 22nd July 2022 At 10:09
    ‘,,I hope the forum doesn’t descend into an independence bandwagon.’
    ++++++++++
    So do I, UTH!
    I was attempting to run three ideas together and draw a conclusion:
    a) the BBC has already lied and continues to lie in a matter of ‘ sport’ to appease that [significant enough] section of the football supporting population of Scotland which vociferously espouses ‘Unionism’
    b) the BBC is already regarded with some suspicion by the present Government and is in fear for its continued existence as an independent broadcaster
    c) the BBC is itself , in my opinion, thirled to Unionism
    I conclude that the BBC , listening to a friendly word of advice from a Cabinet Minister in a Unionist government worried about the break-up of the Union, would be only too happy to reply ,”Yes, Minister”

    I’m sorry if my bungled post can be read as any kind of direct political statement, rather than just an assertion that I don’t take on trust anything that BBC Scotland says. They lied and continue to lie in a mere matter of Sport:
    What will they not lie about if they feel the need?

  745. Wokingcelt 22nd July 2022 At 10:26

    +++++++++++++++++

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to provide the information. I expect they will say they don’t have to, hiding behind the ‘creative journalism’ line. When I made a similar request to yours that’s the response I got.

  746. Wokingcelt 22nd July 2022 At 10:26
    ‘..struggling to get any corporate data out of the BBC website. ‘
    Upthehoops 22nd July 2022 At 14:14
    ‘.Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to provide the information…’
    +++++++++
    Gentlemen , it pains me to realise that earlier this evening, at about 5.00 pm, I think I missed the chance to buttonhole none other than the Chair of the BBC Scotland Committee.
    Mrs C and I were in the Sainsbury’s at Middle Meadow Walk [Edinburgh, of course]
    I was at the only ‘manned’ ‘ check-outpoint, waiting to pay for a couple of items. I was behind a white-haired crop-headed, middle-aged woman, likewise purchasing just one or two small items.
    As she turned away to go to the exit I recognised her as being none other than Muriel Gray, who, as I mentioned the other day , is the Chair of the BBC Scotland Committee.

    Now, if Mrs C had been close at hand instead of yards away looking at the shelves , possibly comparing prices with those in our big Sainsbury’s, I think I would have tried to have a few words with Miss Gray, to say that I would be writing to her about BBC Scotland’s complicity in the biggest sporting lie there has ever been in Scottish Football and asking her to put that subject on the agenda of the next meeting of her Committee. Missed the chance!
    But I will write to her in any case.
    Although she is usually described as being a ‘journalist’, I think she is essentially an ‘artist’ in the sense of being a seeker after ‘Truth’ and valuing Truth for truth’s sake. And she is very much her own woman!
    [ maybe I might just have asked for her autograph, though, ha ha!]

  747. Upthehoops 22nd July 2022 At 10:09
    30Rate This

    I hope the forum doesn’t descend into an independence bandwagon.

    ….
    Personally I see the BBC capitulation to Rangers as nothing other than the same old cultural bias towards Ibrox that we’ve had to put up with for decades. I seriously doubt it is part of a wider push against those who wish to see Scotland become independent.
    ……………….
    ……………….
    Apologies UTH, if you thought my recent post was lowering the level of debate.

    However, I think when the current political landscape impinges on the reportage of football matters, surely it is relevant to comment on it here.

    When you talk about the ‘old cultural bias towards Ibrox’ do you believe that the attitudes within that culture are representative of Scotland’s people as a whole?

    As an aside, I’m not sure, in this particular case, how cultural issues can be separated from politics.

    In any case, I don’t think that particular culture is particularly widespread these days – and probably hasn’t been for 30 to 40 years. That is not to deny its existence – institutionally, it has persisted through many management structures and networks. But it can be argued that BBC Scotland (and STV to a lesser extent) has, since the mid 1990’s been much more culturally diverse than the equivalent service provided in other parts of the UK.

    Would that ‘old cultural bias’ you mention have allowed a BBC employee to have reported on sectarian/racist behaviour within the confines of Ibrox in the past? Would it have provided support to that employee when they were targeted for simply doing their job?

    Remember also that BBC Scotland argued that the original Rangers were liquidated. It was the BBC trustees in London who adopted the contrary position.

    The BBC Scotland capitulation is important – firstly for purely football reasons. In its wake, can we trust anything the BBC tells us about Rangers* in the future – especially in relation to off-field matters?

    But secondly, we should openly question where the recent decision originated. If, as I fear it has been, a London edict, the next question has to be why?

  748. HirsutePursuit 23rd July 2022 At 17:36
    EDIT

    “..Remember also that BBC Scotland argued that the original Rangers were liquidated. It was the BBC trustees in London who adopted the contrary position”

    Hmm I think ‘argued’ should perhaps be replaced by initially reported,as I can’t ever recall any BBC scotland reporter/journalist/employee or even press release vehemently advocating the normal consequences of liquidation.Apart that is for Jim Spence and his idle speculation on the alternative ‘facts’. For which he was duly shot down and eventually had to leave the BBC.

  750. HirsutePursuit 23rd July 2022 At 19:20
    “This is how I remember it:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22951447 ”
    ++++++=
    The liars at Ibrox were the ‘complainers’ to the BBC Trust [like calling unto like?]:
    “The complainers objected to this, maintaining that it was only the company which ran the club, and not the club itself, which was liquidated.”

    The official records of the the SPL show that the holder of a share in that league was The Rangers Football Club, not some other ‘holding company’

    They show also that Rangers Football Club were required to surrender that share and ceased thereby to be a member company of the SPL.

    The official records of the SFA show that membership of the SFA was withdrawn from Rangers Football Club when they ceased to be a shareholder member of a recognised football league.

    And, of course, the official record of ‘Insolvencies’ , the London Gazette [published also in Edinburgh and Belfast] will make no mention of any ‘holding company’ going into liquidation while the football club carried on!

    And, if Rangers Football Club of 1872 was not the entity that was liquidated, why the heck was SevcoScotland required to buy a share in any Scottish football league company that would have them, before they could even apply for membership of the SFA?

    We have been down this road since 2012.
    But it is important to keep banging on about the Truth. [I am reminded of an old saying in cod Latin ” nil illegitimi carborundum.’ – “don’t let the bast.rds grind you down”] Because that is what , Putin-like, the SMSM, the Ibrox Boards and BBC Scotland have been trying to do since 2012, when RFC of 1872 ceased to exist-as the SMSM and the BBC truthfully reported at the time.

    The liars know they are lying. The Football governance boards know they are lying. The SMSM and BBC Scotland know they are lying.
    And we know that they all are lying.

    Mercifully, no one is dying or physically suffering as result of the Big Lie. [ although maybe certain people in football governance might not be too happy in their consciences]
    But one wonders whether any of the liars would care even if there was such an outcome?

    Because men too frightened to speak Truth in an incidental matter of sport might quite readily, like say Putin lie regardless of consequences for others in order to save their own ‘professional’ skins or bank balances.

    There’s a lot of bad folk in this world generally.
    And a disproportionate number in the relatively small world of Scottish Football.
    In my opinion, of course-but the evidence is there!

  751. JC I agree with what you say. I would only make the point that BBC Scotland initially tried to tell the truth, but were compelled to adopt the alternative reality by a greater power.

    As an aside, it is interesting that the chair of the BBC committee dealing with the complaints has subsequently gone onto a PR career, specialising in crisis management. Another committee member had spent 30 years as a journalist in Northern Ireland (including during the 1970’s). Another, the member for Scotland, is an engineer/businessman who was also on the Board of the British Transport Police Authority.

    I am not questioning the integrity of any of these people, but I would find it surprising if the board, as a whole, did not recognise the cultural/political significance of the demise of Rangers.

    They had the cover of the LNS sham enquiry which set out, in its terms of reference, the purported separation of club and company. The SFA and SPL had already sold their souls as signatories to the scandalous 5WA.

    As part of the British establishment and understanding that an Independence referendum was imminent (the BBC Trustees decision came in 2013) realistically, what other decision could they make?

    My point is that BBC Scotland has attempted to present the facts from a viewpoint that would be recognised by the majority of Scots as mainstream. The decision to present the more fantastical interpretation of the events at Ibrox did not come from Pacific Quay.

  752. HirsutePursuit 24th July 2022 At 00:32
    “JC I agree with what you say. I would only make the point that BBC Scotland initially tried to tell the truth, but were compelled to adopt the alternative reality by a greater power”
    ++++++++
    Yes, HP, I have previously acknowledged that BBC Scotland [ like James Taylor !] initially told the truth.

    But the BBC Controller Scotland should have resigned and caused n almighty fuss rather than accept an INSTRUCTION from the BBC Trust to tell the absurd and absolute lie that it was the company that died but the club lived on.
    The supporters and directors and Administrators of Heart of Midlothian PLC bust a gut to avoid being Liquidated by getting the creditors to agree a Voluntary Arrangement, thus allowing ownership of the club to change hands and continue in existence as a member of recognised football league with an unbroken history of membership of the SFA .
    Why would they bothered if they could just have let the ‘company’ die , set up a brand new company and football team and get the Governance bodies to sell their rotten souls and create the myth that Hearts FC lived on?

  754. JC, I suppose there are two distinct (but interconnected) issues.

    There is, as you detail so well, the personal responsibility that people have for telling the truth. Ultimately, it is up to each person to live with their conscience and decide which direction to take when faced with the dilemma of truth against personal interest. I wonder though, how invested must someone be in a truth (or a lie!) to decide to throw away a 30 year career? Is the particular truth in question so important (from their own perspective) that they would be prepared to make that self sacrifice?

    That is the stark choice the staff at BBC Scotland are faced with. I certainly don’t condone their compliance in propagating falsehoods, but I do understand the challenge they face.

    The greater sin, in my view, is not committed by the people who follow an instruction that, in all honesty, may not hold any great personal importance. My greater concern is the people who design and control the systems and structures that, for cultural/political reasons, seek to distort or flatly deny facts and circumstances that should be uncontroversial in the real world.

  755. This made me laugh:[ today, from Conor Matchett of ‘The Scotsman]
    “Police Scotland has been ordered to release details of discussions between the force, the SPFL and the Scottish Government on the planned operations around Rangers fans’ “shameful” celebrations after the club’s title victory last year… In a transparent victory for ‘ The Scotsman’ the force has now been told to release the information after a ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner”

    “The Scotsman” seeking the Truth about possibly discreditable matters involving TRFC? Well, I never!
    Having a pop at Police Scotland for supposedly being coy with the truth is a piece of disgusting hypocrisy on the part of ‘The Scotsman’, which propagates the absurd and monstrous lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872.

  756. Incidentally, In case anyone wants to check the London Gazette(Edinburgh edition] remember that, while it could still be done, the name of Rangers Football Club plc was changed to RFC 2012 plc, so better to search under the unchanged company number SC 00 4276. It was Rangers football club of 1872 that went into Liquidation.

    https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/E-27190-44

  758. HirsutePursuit 23rd July 2022 At 17:36

    Upthehoops 22nd July 2022 At 10:09

    When you talk about the ‘old cultural bias towards Ibrox’ do you believe that the attitudes within that culture are representative of Scotland’s people as a whole?

    +++++++++++++++++++

    Obviously not as a whole. However those in a position to influence such as the mainstream media and politicians have firmly declared their hand towards Ibrox. Likewise we are entitled to question why other Scottish football clubs and many of their fans are so happy to ‘move on’ when so many wrongs have not been righted and never will be. I think it’s fair to say that Rangers* have won the culture war in the key battlegrounds. It’s probably a mixture of bias, fear and total indifference, but there seems no route whatsoever for anyone to be held to account. Even when we have the quite outrageous, and in my view sinister malicious prosecutions at massive expense to the Scottish taxpayer, the mainstream media and politicians sit in relative silence.

    Rangers* fans have a saying ‘it’s all about the Rangers’. In terms of those in a position to hold Rangers* to account, it looks like they’re right.

  760. What are they like?
    This morning, from MSP for Central Scotland Graham Simpson :
    ” The dates for this industrial action [ on the subway] have been cynically chosen to maximise the disruption to Rangers fans”.
    I don’t remember him uttering a single word about the cynical destruction of the Integrity of Scottish Football by those in football governance who support the cynically calculated lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872.
    [see ‘The Scotsman’ report by Katherine Hay]

  761. I had a wee laugh at this:
    ” Posed the perfectly reasonable question as to whether he had a starting team in mind for embarking on their title defence at home to Aberdeen on Sunday, he [i.e. Postecoglou] replied with a certain contempt
    ” Yes, I don’t know what it is, but I’ll have a starting team and there will be at least 11 ready for it”.
    And no, the questioner as far as I know was not Kenny Mac.
    Presumably it was not Andrew Smith either, whose report in ‘The Scotsman’ is where I read that comment.

  763. John Clark 26th July 2022 At 12:17

    What are they like?
    This morning, from MSP for Central Scotland Graham Simpson :
    ” The dates for this industrial action [ on the subway] have been cynically chosen to maximise the disruption to Rangers fans”.
    I don’t remember him uttering a single word about the cynical destruction of the Integrity of Scottish Football by those in football governance who support the cynically calculated lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I wonder if he cared about the disruption and wreckage caused during Rangers fans ‘celebrations’ in Glasgow last year, culminating in carnage in George Square?

    Anyway, the purpose of a strike is to cause maximum disruption, in order for those being disrupted to urge employers to come to a deal with the striking workers. I’m amazed that so many people seem to think strikers should withdraw their labour only in a manner which won’t cause inconvenience!

  764. The Deloitte Plan for the SPFL?
    I’m just reading what Ron Gordon of Hibs has said (as reported in today’s ‘The Scotsman’] about 5 clubs having ‘commissioned’ ‘ consultants Deloitte to ‘conduct a review of the SPFL’
    I vaguely remember something about that, and wondering whether the SPFL board had authorised such a commission and/or would co-operate in deliberating over the findings/recommendations ?
    Gordon says the findings and proposals will be presented to ‘all top tier’ clubs in the next couple of weeks.
    Will this be at a full meeting of the membership of the SPFL?
    And where the hell is Doncaster and the Board in all this?
    Is the membership in effect reflecting the view that the SPFL board are without authority, having shown abject cowardice and readiness to lie and cheat?
    Trouble ahead, I expect, and further division and rancour .

  765. Briefly, there is an email in my inbox from the ICIJ, from last night:

    about the whole’ Uber’ readiness to lie and make use of incidences of violence. and the lobbying of senior politicians in various countries etc etc

    A whistle-blower named MacGann gave the ‘Guardian’ stacks of emails etc etc….

    All very interesting, but of course we kind of expect politicians to be liars-comes with the territory.

    I simply ask: when will there be a whistle-blower about how the biggest sporting lie [probably] in modern times came about?
    The truth about it will inevitably surface.

    Forsworn ‘football governance bodies which we expect to be honest and true will [ as the individuals on those bodies well know! ] be sooner or later denounced as betrayers of Trust by someone in their ranks who knows the truth about the dirty’ 5-Way Agreement’ which allows a ten year old club to claim the honours and sporting titles of a dead club-whose very founders would be appalled at being associated with a monstrous lie!
    May I live to see the day.

  766. I see the wee dod o’ yite has his claim in for £10million!
    Honest to God, SDM’s cheating not only killed RFC of 1872 but has cost the rest of us tens of millions already, and looks set to cost us millions more!
    Loathsome creatures all.

  767. John Clark 28th July 2022 At 10:01

    ++++++++++++++++

    It was only a matter of time before Whyte put a claim in. Yet David Murray remains untouched throughout, and still appears to be revered by some members of the media. It’s quite incredible, as without Murray’s unlawful tax dodge all of those who have been maliciously targeted would have been nowhere near Ibrox.

  768. Taking a step back you have to ask what on earth has gone on here. I am fairly confident that the UK Government will face a public inquiry (or is that enquiry – I can never get that one right!) over Covid loans and procurements made. Not saying that it will put right the wrongs but at least there will be a report. I have zero confidence that any such inquiry will be held in Scotland to account for the untold millions – by my reckoning north of £100m which if scaled up would be north of £1.2bn in UK terms. And all for a football club – totally unconscionable.

  769. Wokingcelt 28th July 2022 At 21:13

    Taking a step back you have to ask what on earth has gone on here. I am fairly confident that the UK Government will face a public inquiry (or is that enquiry – I can never get that one right!) over Covid loans and procurements made. Not saying that it will put right the wrongs but at least there will be a report. I have zero confidence that any such inquiry will be held in Scotland to account for the untold millions – by my reckoning north of £100m which if scaled up would be north of £1.2bn in UK terms. And all for a football club – totally unconscionable.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The Scottish Government have said an independent inquiry will be held once all the legal processes are complete. The trouble is, how do you guarantee true independence in such a matter in Scotland? Nothing should be more independent than the Police and the legal system yet that is what will be under scrutiny. I doubt the Scottish Government will want any inquiry to say that there is institutional bias towards ‘Rangers’ because that would then lead to so many other questions. I suspect a lot more taxpayers money will be spent on a whitewash, with the real truth emerging in 30 years time. The very fact that so many politicians and media commentators stay silent on what is an absolute scandal tells us all we need to know. If it concerned any other football club there would be outrage. Old attitudes don’t die easily, and are clearly passed down the line. We should be truly thankful that HMRC do not answer to the Scottish Government.

  770. Very quiet the past couple of days, and John Clark tells me he’s having difficulty posting. I have posted test messages from three accounts and all seems to be well, however if anyone is having difficulties, please contact me by email at sfm@sfm.scot

    Cheers
    John

  772. Discovered a wee hack folks, which has prevented hundreds of users from posting. Now fixed. I’m off to hunt the hackers and close the door again 🙁

  773. Big Pink 1st August 2022 At 12:19
    ‘Discovered a wee hack folks..’
    ++++++++
    Well done, BP.
    I wondered for a while what I was doing wrong, even to the point of wondering whether I had changed my password and forgotten that I had done so!
    I then noticed that no one seemed to be posting.
    Glad to be back.
    I note from Companies House that George Alexander Taylor, esident in Hong Kong with aa shareholding RIFC of 43 074 998 shares (9.96% of the total, the third largest holding after King and Park] has been named as a Director and person with significant control as of 26 July 2022.
    Who he? Is he well-known?

  774. JC – 1st August 2022 At 17:23 ………….Who he? Is he well-known?

    He is/was one of the named Three Bears, Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, Hong Kong businessmen/bankers or some such, they acquired some shares around 2014/15 when big bad Mike tried to purchase more shares in Sevco, pretty sure that effort from MIke was blocked by the SFA as he would then have Dual Ownership, (Newcastle).

    regards

  775. John Clark 1st August 17.23
    Who he? Is he well-known?
    …………………………………………………
    He was one of the Three Bears alongside Douglas Park & George Letham.

    He is the Head of Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific and is the son of the former Conservative MP Sir Teddy Taylor.

    There have been whispers in Rangers circles that George & Stuart Gibson are looking to become more involved in the future.

  776. Fitbawfan 1st August 2022 At 18:42
    ‘..He is/was one of the named Three Bears, ..’
    ++++++++++
    Ah, yes. The China thing. Thanks, Fitbawfan.
    That’s now 3 directors normally ”resident’ in Hong Kong.
    Is there something brewing, I wonder, other than Chinese tea?

  777. One of the many little tricks used by the propagandists of the ‘Big Lie’ is to keep to a minimum any reference to ‘Rangers International Football Club plc’:
    they need to keep constantly referring to ‘Rangers FC’ to try to maintain the deception implied in the IPO Prospectus, which as we know referred to the new plc company being launched on the market as being the holding company of a 146 year old very successful club , when in fact it was and is the holding company of a mere 12 year old club. [Not a lawyer, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there had been a breach of finance rules somewhere in that Prospectus, because as far as I can see, the club of which RIFC plc is the ‘holding company’ is TRFC, not RFC of 1872, which is in Liquidation.
    So much so is this the case that , as far as I can see, RIFC plc has no official web-site of its own.
    Oh, no:
    To find information about directors, shareholders, and such like one has to go on to the ‘Rangers FC ‘ website, and then scroll through all the normal football and commercial stuff till you reach a page with sponsors, and then a page with (in smallish print)] ‘investors information’
    And only there do you find the information about directors.
    If it is up-to-date, that is!
    I looked at it a wee while ago, and there was no wee biographical note about the new director appointed on 26 July, Taylor!
    Slack work by Company Secretary, I would say, in terms of keeping supporters informed about foreign based directors.

  778. Has the scottish media looked into figures at A&E sites last night. I suspect there could have been a number of broken bones, sprains, pulled muscles etc. as Ranger fans fell off the bandwagon. What is it with Rangers and some of these relatively small clubs in the qualifying rounds. Did the Belgium club not realize who they were playing and should have stood in awe and the European finalists strutted their stuff. I believe Aaron Ramsay is still looking for a club and its rumored that Diallo is available for another loan spell.

  779. Vernallen 3rd August 2022 At 19:28
    ‘..Did the Belgium club not realize who they were playing and should have stood in awe..’
    ++++++++
    Well, Vernallen, would you stand in awe of a ten year old club that hasn’t really achieved hellish much and is living on the back of a lie, claiming to be a much more successful but defunct club?
    Of course you wouldn’t.
    The whole of European Football knows that the ‘mighty’ Rangers FC of 1872 foundation is in Liquidation and is no longer part of Scottish Football!

  780. John Clark 3rd August 2022 –19:13

    John, my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek when I wrote that line. It was an indirect reference to the constant harping on the EL finalists ( last season) and not so much in regards to the on-going saga surrounding a 150 year old club?, a 10 year old club, and all the other nonsense written and reported and presented as factual and truthful. The only truth to emerge from the other night is that they are in deep doo-doo and a loss next week could trigger some emergency sales with over hyped figures.

  781. Well done Dundee Utd., a very credible European performance. I’d actually forgotten they were playing such was the limited pre-game coverage of the game. I was flicking through the channels last night and was pleasantly surprised to find the game was on ‘council tele’.

  782. So it trundles on……….
    From the rolls of Court of Session

    “LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
    Friday 12th August
    Procedural Hearing
    between 9.00am and 9.30am

    CA71/20 Duff & Phelps Ltd v The Lord Advocate ”

    When did this whole ‘Rangers’ saga begin, that has already cost you and me, as tax-payers ,multi-millions and corrupted the very spirit of Scottish Football and the very souls of those charged with duty of protecting the integrity of our Sport.
    What was the cause, who was responsible? Who has not been called to account who richly deserves to be called to account ?

  784. Vernallen 4th August 2022 At 22:56
    “they are in deep doo-doo and a loss next week could trigger some emergency sales with over hyped figures.”
    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    With respect Vernallen, speculation about the current incarnation going under financially has been ongoing for more than a decade now and is nothing more than tiresome wishful thinking.

    The reality is that the current entity has weathered the storm and is in relatively robust financial health, not least thanks to the recent sales of Patterson and Bassey.

    I’m not saying they’re currently balancing the books, but if they didn’t ‘die again’ in the few years immediately after 2012, they sure as hell aren’t going to be allowed to succumb now.

    Trust me, nobody would’ve been more delighted than me if their [cough] operating company had become insolvent again, but the reality is that their ‘speculate to accumulate’ strategy appears to be paying off, as evidenced by last season’s European run, and even I have to grudgingly applaud them for reaching the point they’ve reached.

    None of which alters the fact that the original Rangers of 1872 died the death of liquidation in 2012 and the current club is fraudulently claiming the titles and trophies of that defunct club, aided and abetted by a compliant media and the woefully inept governance body of Scottish football.

  785. Gunnerb 5th August 2022 At 19:14
    ‘….Improper registration ?? Surely not..’
    +++++++++++
    Is Bryson still Head of the SFA’s registration department?
    If he is , we can be sure he will shut Daniel Ossa Giraldo up, with the kind of s.ite that the Nimmo Smith Inquiry accepted without a blush!
    Have a wee refresher look at
    https://archive.sfm.scot/everything-has-changed/?cid=34067
    I haven’t enough Spanish to try to get into how Giraldo is being reported in the Colombian sports press, and he may be quite , quite wrong.
    However, in my opinion it is axiomatic that even if Giraldo has his facts correct and can prove that the Registration rules have been breached by TRFC , there will be NO disciplinary action taken that would result in inconvenience for TRFC.
    The already forsworn Governance body wouldn’t have the moral fibre and the basic guts to call the Ibrox board(s) to account, having in 2012 permitted them to lie about TRFC being RFC of 1872.
    True or not, one wonders why the DR ‘reported’ Giraldo’s claim, only to rubbish it themselves? Is there something else that they do not want pubic interest to focus on?
    [geez, they’ve got me nearly as bad as themselves!]

    • Seems unlikely that Morelos is part owned by anyone else. However there’s only way of testing either theory is if he is transferred, and that seems an ever decreasing outcome given all we have talked about for the last four years is how much he will be offloaded for.
      Also, what happens if he runs goes contract down? Would that mean that the 14% would also disappear?
      Just doesn’t sound right at all.

  786. Big Pink 6th August 2022 At 09:41

    Seems unlikely that Morelos is part owned by anyone else. However there’s only way of testing either theory is if he is transferred, and that seems an ever decreasing outcome given all we have talked about for the last four years is how much he will be offloaded for.
    Also, what happens if he runs goes contract down? Would that mean that the 14% would also disappear?
    Just doesn’t sound right at all.

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    You may well be right, however given all that’s come to pass since 2012 I don’t think it can be ruled out either. If it is a breach of the SFA’s registration procedures what confidence would we have the SFA would do anything about it anyway? The absurd LNS investigation springs to mind. Also, the SFA themselves found there was a case to answer regarding the award of a European licence in 2011, then went on to just drop the case!

    The tax thieving American businesswoman Leona Helmsley once said “taxes are for the little people”. In the same way, SFA rules are for the little people, who are every other club bar the one playing out of Ibrox. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.

  787. Big Pink 6th August 2022 At 09:41
    ‘..Seems unlikely that Morelos is part owned by anyone else. ‘
    ++++++++++’
    I have to keep 3 different concepts in mind, so as not to confuse masel:
    a) selling-on fees: this is where club ‘A’ buys a player ‘B’ from club ‘C’ and the contract stipulates that when ‘A’ itself sells ‘B’ at a future date, club ‘C’ will get a percentage of the transfer fee received by club ‘A’. That kind of arrangement is entirely a matter for the clubs.
    b] the mandatory 5% share of any transfer fee that is to be paid by a transferring club to clubs which were involved in the ‘training and development ‘ of the transferee when he was with them as a young player.
    c) contracts with a player under which his transferring club retains for ‘x’ years [ specified in the contract] a right to a percentage share in any future transfer fee obtained by whichever club is selling him !
    Giraldo seems to be claiming that Medellin has such a contract with Morelos (who signed with them in 2011] .
    The thing is:
    that category ‘c’ was banned in May 2015 and has not been allowed since then.
    HOWEVER, any such contracts entered into before May 2015 remain valid and in force. They cannot be renewed when they expire, of course.
    But it is possible that what Giraldo refers to is that kind of contract , signed by Morelos or his agent in 2011 , which may still have some years to run.
    Who knows, that may be the reason why Morelos seems not to be particularly wanted on the transfer market!
    I mean, who wants to pay £x to TRFC if 16% of £x is going to Medellin for eff all!
    Best to wait until not only the TRFC contract runs out, but also the 16% contract that Giraldo seems to be claiming to exist.
    Maybe there’s a nice big legal case ,of the kind that the Ibrox boards seem to like, on the horizon!
    I’d enjoy that!
    —
    Incidentally I found this link quite entertainingly informative about the footballer transfer process generally
    https://www.reevaldo.com/story/meet-reevaldo

  788. Upthehoops 6th August 2022 At 21:20
    ‘.SFA rules are for the little people,’
    +++++++++
    But of course, UTH, the little people of Scottish football did what ‘little people’ do: caved in to falsehood and allowed it to ‘triumph’

    There was NONE of them principled enough and brave enough to support , publicly, the late and great Turnbull Hutton-the lone voice of Sporting Integrity. [God rest him]

    He KNEW things were not all square, but found little support, and was a lone and unsupported voice when he denounced ,bravely, the Governance body of Scottish Football on its own doorstep.
    I will lay garlands on his gravestone: and spit scornfully on the graves of those craven persons who created and/ or accepted the Big Lie in 2012, and/or continue to propagate it.

    But my deepest scorn is for those in the SMSM who ought, ought as a matter of journalistic duty, as being the very essence of ‘journalism’, to have got right into the stupid, stupid, lie that a football club in Liquidation was somehow still participating in Scottish Football as if it had not died!

    Honest to God: we are ill-served by partisan hacks who know not the meaning of truth, or, knowing the truth, continue to lie in defence of untruth
    In my opinion.
    And none of them, not one ‘journalist’, has ever given any kind of explanation of how , overnight, the death of RFC of 1872 as reported by them, suddenly changed into the death of a ‘ holding company’! -When there wasn’t a ‘holding company’ that they can name!

    In reality , the holding company of RFC plc was RFC plc, which held the share in the then SPL. Which it had to surrender. And , in consequence, lost its membership of the SFA.

    Not even that evil bast.rd of a Propagandist-Goebbels – could match the absurd lie that RFC of 1872 did not die and cease to exist as a football club participating in Scottish Football!

  790. John Clark 6th August 2022 At 23:42

    But my deepest scorn is for those in the SMSM who ought, ought as a matter of journalistic duty, as being the very essence of ‘journalism’, to have got right into the stupid, stupid, lie that a football club in Liquidation was somehow still participating in Scottish Football as if it had not died!

    +++++++++++++++++++++

    For me the most disappointing thing is journalists who we know are not cheerleaders for all things Ibrox, being cowed into submission, I could mention them here, but basic human decency makes me know they have a job, and a family, and an employer who is beholden to all things ‘Rangers’. However, they really need to ask themselves why they ever bothered becoming journalists in the first place, because the ‘seeking the truth others don’t want to hear’ claim really doesn’t hold water! They’ve sold their soul, and they know it!

  791. I noticed some bumph about UEFA co-efficients from some data geek in Switzerland. It annoyed me.
    So I have sent this email:

    To:
    swissfootballdata@bluewin.ch

    Sun, 7 Aug at 23:27

    Simon,
    Naughty boy!
    Naughty data journalist, not checking the facts!
    I refer to your reference to ‘Rangers’ in your stats about UEFA’s co-efficient scores from 1955’56.
    The ‘Rangers’ you refer to ceased to exist as a football club when it went into Liquidation in 2012!
    The new club, the current Rangers Football Club, was founded in 2012, and was admitted into Scottish professional football by the Scottish FA only in that year.
    In other words, it did not even exist prior to 2012, and cannot be regarded as being the Rangers that was in existence in 1955/56.
    A huge lie has been told in Scottish Football.
    And as any kind of ‘data’ man, you should have checked the facts before you drew up your stats table.
    Check them out now for yourself: and then revise your stats and analysis.
    Not for my sake, but for your own -as claiming to be an an analyser of factual data, rather than an accidental propagandist of a Sporting lie created by a dishonest Football Governance body in bonnie wee Scotland!
    You owe a duty to football Truth [ otherwise, what’s the point?]
    In the hope that you made an honest but mistaken assumption that a football club that ceased to be a member of the SFA in 2012 is somehow still alive and participating in Scottish Football,
    Yours sincerely,
    JC

  792. The Scottish media appear to gloss over the fact that Rangers beating the Belgians paves the way to the CL group stages. Not much mention of a playoff with Monaco/PSG to garner advancement to the group stages. It shouldn’t take much digging on their part to put that fact forward. As for tomorrow’s game the imminent return of Morelos and Kent has Ranger fans all agog. It could be a massive gamble on GVB’s part as both are coming off injury and lack serious game time. What happens if both play and get re-injured and are lost for a lengthy period of time which could impact the league and any European landing spot.

  794. Paddy Malarkey 8th August 2022 At 21:44
    ‘…Pay your fucking debts and tax or close.’
    +++++++++
    That’s a brilliant spot, PM!
    Even a poster on Follow Follow can understand the concept of inability to meet debts ‘ leading to extinction as a football club!
    Honest to God, why can’t our Football governance bodies bite the bullet and admit they gravely erred in allowing the new club to claim to be continuity RFC of 1872?
    And, more importantly, why did our Financial ‘watchdogs’ allow a new PLC get away with marketing itself as being the ‘holding company’ of RFC of 1872??
    Maybe for the same reason that allowed Rabbie Burns to keep his excise job in spite of gun-running to the French Revolutionaries.
    Who knows? Why, they do, and may they suffer for their lying and failure to do their duty.

  795. This is in TODAY’s issue of the rolls of Courts, which I’ve only just seen, and would not have appeared before about 4.30 pm!
    No possibility of arranging to listen to the proceedings if they have already taken place before notice is given!
    ” COURT OF SESSION
    CALLING LIST
    Tuesday 9th August

    A272/21 Craig Whyte v Chief Constable Police Service of Scotland &c”
    Maybe there’s a misprint and a correction will be made, or some explanation given?

  796. It being a quiet night, I think it may be permissible for me to refer to a comment on another blog (on which I do not post and very rarely look at]
    It is a blog on which I read this a little earlier tonight:
    ” bringing in the qualities / talent we need and shipping out the deadwood and the marginal.”

    It’s that cruel use of language that describes young men trying to earn a living as professional footballers [ on the books of one’s own particular club!] as ‘deadwood and the marginal’ that annoys me.

    Whoever it was who posted that on that blog/forum should maybe consider that perhaps he himself in his own line of work or profession might have been considered as being ‘deadwood and marginal’!
    Dreadful way to describe anyone!

  797. From today’s online Sun:

    ‘ TODAY is the tenth anniversary of the start of Rangers’ journey back through the divisions.

    Dumped in Division Three after liquidation, the Ibrox side’s first SFL match came against Peterhead at a packed Balmoor on August 11, 2012.’

    At least the article mentions the ‘L’ word though still can’t quite make a consistent statement of truth with regard to being ‘dumped’!!!!

  798. Westcoaster 11th August 2022 At 16:08
    ‘..At least the article mentions the ‘L’ word though still can’t quite make a consistent statement of truth with regard to being ‘dumped’!!!!’
    +++++++++
    The sheer absurdity of it all !
    No mention of Team 12 and the ‘conditional’ membership to let CG’s eleven play Brechin City.
    And no remembrance of this :
    ” A joint statement on behalf of the SFA, SPL, SFL and Sevco Scotland Ltd – the company relaunching Rangers – read: “Following the completion of all legal documentation, the Scottish Premier League will conduct the formal transfer of the league share between RFC (IA) and Dundee FC on no later than Friday 3 August 2012.”

    It is self-evident that there was absolutely no possibility of Rangers’ share being transferred to CG’s eleven, as if CG had purchased RFC of 1872,
    Liquidation cost RFC of 1872 its entitlement as a shareholder in the SPL to be in the SPL and therefore its eligibility for membership of the SFA.
    CG’s eleven eventually got a share as a new football club in the SFL and on that basis became eligible for membership of the SFA.
    The liars in Scottish Football Governance who share responsibility for the biggest sporting lie in Scottish football will die knowing that their very hearts are rotten.
    I shall probably predecease them all, of course, but if I outlive even one of them, I shall make a point of spitting on his grave!

  799. Chocolate fireguard is nothing in it when one hears that there are at least 700 000 companies registered with Companies House that are fraudulent/non-existent tax dodge creations . [BBC Radio 4 today, ‘You and Yours’ programme]
    Companies House just accepts, with no check, what any Del Boy chancer / Eastern European sophisticated bad bast.rd of a gangster tells them when they set up a company
    There is no check!
    If some lying bast.rd sets up a company and gives your address as his company’s address it’s you who have to prove that it’s your address, if you query why you get mail addressed to that company.
    That kind of mirrors , in my opinion, the lack of check by the FCA of the Prospectuses [ prospecti?] of new PLCs .
    The Prospectus of the new RIFC plc claimed that RIFC plc is the holding company
    of RFC of 1872 .
    As a matter of law, it was not.
    It was the holding company of a brand new football club .
    Now, it’s one thing for lying businessmen to lie.
    It’s quite another thing if the organs of State have no mechanism to spot the lie; or, worse, buy into the lie without question as readily as the SMSM buy into a particular lie.

  800. What a difference a week can make from the zenith of a well earned 1-0 home victory Dundee Utd. to the nadir of a 7-0 reverse in Holland. They actually didn’t start badly and seemed to be settling into a ‘hit on the counter’ game plan before it all went wrong.

  801. Should the member clubs of the SPFL pose the following question to Neil Doncaster. Are you reactive or proactive and secondly how much effort went into securing a new TV contract. If he’s proactive he should have facts and figures to back up his eagerness to push the SKY contract through. Did he contact nations of a similar size and apparently with better TV contracts on how they did it. Or did he just sit in his office, look at his to do list and see that SKY called and that enabled him to check another item off that list. Did they not bend over backwards to ensure that the broadcaster was guaranteed a minimum of four Celtic/Rangers games per year. If this derby is as famous world wide, as alleged, surely there must be other broadcasters willing to take a run at the deal.

  802. Vernallen 13th August 2022 At 17:06
    ‘.. how much effort went into securing a new TV contract..’
    +++++++
    Vernallen, I’ve only just had a look at
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/american-football/c2-a3150m-spfl-tv-deal-could-be-rubber-stamped-next-month-but-doubts-remain-over-rangers-vote-intentions/ar-AA10C2Df

    and quite agree with you.
    As it happens, I also find myself in agreement with Stewart Henderson’s comment:
    -“Managing director Stewart Robertson has also insisted that the game is undersold by Hampden powerbrokers.” ![Well, even I have to admit that my baddies cannot always and automatically be wrong! ]
    And, incidentally, note the weasel , misleading words of the SPFL about the cinch contract:
    “The SPFL announced over the summer that the Ibrox club were no longer contractually obligated to do so.”
    They haven’t the honesty to admit that TRFC was not at any time contractually obligated to comply with the cinch deal!
    That sneaky use of language to imply something is true that was not true at any time is consistent with the SPFL’s readiness to create, or accept the lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872!]

    Honest to God: that such people should be in any kind of governance office in Sport, being neither of moral integrity nor possessing [in some kind of ‘compensatory’ way] creative, pro-active business nous and drive!

    And as for ‘The SPFL’s stance is that the broadcast market is declining so securing an early deal makes more commercial sense” ?
    Since when did accepting the first offer from the only person to whom an offer is made ever make sense?
    Geez, even private folk on ebay are not daft enough to do that! ( oh, anyone looking for a snowboard, and/or size 11 [ US] boots and 33 inch salopettes?…]
    As a limited company, the SPFL board is doubly damned:
    as a governance body that forsook its duty to uphold the Integrity of Scottish football by accepting the lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872
    and as the board of a commercial limited company whose directors are commercially naive and incompetent!
    I could add that their PR is about as bad as that of RIFC plc!

  803. I see where Ranger fans are having a moan about Derek MacInnis’s record against Celtic. However they don’t appear to want to dig into his record against Rangers. It would be interesting to see if anyone can come up with a comparison. Seems the 5-0 Celtic win on the weekend set them off as their short lived time on top of the league came to a sudden end.

  804. A few weeks ago, after the BBC published its groveling apology towards Ibrox, I asked under Freedom of Information whether (a) they have paid licence fee money to gain media access at Ibrox, and (b) whether any other Scottish club charges them for media access. They responded basically saying they don’t have to tell me, as journalism is not covered by the FOI act. I find this incredible given that if they have paid for access, they will have used money contributed by all licence fee payers. Also, does paying for access compromise their right to apply the same level of analysis as they do to clubs who don’t charge?

    Edit: I see a fans forum online claiming the charge has been ditched ‘quietly’.

  805. Upthehoops 16th August 2022 At 18:16
    I agree with you insofar as the BBC is paid for (currently) by the Licence Fee which is paid (mostly) by members of the public. I would have thought that the manner in which licence fee monies are used by the BBC is rightly a matter of pubic interest and in the interests of transparency, I believe, like you, that they should have disclosed this information. I haven’t read their response, but to say journalism is not covered by the Act seems nonsensical when a large percentage of their entire business is involved with journalism. In any event, this is less about “journalism” and more about financial accountability.

    I’m afraid, if I were you, I would contact the Scottish Information Commissioner and seek guidance from him on the BBC’s reply to you. It would put your mind at rest if he agrees with the BBC that you have no right to see that information.

  806. Some access problems rearing their head again folks. The ‘login to comment’ just above thecommnt box is giving some folk a hanging dark screen. The workaround is to click on the “login” menu item at the top of the page.
    The site needs a good spring clean and fresh look, so I’m gonna do exactly that over the weekend/early next week. I will get rid of the ads too, as I think they may be contributing to the general ague with the look and function of the site.
    Thanks for your patience folks, but since we no longer have multiple moderators, I’m pretty much doing it all myself.
    Really would be keen to hear from anyone who would like to contribute some written work?
    John

  807. Big Pink 17th August 2022 At 11:47
    ‘..The workaround is to click on the “login” menu item at the top of the page.’
    ++++++++
    Well done, that man! It’s good to be able to post, and thanks for the ‘workaround’

    I had wanted to post yesterday[Tuesday, now] because, pursuing my curiosity about how the Board of the SPFL can( apparently] accept that 5 of the member clubs, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, and Hearts, could without Board authorisation, commission a ‘review’ into the business of the SPFL, I had read in the Scotsman that
    ” As a follow-up to the [Deloitte] report, an innovation and strategy group of representatives from Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs and Rangers has now developed a five-year strategic action plan”

    All of a sudden, two clubs that were not part of the ‘commissioning’ group are in there , grubbing away!
    Is the SPFL Board really and truly operating as a Board of Directors?
    What kind of numpty organisation is the SPFL?
    Geez, it’s surely bad enough to be defenders and promoters of a lie: to be in addition useless toss-pots that are not in charge as any kind of board of directors should be is quite, quite telling.

    Not immediately related to that, was I alone in thinking that the ‘Asset and Undertaking Transfer Agreement’ between the SPL and the SFL occasioned extinction of the SFL?
    I learned today that the SFL was never an incorporated company registered with Companies House.

    If you look up Scottish Football League on CH, you will see that there is indeed a company of that name; but
    incorporated only on 27 June 2012, with share capital of £2.00, 2 shares both owned by the SPFL! with Neil Doncaster as CEO.
    Not at all sure why the SPFL should want to own a new SFL?
    Anybody explain?

  808. I see that Graham Spiers is interviewing Alex Thompson on Friday 26th August at the New Town Theatre in Edinburgh. I can’t make it myself but tickets are available and GS promises to cover the scandal in Scottish football (not sure which one he is referring to!).

  809. Wokingcelt 18th August 2022 At 09:30
    ‘..I see that Graham Spiers is interviewing Alex Thompson on Friday 26th August.’
    +++++++++
    As to which ,Wokingcelt, Spiers had his chance in 2012 to speak the truth about the Big Lie created by the football authorities and eagerly supported and propagated by the football hacks of the SMSM and the BBC. And didn’t take his chance.
    Alex Thomson began well and bravely enough, but either his courage failed him or he became so disgusted with the Scottish media sports hacks and editors that he despaired of their biased/frightened/ partisan/ lying hearts being willing to tell the plain, simple sports AND business truth: namely, that RIFC plc is not the holding company of RFC of 1872 foundation, but of the football club that was set up by CG’s consortium and newly admitted into Scottish football in 2012, and that it’s a monstrous fiction that TRFC is 150 years old and laden with sporting honours.
    It’s with this in mind that I read a piece by Alistair Grant in ‘The Scotsman’ this morning, and laughed hollowly, as you will too, I’m sure when you read this excerpt in which he quotes with approval these words of the First Minister:
    ” Hurling abuse at journalists is never acceptable. Their job is vital to our democracy and it is to report and scrutinise, not to support any viewpoint”
    Apparently, BBC Scotland editor James Cook was the target of abuse at some hustings in Perth on Tuesday evening, being called among other things ‘a liar’.
    I know him not.
    But he works for BBC Scotland, which propagates , deliberately, an untruth- in a mere matter of Sport!
    I don’t know Alistair Grant either: but I have never heard him, or read of him, ripping into any of the Scottish football hacks for failing in their ‘vital to democracy’ job of ‘reporting and scrutinising’

  810. Mordecai 17th August 2022 At 05:31

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    The BBC did provide me with the Information Commissioner’s contact details in the event I wanted to take the matter further and I have indeed done just that! I really can’t see how in the event that a publicly funded organisation has used public money to gain media access to a football club that we don’t have a right to know. If they haven’t done so I believe we also have the right to know given this payment for media access was a known issue last season.

  811. Further to my post of 18th August 2022 At 12:22, I had to look up where exactly the New Town Theatre is.
    I had a chuckle to myself when I discovered that The Strand’s New Town Theatre (venue 7) is in the Freemasons’ Hall, George St Edinburgh!
    Unbidden , a couple of lines from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” sprang to mind:
    ” I grow old…I grow old
    I shall wear my trouser bottoms rolled”
    Incidentally, the last Festival Fringe thingy I attended was Spiers ‘chatting’ with Stuart Cosgrove-in 2015, I think.
    Cosgrove was flogging his new book “Detroit ’67” at the time. I bought a copy , of course, and he happily scribbled ‘ To John Clark, SFM ‘ seemingly aware of the blog.
    I’ve half a mind to go see Thomson. I wonder is he flogging a book?

  812. ” There are shades of Mandy Rice-Davies in this explanation – ‘They would say that,
    wouldn’t they ?’ ”
    So remarks Mr Justice Julian Knowles in the judgment issued today in the case
    between
    Ghanem Al-Masarir – Claimant
    – and –
    Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Defendant.”

    Boy, that took me back a wheen of years- Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward, John Profumo and all that.
    I mention it partly from nostalgia for that period of my life, in which Cabinet Ministers who lied to Parliament were not able to brazen it out, but mostly because of the delight I would feel if I were to hear a Judge of the Court of Session say those words in relation to the out-thrust-chin and/or whining , aggrieved assertions by the Ibrox Board and the SMSM that ‘it’s the same club’!

    Oh, for a ‘litigation-expenses-worth’ of a Lottery win!

    [the case is about whether the Kingdom of Saudi is immune under The State Immunity Act 1978 and cannot be sued in the UK in an action for damages etc brought by a Saudi national granted asylum in the UK some years ago who claims that the Saudi government authorised the hacking his iPhones etc, eavesdropping on him remotely by means of ‘Pegasus’, harassment of him , and the ‘ beating him up’ in London.
    If you are interested the link is
    https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/al-masarir-v-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia/ ]

  813. I watched Sportscene earlier and noticed that both Kenny Miller and Michael Stewart mentioned a lack of malice as a reason why a card should be yellow rather than red . Genuine question – where is this in the rules ? I’ve never seen the word in IFAB or SPFL rules and regs .

  814. @PM – the word malice does not appear in the laws of the game. Whilst I didn’t think that Lundstrum was a red card, it can only have been given because the referee assessed the foul as serious foul play. The ref saw more force than I did in the foul.
    My bigger issue today was Neil McCann (being paid by us) not understanding why the Hibs defender was not sent off – a foul committed by the defending team in the box is a penalty (leaving aside indirect stuff) but not every foul is denying a goal scoring opportunity. Is it too much to ask that the pundits I (we) are paying for know the freaking rules????

  815. Wokingcelt 20th August 2022 At 23:54
    ‘..Is it too much to ask that the pundits I (we) are paying for know the freaking rules????.
    ++++++++
    What I have often wondered is why ,when refereeing decisions are being hotly debated on TV or radio football programmes , the text of the relevant rules of the game aren’t flashed up on screen or quoted verbatim on the radio, so that the discussion is based not on what people THINK the rule says or on what they think it SHOULD say but on what the rule ACTUALLY says
    (I’ m listening to Michael Stewart wittering on just now on Sportsound)

  816. For me Lundstram’s leading foot was off the ground and thus dangerous. No mention of Hib’s penalty wjhich was a better claim than the ne that was given. The Hibs yellow card that they claim was as bad as Ludstaram’s was not as his feet were at ground level. Every time they drop points it’s always somebody else’s fault.
    Kris Boyd continues to prove himself an idiot every time he is quoted. After claiming Morelos was Scotland’s best player to date, despite him not having played he now is back tracking after Saturday. As Eric Morecambe used to say, “The boy’s a fool”

  817. An update on my post from 18th August at 14:48.

    The information Commissioner has informed me that the BBC are not required to tell me if they paid for media access to Ibrox as it relates to ‘journalism’ – see below. So there you have it – the BBC can spend your licence fee any way they like and are not compelled to tell you if they choose to hide behind ‘journalism’. Paying for access to something comes with conditions. For example, if I misbehaved at Celtic Park then Celtic could withdraw my season ticket. So if the BBC don’t behave in a way that the Ibrox hierarchy approve of, then they could be warned or their payment for access could be refused. This still doesn’t get to the bottom of whether the BBC actually have paid for access, but as a licence fee payer this answer concerns me, as the use of licence fee money under a secret cloak of ‘journalism’ has the potential for dirty dealings which go way beyond the world of Scottish football media access.

    AN EXTRACT FROM THE RESPONSE

    “….The information you have requested would, if it were held, relate to the way that the BBC reviews its output and learns from customer feedback in order to improve its future programming. Therefore it would be information that the BBC would hold for the purposes of “journalism” and would not be covered by the FOIA. The fact that the information may also relate to other matters is not relevant. If the information relates (or would relate) to journalism in any way, it is not covered by the FOIA.”

  818. Upthehoops 23rd August 2022 At 19:00
    Ask your MP to ask on your behalf , as I did . Still awaiting a reply , though . That’s a legal defence , so may have been caused by your interference with their agenda . Nothing to see here , move on .

  819. Paddy Malarkey 23rd August 2022 At 20:50

    I would not ask either my MP or MSP over this matter. I queried things years ago with them about why non-payment of tax by the old Rangers was being defended by senior politicians, and actually being demanded to be written off by some. I never mentioned Celtic or any other football club in my queries (why would I?), but was told by both of them in their response that the reaction would have been completely the same if Celtic had defaulted on tax. They opted for false equivalence right away! It was quite an incredible response, and one I had not asked for, and certainly not one I agree with. In my opinion the situation would have been dealt with in a totally different way had it been Celtic, or indeed any other club other than the one it was. Given that both members are still the same people any question regarding ‘Rangers’ would be utterly pointless! I have no need to be told the BBC would pay for media access at Celtic if they asked for it, because they don’t, just like they didn’t cheat the public purse out of tens of millions in unpaid tax while the old Rangers did.

  820. Upthehoops 23rd August 2022 At 19:00
    ‘…Therefore it would be information that the BBC would hold for the purposes of “journalism” and would not be covered by the FOIA.’
    +++++++++
    Did they provide a reference to the section of the FOI Act which mentions ‘journalism’? There does not seem to be any exemption for ‘journalism’
    The nearest I can see is
    “Section 43 Commercial interests
    (1)Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.
    (2)Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).”

    I think you have been ill-served by some ignorant or careless or possibly biased numpty in the Commissioner’s office, making up the law for himself and deciding on its application by his own authority!

    I would like to see him explain why he refers to ‘journalism’ when that word is NOT used in the Act, and how he imagines that by reporting that it pays for access to a particular football ground the BBC would be ‘prejudicing its commercial interests’ , unless it believed that any payments for access to Ibrox would trigger a request from every other SPFL club for similar payment!
    If the BBC is prepared to pay for access to Ibrox , why keep the fact secret?
    Perhaps because they realise that any such payment would be seen many to be a further indication of readiness to accommodate a cheating football club.
    I believe there were liars in the BBC in 2012, and that there are liars still:
    those of 2012 obeyed the now defunct ‘BBC Trust’ and began, and continue, to propagate the untruth that RIFC plc is the holding company of RFC of 1872 foundation, when in fact and in law it is merely the holding company of TRFC Ltd of 2012 foundation;
    and those of today are afraid to deny or confirm that they are paying TRFC for football reporting access.
    Certain ghosts are still pulling strings in Pacific Quay as they pulled strings in Queen Margaret Drive .

  821. Almost but not quite!
    While Andrew Smith of ‘The Scotsman’ is not a ‘Liquidation’ denier, he is not yet frank and honest enough to acknowledge plainly that TRFC has no legitimate claim to the sporting history of RFC of 1872.
    Here is part of what he says in this morning’s edition:
    ” …All about providing a sense of completeness for the Rangers that emerged following liquidation in 2012..”

    Smith is not a stupid man: he knows that the club that ’emerged’ following the liquidation of RFC of 1872 CANNOT POSSIBLY be RFC of 1872- because RFC of 1872 had to surrender its share in the SPL Ltd, and in consequence, lost its membership of the SFA and its existence as a recognised football club entitlled to participate in Scottish professional football.
    He knows that RFC of 1872 is as dead as Third Lanark and Gretna. And that TRFC came into existence only in 2012, as a new club.
    Why doesn’t he [and the entire SSM] not simply and openly declare that it is an obscene affront to the concept of Sport and sporting achievement that a club newly created in 2012 is allowed to claim the sporting honours and history of the dead club that actually won those honours?

    The football club of which RIFC plc is the holding company is not RFC of 1872, but TRFC of 2012. Honest people should admit that fact, painful though it may to do so, if they wish to have any credibility as human beings of integrity.
    Your fan-in-the-street may delude himself if he wishes, but the SMSM should not encourage his delusions or support those whose football business is predicated on an untruth.

  822. Sometimes the reading of some of the Scottish media can be somewhat uplifting. Prior to this evening’s game there was a fairly detailed breakdown of the finances that could be earned if the Ranger didn’t reach the CL group stages. Where was that detailed digging into the liquidation, etc. over the years. Than to top it off with the win to advance to the groups stages it is claimed to be the first time in 12 years which is a little inaccurate as 12 years ago the current edition of Rangers didn’t exist. Then to continue with the mis information it is stated that this is the first time Celtic and Rangers have reached the group stages since 2007/2008. Again a bit of stretch of the facts. Its the first time both clubs have reached the group stages, due to one team being a new entity. The scribes are likely trolling the world media for column filler for tomorrow’s edition on the latest new Rangers triumph.

  823. Somewhat to my surprise and delight, I have been given a ticket to go and listen to ‘Spiers chatting to Alex Thomson’ on Saturday coming.
    I think I may attend, even if just to get Thomson’s autograph in my copy of PMcG’s ‘Downfall’ [of which he wrote the foreword];
    and maybe also, possibly, a chance to suggest to him that he might consider querying, not as a football matter but as a Finance regulatory matter, the claim that RIFC plc made in 2012 that it would be the holding company of RFC of 1872!
    I think there’s a nice wee but important story to be told there, far removed of course from truth-telling about European wars, but possibly more dangerous for any honest journalist in the UK!

  824. Vernallen 24th August 2022 At 22:55
    ‘..Where was that detailed digging into the liquidation, etc. over the years.’
    ++++++
    Absolutely nowhere, is the answer.
    But of course, on day one James Traynor[and others] actually spoke truth-the death of RFC of 1872 and the end of 140 years of history!
    Talk about lying bast,rds?
    None to beat the SMSM hacks!

  825. Well, I don’t know about anybody else, but as a ‘football-as-a-sport’ supporter who is not a ‘Hearts’ fan, I am truly disappointed that such a brilliant , scintillating first half display by Hearts did not get the reward that it deserved.
    I say I am not a ‘Hearts’ fan. That is true in the ordinary football usage of the word.
    But, believe you me, I am a supporter of a club, any club, that sweated blood , and had the fan base willing to help, to get out of Administration!
    Unlike another despicable club that was able to work a corrupt system by going into Liquidation to avoid having to pay their multi-millions of pounds of debt, IN THE SMUG EXPECTATION that the Football authorities would allow the purchasers of the assets of a liquidated club to claim to be the club that died!
    What a dirty, dirty business the 5-Way Agreement was!
    How it has made a mockery of the concept of Sporting Integrity, and made liars and schemers of those who signed such an agreement!
    God rot their very souls!

  826. My post of 25th August 2022 At 23:28:
    Correction:’ God rot their very souls’
    Naw, they were already rotten!
    And, of course, every liar knows more clearly than anyone else that he is a liar.
    And every man-jack in Scottish football governance knows in his gut that TRFC is not and could not possibly be entitled to claim to be RFC of 1872.
    And that he has been complicit in creating and fostering a stupid, stupid lie for base reasons.

  827. I give you two short extracts from the MacTaggart Lecture delivered yesterday by Emily Maitlis [ formerly of BBC Newsnight] at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

    “.. we have to stop normalising the absurd. Because my contention is that……. we’re becoming anaesthetised to the rising temperature in which facts are getting lost, constitutional norms trashed, claims frequently unchallenged. ….”
    ….. Because whatever our journalism does, it must earn the trust of our listeners, our audiences, our readers. Otherwise we are mouthpieces, mere clients of those in authority—cosy with those in command, disconnected from the very people we are trying to serve. ”
    Maitlis is quite probably unaware of how aptly her words describe the SMSM editors and sport hacks, who are too cosy with and/or too afraid of RIFC/TRFC and its backers and supporters to tell the TRUTH that RIFC plc lie about about being the holding company of the Rangers of 1872, and the lie that TRFC has a football history of 150 years and instead continue to propagate a patent untruth.

    I found the full text of the lecture on this link
    https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/we-have-to-stop-normalising-the-absurd

  828. Different strokes for different folks:
    From an English Court ‘contempt of Court’ judgment published today:[ huge numbers of 999 and 111 phone calls made when there was no emergency]

    “The court therefore orders that Ms. Marriott serves a term of six months for the 999 and 111
    calls and a further sentence of 6 months for the visits to Stoke Mandeville, each sentence to
    run concurrently and be suspended for two years until 22.8.2024. This court specifically
    warned Ms. Marriott that if she appears back before this court, has made no sustained attempt
    at engaging with work to address her behaviour and has carried on breaching the order, she is
    likely to receive a significant custodial sentence as well as serve the activated suspended
    sentence.”

  830. My post of 14.01 refers.
    “In an August 2022 speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Maitlis reflected on the episode, saying that BBC editors were initially complimentary. The following day, after a complaint from the Prime Minister’s office, the BBC apologized and removed the segment from its streaming service. In the speech, Maitlis questioned the speed with which the BBC complied with the government’s request seemingly to placate its party line.”
    Now there’s a woman of journalistic integrity!

  831. What a disappointment!
    I did not get to see the Spiers/Thomson ‘chat’ today. Why not?, I hear you cry. Well, because it was not on today : it was on yesterday!!
    What an idiot I made of myself, so sure was I that today was the day that I didn’t even look at my print-out before shoving it into my pocket and leaving the house this morning.
    The price I had to pay for that was an afternoon of tram-ing it out to the Gyle Centre and suffering the agonies of traipsing round clothes shops and women’s shops generally. Mrs C is the most dear and loved person in my life, especially dear.
    [No, I just put that last wee bit in in imitation of one of Damon Runyan’s left-handed wee lines in ‘Guys and Dolls’]
    It was disappointing to have missed it, but I console myself that the ‘chat’ itself might actually also have been disappointing!
    I will now force myself to write to Thomson to put to him the question that I would like to have put to him [quietly, while he would be autographing my copy of “Downfall”] if I had been present and had had the opportunity to ask a question ,
    It would be great if any SFM person had been there, and could give us the gist of the ‘chat’, if any of it related to Scottish Football and/or the reporting of Scottish Football.
    Anybody?

  832. John Clark 27th August 2022 At 00:09

    Oh for a journalist of similar integrity to publicly call out the BBC Scotland Sports Department. I am sure many people have a story to tell. However, as we know Scotland is not the best place to stick your head above the parapet.

  833. Further to my post of 27th August 2022 At 21:42 I have drafted this letter to Alex Thomson.
    I’ll need to look at again in broad daylight, of course, and possibly modify it.
    “Dear Mr Thomson,
    I had tickets for your ‘chat show’ with Graham Spiers on 26 August 2022 in Edinburgh. . Bugger me if I didn’t properly check the calendar when booking and somehow had the 26th fixed in my mind as being today-Saturday!
    Of course it was not today, but yesterday, and I was turned away when I presented my print-out page with the bloody QR thingummy thing for scanning.
    That was disappointing- for I had been hoping that there might have been a wee chance of asking you to autograph [ as writer of the foreword to it ] my copy of ‘Downfall’, and perhaps also to put a question to you.
    I can’t now get your autograph in my copy of Phil’s book: but maybe I can ask you the question?
    It is a simple one, not at all expressly to do with football, but with ‘business’ and PLCs and the FCA and Insolvency legislation and such like stuff.
    It is this: would you , as an ‘investigative journalist’, consider having a wee look at both the IPO Prospectus issued in 2012 by the about-to-be Rangers International Football Club[RIFC plc] and the current website of Rangers Football Club Ltd?
    The two together make it plain that investors in the new RIFC plc were told that they would be investing in a one- hundred- and- forty-year old very, very successful football club, viz. the Rangers of 1872 foundation.
    In reality, investors were being asked to invest in a BRAND NEW football club, admitted as a new club into Scottish Professional football only in 2012!
    As a matter of fact and law, RIFC plc is the holding company of The Rangers Football Club Ltd, a football club set up by the consortium that bought SOME only of the assets of the liquidated Rangers Football Club that , founded in 1872, went into Liquidation in 2012 having cunningly changed its name to’ RFC 2012 plc ‘ before the formal Liquidation which followed the failure to come out of Administration.
    I believe that the Prospectus was misleading, and possibly deliberately so, and that the ‘Nomad’ was at fault and that RIFC plc should have been called to account for misrepresentation whether deliberate or not.
    It’s all there, in the Companies House records.
    I repeat my question: would you take an interest in investigating what I consider to be a dereliction of duty by the FCA in allowing a (what I believe to be) a deliberate untruth in a company Prospectus to go unchallenged?

    As Emily Maitlis said the other day , truthful reporting is the very essence of journalism-whether it be the reporting of wars or of parish council affairs or of secret 5-Way Agreements between football Governance bodies and new football clubs.

    Yours ever, in the simple pursuit of truth,
    JC

  834. John Clark 27th August 2022 At 23:49

    I was looking through some old tweets today and I noticed one from a Herald journalist who said (I paraphrase) ‘whether or not Rangers survived is not open to debate, and anyone disagreeing with that should take it up with the SFA’. It seems clear that the SFA are getting to overrule the actual law of the land in this matter. It is a matter of public record that the Rangers in liquidation was a fully incorporated company with no separation of club and company. Yet here we have the SFA simply deciding a ‘club’ is nothing other than a name, or an idea, or a brand that can never die. Clearly that is what the media have been briefed to say, and clearly ‘Rangers’ are more important to the Scottish establishment than the legal requirement to pay taxes in full and when due. It doesn’t seem to matter that taxes underpin our democratic society, and what if every football club just chose not to pay them?

  835. Upthehoops 28th August 2022 At 21:10
    ‘.. Yet here we have the SFA simply deciding a ‘club’ is nothing other than a name, or an idea, or a brand that can never die.’
    +++++++
    Not to mention the ludicrous rantings of a certain QC which brought smiles to the bench -the ‘what -it’s all-aboutness’ of a football club, the supporters, the ethereal essence that cannot die [ or lawyerly verbiage of that kind].
    I have, incidentally, re-visited my draft letter to Alex Thomson, and made some amendments to try to get my basic point over more clearly, that basic point being that RIFC plc was launched on the basis of what I think (and I am allowed to think] was a lie.
    Small beer relative to war and the possibility of nuclear disaster, granted.
    But truth is indivisible: a journalist who reports truth about a war should also report truth about sport.
    Liars in the domestic marketplace are as bad in their own way as liars in geo-politics.
    I won’t post the revised text of my snail mail letter to Thomson ( there’s no email address facility!] but readers of the blog can take it for granted that I make the same simple point: the ‘Prospectus’ and the current ‘Rangers FC’ website are misleading in that RIFC plc wrongly claims to be the holding company of RFC of 1872 foundation.
    Which club, as we know, is currently in Liquidation, awaiting final dissolution once the Liquidators have finished their business.
    Ach, the sheer feckin nonsense of journalists prostituting themselves in attempting to deny the truth!
    It’s so depressing.

  836. Now that we’re no longer a European country politically/legally , should we not be looking to limit the number of foreign players in our teams ? Say , a maximum of six on the park per team at any one time , and also reinstate the requirement to have under-21’s on the bench ?It can only help the bulk of Scottish football in the long run , imo .

  837. Re BBC FOI – I got the same response to my request for details on the pundits used (and associated costs) on Sportsound. The letter from their legal department stated that if the information requested was held then it was held for the purposes of “ art, journalism or culture” and as such exempt from the Act as allowed under Part VI of Schedule 1.
    I have responded on three points;
    1. That I consider Sportsound to be a light entertainment show and therefore not covered by either of the three categories.
    2. That whilst the Act allows for an exemption to be applied it does not mandate this and as such the BBC should be more open and transparent with its funders and stakeholders.
    3. That it would be a curious state of affairs (leaving aside the irony!) if they did not have records of such information as the BBC is required to maintain books and records for at least seven years for tax purposes…
    I await a response to my challenge…

  838. After this weekend I am having serious concerns over how long football matches will extend for with the introduction of VAR…just two instants to illustrate:
    1. Jota goal v Dundee Utd. This immediately looked offside to me and the replays seemed to reinforce this view. Obviously we don’t yet have the “VAR lines” on the telly to be definitive, but I can see our poor linesmen being shown up on a regular basis and multiple reviews and play being pulled back, etc.
    2. Sands challenge v Ross County. What I don’t know is whether VAR would instruct the ref to “go to the monitor” for missing a pretty obvious piece of serious foul play (from the perspective of deliberately stopping an attack rather than risking serious injury). And if the ref gets sent to the monitor how does he recover any authority/credibility when he sees what he missed (and then has to explain that weird shaky arms thing he did!).
    Scottish football needs VAR – question is whether Scottish referees are competent enough to remain credible under the scrutiny?

  839. My post of 28th August 2022 At 23:42 refers.
    I posted, recorded delivery, my twice considerably revised letter to Alex Thomson at Channel 4 News, ITN, Gray’s Inn Road, London this afternoon at 4.00 pm.

    I had reframed it so as to simply ask whether, as an investigative journalist, he would investigate why it was that RIFC plc was allowed to get away with issuing (in my opinion) a misleading ‘Prospectus’ in which it claimed to be the holding company of the Rangers Football Club that was funded in 1872, when in fact and law it is the holding company of The Rangers Football Club Ltd, founded in 2012, while The Rangers of 1872(under a new name of RFC 2012 PLC) ceased to be a football club participating in Scottish professional football when it went into Liquidation in 2012, having had to surrender its share in the SPL and on that account ceasing to be eligible for membership of the SFA.]
    For all I know, Thomson could be back in Ukraine and not see my letter until he gets back.
    But there’s no hurry!

  840. Upthehoops 28th August 2022 At 21:10
    ‘..I was looking through some old tweets today and I noticed one from a Herald journalist who said (I paraphrase) ‘whether or not Rangers survived is not open to debate, and anyone disagreeing with that should take it up with the SFA..’
    +++++++
    Can you say who that ‘journalist’ was?
    Whoever he s, he showed a fine contempt for anything that Alex Thomson or Emily Maitlis or any of the ICIJ members would understand as being true ‘journalism’!
    A disgrace to his ‘profession’, in my opinion, for giving his own opinion rather than get statements from governance bodies to explain their chicanery and the contradictions that prove the chicanery.

  841. Wokingcelt 29th August 2022 At 20:32
    ‘…I await a response to my challenge…’
    +++++++++
    Good for you!
    Paying for access to a football stadium in order to provide the public with the entertainment to be derived from a live commentary on a game of football is stretching the concept of ‘journalism’ to unacceptable extent.

    BBC Scotland should come clean, and own up to using, as I believe, tax-payers’ money to placate a powerful body on whose behalf it already, in my considered opinion, propagates a sporting untruth.
    Honest to God! what are they like?
    Certainly not like the BBC of old: more like Radio Moscow of cold- war days, peddling untruths. And if they lie about sport , for heaven’s sake, what will they not be prepared to lie about if they are weak enough and unprincipled enough to yield to football club owners?

  842. It appears that it is not only in legal actions connected with a new club’s claim to be old club that is in Liquidation that ‘one of Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law’ can come out with nonsensical etherealities!
    This is from a recent interim judgment in a possible breach of commercial contract.
    The judge says at para 36
    “Ultimately the pursuer’s argument rests on there being some form of nebulous
    hinterland between the realms of contract and no contract such that there can be said to be a
    contractual relationship between them even though there is no contract. I do not consider
    that such a hinterland could, or does, exist. To have a contractual relationship with someone
    necessarily entails that there is a contract. If parties enter discussions with a view perhaps to
    entering into a contract, but do not in fact do so, then there is no contractual relationship. If
    two persons have dealings but do not enter into a contract, there is no contractual
    relationship. On the hypothesis that there was never a contract concluded between the
    parties here, where no pre-existing contractual relationship is founded upon, the authorities,
    domestic and European, are all to the effect that rule 2(b) does not apply.”

  843. JC

    I was thinking about your letter to Alex Thomson and the claim that RIFC was the parent company of the original Rangers Football Club.

    It should be remembered and worth pointing out that at the time of the IPO TRFC was competing in the Scottish Football League.

    It was membership of the SFL that permitted Sevco Scotland ( trading as “Rangers”) to operate as a football club.

    Within the SFL constitution and rules the membership section says …
    [quote]
    6. CONDITION ON MEMBERSHIP
    Football clubs or associations undertaking to provide Association Football
    according to the Laws of the Game as settled by the International Football
    Association Board and these Rules may be admitted as members of the
    League in accordance with the provisions of these Rules.
    7. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP
    A club or association must initially join the League as an Associate Member.
    8. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
    A club or association applying for Associate Membership shall complete an
    application form in such form as the Board shall specify from time to time,
    and submit same to the Chief Executive accompanied by payment of an
    application fee of £1,000 plus Value Added Tax at the standard rate
    applicable at the relevant time (or such application fee as shall be specified
    from time to time by a general meeting). For the avoidance of doubt, the
    application fee shall not be refundable in any circumstances.
    9. ADMISSION AND EXPULSION
    The League in general meeting may upon such terms and conditions as it
    may think fit admit any club as an Associate Member or Member of the
    League and may expel any Member or Associate Member or terminate such
    membership or may accept the retirement of any Associate Member or
    Member, but subject always to Rule 126 (Reversion of Transfer of
    Registration Rights). Upon admission as a Member or Associate Member,
    the club so admitted shall become bound by and be subject to these Rules
    and any other Rules or Bye-Laws made by the League for the time being
    in force.
    10. ENTRANCE FEE
    Upon admission as an Associate Member, an entrance fee of £1,000 plus
    Value Added Tax at the standard rate applicable at the date of admission
    shall become payable to the League and the Associate Member shall not
    be accorded any rights or privileges of membership until such fee is paid.
    11. TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY
    If a Member Club finishes bottom of the Third (or lowest) Division in two
    successive seasons the Board may determine that the status of that
    Member Club be reduced to that of an Associate Member. In the event
    that the Member Club whose status is so reduced does not regain the
    status of Member Club by resolution of the Members at an Annual General
    Meeting or in general meeting called for that purpose before the end of the
    second successive season after the Board decision to reduce its status,
    then its membership of the League shall automatically terminate
    notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 12 (Notice to Resign Membership).
    12. NOTICE TO RESIGN MEMBERSHIP
    No Member shall resign, retire or otherwise cease to be a member of the
    League unless it shall have given not less than two full seasons prior written
    notice so to do, unless with the approval of not less than two-thirds (66%)
    of the votes cast at a general meeting of the League.
    13. MEMBERSHIP NOT TRANSFERRABLE
    Membership of the League (whether full or associate) shall not be
    transferrable, save that (a) a Member wishing to change its legal form
    (whether from unincorporated association to corporate body or otherwise
    where the ownership and control of both bodies are or will be substantially
    identical); or (b) a transfer within the same administrative group for the
    purposes of a solvent reconstruction only; may be permitted by the Board
    upon prior written application for consent and giving such details of the
    proposed transfer as the Board may reasonably request for the purpose of
    considering such transfer. The Board may refuse such application or grant
    same upon such terms and conditions as it shall think fit.[/quote]

    Heading 6 tells us that “Football Clubs… may be admitted as members of the League in accordance with the provisions of these Rules.”

    Heading 13 tells us that the SFL recognised that members (Football Clubs) have legal form.

    When RIFC PLC’s IPO was issued, the legal entity TRFC Ltd (formerly Sevco Scotland Ltd, founded in 2012) was recognised by the SFL as a football club.

    Although Sevco purchased the intellectual property (brand) to allow it to trade using the Rangers name, it could not legitimately claim to be the football club (and former member of the SFL) founded in 1872 and incorporated in 1899.

    To have done so, according to the SFL constitution, would simply be untrue.

  844. HirsutePursuit 1st September 2022 At 01:38

    ‘…’Although Sevco purchased the intellectual property (brand) to allow it to trade using the Rangers name, it could not legitimately claim to be the football club (and former member of the SFL) founded in 1872 and incorporated in 1899.
    To have done so, according to the SFL constitution, would simply be untrue.’
    ++++++++
    Thank you, HP, for that brilliant exposition.
    I speak for myself (of course) in hoping that Alex Thomson’s journalistic instincts will prompt him to at least look at the question of whether , as I believe, any Finance Regulatory body should be approached for a statement on
    whether the RIFC plc claim in its ‘Prospectus’ to be the holding company of the RFC of 1872 foundation was at least potentially misleading and in breach of section 4 (a) 6 of The Prospectus Regulations 2012, which came into effect on 01 July 2012
    That Section 4(a)(6) reads in part as follow: “The summary must convey concisely, in non-technical language and in an appropriate structure, the key information relevant to the securities which are the subject of the prospectus and, when read with the rest of the prospectus, must be an aid to investors considering whether to invest in the securities.”
    in that it clearly suggested that RIFC plc would be the holding company of the Rangers football Club that had been founded in 1872, whereas it was and is the holding company of a football club not founded before 2012, and not admitted into Scottish professional football before then.
    Any deficiency on the part of a ‘nomad’ in not ensuring that the information in a Prospectus is true and accurate, or on the part of the Regulatory Authorities as a whole, is a much, much more important matter than the business of a 12 year old plc and the football club it draws its revenues from!
    If there is inadequate Regulation of the Financial Market, we can all suffer
    ( This link might be useful to anyone interested) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1538/made

  845. JC
    Part of the subterfuge in 2012 was the LNS enquiry using the SPL articles to attempt to “prove” that Sevco’s Rangers was a continuation of the original version.

    Had the new club been admitted to the SPL, referring to the SPL articles would have been appropriate – even if the LNS interpretation was (as it absolutely was) incorrect.

    The fundamental problem for LNS is, Sevco Rangers was not admitted to the SPL, its introduction to football was as a member of the SFL.

    Regardless of how the SPL chose to misconstrue its own articles, those articles were completely irrelevant to the matter of the status of a football club outside of its jurisdiction.

    The SFL constitution – which Sevco Scotland agreed to operate within – recognised that football clubs have legal form. So Sevco Scotland Ltd (trading using the brand, “Rangers”) was recognised as a football club.

    The Rangers Football Club plc (the original club) would , under the same constitution be recognised as a former member of the League and (quite obviously) not the same member as Sevco Scotland Ltd.

    Also, it is worth pointing out that the SFA articles were in complete alignment to the SFL statutes.

    In my view the Rangers IPO should be investigated as a potential fraud along with all signatories to the 5WA – who were parties to that potential fraud.

  846. HirsutePursuit 1st September 2022 At 17:3
    ‘…In my view the Rangers IPO should be investigated as a potential fraud along with all signatories to the 5WA – who were parties to that potential fraud.’
    +++++++++
    My view entirely, HP.
    But , frankly, I am ready to believe that the FCA top brass are complicit.
    For reasons that they never gave me, they seem to be unwilling even to look at the facts, because it was a mere numpty complainer like myself who raised the possibility that the Prospectus was misleading.
    The head of the FCA at that time was Andrew Bailey, whose staff assured me that my letter to him had not been received, and did the usual Civil Service soft soap strategy..
    Andrew Bailey is now Governor of the Bank of England.
    If the FCA says it has no problem with the RIFC plc Prospectus, I suspect that the London polis will have no problem either!
    (Hoy, you, what’s noddie and winkie got to do with anything?]
    No, I hope that Alex Thomson as a journalist will see the problem and ask hard journalistic questions of the FCA, the SFA and the SPFL (and of lawyers who may have been involved in a possibly corrupt deal]
    But in my view, there is definitely a serious question to be asked of the FCA and the governance bodies of Scottish football-and of the forsworn football hacks of the SMSM.
    That question is: why was an about-to-be-launched new PLC allowed to get away with a misleading Prospectus?

  848. PM – thanks for that link. I suspect that the “big guns” on the list will continue to run rings round UEFA but I do wonder if they will make an example of a “smaller gun” in the future. Whilst I suspect that TRFC are out of immediate danger as their player trading over last 6 months has been profitable, I suspect that some EPL teams on that list might be thinking twice (and probably consistent with the position that Leicester find themselves in at the moment). West Ham however have spent big…I assumed that Declan Rice would have moved for silly money last night to balance the books but obviously didn’t happen.

  849. Sunday afternoon , chilling out and watching football on Sky .
    Two spectacular “goals” disallowed by VAR .
    Brighton v Leicester for a very marginal offside , decision taking over 4 minutes !
    Man Utd v Arsenal – goal disallowed for a very soft foul . Is football no longer a contact sport ?
    I’m not looking forward to the introduction of VAR in Scotland . It’s ruining the spontaneity of the game .

  850. Paradisebhoy 4th September 2022 At 16:56
    EDIT
    “..I’m not looking forward to the introduction of VAR in Scotland . It’s ruining the spontaneity of the game”
    ————————————-

    Just take the referee out of the equation. Should VAR not conclusively decide then no point asking the referee to reconsider.VAR should be a simple yes/no. If technology is to be used then we have to accept that officials will sometimes get it wrong but don’t hang them by making them run to the video replay at the side of the pitch.

  851. Paradisebhoy 4th September 2022 At 16:56
    ‘..I’m not looking forward to the introduction of VAR in Scotland . It’s ruining the spontaneity of the game .’
    +++++++++
    I confess myself to have been very ready to laugh in agreement with some of the observations of pundits on Sportsound when they talk about players being offside by the width of a toe-nail and such like!
    But the fall-out from yesterday’s Premier League disputed games has stimulated me to try to do a bit of research into the history of the concept of VAR and its development.

    I’ve started with this – and I am surprised at how relatively long ago VAR ideas were being propounded!
    https://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/2019/04/01/a-brief-history-and-defense-of-var/

    Reading that link was a good starter, and I’m looking forward to reading other pieces-when I find them!

    At the moment, I think I would be concerned if there were to be a move to a stage where the result of a match was changed because a VAR-based decision made DURING the match was subsequently ruled to have been mistaken.

  852. If a decision is not a clear and obvious mistake the refs initial decision should stand. There is no way an assistant (linesman) could call some of these ludicrous drawing of lines decisions correctly as the margins are too small for the human eye to detect at speed. If this type of technology is wanted then why bother to have linesmen?
    Taking time out like 4minutes to decide whether the original decision was right or not is stupid and not good for the game. Fans don’t like stoppages in a match except when a player looks badly injured. If it takes that long then the ref’s initial decision should stand. Maybe a time limit of say 30 secs on the VAR would move things along.

  853. On this link https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/sport/rangers-snub-vote-30m-year-24932098
    referring to the report that the SPFL are possibly having to call an emergency meeting-because TRFC have not signed up to the much-vaunted sponsorship deal!
    Apparently, their beef is just what was mentioned on SFM- their dissatisfaction that nothing was put out to tender!
    Some posters on here made that same point or agreed with it, of course.
    TRFC may be playing silly buggers again in that they COULD have arranged discussion with the SPFL Board weeks ago rather than wait for the deadline to pass. [ I would kind of expect them not to be too ready to be helpful, as a general rule]
    But the point they make is a valid one, and the SPFL Board have shown themselves once again to be less than competent in the ordinary running of a Limited Company, as well as having been party to deceit in 2012 and since.
    In my opinion.

  854. JC
    Just imagine – completely hypothetically of course…

    You owned a media company that purchased the tv rights to a sporting competition for a fixed number of years.

    At some point, you discover/realise that the party that sold those TV rights had knowingly made false claims of what it could deliver as part of the contract.

    You could, of course, sue for breach of contract and report the potentially fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities.

    Or, you could be more circumspect…

    As a bargaining position, the threat of jail time has a certain amount of leverage when negotiating a new TV contract with that same organisation.

    Under those circumstances, you wouldn’t really expect the sports organisation to seek tenders from other media companies.

  855. HirsutePursuit 5th September 2022 At 21:47
    ‘…Just imagine – completely hypothetically of course..’
    +++++++
    Good word that, ‘hypothetically’: nice ring to it!
    And many a hypothesis has been found to be essentially based in fact.

  856. On the SPFL ’emergency meeting’, ‘The Scotsman’, which only picked up the story from the ‘Daily Mail’ which tells you something about how sh.t-hot the ‘The Scotsman” isn’t] reports what the Mail reported.
    No sign of anyone on ‘the Scotsman’looking to ask hard questions of Doncaster, or of TRFC, to try to find out from the horses’ arses what the hell is going on!
    Really, we are ill-served by our ‘journalists’.

  857. I refer to my post of 28th August 2022 At 23:42 in which I said I had posted , recorded delivery, my twice considerably revised letter to Alex Thomson /
    I am happy to say that he has sent a hand-written reply, which came in at lunch-time today.
    It reads:
    ” Dear [ my first name] ,
    So sorry to have missed you at the Fringe Talk. It was well received by all accounts,
    Alas, I will have to disappoint you on this question, the answers would require the expense of several forensic accounts [ that’s the word he has written but I think he means ‘accountants’], all of whom would no doubt disagree with each other!!) All the very best,
    Alex ”
    Decent of him to reply, and I will acknowledge that, of course.
    But a wee bit disappointing in that he does not believe that the potentially misleading Prospectus issued by a new plc is worth the expense of a thorough investigation.
    Maybe one of these weeks the old National Lottery will provide funding!

  858. Folks,
    I know I promised you a new, easier to navigate, and ad-free site. Unfortunately a bit of illness has put my plans back a bit.
    I had also intended to send out a funding appeal, arrange a SFM get-together in Glasgow, write a new blog, and power-wash the bins.
    Now in recovery at last, around four weeks after I expected to be ready for action, so I will get to all of these things in the next couple of weeks.

  859. HP,
    Surprised that this hypothesis is plausible at all. You really think it is plausible that criminality could possibly be involved in such a hypothesis? 🙂

  860. BP
    Sorry to hear you have been under the weather. Hope you are well on the road to recovery now!

    WRT criminality, yes. It always does well to follow, follow the money when anything Sevco is involved.

    I think we sometimes get too wrapped up in the issues around the motives people had for doing what they did back in 2012 – and continue to do to the present day.

    In my view, the myth of continuation is not the result of some dark twisted satanic plot. This is not about pro-Rangers or anti-Celtic sentiment. Occam’s razor says the rationale (or more precisely, the motivation) behind the pretence that Rangers Football Club magically survived liquidation has a much more basic foundation.

    Money.

    It appears obvious that the SPL (as was) – and to a lesser extent, the SFA – have a significant financial interest in the Rangers brand. Without a team called Rangers – along with its substantial supporter base – the value of the product the SPL/SPFL has to market is vastly diminished. People will say – and I think they are correct – that in 1994 the footballing authorities stood back while Celtic struggled with its own financial demons. But back in 1994 there was no SPL, no Sky TV contract – no financial incentive to keep the Celtic brand alive.

    In 2011, the SPL signed TV contracts with Sky and ESPN worth £80m – which were to begin from the beginning of the 2012/13 season. Those contracts relied on providing access to both Celtic and Rangers games.

    This was announced on the day Sevco was gifted the status of full SFA membership – as previously held by Rangers.

    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/aug/03/espn-spl-rangers-contract

    It is crucial to recognise that the 5WA gave LNS cover to provide a quasi-legal stamp of approval to the idea that Sevco was the new owner and operator of an association football club called Rangers FC.

    It was the 5WA that effectively ‘codified’ the idea that the association football club called Rangers FC was transferred from one corporate body to another.

    Without the 5WA, LNS could not have made the determination it did and no-one would have accepted Sevco as a “legitimate” continuation of
    Rangers.

    If the parties had the legal power to agree to the terms of the 5WA, then it would have some sort of validity. However, I do not believe they did. I believe the powers of the boards of the SPL and SFA and the committee of the SFL are/were limited in law.

    The power the signatories purported to weald – effectively redefining the very nature of a football club – could only be completed with agreement of the bodies’ respective members. That agreement was never sought.

    If I am correct and signing the 5WA was ultra vires – and, I believe, quite obviously so – it consequently has no legal effect.

    The boards and committee members have a legal duty to understand the limits to their powers and should have known that their purported recognition of Sevco Scotland as the new owner and operator of the association football club called Rangers FC has no legal merit.

    Nevertheless, the SPFL proceeded to publicly state that Rangers FC continued under new ownership and appears to have renegotiated its TV contracts on that basis.

    If they knew (as it appears they should have) that Sevco Scotland was an entirely new association football club, that would constitute a fraud.

    A pretence for financial gain.

  861. HirsutePursuit 7th September 2022 At 21:45
    ‘If I am correct and signing the 5WA was ultra vires – and, I believe, quite obviously so – it consequently has no legal effect.’
    ++++++++
    A brilliant piece, HP.
    And ifYOU are correct in your analysis, as I believe you are, then it would follow that I too am correct in raising doubts about the potentially (as I see it) fraudulent claim by a plc to be the holding company of a historic, and historically very successful football club rather than of an, apparently, fraudulent new creation brought into being by a forsworn sports governance body!
    There are serious questions to be asked both in relation to the potential corruption of a sport’s governance body/bodies AND in relation to the acceptance by the FCA of a potentially fraudulent ‘Prospectus’ by a new PLC.
    I still find it astonishing that the angry cry of an internationally known and respected businessman, on the steps of Hampden, that there was ‘Corruption’ was downplayed and not eagerly followed up by any Scottish newspaper.!
    Instead, from dramatically acknowledging the death by Liquidation of RFC of 1872 on day one, they went to support (in my view) the LIE that CG’s new mob, minus those players who knew that Liquidation was the death of the club they had signed for and that their contracts were not binding and ‘walked away’, were somehow the same football club that was in Liquidation!
    There was a potentially huge story there, and our shabby, shabby, newspapers and broadcasters chose not to investigate.
    No, in my opinion, the ‘Rangers’ saga’ is not yet concluded. The wee stench I detect from Hampden is still reaching my nostrils almost as strongly as the stink from the dirty world of Finance.
    And, sooner or later, one or other of those involved will cough up. I don’t know how they can live with themselves.

  862. Big Pink 7th September 2022 At 14:41
    ‘.Now in recovery at last, around four weeks after I expected to be ready for action, so I will get to all of these things in the next couple of weeks.’
    +++++++
    Glad to hear you’re okay, BP.
    Power wash the bins?
    I hope that’s an IT technical expression, and not connected with recent industrial action?

  864. Scottc 8th September 2022 At 16:13
    ‘..cleaning his headphones’
    ++++++
    Is that really the meaning? What’s the derivation of the expression, do you know?

  865. From the Rolls of Court today:

    “Wednesday 14th September

    LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
    Procedural Hearing
    at 9.00am

    CA144/21 Imran Ahmad v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland”

    Oor Imran still looking for some dosh from the taxpayer on account of the buggered-up shambles of an investigation and prosecution.

  866. Blagged from Follow Follow . Unattributed .
    DAVE KING has called for greater boardroom transparency at Ibrox as he raised several concerns over the running of Rangers and the direction of the club on and off the park.

    The former chairman penned an open letter to Douglas Park and his directors on Thursday as the under-fire Rangers hierarchy – still reeling from the successive four goal defeats to Celtic and Ajax – were put under the spotlight once again.

    Supporters have become increasingly disillusioned with the way the club is operating at present and King has now questioned:

    • When the board decided to ‘change its commitment to supporters to reinvest the proceeds of player trading back into the squad and why was this not openly communicated to supporters?’

    • What has happened to the funds banked by the run to the Europa League final last term and whether the ‘focus has moved onto competing in the financially lucrative European competitions as a pure profit motive rather than as a means to improve the squad?’

    • The relationship between the board and fan organisations and why Park is ‘so against the transfer of my shares into the control of supporters via Club 1872?’

    • If Rangers are for sale ‘if the price is right’ following an approach by American businesswoman Kyle Fox amid suggestions, which Rangers have refuted and have launched legal action over, that a share deal and £75million worth of investment was on the table.

    King voiced his concern over Rangers’ transfer strategy and their role in the cinch sponsorship fiasco last week and has since seen Van Bronckhorst’s side suffer humiliating defeats in the Premiership and Champions League as the Dutchman has been left fighting for his job at Ibrox.

    Supporters have been critical of areas such as communications, ticketing and the merchandise arrangement with Castore in recent months and were successful in forcing the board to pull out of the controversial Sydney Super Cup trip that was scheduled for November.

    King said: “I have been closely following the Club’s activities on and off the pitch and as a supporter (and still largest shareholder) I have become increasingly alarmed about what I am witnessing.

    “Being a director of Rangers is a privilege that comes with an individual and collective responsibility that appears to have been absent from decision making for some time now.

    “There is a shroud of secrecy around what is happening within the Club and the lack of meaningful engagement with supporters and shareholders, who are entitled to a greater degree of respect, is completely unacceptable.

    “The Club is being run like a private concern with supporters being increasingly treated as customers rather than people who give their hearts, souls and hard-earned money to Rangers.

    “Rangers fans know only too well the pain and suffering that can come from a lack of scrutiny over those entrusted to protect our Club.

    “This is why I am forced to speak out at this time by sending an open letter to the Board and by asking for future transparency, honesty and respect for all supporters and shareholders.”

  867. Paddy Malarkey 8th September 2022 At 23:48
    ‘…Blagged from Follow Follow. Unattributed.’
    ++++++++++
    Thanks for that post, PM. It made me google to find out who Kyle Fox is, and was surprised to find that the ‘Sun’ ran a story a couple of weeks ago about a secret plot to sell TRFC…and that ‘Rangers’ are [ surprise surprise] ‘suing’
    I don’t subscribe to the ‘Sun’, but until today when Chris Jack reports in the ‘Herald , I hadn’t seen any mention of the matter elsewhere.
    Can we look forward to ‘a house divided against itself’ collapsing, perhaps?
    If only for the fun of seeing a liquidation followed by instant creation of a 150-year-old new club??
    Probably not.
    But perhaps someone should mention to any prospective buyer that it might be wise to establish that they would be buying what they thought they were buying!

  868. John Clark 8th September 2022 At 21:20
    Scottc 8th September 2022 At 16:13
    ‘..cleaning his headphones’
    ++++++
    Is that really the meaning? What’s the derivation of the expression, do you know?

    ++++++

    No, John, sorry. I am being flippant. Bins is just something we used to call headphones, back in my student union days. I’m sure BP was genuinely power washing dust bins.

  870. On the legal action being taken by TRFC against KRF LLC, I’ve had an enjoyable few minutes’ messaging online to the editor of ‘Offshore Alert’ as follows:
    “to David Marchant, editor:
    ‘U.S. firm sued for allegedly fraudulently trying to sell Scottish soccer club Rangers F.C.’
    I’ve just become aware of this story.
    I am deeply disappointed that it is so vague and imprecise!
    The context should be more clearly explained.
    The football club referred to as ‘Rangers FC’ is “The Rangers Football Club Ltd”, company number SC425159, incorporated on 29 May 2012, all of the equity of which is held by the parent company, Rangers International Football Club plc [RIFC plc] company number SC 437060
    Obviously, to buy into any ownership of that football club, one must buy shares in the parent company.
    I wonder whether KRF know that the club of which RIFC plc is the parent company is NOT the famous, historic club that was founded in 1872 on Glasgow Green, and incorporated in May 1899 which entered into Liquidation in 2012, and consequently had to surrender its share in the then Scottish Football League [‘SFL’] and in further consequence lost its eligibility for membership of the Scottish Football Association, and its right to participate in Scottish professional football?
    And that in buying shares in RIFC plc one may be becoming a shareholder in a plc which, perhaps, and in the opinion of some, may have been launched on the basis of a misleading IPO Prospectus?
    A simple reference to the Scottish Football Association will confirm that the Rangers Football club currently playing in the Scottish Premier League was admitted into Scottish professional football as a new club in 2012.
    It cannot therefore be the Rangers Football Club of 1872 foundation, or 1899 incorporation.
    I think you may usefully use your investigative journalism skills to write something about this, for the sake of your American readers.
    Cheers.

  871. Scottc 9th September 2022 At 11:26
    Paddy Malarkey 9th September 2022 At 15:51
    +++
    Thanks for your posts, gentlemen both.
    Fascinating subject, the use of language.

    Reading some stuff about Kyle Fox’s alleged attempt to whatever, I came across the use of the word ‘deck’ in a context which seemed to be that it meant the totality of a proposition related to a financial deal or offer.

    Can any of you guys in business tell us why such an unfortunate reference to card-playing/ gambling is thought to be a good idea when it comes to trying to raise capital?
    Honest to God, see the stupid nonsense of stuff like this “We provide immediate access to a wide array of partners which empowers optionality for our clients and certainty of execution”!
    Who, who in his right mind, would TRUST anybody who used that kind of language?
    ‘Empowers optionality’, forsooth!
    Con merchant language, I would think.
    Like those bastartingly cunning young folk that some bastartin ‘Timeshare’ sods used to use to waylay holidaymakers and charm them into going to the ‘timeshare’ purchase sales-talks!
    Evil, or what?
    Bad, and feckin bad bas.trds.
    Happily, we had enough sense [this was years ago] not to fall for the nonsense.
    Unlike those here in bonnie Scotland who are happy to distort legal and sporting truth in buying in to the lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872!

  873. While idly scanning football results on a website my eye was drawn to ‘Bradford Park Avenue’. A name from the dim and distant past of the ’70’s when football was made up of divisions and not premiesh*ts. Set me off digging on t’internet and found this to resonate with more latter day disagreements. https://bradfordsporthistory.com/2017/07/01/whats-in-a-name/

    Bradford Park Avenue were liquidated and the new club makes no claim to honours won (admittedly little to claim).

  874. Gunnerb 12th September 2022 At 19:37
    ‘..Bradford Park Avenue were liquidated and the new club makes no claim to honours won (admittedly little to claim).’
    +++++++++++
    Aye, not all Yorkshire football folk , whether with big or little hands, are liars and cheats!

  875. I have mentioned often enough that I am no businessman.
    Nor, I think, is editor of ‘The Scotsman’.
    For whatever reason, no copies of any of the usual newspapers were available this morning at 8.30 when I toddled down to the local petrol station as usual to buy y copy. And the neatly sorted piles of unsold copies from yesterday had not been uplifted.
    Clearly, a delivery problem. And the chap in the petrol station said he had not been told the reason, nor had either of the two other outlets within a short cycling distance.
    The non-subscription online copy of the Scotsman had not a word of apology.
    The subscription version [ which has the crossword and other puzzles which Mrs C and I use to help keep the brain active] was not available except by fully subscribing.
    Given that they’ve lost the £1.90 they would have got for the hard copy, they might have thought of letting today’s online copy be bought for the same price,as a one-off!
    Pretty poor altogether.

  877. I’m really not bothered about alcohol sponsorship, but someone needs to move those beer bottles to the side when coaches are being interviewed after CL games, it looks ridiculous. They also add unintended overtones to the interviews. A mournful Van Bronckhorst looked like he couldn’t wait to get the top off his and Ange seemed to eye his dismissively, as though he expected VB or Fosters at least.

  878. This is shaping up to be quite a month of September for Rangers. The inability to score goals in three consecutive games has to be rather galling to the fans. Is there any truth to the rumor that if they should score on Saturday that the ball and the player’s jersey will be enshrined in the trophy room. Why hasn’t the mainstream media not looking into the ongoing issues arising in the U.S. regarding the “attempted” purchase or whatever it is going on. It is kind of hard to dig into what could be juicy story when you have to pay $25,000 to get access to a well controlled media session. With the end of the month rapidly approaching those pesky financials should be dropping and should/could provide clarification on the Ashley settlement, the actual fee(s) received for Patterson , the Gerrard settlement and how much the EL run actually netted. If the financials are rosy and well massaged end of the month appears to be the issue date. If they are not as expected, and, not to be crass would this week not have been a good time to drop them to the media.

  879. Vernallen 15th September 2022 At 23:09
    ‘…Why hasn’t the mainstream media not looking into the ongoing issues arising in the U.S. regarding the “attempted” purchase or whatever it is going on.’
    +++++++
    In which connection, Vernallen, I sent this email on 11 September:
    “Dear Mr Gillenwater,
    I was intrigued to read, in the publication ‘Offshore Alert’ of the action brought by Rangers International Football Club plc (‘RIFC plc’] against KRF Capital LLC, an action in which I understand you are acting for the defendant, KRF Capital LLC.

    I should say at once that I am not at all an ‘interested party’, merely a football supporter who is interested in matters affecting RIFC plc.

    What intrigued me and continues to intrigue me is this:
    RIFC plc is NOT and cannot legally be, the ‘holding company’ of the historic Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 as an unincorporated football club, became incorporated on 27 May 1899 (with Company number SC 004276), and became a Public Limited Company (same company number) on 31 March 1982.

    This is because, under the name change to ‘RFC 2012 PLC'(effected on 31 July 2012) the historic Rangers Football Club PLC, company number SC004276, went into Liquidation. It had to surrender its share in the then Scottish Premier League, and in consequence lost its entitlement to membership of the Scottish Football Association, and thereby ceased to be entitled to participate in Scottish professional Football.

    RIFC PLC is, instead, the holding company of ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’, a club incorporated as SEVCOSCOTLAND on 29 May 2012, with Company number SC425159, and changing its name to ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’ on 31 July 2012.
    Now, here’s the thing!
    On the launch in December 2012 of the new RIFC PLC, the shareholders in what had been SevcoScotland/TRFC Ltd (a brand-new football club] swapped their shares for shares in the newly launched Rangers International Football Club PLC.
    Now, the Prospectus for the IPO for that launch clearly suggests (to me) that potential investors would be investing in the holding company of the historic Rangers of 1872!
    But of course, the Rangers of 1872 (alias RFC 2012 PLC) is still there in Liquidation, even as I write.

    My point is this: whatever the allegation against Kyle Fox/KRF Capital may be, it would seem useful to ask: was there an awareness of the possibility that Rangers International Football Club PLC might, in their launch Prospectus, have been and may still be, misleading investors?
    As I said earlier, I am not an ‘interested party’, but, if I were, I think I’d want to raise questions about the integrity of a company that was suing me, if I thought there were grounds for questioning their integrity.

    Yours sincerely,
    me.”
    —
    Of course, I don’t expect that the email will be so much as acknowledged let alone replied to!
    But it might prompt Mr Gillenwater to look a little more deeply into RIFC plc and the two football clubs of which RIFC plc seems to claim to be the holding company of, and maybe prompt him just to ask a question in the passing.
    —
    The ‘Offshore Alert’ reported as follows
    “The owner of Scottish professional soccer club Rangers F.C. is suing a U.S. company at federal court in Miami for allegedly fraudulently trying to sell the club, even though it’s “not for sale”. The defendant is KRF Capital LLC, d.b.a. K Sports Capital, which is controlled by a 49-year-old woman called Kyle Fox…”

    https://www.offshorealert.com/u-s-firm-sued-for-allegedly-fraudulently-trying-to-sell-scottish-soccer-club-rangers-f-c/
    Which ‘Rangers FC’?

  880. John Clark 16th September 2022 At 12:08

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++=

    Unfortunately the peddled idea by the SFA, the SPFL, and the former SFL is that ‘Rangers’ is simply an idea, that can never cease to exist. We know that same philosophy would never have applied to Hearts or Dunfermline, who fought long and hard to avoid liquidation in the past ten years. Neither would it have applied to Celtic in 1994, and thank God for Fergus McCann.

    However, it’s the way Scotland is, always has been, and always will be. I make no apology for saying this. In the last few days the new King of the United Kingdom took an oath to ensure that the only recognised faith in Scotland is that of the Church of Scotland. The First Minister of Scotland signed on to protect that oath. The football team of the Scottish establishment is ‘Rangers’.

    No matter the legalities of ‘Rangers’ going out of existence, and no matter how much money they stole from HMRC, they are protected by the establishment in Scotland. Sad, but true. In my opinion.

  882. “Unfortunately the peddled idea by the SFA, the SPFL, and the former SFL is that ‘Rangers’ is simply an idea, that can never cease to exist.”

    Then tell them to pay their existing very real creditors, and pay the man who bet on them getting relegated. That would make a great argument when dealing with Christians and Mormon door stoppers, sorry, but God is simply an idea that can never cease to exist, now take your dillusions and deludamol and fcuk off.

  883. paddy malarkey 20th September 2022 At 13:48
    I find it amazing how ex players who once played for the club that John Brown played for, are now suddenly so concerned and seem to fit into their life all the ongoings and find so much time to evaluate, and get concerned over this new club of which they have never played for. It’s as if they have this have this idea that can never cease to exist, and they actually played for this idea in their mind. Batshit crazy.

  884. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62973251
    That’s called being staunch . I was out with a TRFC-supporting mate and we ran into his boss , also a fan but filthy rich into the bargain . For some reason , the conversation turned to the liquidation of RFC . An intelligent man , his mental and verbal gymnastics were something to behold . When I asked him who he was trying to convince ,he shut up .
    Celtic’s numbers are out . From BBC Scotland Sport .
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62973251

  885. Further to my post of 9th September 2022 At 23:26 [ my letter to David Marchant of ‘ Offshore Alert’]
    I received this reply:
    “Mr. Clark,
    You previously sent us an email on September 9th, 2022. I replied the same day but my email was bounced back because there were two errors in your email address, specifically an ‘a’ was missing from ‘yahoo.co.uk’ (which I noticed and corrected when replying) and the letters ’10’ were missing from the end of the first part of your email address (which I obviously could not have known at the time).

    Given your false claims in your initial email that OffshoreAlert’s reporting was “vague and imprecise”, I was particularly amused by the irony of the above.

    OffshoreAlert accurately reported on the lawsuit. There was no need for OffshoreAlert to go into the history of what had transpired with the club since it was unnecessary and, frankly, would have bored our audience. I wonder whether you’ve even read our article, by the way.

    Regarding your various claims in your email to “Mr Gillenwater”, based on my understanding, Rangers International Football Club Plc acquired the assets of the old business, which, I presume, would have included the team (which, as you yourself stated, began playing in 1872).

    I’ve no desire to get into any back and forth but I’m not sure you have sufficient knowledge of businesses, assets, liquidations, and corporate law to comprehend what took place.

    David Marchant
    Founder, Owner & Editor
    OffshoreAlert ”

    My reply to that was this:
    Tue, 20 Sept at 22:46
    Mr Marchant,
    Thank you for going to the trouble of replying, and I apologise for the mistyping of my email address and the inconvenience that that carelessness occasioned you.

    That you should have read into my letter to Mr Gillenwater a criticism of ‘Offshore Alert’ takes me aback a little, but explains why you appear to have reacted, as it seems to me, so defensively, as if I had hit a nerve!
    It was not of course my intention to criticise you or ‘Offshore Alert”.

    I simply wanted to let Mr Gillenwater know that I believe that RIFC plc’s Prospectus in 2012 in which it is strongly suggested that RIFC plc would, on launch, be the holding company of the historic Rangers Football Club was in my view misleading.
    Companies House records show that it was that historic Rangers Football Club itself and not some ‘holding company’ that was Liquidated!
    And Scottish FA records will show that it was the historic Rangers Football Club that in consequence lost its entitlement to membership of the Scottish Football Association.
    There is absolutely no doubt about those facts, absolutely no doubt.

    There is also no doubt, in my mind, that the Prospectus issued by RIFC plc in 2012 clearly suggests that investors would be investing in RIFC plc as being the holding company of the historic Rangers Football Club, and not of the ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’ that was admitted into Scottish Football only in 2012.

    Further, there is no doubt that RIFC plc claims on the official website ‘Rangers FC’ (shared with The Rangers Football Club Ltd) to be the holding company of the historic Rangers, in its description of the company in respect of which it makes that claim. see this link rangers fc website official – Yahoo Search Results

    But it records, as it legally must (though in very, very small print) as the Company number of the club it holds, the number SC425129- an entity created only in 2012 and quickly renamed ‘The Rangers Football Club’, reflecting the truth, the company number of the historic Rangers of 1872 (now in Liquidation) being SC004276.

    And there is no doubt that the Administrators of Rangers Football Club plc failed to bring that club out of Administration either by selling it, debts and all, to a buyer or by achieving a CVA . There was no CVA, and Charles Green did not buy the football team: he merely bought a bundle of assets and had to set up a football team as from scratch!

    If you do not think there is something to be investigated there, then there’s nothing I can do about it, except perhaps to wonder why.
    But I did think I could usefully ensure that Mr Gillenwater should, in the interests of his client, know a little more than he might already have known of RIFC plc

    Yours sincerely,

    John Clark “

  887. I guess we will find out soon enough on the TRFC financials, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they show a profit (especially if figures include Bassey transfer). I think there is more here around expectations setting – not every penny will be ploughed into players and there are debts to be serviced / repaid. How well that goes down with the support will be interesting. Whilst it is hard to fault the Bassey transfer business, the defensive line taken on the transfers in does not bode well. If the signings were GVBs calls then jury out. If not his calls then how much power does he have?

  888. Paddy Malarkey 21st September 2022 At 14:18
    ‘..Stewart Robertson’s turn to prepare the ground…’

    .Wokingcelt 21st September 2022 At 18:04
    ‘.. I think there is more here around expectations setting…’
    ++++++++
    I’ve often enough expressed the view that the PR people at Ibrox either are not very good or their sensible suggestions/recommendations are being dismissed/ignored by the Board!
    Whatever the reason, Robertson is coming very late to the job of managing the expectations of a (justifiably overall) excited and excitable fan base.
    He himself is quoted as saying “I hope people can now see (the reality). I think we should have done more to get that message out earlier.”
    I read into that a self-protecting criticism of the RIFC board by a director of The Rangers Football Club Ltd, realising that it’s possibly too late to damp down player-purchase expectations from the tens of millions the fans thought would be available.
    Overall, RIFC plc projects a poor, poor image as any kind of well-run business, however successful on the pitch TRFC may be at any given time,

  889. With the ‘Rangers’ accounts due out soon, that will have to detail any payment made to Mike Ashley, I’m wondering how the Scottish Media will react, given that just a few years ago they lined up triumphantly beside Dave King to announce that Ashley had been dispensed with after Dave phoned round a few people to get the money?

  890. @UTH – I would expect a comment on any such payment along the lines of the final casting off of the “bad guys” who hijacked the “idea” that is Rangers and that all is now harmonious with real Rangers people in charge (with or without moonbeams…)

  891. UTH

    They are now ‘reaping what they sowed’ in borrowing/ begging etc (!) to halt 10IAR – living way beyond their legitimate means.

    I recall opining (?) that Sevco’s ‘chickens would come home to roost’ wrt their financial affairs.
    And so we have it! How will they try and ‘pockle’ the accounts this time round?

    Nero fiddled – and Rome is burning – and Big Mike is still haunting TRFC.

    I don’t know how bright Kenny Miller was at school, but there we had him – berating his beloved bluenoses for not spending ‘big’ in the transfer window (They’re skint son!).

    We also Have UEFA with their ‘beady eyes’ on clubs like this ‘misbehaving’ financially.

    Any news on the final date for Liquidation?

  892. Bect67 21st September 2022 At 19:51
    ‘.Any news on the final date for Liquidation?’
    +++++++++++
    As far as I can judge all that we have seen from BDO is their expenses claims every six months or so. What exactly they are doing to justify those claims seems to be something of a closed book.
    I assume that they must exhaustively and diligently pursue every source of monies that may have been due to RFC plc from any quarter in order to maximise the amount that the creditors are due.
    I understand that some liquidations can take 10 years or more to be concluded.
    BDO’s pattern of reporting their expenses seems to be on a roughly 6-months basis. The most recent report was dated April 2022. (That report said nothing about the work they had done or the work that was still to be done, just the man-hours and rate per hour of the employees involved]
    I expect therefore that there will be a report of the same kind fairly soon.
    Having said that, I confess to having given up on trying to understand what exactly and how often the Liquidators are required to report about outstanding debts they are chasing up.
    They surely are not allowed to fanny about claiming expenses if they are not actively working on the case!
    I suppose that their remuneration comes from the ‘pot’ that RFC plc’s assets manages or managed to raise.
    It would be good if a SFM blogger who knows about things like that could find the time to enlighten us.

  893. Stewart Robertson.
    …………………………………………………………..

    There are myriad benefits to Rangers’ recent runs in Europe; financial, sporting and, less heralded, informational.

    Being around other top clubs has been a veritable treasure trove for the board as they seek to push forward with new ideas.

    The upcoming Blue Sky Lounge, an informal hospitality space in the Sandy Jardine Stand, is one example of where European travels have influenced policymaking.
    Another eye-opener has been open discussions on the money Rangers currently make from the SPFL TV deal.
    That the likes of Ajax and Napoli receive bigger sums isn’t news but when Malmo directors explained their broacast agreement in Sweden was vastly superior to that of Scotland, managing director Stewart Robertson took notice.
    “The one that really stuck with me was Malmo,” Robertson explained. “Their TV deal was more than double the Scottish TV deal. You sit with Ajax and Napoli and they are all receiving far more from their TV and sponsorship deals and their league commercial deals as a whole.

    “It put Scottish clubs at a disadvantage when you are playing other European clubs because you know they are all taking bigger sums out of their leagues and TV deals than we can.”
    That sense of frustration is exacerbated by the huge sums earned by clubs across the border for their own deal with Sky that has seen £2.5bn paid out for last season alone. Rangers’ next Champions League opponents will be Liverpool at Anfield, a club obviously on a different financial stratosphere.
    Robertson points out: “To highlight the extent of the challenge facing us soon, Liverpool received £151m from the Premier League last season for finishing second and we received £2.7m from the SPFL for finishing second.”
    Of course, TV revenue is not the be-all and end-all for Rangers that it is for many of the other teams in Scotland. Only a small percentage of the turnover comes from the current Sky agreement, and that won’t change regardless of any new contract with the broadcaster.

    A deal with Sky worth around £30m each term that lasts until 2029 is now on the table with Premiership clubs reportedly keen to sign off and ensure continuity of budget.

    Robertson, a former director at Motherwell, understands more than most smaller Scottish clubs’ desire for security but the failure to establish a proper market value for the rights clearly vexes him.

    “I don’t think we sell it. We just go along and nudge it up a little bit. This is no criticism of Sky who are a good partner for Scottish football.

    “We didn’t market-test this deal. We have no idea what else is available in the market so we don’t know whether it’s the best deal or not. There’s an advisor the SPFL have used and he’s telling us all the reasons why he thinks it’s a good deal.

    “We have contacts with other organisations. James Bisgrove worked with a company who are negotiating the deals for the Champions League and the Europa League for the next cycle. We get market feedback from there that doesn’t really hang together with the other stuff we are being told.

    “My problem is we haven’t gone and sold it. We haven’t sold it whatsoever. That’s no secret. I’ve been reasonably vocal about it when I was on the SPFL board. James and I made the point when this new deal was presented to the clubs.
    While TV revenue often takes much of the focus, there is also the matter of the SPFL’s commercial activities. The league’s deal with cinch needs no introduction and while Rangers’ position not to provide the used car website with advertising inventory has been vindicated, the bitter taste from some of the aspects of the deal linger for Robertson.

    Not least the £600,000 pounds being taken out of an £8m deal by the agency who brought the SPFL and cinch together.

    He said: “In relation to commercial revenue of the SPFL, the cinch sponsorship which there has been a lot of noise about to the point the SPFL have gone and renegotiated it because there’s now that admission that we did have a contract in place and we didn’t have to provide the rights despite all of the steps they have tried to take against the club and the flawed arbitration they have tried to take against us.

    “Something that highlights where I get frustrated is the organisation that takes the second highest amount out of the cinch deal is the agency that brokered the agreement. So the champions get the biggest slice of it, then there’s the agency, then it’s every other club in Scotland getting less. So that just can’t be right and there is something badly wrong when that’s the situation and they are taking more money than 41 other clubs. That’s just an example where we need to be smarter as an organisation.”

    And it’s not just Rangers who feel the SPFL can sharpen up its act. Dundee United, Aberdeen, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian teamed up to commission consultancy firm Deloittes to review where Scottish football can improve. It produced an action plan to increase distributable income from £28.4m to £50m over the course of the next five years.

    “Without breaching any confidences, I still think we are underselling Scottish football. I get frustrated by it.

    “We have to focus on what we are doing at Rangers. It is a small proportion of our revenue so we have to maximise the revenues that come from other areas.”

    Robertson wants to know how the league’s leadership team, led by chief executive Neil Doncaster and chairman Murdoch MacLennan have allowed nearly a decade to pass without a robust plan to move the finances of the game forward.

    He said: “There was a strategy group set up by the SPFL that was driven strongly by Hibs owner Ron Gordon to look to grow the revenues. Ron has done all the heavy lifting on that. It’s not been the SPFL executive.

    “It’s been Ron doing the bulk of the work on that. He’s come in with new ideas and is looking at things freshly which is great. We will debate what some of the ideas are and whether they work or not but that’s been driven by the clubs, it’s not been driven by the SPFL executive and that frustrates the life out of me. We should have someone who is really driving that business forward and maximising commercial revenues for the clubs.

    “The SPFL has had no strategic plan since the merger in 2013 and only as a result of the probing by the five clubs initiating the Deloittes report have the clubs now pulled together a strategic plan. Why have the SPFL executive not had a strategic plan for the past 10 years, surely that’s a dereliction of duty?”

  894. Albertz11 22nd September 2022 At 10:25
    ‘..Why have the SPFL executive not had a strategic plan for the past 10 years, surely that’s a dereliction of duty?”
    +++++++++++++
    Yes, as I have previously remarked, what a nonsense it is that a small handful of the individual clubs which constitute the shareholders of the SPFL Ltd shareholders in a company felt they had the right to ‘commission’ Deloittes without, it seems, the Board’s formal approval!
    On what basis of authority can that handful of clubs take executive action to implement any changes? Or enter into any binding commercial contracts on behalf of all the shareholder clubs in the SPFL?
    A board of directors which allows such a situation to arise clearly is failing in its basic duty.

    But of course, in my opinion, has connived for ten years in an act of sporting dishonesty by allowing a new club to claim to be what it is not.
    I think there is no depth of misgovernance/ dereliction of duty to which they would not stoop.
    If Scottish Football implodes it would be condign punishment.

  895. Assuming a “standard” level of football, the market value of any TV deal will primarily be driven by the number of potential viewers within the range of the company bidding for commercial rights.

    Since Sweden has roughly double the population of Scotland and the level of its top clubs is (I think!) broadly similar, you would expect the Swedish TV deal to be worth approx double that of Scotland. That’s just simple economics!

    If Stewart Robertson wants to use an example, he really should choose one that helps his case!

    Not sure citing Liverpool’s TV income does much for him either. Comparing the EPL and the SPL is like comparing Disney World in Florida with M&D’s in Strathclyde Park.

    That is no disrespect to M&D’s. It just is what it is. You can’t compare the two by the number of customers, when the respective perceived values of each experience are so vastly different.

    £15 per visit for M&D’s compared to around £100 for a day pass at Disney World. It is just what it is. It’s what the market says the price should be.

    If you accept that English football is perceived to be of a considerably higher level it will be assumed that the average TV viewer will be prepared to pay a considerably higher price than they would to watch Scottish football.

    If the value is perceived to be six times higher and the population is twelve times greater, the English deal SHOULD be more than 70 times the value of what can be achieved by the Scottish football authorities. To be clear, I am not saying it is six times better, but it may well be perceived to be so by those TV executives who are involved in the deal making.

    If TRFC gets £2.7m and Liverpool achieved £151m why would anyone think that strange? Some may even argue that the Scottish club is achieving more than the market value!

    Of course those connected to the 10-year-old club may be so delusional to believe that there actually are 500 million supporters in the world, just itching to watch its team.

    What really boils my piss about Mr Robertson is the sheer brazen cheek of criticising the commercial effectiveness of organisation that he and his cohort have been doing their best to undermine for the entirety of his club’s existence.

    The nonsense about cinch – really? Does anyone, even the most ardent fan, think that the situation was not maliciously manufactured by the club?

    It appears to me that every time the Ibrox board start this rabble rousing nonsense, there is something coming over the horizon and they are seeking to create a distraction.

    Annual accounts due to be published shortly?

  896. HirsutePursuit 22nd September 2022 At 16:33
    ‘..The nonsense about cinch – really? Does anyone, even the most ardent fan, think that the situation was not maliciously manufactured by the club?’
    +++++++++++++
    That’s an interesting observation, HP. It prompts me to remind myself that RIFC plc satisfied the Court that it had a pre-existing contract before the SPFL contracted with cinch and was therefore not legally free to be part of that contract.
    The question arises: was the Court hoodwinked and misled as to the facts?
    Or did the SPFL not even ask RIFC plc (and other clubs) about any pre-existing sponsorship contracts that they might have?
    Or was the SPFL deliberately not informed by RIFC plc that it already had a sponsorship deal with Park’s of Hamilton? Or was only informed after the cinch contract was signed?
    It’s difficult to see how the SPFL board would ignore their own rules if they had been informed of the pre-existing Park’s contract. (Mind you, they ignored truth and common sense in 2012!]
    I suspect that there was a mixture of Board incompetence and a bloody-minded seizing of an opportunity to be disruptive.

  897. John Clark 22nd Sept 18.46

    Or was the SPFL deliberately not informed by RIFC plc that it already had a sponsorship deal with Park’s of Hamilton? Or was only informed after the cinch contract was signed?
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    Rangers informed the SPFL before any deal was signed. The question you should be asking John is did the SPFL inform cinch prior to the contract being signed that it could not perform all of the rights it was contracted to provide due to one of their own rules ( Rule 17?

    • Albertz

      Rangers informed the SPFL before any deal was signed. The question you should be asking John is did the SPFL inform cinch prior to the contract being signed that it could not perform all of the rights it was contracted to provide due to one of their own rules ( Rule 17?)

      —————————

      I think both questions need answering, but given the pathological mendacity of both organisations, it really is a case of ‘he said, she said’. Unless of course there is one explanation which is clearly more plausible than the other.
      I reckon the charge of SPFL incompetence is plausible, but the fact that Rangers* clearly have a hard-on when it comes to undermining that same organisation and so
      E members of its board, makes subterfuge on their part at least as plausible, if not more.
      The notion that the SPFL have dropped the ball on TV rights seems ridiculous given the economics of the situation.

      The tipping point for me is that not all constituents of the SPFL are Rangers*.
      They can’t all be pathologically dishonest.

  898. John Clark 22nd September 2022 At 18:46

    Stewart Robertson is MD at TRFC who are members of SPFL . RIFC is the holding company for 100% of the shares in TRFC . They confuse things by having both companies share web pages . If you didn’t know better , you’d think that Rangers International Football Club was a football club in Scotland .

  899. Paddy Malarkey 22nd September 2022 At 19:22
    ‘ They confuse things by having both companies share web pages ‘
    +++++++++
    The whole thing, PM, was beautifully contrived to help manufacture the myth that the historic Rangers Football Club of my grandad’s youth somehow did not enter Liquidation but had been bought outright and brought out of Administration by CG as a going concern!
    Old Big Hands was clever but was EITHER not clever enough to realise that the player contracts lapsed automatically on Liquidation of the club, and that players were entitled to walk away rather than sign a new contract with the new SevcoScotland/TRFC. OR not quite influential enough to find a way to circumvent that legal problem.
    That was a right bummer for him! ending up with a nameless ‘club 12’ status while the governance body sh.t itself in panic and good old Turnbull Hutton spoke truth on the steps of Hampden!
    Sadly, the SFA hadn’t the moral fibre to take the action that was required of them in their duty to defend the concept of Sporting Integrity.
    Those responsible for the creation and propagation of the untruth at the very heart of Scottish Football know who they are, and each knows the moral degradation of the others.

    .

  900. Albertz11 22nd September 2022 At 19:22
    ‘..Rangers informed the SPFL before any deal was signed.’

    Big Pink 22nd September 2022 At 21:52
    ‘The tipping point for me is that not all constituents of the SPFL are Rangers*.
    They can’t all be pathologically dishonest..’
    ++++++++++++
    Now, where does that leave us, I wonder?
    Your statement, Albertz11, may be your opinion and genuine belief but, of course, would require corroboration before it could be taken as a proven fact. [ no offence intended, of course- you will genuinely believe what you may have been told or actually KNOW first-hand that what you say is true]
    BP, it is a sad fact that the Board of the SPFL propagate and foster the ‘Big Lie’
    In my opinion, the governance bodies of Scottish Football countenanced the most outrageous nonsense from one [now 10-year-old] club, which now holds them in the same contempt as I.

    It would seem to me that it is a case of a compromised governance body being suckered by an entity which they meekly accommodated in a base act of cowardly and/or venal, dereliction of duty.
    Which baddy is worse?
    In my opinion, Scottish Football will not be an honest sport unless and until the nonsense that TRFC is 150 years old is firmly hit on the head, and its claim to be continuity ‘RFC of 1872’ in terms of sporting history and sporting success is officially rejected.

  901. JC
    Just for clarification…

    I have no doubt that a contract existed between TRFC and Parks of Hamilton. I believe that it was stated that the current contract has been in place since 2015.

    The court acknowledged that the contract existed, but made no finding (that I am aware of) that the contract contained an exclusivity clause meaning the stadium or team could not have displayed cinch branding.

    That determination could only have been made after a full hearing. It didn’t go that far.

    The problem with an exclusivity clause is this…
    https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-stadium-closure-sweat-controversial-27756324

    In 2019 (four years after the PoH contract was allegedly signed) the section of Ibrox closed by EUFA was photographed with advertising from Central Car Auctions and soldmycar.com – companies which operate in exactly the same sphere as cinch.

    I wouldn’t trust what either party says without verifiable evidence. The only evidence I am aware of in relation to the alleged “exclusivity” is that it did not exist in 2019.

    That is my understanding of the situation.

    As an aside to this…I don’t know for certain it is true, but it has been reported that TRFC had been in advanced talks with cinch (how would that have worked with PoH?) but cinch decided instead to do a deal with the SPFL for the entire league.

    If this is true would anyone be surprised if TRFC, as is its wont, then spat the dummy?

  902. John Clark 22nd Sept 23.18

    From Stewart Robertson’s statement on August 4th.

    Rangers made it clear to the SPFL there was an issue BEFORE the deal was signed.
    Robertson has written: “We have been in private dialogue with the SPFL Executive since 8 June on this topic.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    This has , to my knowledge, never been refuted by the SPFL.
    The pertinent question remains though John. Did the SPFL inform cinch that Rangers were unable to provide them with many of the rights due to a pre-existing contractual obligation before the deal was signed?. There are a few scenarios at play here.
    YES they did and cinch were happy to proceed. YES they did with the proviso that Rangers would be browbeaten into playing ball, POH’s involvement was crucial in ensuring this was avoided.
    NO they weren’t informed and thus threatened to rip up the deal unless a more favourable one was re-negotiated on their behalf.
    The SPFL were/are incompetent and the fact that it was Rangers who exposed them shouldn’t cloud anyone’s judgement in this particular case.

    • Albertz
      It’s not THE pertinent question. It’s simply one of them. Few kites hoisted there too?
      I don’t think Rangers* “exposed” anybody either. Although the characterisation of them, that they are intrepid crime fighters seeking to right wrongs and extinguish dishonesty and malpractice in Scottish football; that’s irony 101?

  903. HirsutePursuit 22nd September 2022 At 23:53
    ‘JC
    Just for clarification…’
    +++++++++++
    That was a very helpful and necessary clarification, HP, and thank you for it.
    I am chastened to remember that the matter before the Court was the question as to whether PoH and cinch were ‘interested parties’ with a right to be present/represented at any SFA-arranged Arbitration Tribunal. The Court decided that they were, and the SPFL withdrew their request to the SFA that an Arbitration Tribunal should be set up.
    I was therefore incorrect in saying that the Court had been satisfied that RIFC plc had a pre-existing contract: that question was not before them.
    I apologise to the blog readers for that careless mistake.

  904. Albertz11 23rd September 2022 At 11:09
    I prefer the one whetre TRFC had opened negotiations with cinch on their own behalf only to be usurped by SPFL and then spitting the dummy out .

  905. I know its well past the hour for delivering bad news on a Friday in Scotland so one would anticipate the financials for Rangers to be released late next Friday. Will this lead to another round of blue sky style interviews with members of the board, similar to the interviews pushed through this week. Perhaps someone should point out to Stewart Robertson that comparing tv money in Scotland to that of Liverpool was perhaps a result of additives to the drinking water at Ibrox. Now they want to scuttle the proposed tv deal, which hasn’t been handled all that well and are lining Livingstone up as a partner. What’s in for Livi, sweet heart loan deals for some of the up and coming starlets from the academy. Since they can’t seem to get their own way almost all the time, perhaps they could stage a hostile takeover of the SPFL board. They do have history in that regard and in that way could set the agenda to suit themselves, i.e. referee selection, home and away games, cup draws, etc.

  906. Albertz11 23rd September 2022 At 11:09
    “Rangers made it clear to the SPFL there was an issue BEFORE the deal was signed” [Robertson]

    ‘This has, to my knowledge, never been refuted by the SPFL.’ [ your observation]
    +++++++++
    Yes
    The fact that the SPFL withdrew their request that the SFA should set up an Arbitration Tribunal strongly suggests that they did not dispute Robertson’s statement.
    You ask: “Did the SPFL inform cinch that Rangers were unable to provide them with many of the rights due to a pre-existing contractual obligation before the deal was signed?”
    The answer to that we don’t know.
    However, we can infer that whatever cinch was or was not told, they were happy to adhere to the contract.
    And, indeed, they got a degree of advertisement [that would have cost thousands of pounds] free,gratis and for nothing from the action brought by PoH!
    And perhaps PoH might have done themselves no marketing good in bringing the action!
    Certainly, though, the SPFL cocked things up against a background in which a ‘governance’ body already compromised in terms of Integrity is called to account by a football club that it allows to claim to be what it is not!

  907. “SPFL in danger of self-destruction as break-away faction calls for action!”
    That is not a headline in any newspaper this morning: I made it up.
    I’ve just read what Cormack of Aberdeen FC has to say in this morning’s edition of ‘The Scotsman’ about the Sky TV deal and the cinch dispute which threatens it.
    It’s my bit of ‘truthful hyperbole’, which I think is justified by the extraordinary set of circumstances brought about by the sheer incompetence, pusillanimity and consequent lack of authority of the Board of the SPFL.
    Who is in charge of the SPFL? Who gave Cormack and the other disaffected clubs the authority they seem to have?
    Where is the appointed, elected leadership of the SPFL as a 40-club membership body?
    Cormack calls for an end to the cinch dispute, RIFC plc/TRFC demands an apology before signing up to the Sky deal.
    The SPFL board is silent.
    Surely the way forward is for an Extraordinary General Meeting to be called to sort out who is in charge?
    But, as Shakespoke makes Hamlet say, “Let the galled jade wince, our withers are un-wrung” [ never been sure what that means, but I’ve always taken it to mean something like ‘bugger them, I wouldn’t give a damn if the SPFL fragments ”
    [ the item in the paper is not credited to any particular journalist. Wonder why?]

  908. Elite, JD Sports and Ibrox Club fined for merchandise price fixing. Surely not. It was a cinch that they were up to no good. A new club that seems to be in competition with RFC (IL) traditions.

  909. Valentinesclown 27th September 2022 At 10:08
    ‘..Elite JD and Ibrox club fined..’
    +++++++
    Yes, VC.
    From ‘the Herld’ a wee while ago:
    RANGERS has been fined £225,000 by a markets regulator for their part in the fixing of prices fans pay for the club’s merchandise.” [Martin Williams]

    And in other news, the SKY Sports deal goes ahead-excluding TRFC participation. [‘The Scotsman’ this morning]

  910. Further to VC’s post at 10.08 this morning and mine at 10.11 here is the Competition and Markets Authority’s judgment
    “Infringement decision and settlement
    On 27 September 2022, the CMA issued a decision finding that Elite Sports, JD Sports and Rangers broke competition law by fixing the retail prices of certain Rangers-branded clothing products. The CMA found that Elite Sports and JD Sports fixed the retail prices of Rangers-branded replica kits and other clothing products, and that Rangers also took part in the collusion, but only to the extent of fixing the retail price of adult home short-sleeved replica shirts.
    The CMA imposed fines totalling over £2 million on
    Elite Sports Group Limited and Elite Corporation Limited (together ‘Elite Sports’)
    JD Sports Fashion Plc (‘JD Sports’)
    The Rangers Football Club Limited and Rangers International Football Club Plc (together ‘Rangers’)
    The penalties include a settlement discount to reflect resource savings to the CMA generated by the companies’ admissions and their agreement to a streamlined administrative procedure. Elite Sports’ and JD Sports’ penalties also include a discount under the CMA’s Leniency Programme.

    Press release: Firms fined for fixing prices fans pay for Rangers FC merchandise (27.9.22)”
    —–
    Leniency and discounts? I’d have kicked their cheating arses really, really hard!
    Sadly, it appears that price-fixing to screw the man-in-the-street or in the football grounds is not a criminal offence.
    BUT those who practice it are little better than spiv-like scum who deserve to be contemned and scorned.

  911. Just reading a wee item about Worcester Warriors, the Rugby Football Union club that has gone into Administration, owing debts of more than £25 million, including at least £6 million in unpaid tax.
    The piece ends with this: ” Two consortiums are so far understood to have expressed interest in buying the club out of Administration”
    Why should Worcester bother trying to find a buyer to take them out of Administration?
    Why not quietly get rid of the debt by slipping into Liquidation?
    Why not learn from the Scottish Football experience? A few secret agreements here and there and hey presto! the owners of a newly admitted ‘The Worcester Warriors’, undead and debt free, could make money on the back of a false claim to be one in identity with a disgraced and busted rugby club in Liquidation, while the creditors suffer? Might even float itself on the Market as a plc?
    What’s to stop them? Not, I imagine, the FCA or the Insolvency Service or any such Regulatory body.

  912. A number of years ago we had Ally McCoist going on about who are these people in regards to the former Rangers’ troubles. Why isn’t this loyal Ranger not asking where the financials are so as to ease or answer questions why more wasn’t spent in the last transfer window. Why is it that the Celtic manager is attached to any vacancy in the EPL while no one seems to be interested in the Ranger’s manager who lead them to a European final which we are constantly reminded of. So many questions, so few answers.

  913. Vernallen 2nd October 2022 At 18:10
    You must have missed the various directors of TRFC ‘s charm offensive/PR exercise recently, doing the groundwork in advance of the release of this year’s financials . And I think that one of the reasons that GVB is manager is linkage to the old club . They are running out of links to the past and Arfield , McGregor ,Davis and Jack are basically all thats left . They really need to get academy players into the team to project the illusion continuity .

  914. Paddy Malarkey 3rd October 2022 At 00:40′
    ‘,,,They are running out of links to the past .’
    ++++++++++++
    Sadly, though, the loyal SMSM and BBC ‘journalists’ will continue to propagate the untruth that RIFC plc is the holding company of TFC of 1872 and that TRFC is the Rangers of the 4 young men!

    I noticed on Saturday that even Liam McLeod in his introductory remarks before the Hearts game referred to this being ‘the 154th match between Hearts and Rangers’ no doubt carefully following ‘guidelines’ from Pacific Quay.

    It is such a damned silly and unnecessary sporting lie [equating in silliness with Putin’s lie that chunks of Ukraine are now part of Russia] that one has to raise doubts about the BBC’s integrity as one raises doubts about Putin’s.
    The whole world knows that Putin lies. WE all know that RFC of 1872 is in Liquidation, as dead as Third Lanark and Gretna, and that TRFC has, and cannot possibly have, any sporting history before 2012.
    There has been no attempt by any journalist to explain why they propagate what even the thickest of them knows to be an untruth.
    They all [including the lugubrious James T ] reported the truth on day one!

  915. my post of a few minutes ago! keyboard errors:
    line 2: ‘TFC’ should be ‘RFC’
    line 10: TRFC has and cannot possibly have ” should read ‘TRFC has NOT and cannot possibly have’.
    Apologies.

  916. Paddy Malarkey — 3rd october 2022 –00:40
    I didn’t miss the recent charm offensive, although I wished I had. Found it strange that they didn’t have D. Parks addressing the issues and also found it strange that Ross Wilson, a few days later, indicated that their European opponents were more interested in their financial dealings than any players they might be interested in shifting. As you know the media seems to think a number of their players are available for “let’s dream about fees”. It’ll be interesting to see the reaction if the Liverpool game turns into another CL nightmare.

  917. Vernallen 3rd October 2022 At 22:50
    ‘ I didn’t miss the recent charm offensive, although I wished I had.’
    ++++++++++++++++
    The ‘propaganda offensive’ is also hard to miss, Vernallen.
    Here is Alan Pattullo in ‘The Scotsman’ this morning:
    “This is Anfield. This is history. You’ll never walk alone. And you’ll certainly never believe that this is the first competitive meeting between Liverpool and Rangers in the 130 years in which both clubs have co-existed’

    How he has the effrontery to trot out the utterly untrue suggestion that today’s ‘The Rangers Football Club’ has existed for even 130 years is an affront to anything that I understand to be acceptable as ‘journalism’ because, since the Rangers of 1872 foundation went into Liquidation and ceased to be a football club, it’s quite IMPOSSIBLE that TRFC of 2012 can be RFC of 1872.
    All the weeping and wailing and sighing and longing or deceitful propaganda cannot change that fact.

    There is a great story to be told about how a new football club has been allowed to make money on false pretences with the connivance of the very Sports governing body who admitted that new club into Scottish Football in 2012.
    In my opinion, Pattullo and his like should grow a pair, show some journalistic courage and fidelity to Truth, or get to hell out of journalism /’sports reporting’ and take up running a supporters’ bus or some such
    Honest to God!

  918. From Andrew Smith, in the online edition of ‘The Scotsman’, reporting on the Liverpool v TRFC game [ not that he uses that description of the away team!]

    “Yet, what could also be said of the two supports when giving vent to songs about their team – as Liverpool did often, Rangers on rare occasions, not helped by the pedestrian nature of the home win – is that they demonstrated why the two cities from which their teams hail are considered among the last bastions of raw football passions. For the populaces of both, the game is more than a game. Which takes us right back to that question of culture”

    He does not of course go on to question the ‘culture’ of Scottish Football, in which was fabricated a monstrous sporting untruth that was and is sedulously fostered by his own ‘The Scotsman’ and the rest of the SMSM.
    Honest to God!
    That we should be so served in untruth in journalism and sport in this wee country of ours’ gars me greet!

  919. From Andrew Smith, in the online edition of ‘The Scotsman’, reporting on the Liverpool v TRFC game [ not that he uses that description of the away team!]

    “Yet, what could also be said of the two supports when giving vent to songs about their team – as Liverpool did often, Rangers on rare occasions, not helped by the pedestrian nature of the home win – is that they demonstrated why the two cities from which their teams hail are considered among the last bastions of raw football passions. For the populaces of both, the game is more than a game. Which takes us right back to that question of culture”

    He does not of course go on to question the ‘culture’ of Scottish Football, in which was fabricated a monstrous sporting untruth that was and is sedulously fostered by his own ‘The Scotsman’ and the rest of the SMSM.
    Honest to God!
    That we should be so served in untruth in journalism and sport in this wee country of ours’ gars me greet!

  920. From Andrew Smith, in YESTERDAY’S online edition of ‘The Scotsman’ updated 11 hours ago, discussing the then still to be played Liverpool v TRFC game [ not that he uses that description of the away team!]

    https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/liverpools-hosting-of-rangers-sparks-culture-war-in-stands-last-bastions-of-raw-football-passions-chants-flags-3867421

    “Yet, what could also be said of the two supports when giving vent to songs about their team – as Liverpool did often, Rangers on rare occasions, not helped by the pedestrian nature of the home win – is that they demonstrated why the two cities from which their teams hail are considered among the last bastions of raw football passions. For the populaces of both, the game is more than a game. Which takes us right back to that question of culture”

    He does not of course go on to question the ‘culture’ of Scottish Football, in which was fabricated a monstrous sporting untruth that was and is sedulously fostered by his own ‘The Scotsman’ and the rest of the SMSM.

    Honest to God!
    That we should be so served in untruth in journalism and sport in this wee country of ours’ gars me greet!

  922. Earlier today I was reading ” Liquidation: A guide for creditors on Insolvency Practitioners fees (Scotland) (Version 1 January 2022) ”
    https://www.icas.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/595340/Liquidation-creditor-guide-2022-final.pdf
    I found this para particularly interesting:
    “9.4 There may be occasions when creditors will agree to make funds available themselves to pay for the liquidator to carry out tasks which cannot be paid for out of the assets, either because they are deficient or because it is uncertain whether the work undertaken will result in any benefit to creditors. Arrangements of this kind are sometimes made to fund litigation or investigations into the affairs of the insolvent company. Any arrangements of this nature will be a matter for agreement between the liquidator and the creditors concerned and will not be subject to the statutory rules relating to remuneration.”
    I idly wonder whether it would be only the affairs of the insolvent company as it was run under a new owner that creditors could seek to have investigated, or whether the reckless, possibly criminal actions, of a previous owner [which plunged the club into the huge debt which could not in the end be met on demand and was the ultimate cause of Administration/liquidation] might also be investigated.
    Purely hypothetical question, of course, which might be framed as:
    If cheating bast.rd businessman ‘A’ runs his football club into huge debts by cheating, say, the taxman (with or without the tacit agreement of the relative football authorities) and sells his club to cheating bast.rd ‘B’ who then runs the club into Administration and then Liquidation, do the creditors of the liquidated club have grounds for having bast.rd ‘A’ investigated?
    Discuss.

  923. “In the great movie, ‘The man who shot Liberty Valance’ one newspaperman dared to write the truth and it cost him his life. His name was Dutton Peabody and was played by Edmond O’Brien”

    And Orla Guerin and other real journalists are out there in Ukraine, and a good few real journalists have been murdered for reporting truth.
    And what do we have?
    Craven and/or partisan gainsayers of Truth- in the relatively trivial matter of sport!
    Honest to God, what are we like?

  924. John Clark 5th October 2022 At 23:35

    EDIT
    “..I idly wonder whether it would be only the affairs of the insolvent company as it was run under a new owner that creditors could seek to have investigated, or whether the reckless, possibly criminal actions, of a previous owner”

    I remember at the time leading up to the tribunals the question of civil or criminal proceedings being discussed on the Rangers Tax Case forum and the subsequent general disappointment at the lack of criminal culpability. HMRC seemed interested only in a high profile transgressor setting tax case law and as such I imagine Caveat Emptor re the sale of RIFC probably applies and the ‘patsy’ takes the fall. I say ‘patsy’ but everyone involved in this sordid affair has ,or will, make significant amounts of money from the true fall guy..the taxpayer.

  925. Gunnerb 6th October 2022 At 08:46
    ‘ I imagine Caveat Emptor re the sale of RIFC probably applies’
    ++++++++++++
    I was just wondering out loud whether a Liquidator has any duty to establish how a company accumulated the debts that led to its falling into Administration / Liquidation relatively shortly after a new owner purchases the company and fails to meet the debts incurred (perhaps negligently or criminally) by the previous owner, if the new owner had had no reason to suspect that there might be some doubt as to the old owner’s management of the company’s affairs.
    But I expect you’re right, Gunnerb.
    The more I hear of the business world, the more I deplore the ease with which baddies can exploit such limited legislation as there is and can escape any serious punishment even when they are caught, whether by the taxman or the Finance regulators.
    In which connection I was listening yesterday, on BBC Radio 4, to the almost unbelievable fact that Companies House does no checks whatsoever on the bona fides of applicants setting up new companies!
    There’s a wifie in Huddersfield who received 7 kilos of mail addressed to “Asda Ltd’, Many of the items were invoices detailing amounts to be paid for hundreds of items provided to ‘Asda Ltd’, items bought not by the real ASDA but by some scammer who set up a company using the wifie’s address as his company address!
    Apparently, there are thousands of bogus companies registered on the Companies House books.

  926. There was a piece in this morning’s ‘The Scotsman’ by a freelance journalist, Alastair Stewart.
    The article is entitled “Fictionalised reality is leading us astray.”
    It is, broadly, about the question of when fiction is taken as fact and fact as fiction.
    Stewart refers in particular to a new movie (“Blonde”] as an example of the ‘spectacular disconnect between historical truth and fiction in our modern world’
    His last para has this:” When something is polished and expensive and on-screen or in print it is easier to take it as gospel. As Garfield the cat said: ” If they say it on television, it must be true” ‘

    I laughed at the irony of his piece appearing in ‘The Scotsman’ – a newspaper which itself buys into the falsification of historical fact and the propagation of untruth!
    Like the rest of the SMSM, ‘The Scotsman’ did not and does not challenge the absurd claim that the football club known as The Rangers Football Club which was founded in 2012 ,and admitted in that year into Scottish Football for the first time, is one and the same football club as the club that was the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 but which , on entering Liquidation renamed as RFC 2012, ceased to exist as a football club.
    Nor does it question why RIFC plc gets away with describing itself as the holding-company of the Rangers of 1872 when in point of law and fact it is the holding-company of ‘The Rangers Football Club’ founded in 2012.

    [I do not know Stewart, but he appears to think that it’s something in Churchill’s favour that his adjutant in 1916 and later friend was then Captain, later Major Andrew Dewar Gibb, notorious for his “Wheresoever knives and razors are used, wheresoever sneak thefts and petty pilfering are easy and safe, wheresoever dirty acts of sexual baseness are committed, there you will find the Irishman in Scotland with all but a monopoly”.
    [I of course draw no conclusions therefrom]

  928. From the Rolls of Court today:
    To be allocated (to a Judge of the Inner House]
    Wednesday 12th October
    Summar Roll (3 days)
    at 10.30am
    CA86/19 Reclaiming Motion (Lord Tyre) David Grier v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland Kennedys Scotland
    CA72/20 Reclaiming Motion (Lord Tyre) David Grier v The Lord Advocate

    ______
    David Grier appealing against Lord Tyre’s decisions in his damages claims.

    • John C
      I suspect that lack of resources is to blame for the absence of oversight of persons starting companies. I’m pretty sure they will check blacklists of folk forbidden from holding directorships but aside from that not very much. The absence of regulation though, that which allows loopholes to be exploited for monetary gain, is more to blame. Endless admins and liquidations also serve only the worst of us. For example who has gained most financially from Rangers’ liquidation? The creditors or the liquidators?

  929. My post at 18.05 refers.
    Speaking of Court judgments, I’ve just noticed a judgment by Lord Harrower (published on 5 October 2022] in favour of David Whitehouse
    I don’t pretend to have understood the detail of the case, but Lord Harrower’s judgment is at Para 19 of the judgment:
    “[19] For the foregoing reasons, I would sustain the pursuer’s [ Whitehouse] notes of objections and
    direct the Auditor to fix the amount, if any, of the additional fee in respect of the pursuer’s
    account”
    You might find the full judgment here:
    https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh75c6d1f18f74e3400ead58257b31ff592c.pdf?sfvrsn=87a9720e_1

  930. There was an ad that ran on television in North America several years ago with the tag line, where’s the beef. Should this not be updated for the Scottish media in regards to the non appearance of Ranger’s latest financials. A simple question, where’s the financials. I suspect you will not see anything prior to the Liverpool game this week, and, depending on the outcome it could be a “blue” moon before they appear. Is there not an AGM in the near future as well.

  932. In my inbox at 8.22 this evening there is this interesting piece of news about CAS:

    “Amendments to the Statutes of ICAS
    In view of the significant increase of the number of arbitrations related to football conducted by CAS,
    ICAS has decided to increase the number of ICAS members from 20 to 22 in order to guarantee a better
    representation of football stakeholders.
    The additional two ICAS members will be appointed within the next weeks in order to be in function
    from the beginning of the next four-year term, 2023-2026.
    Article S6 para. 9 has been amended to reflect that, from 2023, the ICAS Legal Aid Commission will
    manage two separate legal aid funds: the existing legal aid fund and a new Football Legal Aid Fund
    (FLAF) dedicated to football matters. This change reflects the need to separate legal aid requests
    submitted in football-related disputes from legal aid requests submitted in relation to other sports as the
    FLAF will be financed by the football stakeholders while the classic legal aid fund will continue to be
    financed by the Olympic Movement. The Legal Aid scheme helps athletes without sufficient financial
    means to access to CAS arbitration’

    It will be interesting to read background papers on this. I haven’t yet researched what might be available on the subject. I’ve no particular views on it at the moment-I’m just uninformed!
    I wonder if we have a sports-minded KC or some such senior and experienced lawman in Scotland who might be a candidate for appointment?

  933. Now that it appears the neither of the Scottish teams will advance in the CL and probably not make it to the EL how does that impact the funding that was being regaled as being the 40 million range. If they fall short of that pot of gold which team is the most impacted and will the January transfer window be a bargain basement clear out of players. Will the media do some digging to get an accurate picture of what the impact is and what the fall out will be.

  934. Big Pink 11th October 2022 At 16:53
    ‘..For example, who has gained most financially from Rangers’ liquidation? The creditors or the liquidators?’
    ++++++++++
    The last I read was some time ago now, and it was to the effect that an interim payment of 3 pence in the pound had been made to the creditors of the liquidated club!
    Now, my forensic accountancy and basic arithmetical skills are not much more developed than those of a random primary 4 schoolchild, but I imagine that BDO receive a hundred per cent of what they may be due for their labours, as against the percentage of the debt owed to him/her that any individual creditor [from face-painter to HMRC] will ultimately receive as their total whack!
    Not that I criticise the Liquidators: they cannot be expected to work for less than the market rate for their skills and experience etc.
    But I’m at one with you in your belief that the basic fault lies in the weakness of legislative control of the world of business.
    I give, for example, the case of a plc which markets itself as being the holding company of a historic sports club with an unequalled an enviable record of sporting triumph and success when, in fact, it is the holding company of a very new sports club newly admitted into the sport.
    That would seem to me to be a piece of chicanery, of cheating, in order to mislead the market in an attempt to persuade investors to invest.
    There appears to be no law against that.
    That one example is enough to prove the point: such regulation as there may already be is either too lax or is deliberately not being enforced, and the chicanery merchants give to fingers to the law and to sport.

  935. John Clark 11th October 2022 At 23:49
    The thing is , JC , that they will be able to allude to RFC until liquidation is completed . RFC of 1972 vintage is not quite dead , which is why it was possible to celebrate 150 years of it’s existence . Wouldn’t it be fun if someone was stay the liquidation and settle with the creditors ?

  936. Paddy Malarkey 12th October 2022 At 13:07
    ‘..Wouldn’t it be fun if someone was to stay the liquidation and settle with the creditors’
    +++++++++++
    Dave King himself of course recognised that RFC 2012 plc (formerly RFC plc, in Liquidation) could be brought out of Liquidation if someone paid all its debts, before the Liquidators have it dissolved.
    It would fun indeed if some wealthy Middle Eastern mob were to do so and thereby become the owners of the historic Rangers.
    It would be then that the Big Lie would be seen to be what it is, and the disgraceful abandonment of sporting integrity by the football authorities exposed as the dirty cowardly deed it was and is.

  937. Albertz11 11th October 2022 At 11:28
    “Rangers accounts are released in November with the AGM following in December”
    +++++++++++
    More precisely, from the Companies House page referring to RIFC plc

    “Accounts
    Next accounts made up to 30 June 2022
    due by 31 December 2022
    Last accounts made up to 30 June 2021”

    “Confirmation statement
    Next statement date 16 November 2022
    due by 30 November 2022
    Last statement dated 16 November 2021”
    ____
    The CH guidance has this :
    “Failure to deliver accounts on time is a criminal offence. In addition, the law imposes a civil penalty for late filing of accounts on the company
    The amount of the penalty depends on how late the accounts arrive and whether the company is private or public at the date of the balance sheet:

    Length of period public company
    Not more than 1 month £750
    More than 1 month but not more than 3 months £1,500
    More than 3 months but not more than 6 months £3,000
    More than 6 months £7,500
    Although it might be a crime, it appears that no jail sentence can be the punishment

  940. Paddy Malarkey 12th October 2022 At 17:47
    ‘..The Directors wish him well in those endeavours.’
    +++++++++
    Hardly the most warmly sincere good wishes, I would think.
    He was appointed on 5 October 2018.
    I wonder was he causing problems?

  941. Anent tonight’s game I will say only this: I agree with Liam McLeod’s statement that tonight’s defeat is the biggest defeat suffered by TRFC.
    The Rangers of my grandfather’s time [which dropped out of Scottish Football due to its liquidation in 2012] suffered a 7-1 defeat in 1957.
    McLeod did right in not lumbering TRFC with TWO such defeats!
    I am nothing if not consistent in my assertion that as a matter of absolute fact, TRFC is not and cannot be the Rangers of my grandfather’s day, no matter how many of the Ibrox supporters and the hacks like to pretend that it is.
    RFC of 1872 cuffed in 1957, TRFC of 2012 cuffed tonight. Same fans, perhaps, but two legally distinct football clubs.

  942. J.C. — 12th October 2022 — 22:34
    Interesting comment re: Liam MacLeod’s statement regarding Rangers. I was following the DR feed and found they are still living in the past, claiming the Ranger’s goal was their first in the CL in a decade. Since this is the TRFC first kick at the can in the CL I can agree with the first part of that comment, but, not the second. Also the gloating from Ranger fans regarding Celtic’s loss the previous night was somewhat premature. If one takes a look at the over group standings Rangers are truly distant from a number of teams. No wins, no draws, four losses and an incredible minus 15 in goal difference. The media was all over Lennon a couple of years ago but a lost dressing room, a little digging into the behind scenes at Ibrox might prove interesting as well. At least this will keep the Ranger based pundits off the media pages for a while.

  943. Vernallen 13th October 2022 At 01:31
    “J.C. — 12th October 2022 — 22:34
    ‘a little digging into the behind scenes at Ibrox might prove interesting as well’
    ++++++++++++
    From the outside looking in the impression I get is that the RIFC plc Board is like the UK Cabinet, cash-strapped but with unrealistic hopes and expectations that GEE-oh would deliver the CL goods without the Board providing enough of the readies in the transfer market.
    The headache they now have is that GEE-oh’s inability to prevent not just defeat but European humiliation is an indicator that his motivational skills and powers are sadly lacking when the going gets really tough, and the players jack it in.
    I would not be at all surprised if GEE-oh does not have a word with himself and calls it a day.

  944. Another fine example of the DR’s love affair today with Rangers. In one of their lead stories regarding last night and the bruising defeat, they hint at a possible third place finish, with lots of outside help needed. Celtic appear to be in with a shot at third as well, but, no mention of that Well balanced and researched reporting.

  945. Reading Alan Pattullo ‘s piece in this morning’s “The Scotsman” in which he refers to the ‘Hampden-in-the-sun’ 7-1 defeat of the Rangers of 1872 as “Rangers’ previous on-pitch nadir” I wondered how on earth a man, a journalist, can resist the known truth so blatantly and casually?
    The whole world knows that TRFC is a football club founded in 2012. That being so, it simply cannot be, whatever the wishes of provincial journalists or forsworn Football Governance bodies, the football club that was founded in 1872!
    The Rangers of 1872 is dead as far as being a football club entitled to play in Scottish Football is concerned. It is as dead as my grandfather. For all that his memory is cherished and honoured by me, he remains dead.
    And for all that RFC of 1872 may be cherished and honoured, it similarly remains dead. It could not and did not suffer a second 7 goal defeat!
    Patullo knows that.
    It is simply not acceptable that he or others should continue to trot out an absolute untruth or fail in their journalistic duty to expose for what it is the perversion of sporting truth facilitated and sustained by the SFA/SPFL.

  946. John Clark @ 09.42

    Yes, John – and ‘call me Al”s (masterpiece of) lazy and inaccurate journalism continues apace …

    ‘Not so long ago we were flicking through the Rangers record books trying to establish the last time they lost 4 matches in a row. Turned out it was 1985′ What, in the name o’ the wee man, is he talking about?

    For the life of me, I can’t figure this out. Have I misunderstood his point (hands up if I have)? And, what matches in a row is he referring to this season regarding the current outfit playing out of Govan?

    At the very least, his reference to a non-existent club (Rangers 1872-2012) as if it still existed is an illogical, idiotic and delusional condition for which their should be a medical/psychological term (I will cut him some slack if it turns out he is ‘cognitively challenged’).

  948. Paddy Malarkey 14th October 2022 At 20:47
    ‘..Tactical withdrawal ?’
    ++++++++++
    Great spot, PM.
    More a hasty retreat, perhaps?

    Why would a plc which marketed itself as being the holding company of a 140-year- old very successful football club when in fact it is the holding company of a 10-year-old club founded in 2012 even THINK of raising a court action in the States alleging that somebody was ‘trying to trick investors’?
    Seems crazy to me!
    I suppose that’s another good few quid wasted paying not only their own but Ms Fox’s legal costs.
    They seem to have no savvy whatsoever.

  949. I hadn’t seen until this afternoon that David Graham has packed it in as Director of Communications at Ibrox after a brief 2 years. Was it widely reported on 8 October?
    I don’t know about anyone else but in my view the PR/Communications policy at Ibrox has not been at all well thought out in its general siege mentality belligerence!
    The fault lies, I suspect, in dissension in the Board over what should be their realistic hopes and expectations in the light of the whole circumstances of their financial position.
    There is a distinct unwillingness to cut their coat according to their cloth. Riches from the CL are not now to be forthcoming, and they’re reportedly just washing their face with their current revenue streams and, of course, still have no decent borrowing facilities.
    It needs a bloody good PR team to dress that up, even if the Board had a settled, agreed policy line.
    Rashly charging into litigation does not, help, nor does falling out with all and sundry and taking the angry huff.
    We’ll see in due course which PR company will be brave enough to accept appointment.

  950. I have just sent this by email to the law firm representing KRF LLC/Ms Fox.
    “Dear Mr Gillenwater,
    With reference to my recent email to you, and just for fun, I give you this post that I put on a football supporters’ blog when I read that RIFC plc had withdrawn its action against KRF LLC /Ms Fox
    “Why would a plc which marketed itself as being the holding company of a 140-year- old very successful football club when in fact it is the holding company of a 10-year-old club founded in 2012 even THINK of raising a court action in the States alleging that somebody was ‘trying to trick investors’
    Seems crazy to me!”
    The board of RIFC plc seem to have realised that they might not be on entirely sure ground-for whatever reason.
    I expect that they will have to pay the expenses of the litigation.
    Hell mend them! as my dear old granny used to say.
    Yours quite happily,
    in the interests of honesty and truth
    JC

  951. JC 17.20 & 23.58

    A couple of points.
    Rangers & Kyle Fox / KRF Capital all paid their own legal costs.
    David Graham left the club due to a serious illness of a immediate family member.

  952. BP

    I didn’t see the press release so don’t know whether it was mentioned or not. Given the nature of the illness i would doubt that any information regarding a private matter would have been made public at this stage.

    • Given the controversial figure he was, I would have thought that some clarification would have been helpful. I don’t think you mentioning what you think is the reason was unhelpful in terms of clarity or family privacy.

  953. Albertz11 16th October 2022 At 17:30
    ” Rangers & Kyle Fox / KRF Capital all paid their own legal costs.
    David Graham left the club due to a serious illness of a immediate family member.”
    +++++++++++
    I take it that you have certain knowledge that each party paid its own costs and am ready to take your word and thank you for the clarification. It’s a very generous gesture from Ms Fox, I think.
    I naturally sympathise with David Graham in his anxieties and worry for his family member and sincerely hope that there is a recovery.

  955. Paddy (and JC), given the fact that the blurb for the event uses the word ‘Administration’, but not the word ‘Liquidation’, I’m not sure there will be too much reality in his lecture? Also, from his posts/comments on his Linkedin profile, it looks like he might be a monarchy-supporting TRFC fan. Nothing wrong with that, of course, as long as he doesn’t let his blinkers colour his views. He claims to have “strong analytical, strategic planning, intellectual and communication skills”. If so, I hope he clearly explains how a club can continue after a CVA is rejected, without its paying the outstanding debts in full. If he claims ‘same club’ do you think he’ll take questions?

  957. Nawlite 17th October 2022 At 18:05
    ‘… as long as he doesn’t let his blinkers colour his views.’
    ++++++++
    Well, Nawlite, Professor Howieson as you say does not mention ‘Liquidation. He speaks merely of ‘regime change’ and an ’emergence from chaos’.
    Add to that avoidance of the word ‘Liquidation’ what he says about his interests

    “I have also developed a sub-specialty interest in how leadership was reported in, during, and out of the
    recession during 2008-2010, and in understanding leadership from the world of professional football in
    partnership with the Scottish Football Association and the School of Sport, the University of Stirling”
    https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/257558
    and I think we may be forgiven if we reckon that his lecture will not exactly meet the most rigorous academic standards.
    He tells us incidentally that his ‘Original publisher pulled out at last moment’
    Smart move on the part of the publisher, perhaps!

  959. Bigboab1916 17th October 2022 At 21:02
    +++++
    Thanks for that interesting link to Howieson and Morrow’s paper.
    I haven’t read it all, of course, but I note that in the introduction there is this remark:

    “The very public role that manager Ally McCoist was forced to play during the six month period leading up to the liquidation of Scottish club Rangers,…”
    I imagine that the joint author (Morrow) of the paper might have written that, rather than Howieson!
    But it is baffling that Howieson feels that he can now ignore the fact of Liquidation and end of Rangers of 1872.

  960. I see this in the Rolls of Court of Session today.
    To tell the truth I don’t really know what the ‘Calling List’ means in terms of when things are to happen.
    If they were to happen today, there wouldn’t be hellish much point putting them online at 4.00 pm today! So, the ‘calling list’ relates to some future date?
    Whatever it means, what caught my eye is number 11 below. [I’ve left out the details of the other 10 entries]

    ” COURT OF SESSION
    CALLING LIST
    Tuesday 18th October
    1 COS-PD421/22 …
    2 COS-A210/22 ….
    3 COS-PD403/22 ..
    4 COS-F93/22 ….
    5 COS-PD407/22
    6 COS-PD425/22
    7 COS-PD401/22
    8 COS-F91/22
    9 COS-A203-22
    10 COS-F62/22
    11 CA74/22 Elite Sports Group Ltd v Rangers Football Club Gilson Gray LLP ”

    I suppose this is a continuation of some action to do with the shirt-selling ‘conspiracy’ and the fines imposed by the Competition and Markets Authority?
    When chancers and duckers (yes, ‘d’] and divers get caught out and fight among themselves, don’t we all put aside the brilliant comedy of Del Boy and ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and say to ourselves ” bastertin cheating bast.rds’?
    Whatever the ‘law’ may say in these ‘commercial’ disputes, we KNOW that at bottom there are folk trying to rip us off.
    Probably because I don’t tune in to TRFC sites, I don’t KNOW what the TRFC support made of the ‘conviction’ of their RIFC plc board of being guilty of marketing ill-practice.
    I hope that they were incensed ..with anger.
    As it happens, I do not know what the response of the RIFC plc board has been to the charge that they were ripping-off their loyal support.
    Was there any outcry?

  961. American investor Kyle Fox has doubled down on her intentions to buy a huge stake in Rangers – after defeating the Ibrox board in a Miami court.

    Miss Fox was hit with a lawsuit by the club’s hierarchy after holding talks in London with vice chairman John Bennett about a potential takeover plan. The legal action was aborted after two months of wrangling last week when lawyers representing Rangers confirmed the case against her had been voluntarily dropped.

    But Fox responded to the development last night by confirming that she still intends to snap up a ‘significant ownership interest’ in the club. Record Sport understands the Florida based investor has agreements in place to hoover up a stake of between 25-30 per cent at 40p per share – which would make her the club’s biggest single shareholder. Her plan was put on hold after being dragged into court by the incumbent Ibrox board.

    But Fox insisted at that time she would press ahead with the deal as soon as the legal action was booted out of court. That happened last Thursday in the States when Rangers folded their own case after lawyers representing Fox’s firm KRF Capital demanded it was dismissed.

    And a bullish Fox said: “I have always been, and will continue to be, open and transparent with Rangers’ board, shareholders, and investors. I look forward to putting the lawsuit behind us and continuing to explore opportunities to bring value to the Rangers organisation, its loyal fans, investors, and other stakeholders through KRF Capital’s proposed acquisition of a significant ownership interest in the club.”

    Fox had initially proposed to buy a 75 per cent controlling stake in Rangers but this was met with hostility by chairman Douglas Park and his directors – who insisted they have no wish to sell up. She then advised them of an alternative strategy to acquire around 25 per cent instead, while insisting that other shareholders were willing to strike a deal.

    It was at that point that the club launched legal action against KRF Capital – accusing Fox of unauthorised use of a club crest in a document related to her proposal and insisting Rangers were not for sale. Fox’s lawyers pointed out “factual and legal deficiencies” of Rangers’ claims – including that the club is a UK public company with freely transferable shares.

    The club was forced to withdraw many of its allegations before ultimately dropping the case.

  962. From Daily Record
    American investor Kyle Fox has doubled down on her intentions to buy a huge stake in Rangers – after defeating the Ibrox board in a Miami court.

    Miss Fox was hit with a lawsuit by the club’s hierarchy after holding talks in London with vice chairman John Bennett about a potential takeover plan. The legal action was aborted after two months of wrangling last week when lawyers representing Rangers confirmed the case against her had been voluntarily dropped.

    But Fox responded to the development last night by confirming that she still intends to snap up a ‘significant ownership interest’ in the club. Record Sport understands the Florida based investor has agreements in place to hoover up a stake of between 25-30 per cent at 40p per share – which would make her the club’s biggest single shareholder. Her plan was put on hold after being dragged into court by the incumbent Ibrox board.

    But Fox insisted at that time she would press ahead with the deal as soon as the legal action was booted out of court. That happened last Thursday in the States when Rangers folded their own case after lawyers representing Fox’s firm KRF Capital demanded it was dismissed.

    And a bullish Fox said: “I have always been, and will continue to be, open and transparent with Rangers’ board, shareholders, and investors. I look forward to putting the lawsuit behind us and continuing to explore opportunities to bring value to the Rangers organisation, its loyal fans, investors, and other stakeholders through KRF Capital’s proposed acquisition of a significant ownership interest in the club.”

    Fox had initially proposed to buy a 75 per cent controlling stake in Rangers but this was met with hostility by chairman Douglas Park and his directors – who insisted they have no wish to sell up. She then advised them of an alternative strategy to acquire around 25 per cent instead, while insisting that other shareholders were willing to strike a deal.

    It was at that point that the club launched legal action against KRF Capital – accusing Fox of unauthorised use of a club crest in a document related to her proposal and insisting Rangers were not for sale. Fox’s lawyers pointed out “factual and legal deficiencies” of Rangers’ claims – including that the club is a UK public company with freely transferable shares.

    The club was forced to withdraw many of its allegations before ultimately dropping the case.

  963. Paddy Malarkey 20th October 2022 At 01:49
    ‘…Fox’s lawyers pointed out “factual and legal deficiencies” of Rangers’ claims – including that the club is a UK public company with freely transferable shares.
    The club was forced to withdraw many of its allegations before ultimately dropping the case.”
    +++++++++
    That was a nice wee piece to read with my morning coffee, PM, and thank you for it. My ‘Scotsman’ doesn’t have the story, so presumably it went to print before it got the story.
    What an utterly ‘Liz Truss style’ bunch of incompetents that Ibrox board has as its members. Going to law on a basis of ‘Factual and legal deficiencies’…. and being ‘…forced to withdraw many of its allegations’!
    I opine that the fault lies not so much with their legal team, but with the inaccuracy and fudged truth of the ‘facts’ provided to them by the Board as the basis of their charges against Ms Fox.

  964. How ashamed our football hacks must be when they read this and squirm at their support for and propagation of the biggest Sporting lie in Scottish Football:
    [from an email from the ICIJ in my inbox late last night:]

    “Almost exactly five years ago, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally murdered outside her home in Malta. Last week, two of the people responsible were finally brought to justice.

    Two brothers who admitted to assassinating Caruana Galizia have been sentenced to 40 years in prison. The journalist made international waves with her follow-up reporting to the 2016 Panama Papers, which uncovered alleged links between offshore business deals and Malta’s top politicians…”

  965. My post at 10.55 this morning refers.
    Re-reading this bit from the DR’s report
    “… “factual and legal deficiencies” of Rangers’ claims – including that the club is a UK public company with freely transferable shares.”, I am staggered and astonished that RIFC plc seems to have made that claim.

    Before today, the last time I looked RIFC plc shares were brokered by the self-styled “The UK’s Oldest Platform For Private Companies”, J P Jenkins. Note the ‘private companies’
    I’ve just looked up the J P Jenkins web-site.
    It used to list RIFC plc as one of its clients. Now, under the heading ” Our Companies” it has a list of 25 named clients, and RIFC plc is not one of them.
    Under another heading “Past and Present Companies”, there is a list of a further 16 named companies, including Man City and Arsenal. RIFC plc is not included there, either.
    That list is followed simply by ” +23 more companies”- these are not named.
    RIFC plc may, of course, still be one of them.
    But if so, maybe JP Jenkins thinks it wiser not to mention them!

  967. Bigboab1916 20th October 2022 At 20:41
    ‘…“It used to list RIFC plc as one of its clients.”
    +++++++++++
    Bigboab1916, thanks for that. I must read more widely!- I hadn’t seen that before.
    RIFC plc is almost a pariah in the ‘proper’ business world.eh?

  970. Bect67 21st October 2022 At 19:37
    ‘…Hiv ye no’ heard John – Big Ange is the front runner?!’
    ++++++++++
    I smile, of course.
    Angelos’ s ambition, I think, is not so much to win the CL as to win it with Celtic and the player budget that Celtic has, as Jock Stein won it with a home-spun team of talented but local young players, the whole lot of whom could have been bought by Inter for relative buttons.
    That was a sublime coaching achievement that hasn’t really been matched by any subsequent coach.
    Scottish clubs are by and large relatively impoverished still, as compared with the major European clubs, and the challenge is still there: how to beat clubs that can afford the most talented players in the world?
    Ange, I think relishes the chance to be another Jock Stein and win by brilliant coaching of very good players rather than by having oodles of cash that merely buy the best players.

  971. Mrs C and I thought it appropriate to mark the official introduction of VAR tonight by coughing up the dough to Hibs TV. (They are to be commended for realising that lots of supporters are really interested in VAR. They would have been even more commended if they had waived the charge!]
    Happily, there were a number of potentially ‘wrong’ decisions to make the use of VAR ‘justified’.
    Mind you, I was not at all sure that the disallowed goal incident was entirely certain. It was definitely not even a Tom English ‘toenail’ event, as far as I could judge.
    But I think I read elsewhere that what WE see is not the really, really detailed picture that the VAR people see.
    Can anyone confirm this?
    And, maybe a bit peevishly, can I say that the [who? SFA? SPFL?] really have not explained to us exactly the full operation of VAR. [If they have, and I have missed it, please let me know]
    Where are the VAR people situated? Who are they, at any given match? Who decides who they shall be, at any given game? Are they anonymous? Are their judgments subject to review?
    I have often been behind the times and acknowledge that asking these questions is testimony to that.
    But I am eager to learn!

  972. @JC – last night Willie Collum was the “VAR” ref back at Clydesdale House (I don’t know where Clydesdale House is located – in England the VAR HQ is at Stockley Park, an industrial park in Uxbridge). I understand 4 areas are subject to VAR checks:
    1. All goals
    2. Penalty area incidents
    3. Red cards
    4. Mistaken identity

    The BBC has a pretty good article on its website under Scottish football with details of how it will work.

  973. Wokingcelt 22nd October 2022 At 09:56
    ‘… Willie Collum was the “VAR” ref back at Clydesdale House …’
    +++++++++++++++
    Indebted to you, Wokingcelt.

  974. As far as I’m concerned honest mistakes are now located in a room somewhere away from the sporting arena..
    (Based on today’s evidence at Tynecastle where Celtic were, to any reasonable chap, denied a perfectly legitimate goal (Ralston) – as well as a penalty (Smith handball)).

    Please note that I have no qualms about Hearts’ penalties -which were obvious without reference to VAR.

  975. @Bect67 – a charitable interpretation of the Ralston goal would be that the referee forgot he had the benefit of VAR and should have allowed the move to play out before blowing his whistle. The goal would then have stood upon review.
    As for the Smit handball, the ref missing it was bad enough but for the VAR officials not to intervene is baffling – it was exactly the type of penalty area incident that they are there to police!
    As they can no longer hide behind an assumed defence of not seeing the incident, it can only be a matter of time before decisions are either fully explained or mistakes acknowledged.
    Mind you I’m not holding my breath!

  976. Wokingcelt 22nd October 2022 At 17:49
    ‘… it can only be a matter of time before decisions are either fully explained or mistakes acknowledged.’
    ++++++++
    In which connection, Wokingcelt, there was an interesting point raised by one of the woman pundits (I think it was on Sportsound but it might have been on Sportscene- I was buggering about between kitchen (radio) and TV room at the time, so I can’t be sure, although I think it was radio.
    It was the point about the possibility of two potential offences being committed almost simultaneously in the same APP ( ‘attacking possession phase’], leading to the VAR people missing one and concentrating on the more immediately visible one and missing the other.
    The possibility arises of the incident that is being scrutinised by VAR being correctly cleared, while the unexamined incident might, if examined, not have been okayed!
    It’s too early, I think, to suspect that those involved in operating VAR in Scottish Football might already be seeing things through partisan eyes.
    [It must be possible these days for folk at our scientific research places to design an AI machine that can be programmed to be a virtual referee? Hell’s teeth, is there nothing that Alexa can’t do?]

  977. Bect67 22nd October 2022 At 17:29
    “Celtic were, to any reasonable chap, denied a perfectly legitimate goal (Ralston)”
    __________________________________________________

    I guess I must be an unreasonable chap for thinking that a shirt pull is a foul.

    I’ll grant you that the Smith handball would be given as a penalty by most VAR officials these days, but such a penalty award would be as soft as the shirt pull that you conveniently think should be ignored, in view of the closeness of Smith to the ball.

    There were inconsistencies in several of yesterday’s games, but the unrelenting message from the Celtic faithful seems to be that all officials are anti-Celtic and pro-Rangers. Despite this apparent bias, Celtic won a hard-fought game yesterday, while Rangers didn’t, against hard-working Livi.

    Similarly, it’s not so long ago that Celtic won nine titles in a row, including a quadruple treble. How this achievement was arrived at in the face of such anti-Celtic officiating over such a prolonged period takes some explaining.

    To me, VAR officials will still give the majority of the big decisions in favour of the big two whenever they are involved. Little will change in that respect. Officials are subjected to huge pressure and human nature dictates they will be swayed by crowd size and expectation.

    As I’ve no doubt pointed out on here before, even if you truly think you’re hard done by because the club you support is ONLY the second most pampered club in Scotland, try supporting one of us ‘diddies.’

  978. Highlander, while agreeing with much of your post above, I would take issue with this paragraph…..”To me, VAR officials will still give the majority of the big decisions in favour of the big two whenever they are involved. Little will change in that respect. Officials are subjected to huge pressure and human nature dictates they will be swayed by crowd size and expectation.” One of the benefits of VAR should be that, because the VAR site is far removed from the ground itself, the VAR officials should not be subject to the pressure of 50k fans shouting for a penalty. If VAR does indeed turn out to still “give the majority of the big decisions in favour of the big two”, then we should be looking for other explanations.

  979. Highlander

    First off, as Peter Martin (of PLZ soccer fame?) would say;”It’s all about opinions” – so I’ll stick to mine regarding my main points.

    However, I was struck by this (confusing to me at least) paragraph from your response:-

    ‘Similarly, it’s not so long ago that Celtic WON nine titles in a row. How this achievement was arrived at in the face of such anti-Celtic officiating over such a long period takes some explaining’

    Care to have a go at clarifying the above and explaining how the 9iar you refer to came about in the face of such alleged adversity?
    n.b I thought it make the achievement all the more remarkable.

  980. Bect67 23rd October 2022 At 15:41
    _________________________

    Oh come on Bect67, it’s hardly rocket science.

    If, as alleged, there genuinely was a concerted effort by match officials to act against Celtic’s interests, then those officials must have done a pretty pathetic job during the nine consecutive years that Celtic hoovered up every league title and also won a quadruple treble. Just imagine how many titles they might have racked up if only they got their fair share of decisions.

    It seems inconsistent to want a soft offence for hand ball awarded to your team when the player who handled is so close, yet you don’t want a soft offence such as a jersey tug to be punished when it negatively affects your team. If anyone can direct me to the regulation that specifies that a mild shirt pull isn’t an offence then I’m open to persuasion.

    You’re right though that we’re all entitled to our opinions so I’ll leave it at that.

    Nawlite 23rd October 2022 At 12:08
    ________________________

    Thanks for the reply Nawlite. I agree there’s less pressure on the VAR officials because they’re located elsewhere, but I don’t think that the pressure is removed altogether since they’re analysing footage that contains crowd noise and images.

  981. Highlander

    Your right about it not being ‘rocket science’, which, as is clear, I see it from a different aspect. As ever, I ultimately leave it up to the community on here to draw its own conclusions – rather than get drawn into prolonged ‘toing and froing’.

    So, as there’s no point in wasting any more time and energy, I hereby conclude that …

    … wur dun here son!

  982. I think the problem with VAR is that Scottish referees are still in control . They are still as incompetent and
    /or biased as they were last season (you choose !). Since it’s only about applying the rules and involves only a couple of qualified people per match , it would be surely be in our interest to use non-Scottish VAR officials

  983. And while I’m on my high horse , surely we’ve reached a time where the referee has to explain his/her decisions post-match in the light of VAR evidence .

  984. @PM – couldn’t agree more on refs explaining their decisions post match. I think 90% of noise around ref decisions is from pundits who either don’t know the rules or who refuse to accept that the game has moved on and rules changed since they played or deliberately playing to the gallery.
    I’m not a big rugby fan but I take my hat off to their openness to having refs ‘micced-up” allowing fans to hear their decision-making real time (accepting some of this is necessary as so many close contact infractions are invisible to the fans!).
    It should not be difficult for the officials to give simple explanations, referencing the rules, which would be helpful all round.

  985. Wokingcelt – Agreed on the rugby, the ref’s are very clear on explanations to the players and public, and also ask their VAR for what they want to see. It’s very refreshing. Rugby players have a history of respecting ref’s decisions which helps, although I am well aware of why that is not the case with football fans, certainly old Celtic fans like me.
    Highlander – I believe the VAR ref’s in Scotland are current referees and named, (unless Collum has retired recently), which might give them pause for thought unfortunately.
    When it comes down to which “Attacking Possession Phase” something happened in, I’m about ready to give up. The two incidents in England recently, one involving Rashford, with different outcomes because one was first APP and the other second, were beyond me, which means they were a complete nonsense, and I’m not going to caveat that with, “in my opinion”.
    Michael Stewart talked for what seemed to be about 10 minutes on the current handball rule the other night, and also left me more confused than before. That means the handball rules are also a nonsense.
    Someone, on here I think, mentioned some time ago about video cameras running at 25 frames a second and a difference of 5 frames being enough sometimes to reverse the “toenail” lines. VAR was not intended for this; that is not a clear and obvious error, it’s another nonsense.
    Still to come: when is an overhead kick not a high boot?, why shouldn’t a player go on to score after a possibly incorrect offside, why is there only 3 minutes stoppage time after 10 substitutions and a couple of injuries (plus now a couple of VAR’s)…

  986. Today’s Rolls of Court hve this:
    LORD HARROWER – TBC, Clerk
    Court 8 – Parliament House
    Wednesday 26th October
    Starred Motion
    between 9.00am and 9.30am
    CA144/21 Imran Ahmad v The Lord Advocate

  987. I think all the comment on the VAR decisions at the weekend show only that for matters where an interpretation of the rules is required, VAR adds nothing other than another interpreting voice, either supportive of or contrary to the already-in-place interpretation – that of the referee.

    Whether you’re on a Celtic site or a TRFC site, whether you’re a pundit or an ex-referee, your interpretation of what you see will be skewed by whatever blinkers you have built up due to conditioning throughout your life. Whether those blinkers are because you’d like it to be ‘a man’s game’ as it used to be; whether they are because you have an affiliation with one club or another; whether they are because you don’t know the rules as well as you should hardly even matters – your own blinkers will decide how you view any situation. That covers important things in life – politics, empathy, fairness etc – as well as less important things like football. This is so obvious looking at these VAR incidents via Celtic, Hearts, TRFC, St Mirren etc sites.

    For my part, being raised 3rd generation Irish Catholic (now Atheist) in Clydebank in the 60s, my blinkers make political choices easy, along with my support for the underdog (City not United, Barca not Real), even my preference for the non-establishment (punk/Indie rather than the Level42, Queen etc of my friends, Mick Lynch not Grant Shapps etc)

    The tribal blinkers are showing strongly after this weekend’s decisions. The ref WAS in fact right to blow for what he thought was a foul before Tony Ralston’s header despite what most CFC fans are saying. The IFAB Laws of the Game say so and do not allow him to “give ‘no decision’ and then use the VAR to make the decision”. We can argue all day long about his interpretation of Giomakkis’ actions, whether or not a similar foul would be penalised on other occasions and whether or not his conditioned blinkers affected his decision, but he did the right thing per the Laws of the Game i.e. he made a decision. As there was potential for a goal because Ralston then netted, I believe VAR would have done a silent review per the VAR Protocol enshrined in the Laws of the Game, which state “The original decision given by the referee will not be changed unless
    the video review clearly shows that the decision was a ‘clear and obvious error’.” Again, we can argue over whether Walsh made a clear and obvious error based on our blinkers, much the same as VAR McLean did.

    For me, all three Penalty decisions come down to the same thing, interpretation again, as does the Livingston red card. Our blinkers will decide if we see them as ‘a stonewaller’ or ‘nothing in that’. My blinkers, based on having seen such handballs given so many times, say Celtic should have had a penalty, but can honestly understand why Walsh, McLean and even the usually fair Michael Stewart could deem it not to be. The Laws of the Game allow so many outs here – natural position, closeness etc – that I can understand that choice, but still wonder if their blinkers affected the decision too.

    A lengthy post to say not a lot, I fear, but I have seen some suggestions that VAR should be used only for matters of fact e.g. offside decisions or was a foul in or out of the box. Despite the confusion/rancour caused by this past weekend’s interpretations, I would rather see VAR continue being the opportunity to review an initial, real-time interpretation.

    Most importantly, I agree with everyone who thinks that referees should now be forced to explain their interpretations with reference to the Laws of the Game. Such transparency can only aid understanding of their thinking and/or their particular blinkers. Such transparency would also help drive Auldheid’s initiative on refereeing provision to allow the customers (clubs) some control over the service offered. On that matter, I have read that Celtic are looking for questions to be answered at their upcoming AGM. Is anyone ready to ask about referee’s offering explanations for decisions?

  988. Nawlite 24th October 2022 At 18:58
    ‘…A lengthy post to say not a lot, I fear,..’
    ++++++++
    Be not afraid, Nawlite: you make some trenchant and irrefutable observations about the existence of unconscious bias, or of blind prejudice, or of ignorance of the actual rules, or of a mixture of all of these, in over-excited imaginations, and of the fact that any of these, or any combination of these, will influence the way the mind interprets ‘evidence’ that is not absolutely proven to be a matter of fact.
    I agree with you.
    I go further.
    I assert categorically that unconscious bias and/or blind prejudice is so powerful in Scottish Football that two ABSOLUTE FACTS, about the truth of which there is no room for ‘Interpretation’, have been actually lied about by the Governance bodies of Scottish Football.
    First, it is not a matter of ‘interpretation’ that Rangers of 1872 is in Liquidation. Rangers Football Club of 1872 was the entity that went bust in 2012: there was no ‘holding company’ at the time, as Companies House records will confirm. As a matter of absolute FACT ‘Rangers’ football Club with all its sporting history ceased to function as a football club in Scottish professional football. And TRFC is a now 10-year-old club with no football history pre-dating 2012.
    Those who deny those facts are absolutely not facing up to reality in imagining that the facts can be ‘interpreted’ differently.
    Second, it is absolutely the fact that RIFC plc is NOT the holding company of RFC of 1872.
    Even those on the Ibrox board have the sense not to have their official website make that lying claim! (Although what their predecessors said in the RIFC plc IPO ‘Prospectus’ clearly suggested that that was their claim!]
    The SMSM and its sports editors and football hacks in accepting and propagating an untruth are doing so in spite of knowing the truth or of being indifferent to Truth. That, to me, is evidence not of ‘unconscious bias’ but of deliberate lying in the face of proven facts!
    To the best of my knowledge there has never been a football journalist in the Scottish press who has had the balls to put in print for all to read his explanation of how TRFC can possibly be in terms of law, of sport, of business, the RFC 2012 plc
    I expect that that is because to do so would cost him/her his/her job.
    In military terms, that is cowardice in the face of the enemy.
    In moral terms, that’s the sin of resisting the known truth.
    In everyday terms, they are not worth considering as decent people whom one would welcome into one’s company.
    On VAR as a measure of objective fact in the way you describe, Nawlite, I agree with you.
    And I agree with you that if, or when, a referee makes an interpretation of situations in matters that are not absolutely matters of visual fact he should be allowed to explain his reasons.
    I think we have a lot to learn from Rugby and the openness of their system of on-field governance.
    But the principle that the decision of the referee on the pitch, after watching VAR incidents, is the final decision must be upheld.

  989. My long post about VAR the other day got me thinking about that Ralston goal where the ref blew before the goal, so I wrote to IFAB…..

    I hope you can help me understand IFAB’s thinking on one aspect of the VAR Protocol included within the published Laws of the Game. My interest is specifically focussed on the instructions given to match officials within Section 4 of the VAR Protocol – Procedures. I wonder if these instructions treat similar situations differently which may lead to different outcomes for what is essentially the same match actions. If my wonderings are correct, this different treatment may leave match officials open to allegations of bias/unfairness, which I am sure IFAB would not want.

    The similar situations I am talking about is where a goal is scored from open play and then reviewed by VAR. The instructions within Section 4 differ when there is potential for Offside prior to a goal, compared to when there is a ‘foul’ offence in the build-up to a goal. Because of this, a referee can influence the ‘foul’ goal by stopping play before the goal is scored, whereas the ‘Offside’ instructions allow for a retrospective review. Allegations of bias could occur because any referee’s real-time interpretation of a foul could be wrong yet the opportunity for independent VAR review is lost as soon as the referee blows his whistle.

    I absolutely understand the instruction to the referee that he “must always make an initial decision (including any disciplinary action) as if there was no VAR”. After all, we don’t want matches wholly refereed by VAR, as is evidenced by the 2nd Bullet Point in Procedures – “The referee and other match officials are not permitted to give ‘no decision’ as this will lead to ‘weak/indecisive’ officiating, too many ‘reviews’ and significant problems if there is a technology failure”.

    Despite, as I say, understanding the thinking behind this instruction, I wonder if it might be better if referees were to allow play to continue in certain ‘open play’ situations in the same way Offside is treated? The non-flagging of ‘potentially-Offside’ goals seems the perfect way to handle tight/open to interpretation decisions. I realise that the ‘Offside’ instructions are easier to draft and deliver simply because Offside is a matter of Fact that can easily be retrospectively checked, but I genuinely feel the ‘interpretive’ decision on whether or not something is a foul should also be subject to retrospective VAR review in some situations.

    The specific instances I am thinking of are where corners/free kicks are delivered into the Penalty Box. As we all know, those occasions ALWAYS lead to lots of jostling/pushing/shirt pulling where it is often very hard to make the right decision in real time. There are undoubtedly a number of incorrect real-time decisions made by match officials due to lack of visibility in a crowded Box, For example, I feel there are many times when an official will blow early for a perceived foul at the front post when the flight of the ball takes it far beyond to the back post, leading to a goal.

    My thinking is that for corners/free kicks delivered into the box, the instruction should be that the referee does not blow until the attacking phase is complete, whether that leads to a goal or not and, also, whether he believes he sees a foul or not. This would allow the play to complete and allow a retrospective VAR check, thereby removing the referee from any accusations of bias.

    We saw a recent example of this during the 24 October West Ham-Brentford EPL match when the referee allowed a handball that led to a goal. He did so not in contravention of his responsibilities under Section 4, but because he did not think the handball was an offence. This was subsequently homologated by VAR review. So while he did not follow my thinking, this occasion played out how I would like to see corners/free kicks treated – play allowed to continue, then if a goal is scored the referee and VAR can communicate to reach the correct decision.

    I would appreciate your thoughts on whether or not my suggestion has merit. If not, I will of course accept that, but would be glad if you would explain why by counteracting my thinking with yours.

    Thank you so much for your consideration. One other thing I would ask is that with VAR being an important step forward in transparency, when will IFAB think about allowing referees to publicly explain how they reached certain contentious decisions? Anyone who loves football/a particular club brings their own conditioned biases to the game, many of which are based on an incorrect or out of date understanding of the Laws of the Game. If referees were allowed to explain their decisions, providing specific reference to the current Laws of the Game, I would hope that such mistrust might be reduced.
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Their automatic acknowledgement suggests I might not receive a personal response, but if I do, I’ll post it.

  990. There was a third-hand report in ‘The Scotsman’ yesterday that Ms Kyle Fox [KFC Capital] remains keen to “explore opportunities” to invest in RIFC plc in the form of a revised bid to secure a 25% stake which would make her the biggest individual shareholder.
    I didn’t know she had actually made a bid that was turned down. I thought the RIFC legal action against her, which, of course, they dropped, was about her alleged fraudulent misuse of the ‘Rangers’ name in an attempt to find a seller.
    Perhaps if she made the same bid today, she might find some willing sellers now that European riches this season are gone, and league success this season is not guaranteed?

  992. A little off topic – and don’t know how many Hearts fans are on this forum – but really hope Hearts give their fans a result tonight, not least for our coefficient…

  993. It’s a very small world indeed!
    “Kyle Fox
    Founding Partner [of K-Sports Capital] Kyle has worked in capital markets for over 19 years. …Prior to HIG Capital, she has held various roles including at Lloyds Banking Group, Deutsche Bank and DUFF and PHELPS”
    Inside info, or what?
    see https://ksportscapital.com/team/

  995. Albertz11 28th October 2022 At 14:11
    ‘..May be of some interest given our old friends Duff & Phelps are linked.’
    ++++++++++++
    I’ve only just this minute sat down at my pc, Albertz11.
    Thank you for posting that interesting ‘docket’ of Complaint.
    I can say that I would find any such a document interesting no matter who the ‘complainant’ or ‘complained against’ was.
    It IS interesting that Ms Kyle formerly (I don’t know how long ago-perhaps you’ve done the reference work?] worked for the Administrators of RFC 2012 (formerly known as RFC plc). These, as the world and his wife know, signally failed to bring RFC plc out of Administration, thereby consigning that club to Liquidation, where it still is-dead as any Third Lanark as far as participation in Scottish Football is concerned.

    I suppose there ARE strict rules forbidding the Court-appointed Administrators to provide ‘inside information’ about any Administration they are or have been working on to persons employed or previously employed by the firm that employs those Administrators?
    And there will, I imagine, be rules that require that a bidder for an entity that has been in the hands of Administrators should inform that entity that the bidder has worked for the same company that employed the Administrators!
    That is, I suppose that Ms Kyle would have let the Board of RIFC plc know that she had worked for D&P?

    The greater interest for me is that the docket of complaint makes it plain that RFC plc still claims to be the holding company of the historic Rangers of 1872!
    You and I know that that is NOT the case. RIFC plc is the holding company of a football club newly created in 2012 conditionally admitted to the SFA as Team 12, before being fully admitted as SevcoScotland /TRFC.

    The obligation to be entirely truthful applies of course to both parties in a commercial transaction.
    But the very docket of complaint shows clearly that RIFC plc, in claiming to be what it is not, was being untruthful.
    Having made in effect a misleading claim in a USA Court about its principal source of revenue, it is no surprise that RIFC plc dropped its ‘complaint’. Not to have done would have been foolhardy, I think.
    It may still cause them some problems, in that providing false information in Court is kind of frowned upon, generally.
    Of course, if the relevant rules did require Ms Kyle to declare her past interest in D&P when she was ‘bidding’ for shares in the holding company of TRFC Ltd and if she did not do so, then perhaps a nil-nil ‘each-party-pay-its own-costs’ withdrawal of the Complaint was fair.
    It may not be all over yet.
    Who knows but that the Court might learn that it may have been practiced upon?

  996. John Clark 28th Oct 22.28

    She was employed by D&P as a Senior Associate for a period of 28 months between 2005-2007.

    Whilst it will come as no surprise to say that i disagree with many of the points you make i would however agree that this may not be over just yet.

  997. Albertz11 29th October 2022 At 09:00
    ‘…She was employed by D&P as a Senior Associate for a period of 28 months between 2005-2007.’
    ++++++++++++
    Thank you for that info. I did try to research the point but got lost and diverted reading about D&P’s change of name to Kroll, effective from February this year.
    A few minutes ago, I looked up Kroll and was surprised to find that Whitehouse and Clark still seem to be employed by them, after the criticism they got from the Liquidators over their actions as Administrators. I was even more surprised that millionaires should choose to keep working!
    see https://www.kroll.com/en/our-team/paul-clark
    There’s a similar entry for Whitehouse.

  998. Re Celtic players’ alleged ‘manipulation’ of the new VAR rules wrt penalty claims, the following ‘geezabrek comments’ ferr made mah Sunday evening:- :-

    “They’re trying to chip the ball off players’ hands” (David Martindale)

    “That’s two weeks in a row that a Celtic player has chipped the ball onto the arm of a player two yards away” (Jordan Campbell – Rangers ‘reporter’ for The National). I’m assuming he means deliberately.
    Where dae ye start wi these nonsensical, indeed idiotic, claims?.

    (I’ll cut Martindale some slack as he doesn’t seem to have an anti CFC agenda, but ‘yon yin’ Campbell -nah!).

    Anyway, I would have thought that, if the Celtic players were so skillful as to attempt the above, then they might have made a better ‘fist’ of finding a team mate (as intended presumably ?).

    Note to Ange and his coaching staff:-
    “Ye’ll need tae get the Bhoys working harder on getting the ba’ intae a merr dangerous area”

    • Not so sure that the Celtic pen was justified on Sunday. The one against Hearts last week was more worthy of an award I think. The trouble is in interpretation of course and that will always lead to arguments – in Scotland’s case it will lead to referees being free to do what they have done for over a century, and favour the establishment team.
      VAR will temporarily show up the weaknesses in the refereeing pool in Scotland, but the refs will get better and more subtle in their approach. And of course, like before any dissent will be seen as ‘tinfoil hat time’.

  999. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9687491/uni-professor-verdict-rangers-died-book/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsunfootballfacebook&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2gouiPnHNZazKhCpY7fr4WQ3Z4nl3hAJNmIg8wC0oVDlwJ1DSy_J5hXi8#Echobox=1667161725

    Oh dear, JC, just as we thought, the Stirling Uni lecture is indeed going to say ‘Same club’. Prof Howieson is doing a Chick Young, claiming to be a Falkirk fan, despite his Linkedin profile/posts showing he reposts TRFC related items and pro-Unionist posts. Looks like he happily differentiates between the Company and the Club. I wonder how he explains the need for a legal entity to hold Licenses, arrange contracts etc when there is only one Legal entity with a Company number. I guess he must have bought the ethereal entity crap laughed at in court!!

    • Nawlite,
      The fact that ten years on they are still trying to sell us London Bridge is proof, if it were ever needed, that they know no one is buying.
      It’s all noise. Santa alive and well?

  1000. Nawlite 31st October 2022 At 12:16
    ‘… I guess he must have bought the ethereal entity crap laughed at in court!!’
    ++++++++++
    I fear, Nawlite, that with statements like this
    “It was a story of a company which went into decline. The football club has always remained”
    the Professor may have blown his credibility as any kind of ‘academic’
    It is simply untrue that Rangers Football Club of 1872 foundation did not die.
    It was Rangers Football Club of 1872 that was the holder of a share in the SPL. There was no separate ‘company’. That club had to surrender its share in the SPL and in consequence lost its membership in the SFA.
    It was a rag-tag and bobble ‘eleven’ that was granted ‘conditional’ membership, and it was SevcoScotland not Rangers of 1872, that begged unsuccessfully to be allowed to buy a share in the SPL. There was no automatic transfer of the surrendered share to the defunct Rangers: that share went to the club promoted from the SFL.
    CG’s eleven had to wail and beg to be allowed to acquire a share in the SFL. The begging was successful and a brand-new shareholder of a share in a recognised football league was on the basis of being a shareholder in the SFL admitted into full ordinary membership of the SFA.
    Those are the absolutely incontrovertible facts.
    There is not an academic in the entire world who can refute those facts. In fact, none has done so except, perhaps, by appealing to the ‘ethereal whatness’ of a club, the emotions of the ‘bereaved’ whose grief and despair has left them in a sense unbalanced.
    A lack of balance might be understandable in a supporter but renders null and void the opinion of a supposed ‘academic’.

  1002. Nawlite 31st October 2022 At 14:25
    ‘…It might be worth going to the lecture just to see how he copes with the questions ‘
    +++++++++
    I daresay some hack journalist or other will attend and we’ll read all about it in one or other of our SMSM organs of sporting untruth!

  1003. There was an article last week in regards to Kyle Fox and the attempt to gain a foothold in the Sevco football operation in which the well known financial guru, Keiran Maguire, stated that this football club was or could be valued at 100 million. Surely a club, holding company, whatever with accumulated losses at over a similar number could hardly carry such a valuation. What someone have access to financial losses over the last 10 years and what group was in charge each year. I think this could prove interesting into the running of the club by true Rangers’ men.

  1004. Today, of course, is the anniversary of the Liquidation:

    “P1134/12 Pet:RFC 2012 plc to wind up

    DWF Biggart Baillie Lord Hodge
    Act: S Wolffe, C et S Ower

    The Lord ordinary, having heard counsel on the motion of the petitioners:
    1. dispenses with service and advertisement of this petition;
    2. orders, in term of Sections 122-124 of the Insolvency Act 1986 thhat RFC 2012 PLC ( formerly The Rangers Football Club Ltd) a company incorporated under the Companies Acts (with company number SC004276) and with its registered office at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow G512XD ( “the Company”) be wound up by the court;
    3. appoints James Bernard Stephen, Insolvency Practitioner, of BDO LLP, 4 Atlantic Quay, 70 York St, Glasgow G28JX and Malcolm Cohen, Insolvency Practitioner, of BDO LLP, 8 Baker St, London W1M1DA as the joint interim Liquidators of the company;
    4. declares in terms of Secion 231(2) of the 1986 Act that any act required or uthorised under any enactment to be done by the joint interim liquidators may be done by one or both of the persons for the time being holdin the office of joint interim liquidator;
    5. appoints the joint interim liquidators to give notice of their appointment in terms of of Rule 4.18 of the Insolvency (Scotland) Rues 1986;
    6. finds the expenses of this application to be expenses in the winding up of the company;
    7. and decerns
    “P Hodge”
    Those who deny that the Rangers football Club of 1872 died the same death as Gretna and Third Lanark are like flat-earthers. denying the known truth.

  1005. Big Pink 3..’1st October 2022 At 19:10
    ‘..RTC tweeting today re Imran Ahmed.’
    +++++++++++
    I for one am ready to believe that RTC is not idly flying a kite.
    On the back of a balls-up of a police investigation [ how could a DI ever imagine that he could seize legally protected papers from a solicitor’s office without fouling up an investigation?] and the desperately poor Indictment, which was amended and re-amended so many time that even the judge’s patience was stretched to the limit, I am ready to believe almost nefarious that might be alleged.
    Oh, for some decent ICIJ-type journalists in the SMSM instead of the hacks and running dogs that we have!

  1006. I’m not on Twitter, BP, but if you are, could you draw RTC’s attention to the link I posted about Prof Howieson’s book/lecture. I’m sure he will be aware of it, but just in case….

    I’d love to see RTC tear his ‘same club’ argument to bits. If I think I could do it, RTC would shred him! I can imagine RTC at his lecture – “So how do you define this ‘Club’ thing that you say existed separate to the Company?”

  1007. Nawlite 1st November 2022 At 13:10

    There was a similar puff piece in the Herald two days ago about this book/lecture. The phrase ‘Thou doth protest too much’ immediately sprung to mind. Most interesting is how the concept of a football club being an ethereal entity that can never cease to exist is one that has never been mooted before in Scotland. It is also a legally undeniable fact that at the point of liquidation there was no separate Rangers club and company. I wonder who the Scottish football authorities commissioned to come up with this theory and how much they were paid to do so. I also wonder why Hearts and Dunfermline in the period after the Rangers liquidation fought so hard to avoid it, both successfully doing so. It is also notable that when Fergus McCann took over Celtic that the liquidation option was not something that was pursued, something he has spoken about. Equally notable was that that the then Bank of Scotland actually tried to liquidate Celtic, while giving Rangers a virtually blank cheque. Make no mistake though, the authorities with the full backing of the media would have ensured Celtic were regarded as a new club. In my opinion.

  1008. Upthehoops 1st November 2022 At 16:15
    ‘…the authorities with the full backing of the media would have ensured Celtic were regarded as a new club.’
    +++++++++++
    Unquestionably.
    And given the Celtic board’s utterly craven refusal to insist, absolutely insist, on getting the Res 12 situation properly and independently investigated, if need be, criminal investigation instigated, I suspect that the Board would meekly have accepted that decision.
    The Sporting integrity of Scottish Football was shattered by the stupid Big Lie and will never fully recover, such was the shattering of trust in the personal integrity of those who created and facilitated and currently propagate the that Big Lie.
    Those involved are now ten years older, and therefore ten years nearer their end. May they spend such years as are left to them reflecting on their baseness.

  1010. Bect67, I’m afraid that’s an easy answer for those who believe it’s the same club – that’s why the paradigm of there was a club separate to the Company needs debunked….then we don’t need to debunk the other questions that flow from it.

  1014. So Scottish football finds it’s place..which turns out to be not the in the champions league at least for a few seasons anyway. Celtic and The Rangers despite pragmatism and testing ourselves were both found wanting.These two are the best that Scottish football can offer at the moment. The Rangers almost a ‘pot 1’ team in the CL but for Ryan Kent missing a sitter. GVB has more on his plate just now than AP .Celtic seemingly financially secure and willing to back their mangers vision within reason while GVB has to explain to an incredulous fanbase where all the Europa/Cl riches and Bassey/Aribo money has gone. Celtic appear to have more to offer but that maybe only translates to domestic and perfunctory lower level European success IE conference league. I see little point in celebrating a worst team ever accolade and would hope that GVB is able to steady things enough to compete for the rest of the season where he will undoubtedly face a stronger revitalised opponent as Celtic’s January transfer moves become apparent. Longer term CL involvement may prove just as arid and frustrating as it is now. Nobody wants to be ‘lesser’ or 2nd tier but if money continues to talk then Scotland will continue to be a stepping stone for the ambitious. This sentiment trickles down to other SPFL teams too.

  1015. Gunnerb – agree with the sentiment. I guess the challenge is to mirror the (normally) successful Porto’s and Ajax’s who manage to perform respectively at the top table (usually losing their best young players which tends to keep them “in their place” – allowing the big 5 leagues to share the glory.
    What’s interesting to me is the “big” teams that are not in the final 16 – Barcelona, Juventus. Ath Madrid – and impact on their finances. And only one team from France in last 16. Looking at the 16 left, I think there are 4 teams there that should give Scottish football hope for the future and being able to at least get through the last group stage – although the seeding system also mitigates against any disruption.

  1016. “The stakeholders at Rangers Football Club — the players, the staff, the supporters — were the victims in all of this. But no one died.

    “It was a story of a company which went into decline. The football club has always remained.

    “The real story is about companies which own and run football clubs being bought and sold.

    Falkirk fan aye right
    Think he has been sipping from the loving cup too much.

    This guy gets it

    https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1300528-scottish-football-association-the-rangers-football-club-already-making-trouble

  1017. From today’s Rolls of Court.
    Without pre-judging, this is where, perhaps, another million or two pounds might be lost to the coffers of RIFC plc . Has anyone asked how much in total has been incurred by RIFC/TRFC in legal fees for cases that they have lost?
    LORD BRAID – R Hamilton, Clerk
    Court 10 – Parliament House
    Tuesday 8th November
    between 9.00am and 9.30am

    CA74/22 Elite Sports Group Ltd v The Rangers Football Club Ltd Burness Paull LLP Anderson Strathern LLP

  1018. Gunnerb 2nd November 2022 At 21:56
    ‘… but if money continues to talk then Scotland will continue to be a stepping stone for the ambitious. ‘

    Wokingcelt 3rd November 2022 At 12:32
    ‘.. although the seeding system also mitigates against any disruption’
    ++++++++++++
    These kinds of considerations always, it seems to me, lead to the question, when is a ‘sport’ a ‘sport’?
    I’m not all knowledgeable about any sport, and I certainly not academically equipped to make any meaningful reply to that question.
    Except to say that the concept of ‘handicap’ must surely have a place?
    As far as I know, it has a place in the ‘sport of kings’, and, in a way, in professional boxing in that the two fighters in a bout have to weigh around the same weight. And probably many other sports whether at amateur or professional level have similar kinds of ‘sporting philosophies’.
    I think there may even be some kinds of rules of ‘sporting balance’ in the biggest (as I understand it] money-oriented sport in the world-formula one motor racing.
    Essentially, leaving aside ‘money’ winnings, where is the honour, the sporting achievement, in beating opponents who from the off are seen to be, or believed to be, unable to compete on level terms because they have not the same financial resources as their sporting opponents?
    Even as boys playing football in the street we kind of understood that Adam and Danny and Porgy and George and I would be no match for the older brothers of all of us, home on leave as 18-year-old National Servicemen.
    while we were still at school as being their younger brothers by two, three, or four years!
    The understanding was generally that the obviously weaker team would be given so many goals of a start.
    Then there was real competition, real meaningful sporting effort, on both sides.
    If it were to be recognised that ‘money’ buys the best in football and leaves those without ‘the money’ at a severe disadvantage, would there be scope for some kind of handicapping on the basis of the richness of clubs to be considered?
    For example, if a [mysteriously?] cash -strapped club could be given, say, an x-goal start?
    I float the idea.

  1021. @JC – you raise some good points. I suppose with horse racing the classics on the flat all run off level weights as far as I am aware. And in boxing the kudos (and money) always seems to be with the heavy weights.
    To have some semblance of sporting integrity I do think that financial limits have to be in place which at least would maintain the integrity of the game on the pitch. Or we could go for some “It’s a Knockout” sort of approaches:
    1. The lesser team gets to defend a smaller goal
    2. No offside for the minnow
    3. The big team gets reduced to 10 men for the first X minutes of the game depending on the financial gap between the teams (or potentially 9 if the gap is really big…)
    4. Instal a moat outside the 18 yard box of the Minnows goal
    5. The big team need to play 4 players under the age of 21
    6. We dispense with the game entirely and each player matches up against his opposite number for a game of Rock Paper Scissors and first to 6 wins..

  1022. JC, it seems to me that a ‘levelling up/down’ system already exists in football, through the Divisions structure adopted ever since there were enough clubs in any given country to require separation. In Scotland, for example 4 divisions mean that Annan don’t come up against Celtic regularly, but instead play against clubs with similar standing/wealth. UEFA now adopt a similar approach, with its 3 competitions effectively acting as Divisions, where Celtic and TRFC this season prove that they are not at the top ‘Division’ standard. Neither is factually a ‘handicap’ system, but it at least allows for relative competition.

    The problem arises when some clubs become so wealthy/so high standard that even teams in their own ‘Division’ cannot come close to matching them. Whether that’s the Real Madrids, Man Citys in CL or Celtic and TRFC in Scotland, the competition then becomes skewed unfairly and I can see why you might posit a ‘handicap’ solution. I cannot see how that could be implemented (even discounting WC’s wild (and funny) suggestions.

    Football, of course, is so wedded to the Status Quo that any significant change is unlikely. I would prefer FIFA/UEFA to work harder (and faster) on developing and forcefully implementing FFP/sustainability rules to level the playing field. The Big Clubs, of course are fighting this all the way as it will cut their earning ability – that is why I cannot wait for the day when either UEFA develops a backbone or the Big Clubs carry out their threat of breaking away.

    Of course, that leaves us with a similar situation in Scotland. Does my wish for the Big Clubs to be removed apply here too? Although I can’t imagine it, if I am to be consistent I must say yes. When I stop and think about it, the positives outweigh the negatives, I feel. Both would probably get access to better standards/more money, a geographically widened ‘Division’ might reduce the religion-based focus, a more level competition would be created in Scotland, football lovers who follow Celtic/TRFC might follow other Scottish teams when they can’t easily travel for overseas away fixtures etc.

    There are negatives, of course – Celtic/TRFC fans would miss out on easy away game travel, TV deals and marketing opportunities for the SFA/SPFL might be reduced, Celtic/TRFC in a bigger pond might not be the succesful clubs they are in Scotland (could be a positive if fans ‘desert’ to a succesful club in Scotland etc. I’m sure there are other positives and negatives

    Raising the question of what’s good for football, for Scottish football, for individual clubs etc etc is a great start, JC, and even though I look at it from a completely different angle than you, I think that’s the sort of debate we should be having on here.

  1023. Albertz11 4th November 2022 at 16:09
    The story from Swiss Ramble today about what both clubs earned from their CL escapades would not be happy reading for Ranger supporters. They appear to have fallen in love with the $40 million claims in the media without fully reading the articles as to how the $40 million could have been achieved. The $40 was all they saw and couldn’t understand how it wasn’t spent. It appears the board acted prudently and decided not to add to the anticipated deficit. The $40 ( $21 M) wouldn’t show until next year’s accounts as those funds apparently don’t arrive until after year end. Still doesn’t explain why some funds weren’t allocated upon qualifying for the CL, or, the financials as grim as anticipated.

  1024. Wokingcelt 4th November 2022 At 12:01
    “..To have some semblance of sporting integrity I do think that financial limits have to be in place which at least would maintain the integrity of the game on the pitch…”
    Nawlite 4th November 2022 At 13:25
    “…I would prefer FIFA/UEFA to work harder (and faster) on developing and forcefully implementing FFP/sustainability rules to level the playing field…”
    +++++++++++
    Thank you, both.
    I must try to broaden/deepen my knowledge of these matters, about which I never bothered my jacksy until the jiggery-pokery of SDM woke me up to the dirty face of football as a business operated and governed (it seems) by wretched individuals whose concept of ‘sport’ is very far removed from Truth and Honour.
    I include some who, I learn this afternoon, are too feart to own up to doing nothing to question why they may have been done out of a good few bob or to condemn the ridiculous nonsense of TRFC being considered as RFC of 1872.
    Money, money, money over sporting principle.
    Disgusting and shameful.

  1025. Talking about football as a business, the CAS has knocked back Leeds United’s appeal against having to honour a player loan/purchase deal.
    “…On 25 January 2020, RB Leipzig, LUFC and the Player concluded a loan agreement in which they agreed
    that the Player would be transferred temporarily from RB Leipzig to LUFC until 30 June 2020. The Loan
    Agreement included a “Purchase Obligation” whereby the Player could be permanently transferred from
    RB Leipzig to LUFC for a transfer fee of EUR 21 million, to be paid in three instalments, if LUFC was
    promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2019/20 English Football League season. On 13 March
    2020, the English Football League was suspended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and
    it is disputed between the parties whether the “Purchase Obligation” was triggered. In the Challenged
    Decision, RB Leipzig’s claim to the transfer fee on the basis that the “Purchase Obligation” had been
    triggered was upheld by the Single Judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee and LUFC was ordered
    to pay the first instalment of EUR 6’740’174 (EUR 7 million, less EUR 259’826 as solidarity
    contribution).
    In August 2021, LUFC filed an appeal at the CAS seeking the annulment of the Challenged Decision and
    a declaration that RB Leipzig had no entitlement to a transfer fee in connection with the Player.
    Following an exchange of written submissions, the CAS Panel held a hearing with the parties on
    15 March 2022. Further to its deliberations, the Panel held that the Purchase Obligation had been
    triggered at the end of the 2019-2020 season, even though the season had concluded later than expected
    due to the disruption caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and confirmed the Challenged
    Decision in full, including the obligation of LUFC to pay to RB Leipzig the first instalment of the transfer
    fee, the two other instalments being not due yet, at the time of the FIFA procedure.”
    https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_8229.pdf

  1026. I’ve been watching ‘The Pact’ on whatever the heck streaming thingy it was on. [see me, see my utter ignorance of these things!]
    I’m not equipped to make any kind of technical comment on the series.
    But, by the Lord Harry, I buy deeply into what it says about Truth, and the devastating effects of Untruth.

    Who among us has not ‘lied’ in some way or another, at whatever stage in our lives: whether as children [ ‘no, mammy, I never took the jam’] or on our CV [ ‘ yes, of course, I am passionate about the need for good communication with staff and blah blah blah.]
    But lying or modifying the Truth in a wee kind of personal way is one thing.
    However, lying when one is in any kind of position of ‘trust’ about matters that one has been entrusted by others to deal with honestly without fear or favour is a horse of a different colour!
    And such lying has consequences far beyond the merely personal. Especially, perhaps, when it may involve actual criminality.
    There are, of course, lots of individuals who lack, Putin-style, any kind of ‘conscience’, no knowledge of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, no notion of ‘morality’.
    What I find astonishing is that only one, only ONE, football person was brave enough to call out the liars in Scottish football governance in 2012.
    How did that come about?
    How can the totality of the membership of the SFA have accepted the Big Lie?
    It’s such a piece of absolute illicit nonsense to claim that a football club in liquidation is still participating in Scottish professional football!
    Let’s get to the truth, in spite of the fact that a particular club which may have suffered because of untruth is too wimpish and afraid to seek the truth.

  1027. I was at the Celtic v Dundee United game today . My early reservations about VAR were confirmed, decisions are taking far too long .
    On the handball decision itself, replays clearly show the ball striking Bernabei’s arm . However, the general consensus seems to be that he little about it i.e. it was unintentional. He was then yellow carded !
    I was under the impression that a yellow card was a warning – “do that again and you are off “ !
    How can you caution someone about something they didn’t mean to do in the first place ?

  1028. They had Kenny Clark on Sportsound this afternoon.
    I daresay the man did his best to defend VAR. I think, however, that I was left a little bit more confused than I had been.
    I appreciate he had to stay clear of commenting on the recent much discussed apparent inconsistencies.
    However, I was left with the distinct impression that he suggested that a ‘subjective’ decision made by the VAR referee would over-rule the on-pitch referee’s ‘subjective’ decision.
    Surely it must be open to the on-pitch referee to stick with his own interpretation, having seen the replays?
    In other words, there can only be one referee, not a committee of referees, and certainly not one individual referee sitting in Baillieston!
    I may have misheard, of course, or misunderstood.
    But it’s pretty clear that even the pundits and BBC staff football hacks seem not to be entirely au fait with the ‘rules’!
    And as others have already remarked, huge numbers of us are supporters ready to mentally change the ‘rules’ of football [if we even know them!] to suit ourselves.
    It’s understandable that the emphasis was put on training referees and satisfying Boards but there’s maybe a need for greater effort to educate the fans.
    And, certainly, an absolute need for the on-pitch referee to see ALL the possible angles from all the cameras available and live or die on his own subsequent decision, and not meekly agree with another distant referee.
    I’m an auld fuddy-duddy, of course, who dislikes the Americanisation of our sport: effin umpires runnin’ aboot throwing flags on the play, ‘specialist’ players coming on to take kicks, whole effin teams changing, and God knows what.
    [As an aside, might I say how great it would be if, for the upcoming international v England, there could be a wee ten-minute match before the real game between two teams dressed and booted as the players of the very first international in football history? I waive any fee for that suggestion , but would accept a few free tickets for the actual serious game!]

  1029. RIFC/TRFC AGM is to be held on December 6th according to Tifosy , so I’d imagine the financials will be published on Friday night or even the Saturday after the last league game before the World Cup break . Nothing on the official site yet .

  1032. PM 7th Nov @ 16.37

    Just a few random thoughts …

    In the close season prior to the 2020/21 campaign, Sevco (an outfit which, lest we forget, has made whopping losses in every season of their ten and a bit years existence, even when, as a new, club, they were climbing up the Divisions) went out ‘all guns blazing’* to thwart CFC’s 10iar’,

    * roughly translates as recklessly begging/borrowing inordinately more beyond their means than usual.

    Admittedly, they brought in some decent players and, ably assisted by a woeful Celtic, achieved their ultimate aim.

    I thought at the time that this would prove financially unwise in the long term (to put it mildly) and, come Dec 6, against a backdrop of what is probably a growing number of disgruntled lenders within Ibrokes, they will ‘reap what they sow’. The financial ‘gemme’s a bogey’, this particular ‘carnival of borrowing’ is over – and they will have to declare themselves SKINT! (Oh, wait a meenit, this is the WATP brigade, they can’t do that surely!?).

    They can’t afford, it seems, to sack GVB, Morelos and Kent will be gone in January and yet, the SMSM apologists/deniers will, ironically and stupidly, be screaming for ‘marquee’ signings in January.
    Why is nobody from the mainstream mob asking about the money from Patterson, Aribo and Bassey?
    Ah mean – geezabrek!
    (this wee rant, harmless as it is, does not take account of any breaking news!)

  1033. Interesting decision from CAS : Chile’s appeal that Ecuador be turfed out of the Qatar world cup on grounds of having played an ineligible player (the same individual) in a number of qualifiers has been dismissed.
    https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_9175_9176_Decision.pdf

    Serious business, this player ineligibiity concept, eh, what?
    What a blessing that the authorities in Scotland can make light of it, when it’s a case of multiple ‘player ineligibilities’ of multiple players at the same club over a number of seasons to the point of simply ignoring the evidence.
    Chile might have done well to seek advice from Hampden.

  1036. Paddy Malarkey 9th November 2022 At 12:47
    ‘..The long awaited numbers.’
    ++++++++
    Not yet published in the pages of Companies as I write.
    Ha, haI wonder are they more accurate than the statement at para 2 of page 8 referring to the Dover House fake 150th birthday reception hosted by the ‘Government’?
    I haven’t yet had time to read all the stuff, but maybe Big Pink will get a podcast up for comment by an ‘expert’?
    We have to remember that Companies House does not guarantee the accuracy of the info provided by companies, so there’s no real check [this applies to any company, of course, not just RIFC]

  1037. Headline figures today RIFC £5.9 million operating profit – great news for the long suffering fans .
    But wait , why the “operating” qualification?
    Further examination of the accounts reveal a “Loss for the year” of £919,000 .
    I wonder which figure is more accurate ?

  1039. Not by any means being any kind of accountant, I think I can nevertheless safely say that these two items in the RIFC plc Accounts tell us something about the governance of that company:

    Page 59 of the Accounts tells us that £6,070,000 was the total cost of legal disputes. Now that’s a lot of money wasted on what the eventual judgments show were pretty weak cases.

    Page 60 has this “The Group has entered into a revolving credit facility with existing lenders. This facility will be available until 31 July 2028” This, I think, shows that RIFC plc still has no access to normal external commercial borrowing facilities-not a happy position to be in.
    And now, of course, they have the Gee-oh problem! Another uninspiring and uninspired and dispirited manager, appointed for the wrong reasons? Stick with him or not?

  1041. Court of Session Rolls

    Wednesday 16th November
    Procedural Hearing
    Case Management Hearing

    By Order Adjustment

    A294/21 Aviva Insurance Ltd v Alistair McCoist &c DAC Beachcroft Scotland LLP Jones Whyte Law
    Our Ally?
    What’s that about, if it’s Ally McCoist who played for the now defunct Rangers FC of 1872?
    Anybody?

  1042. Re Jota’s goal …

    First off we have:-
    “Human error was to blame for the VAR image used to justify Jota’s goal being disallowed” (Daily Mail)
    Well, that’s an interesting spin on modern ‘honest mistakes’ – made, as they now are, not on the park, but in a hideout.

    Maybe that’s so, but here’s another one ( readers note – as excuses go, this is such pathetic gobbledegook!)…

    “While the footage was only able to show a wider camera angle for viewere, Hawkeye technology is designed to calibrate an accurate offside decision” (SFA – embarrassingly caught out)

    But it didnae, did it? The angle might as well have been take fae a pub doon the road ffs! And – what happened to the benefit of the doubt when Hawkeye’s havin time off?

    On a lighter note, I’m reminded (anyone else this old?) of the disappearing BBC footage of the 1957 League Cup final (Celtic 7 The Then Rangers !).

  1043. Bect67 11th November 2022 At 12:34
    “I’m reminded (anyone else this old?) of the disappearing BBC footage of the 1957 League Cup final (Celtic 7 The Then Rangers 1 )…”
    ++++++++++
    In my 1957 diary [ A ‘Transport and General Workers’ Union’ diary I got from my old man during the Christmas holidays 1956 from my remote school] the entry for Saturday 19 October 1957 has this, in my school-boyish, fountain-pen scribble
    ” Listened to match. Celtic beat ‘Gers 7-1.”
    No tranny radios then, of course. Our form master allowed us to listen to his steam radio.
    I’m not sure whether the whole match was broadcast live or whether the BBC was even then still only allowed to broadcast about 40 minutes of the second half of any games, the Leagues being fearful of losing gate money.
    I kind of suspect that the form master was listening by himself and decided on a whim to let us in on the occasion that was in it!
    The next line in that entry was unconnected to football: ” organised table-tennis tourney for Tuesday”
    Was the mystery of the disappearing film ever satisfactorily explained? I still harbour dark suspicions about the denizens of Queen Margaret Drive, and their sports chief, Peter Thomson!

  1044. John Clark 10th November 2022 At 23:40

    Court of Session Rolls

    Wednesday 16th November
    Procedural Hearing
    Case Management Hearing

    By Order Adjustment

    A294/21 Aviva Insurance Ltd v Alistair McCoist &c DAC Beachcroft Scotland LLP Jones Whyte Law
    Our Ally?
    What’s that about, if it’s Ally McCoist who played for the now defunct Rangers FC of 1872?
    Anybody?

    JC – See link to the McCoist / Aviva case. It relates to McCoist’s son.

    https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9692939/ally-mccoist-sued-by-insurer-over-son-victim-claim/

  1045. Westcoaster 11th November 2022 At 15:22
    ‘…JC – See link to the McCoist / Aviva case.’
    ++++++++
    Thanks for that, Westcoaster. I thought unlikely to have anything to do with Ibrox dirty washing, but had to check.
    I’ve no interest whatsoever in McCoist’s family’s affairs.

  1046. The Crutherland Hotel in East Kilbride? is it still in business?
    I had never heard of it until today, when I read what Martin O’Neill had to say about it.
    Anybody?

    • John C
      Yeah, hotel is owned by parents of my son’s friend. Very exclusive. Had a very douce lunch/afternoon tea there about a year or so ago. Very nice. Will take me another five years to save up for another. What was MON saying about it?

      • Sorry John,
        Was confusing it with the Crossbasket Castle
        Crutherland is the one in the Strathaven Rd. Spa hotel known for girlie spa overnights. Wife and mother in law went there a few times.

        • To paraphrase the estimable James Doleman, I feel it is appropriate for me to note that my first month as SFA VAR coordinator has gone extraordinarily well. ?

  1047. Big Pink 12th November 2022 At 00:44
    “…John C… What was MON saying about it?”
    +++++++++
    Martin O ‘Neil tells of his wife and daughter being evicted from their hotel, the Crutherland in East Kilbride Why? It was Rangers’ pe-match base.
    “It was astounding!” recalls O’Neill.” I had stayed there during that week You’d have thought someone might have just come up and said ‘you know, by the way Rangers stay here’…. It transpires that the Rangers manager has been told that my wife and daughter are in the hotel. Rangers use the Crutherland as a base for many of their games and have a contract with them. If Geraldine and Alana don’t leave immediately, Rangers will cancel their contract with the hotel”
    (From yesterday’s ‘The Scotsman’)
    The Rangers in question was of course the cheating Rangers of 1872 before it died the death and exited Scottish Football.

  1048. Not sure if just me but unable to logon via mobile phone for some reason.
    Picking up on the VAR discussion, there will obviously still be bones of contention across individual decisions. The statistic that I saw today did stop me in my tracks though. Pre-VAR this season there were 17 penalties awarded across 63 matches. Post VAR there have been 15 penalties in 25 matches (up to and including the St Mirren v TRFC today). That suggests to me that either:
    (a) Defending players are taking more liberties in the penalty box now that the cameras are watching; or
    (b) Our referees missed something like 20 penalties in the opening 63 fixtures if the VAR run-rate of penalties per match occurred in the first half of the season – suggesting they really should be visiting Spec Savers…
    If the VAR run rate of a 60% chance of a penalty in a match is the “right” run-rate this also begs the question for me as to whether a penalty kick is the appropriate sanction for some of the infractions in the box for which penalties are being awarded.

  1049. I was in favour of VAR as I genuinely believed it would help improve Refereeing decisions. So far all I can see is that it’s introduced another layer of controversy.

    The Jota ‘goal’ incident is very strange to say the least. The pictures provided as evidence he was offside provide no evidence at all. Yet the SFA claim the technology is so advanced it was able to prove he was offside. So surely such advanced technology would be able to provide pictures to support that statement? In the absence of those pictures you can hardly blame people for being suspicious.

    So here’s my theory. For whatever reason, the camera that would have provided a better angle was not in use. That is an embarrassment for the SFA. However, they could have said ‘in the absence of the picture we reverted to the Assistant Referee’s original decision, and will take steps to ensure that this error is not repeated’. Would anyone really have been that bothered if they had said that? Instead the whole thing smacks of a cover up to me, simply because they don’t want to admit a failure. Doubling down is not always the best option, and I maintain that if they were so sure Jota was offside, we would have seen the evidence by now.

  1050. Upthehoops 12th November 2022 At 20:45
    “…we would have seen the evidence by now.’
    +++++++++++++++++
    Remember, UTH, that there is a ROT at the very heart of Scottish professional football, which allows sporting reality and truth to be dispensed with by allowing the fiction that a football club newly admitted to membership of the SFA in 2012 is 150years old!
    We are dealing, essentially, with a lying governance body accommodating a lying football club.
    What else can we expect but lies?

    • VAR is a hi-tec system which has been put under control of lo-fi intellects i’m afraid. A bit like putting a computer under control of a keyboard with all the vowel keys missing. Essentially though, early use in Scotland suggests that the refs are seeking to circumvent VAR’s potential to throw a spotlight on their errors. The penalty at Celtic Park yesterday lends credence to that i argument I would suggest. Fans of other clubs, well most other clubs, will have examples of their own that back that up.

  1051. Big Pink 13th November 2022 At 11:45

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Watching Sportscene on i-player this morning there were some VAR calls for and against a lot of teams. There is only one team since it was introduced who have not suffered a bad call. There are no prizes for guessing who that team is.

    Sadly it is panning out as many people predicted it would, and already the lack of transparency which is a trademark of the SFA is evident regarding VAR. We really need a complete overhaul of the Refereeing system to ensure we get the best candidates available. There is zero chance of that though.

  1052. Upthehoops 13th Nov 13.57

    So Rangers are being favoured by the correct decisions being made after the intervention of VAR?
    I would be interested to see where & when those “bad calls” have taken place?. One only has to look at the ball to face incident in mid-week which caused such a furore on sm as one example of people seeing what they want to see rather than what actually happened.

  1053. I have seen many comments on the injury woes of Rangers and it would be interesting to see how many were related to actual physical contact in games or training, how many not related to the aforementioned, etc. I believe most professional sports teams supply their players ( or assets) with a work out guide with the onus on the player to follow away from the on field training sessions. This program normally has a dietary program as well. Have Rangers supplied their players with such a program and is there any follow up to see if it is being adhered too. With their income strategy based on player sales for future investment you would think any such plan would be strictly applied. Who wants to buy a player with a history of injury problems . Oops, forgot about John Soutar. Maybe a question or two for the upcoming AGM.

  1054. Just listening to a podcast of Radio Clyde’s phone in yesterday. Apparently Celtic can’t complain about VAR if they win. Apparently because they have a lot of good players at their disposal they have to accept rules not being properly applied.

    …oh my sides!

  1055. Upthehoops 13th November 2022 At 18:39
    ‘…Apparently because they have a lot of good players at their disposal they have to accept rules not being properly applied…’
    +++++++++
    Ha,ha!, UTH.
    We were speaking about ‘handicapping’ in sport recently, but by jingo that would be carrying things a bit too far!
    Mind you, the perverted minds of our Scottish football Governance bodies are already so set on the path of untruth as to make it not impossible that they quietly espouse the sports philosophy of the ars.hole on Clyde who came away with that one.!
    Honest to God

  1056. From a piece by Anita Mulholland in today’s ‘The Scotsman’ discussing an Employment Tribunal judgment. The piece is headlined ” Football discrimination case ends in defeat for one avid supporter of Rangers.”

    ” Mr McClung explained that he had been a Rangers fan for 42 years and spent most of his excess income on games.He attended at least two home matches a month…He had club membership and supported their charitable organisations…He was also a strong supporter of the monarchy and unionism and he submitted that these were commonly shared traits amongst Rangers fans. He believed his support for Rangers was a way of life and considered it akin to a religion…
    The judge did not doubt that he was a devoted supporter. However, it was acknowledged that there is a difference between “support” and “belief”
    While a supporter of a football team might be ” actively interested in and concerned for the success of” their team, that is not the same as holding a belief that something “exists or is true”, nor does it have an impact on a weighty or substantial aspect of human life…”
    The full 23-page judgment dated October 2021 is at
    https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKET/2022/4110538_2019.pdf
    I found it entertaining

  1057. I have just come across this mention of the deficiencies of Companies House.
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/e2-80-98dysfunctional-e2-80-99-companies-house-facilitating-fraud-finance-chiefs-say/ar-AA13RYMS
    I have wondered over the years since 2012 how a newly set up plc whose source of revenue derives from the football club founded in 2012 of which it is the ‘holding company’ could get away with launching itself on the market as being the ‘holding company’ of a 140-year-old historically very successful football club!
    It seems to me that the whole system of legal control over the ‘business’ world really does need overhauling, and that the ‘law’ is heavily weighted in favour of chancers and bad guy ‘entrepreneurs’ and ‘businessmen’.
    Companies House does feck all, it seems, to check the bon fides of start-up companies, and I know from personal experience that the FCA can ‘lose’ correspondence that it does not want to read and respond to.

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