:lol:
Brilliant article by the rangerstaxcase blog. Great little snippet about Nerlinger - basically a warning to the SPL that he’ll continue to dripfeed information if they don’t act properly.
There’s also a 1-hour long BBC documentary tomorrow night where the journalist, Mark Daly, is rumoured to have uncovered evidence of the dual contracts.
[font=verdana]
Neil Doncaster’s intelligence-insulting interview yesterday on [/font]SSN[/url][font=verdana] places another few pieces of the jigsaw together as to how plans are shaping up to deal with Rangers’ corporate failure. Other [/font][url=“http://www.celticquicknews.com/”]blogs[font=verdana] have already dissected this interview very well, so I will not dwell on the details. Instead, we will look at what is shaping up as the plan “to fix” Scottish football.[/font]
[font=verdana]As we have discussed for several weeks, Doncaster wants Rangers in the SPL regardless of how much they owe HMRC or other football clubs. He wants them in the SPL regardless of whether cheating on a massive scale has occurred or not. Doncaster’s attempt to bluster his way to getting acceptance for the idea that a CVA and a newco-Rangers are the same thing is just stunning in its gall.[/font]
[font=verdana]Doncaster is a key player in this dance. Therefore, I assume that he has been made aware of the Duff & Phelps plan. His interview this week was simply a crude attempt to blunt the impact of any accusations that might be contained within the BBC Scotland documentary to be aired on Wednesday night at 8pm. Either through an incredible degree of cynicism or playing the role of useful idiot, Doncaster’s cheer leading is key to a plan that will do more to destroy the Scottish Premier League than any loss of income from the temporary absence of a Rangers-type club from could ever do.[/font]
[font=verdana]One must assume that Doncaster is actively delaying the report on the dual contracts. It would take less than twenty minutes for any lawyer to see that there is a[/font]prima facie[font=verdana] case against Rangers FC. Demonstrating a [/font]prima facie[font=verdana] does not require looking at every piece of evidence or even getting close to providing proof. It is literally a check that “on the face of it” there appears to be something behind the allegations. Doncaster denies that there is a “go slow” instruction on this investigation. In the fullness of time, it will become clear that something is amiss with this investigation’s schedule.[/font]
[font=verdana]The law firm of Harper McLeod have been hired by the SPL to investigate if a [/font]prima facie[font=verdana] case against Rangers on the dual contract issue exists. Let me help Harper McLeod out a little.[/font]
[font=verdana]On 28 July 2001, Rangers played Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Rangers won the game 3-0. Making his debut that day was a German who would later go on to become General Manager of Bayern Munich, Christian Nerlinger. He also scored one of the goals. That game against Aberdeen marked the first game where the EBT scheme interfered with the Scottish Premier League.[/font]
[font=verdana]Harper McLeod should take a look at Nerlinger’s contract filed with the SFA. Next they should obtain Nerlinger’s contract documents and payment history from Rangers FC (IA)’s administrators. Comparing the contract to the payment history alone will expose payments of well in excess of £1 million that are not listed on his SFA-registered contract. [/font]There is your prima facie case, Mr. Doncaster.[font=verdana] There is no need to investigate any further than this first transaction involving a player to demonstrate that Rangers have a case to answer and that an independent inquiry is required. [/font]The current Bayern Munich general manager will not be worrying about this issue. He received an indemnity letter from Rangers’ finance director at the time where the club accepted responsibility from all taxes and liabilities resulting from Nerlinger’s payments from the EBT scheme.
[font=verdana]It is clear that Doncaster just does not care about the rules. He just wants a Rangers in the SPL next season. Doncaster’s “[/font]CVA / newco- what’s the difference[font=verdana]?” routine presumably betrays some insider knowledge of how this pantomime will play out. My thoughts on how this will most likely end are laid out below.[/font]
[font=verdana]Talk of a CVA is just window dressing to appease the less realistic element of the Rangers support. Whyte can pledge his shares in the club for £2 safe in the knowledge that a CVA is not going to happen. (Strictly speaking, Whyte himself can always scupper a CVA).[/font]
[font=verdana]We are heading for a newco of some description. The key point, Mr. Doncaster, is whether Craig Whyte’s floating charge is still meaningful. If it is (and people with more advanced legal training than me cannot find a consensus on whether it will be) Whyte will be content to let this drama unfold. His friends at Duff & Phelps will continue to potter about while reality continues to sink in with the wider Rangers support. In the end, Whyte will play his trump card and call in a receiver who will sell all of Rangers’ assets to a newco for a sum that will go entirely to Whyte- stuffing all of the other creditors. A plan to achieve this outcome would explain a lot of Duff & Phelps’ actions over the last few months.[/font]
[font=verdana]If Whyte’s floating charge does not support a legitimate debt (and I expect some court drama over this point), then Rangers’ assets will be sold to a newco and the proceeds divided among the creditors. They will be lucky to receive 5p/£ even in this path, but they would not get more in a CVA anyway.[/font]
[font=verdana]A newco of some form is inevitable. The liquidation of The Rangers Football Club plc is also inevitable. The debate is not over whether the newco will return to Scottish football, but over how. If Doncaster’s dream comes true, and newco-RFC just start playing in the SPL next season without any penalties, then Scottish football is dead.[/font]
[font=verdana]There are many other possible formulae for a fair outcome. Many Rangers fans want the newco to start in SFL division 3 and play their way to their place in the SPL like anyone else. It is also possible to have the newco pay financial an “entry fee” over a number of years that would serve as a deterrent and as a degree of compensation for the carnage wrought on the Scottish game by Rangers. There are lots of ways to arrive at a fair outcome. However, the money-men who might own newco-Rangers will not want that and Neil Doncaster has their interests at heart. Sport? Fans? Mere irritations.
[/font]
Interesting looking program coming up on BBC1 now about them,
Missed this live but should be uploaded soon.
Some of the details that were revealed:
- Watterus was paid £510k via EBTs!
- Souness asked for a payment in 2001, while at Blackburn. He signed Tugay from the huns a month later.
- 63 players and 24 staff have side contracts promising them cash from the EBT
- Biggest beneficiaries were Ferguson and Klos
- Apart from David Murray who got £6.3m!
- Campbell Ogilvie (of the SFA) got 91k.
- Craig Whyte told the huns that Prince Albert of Monaco was an investor. Prince Albert said he didn’t know who Craig Whyte was!
There’s also a load of stuff about the administrators. Duff & Phelps said they weren’t aware of a deal with Ticketus until August 2011 but the BBC have emails showing they knew about the deal before the Whyte takeover took place. So Duff & Phelps knew that Whyte financed buying the club by selling future tickets to Ticketus but they denied any knowledge of this.
D&P are currently suing Whyte and his lawyers for £25m for failing to disclose the Ticketus deal at the time of purchase. But a partner of D&P was at a meeting on the takeover and that partner was on the emails relating to the Ticketus deal beforehand.
Here’s a list of the beneficiaries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wA9hzGQGs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy0ZEBiShRA
Only got to watch the huns documentary earlier today but that’s a tremendous piece of work by Mark Daly. He’s found proof of financial mismanagement, severely questionable practices and downright fraud. And he’s nailed David Murray, Craig Whyte and Duff & Phelps among others. Employee Benefit Trusts, Tax Evasion, Bungs, Double Contracts - it’s all in there.
It’s gas that all the things that were questioned by other teams’ fans but conveniently ignored by the pro-hun Scottish mainstream media have turned out to to be dodgy as fuck. Where were the huns getting the money to sign these players over the last decade? Why was Souness paying over the odds for players from the huns? Where did Craig Whyte get the money to buy out the huns? What are Duff & Phelps playing at & why aren’t they protecting the creditors as part of the administration?
Incredible stuff really. And there’s enough out in the open now that it simply can’t be swept under the carpet, especially with proper investigative journalists like Daly and Thomson on the story.
Are you not playing in goal for Tipperary footballers today Bandage?
Rangers have won their court battle against a Scottish Football Association transfer embargo after a judge ruled the disciplinary panel members acted outside of their powers.
Lord Glennie proposed that the case go back to the SFA appeal tribunal that upheld the initial decision by a judicial panel to impose a 12-month ban on registering players aged 18 and over.
Following a three-hour hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday, the judge accepted the club’s petition for a judicial review as he ruled that the SFA could only administer the specific punishments stated in the rule relating to the disrepute charge.
Rangers were already under a Scottish Premier League transfer embargo which will stand while they are in administration, but the publication of a Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal on Tuesday means that could end as early as July 12.
However, Rangers could face even stronger punishment from any reconvened SFA appeal panel as the only stated punishments above the maximum £100,000 fine already administered are suspension or expulsion from participation in the game, ejection from the Scottish Cup or termination of membership.
The disrepute charge was handed down mainly over the club’s failure to pay more than £13million in taxes last season and SFA legal representative Aidan O’Neill QC had argued that the punishment had to be “effective, dissuasive and proportionate”.
The SFA legal team also argued that section 95.1 of their articles of association stated a judicial panel had the powers to impose any punishment they deem appropriate. However, the judge noted that rule 94 dealt with bringing the game into disrepute under the powers available in the judicial panel protocol, stressing the word “available”.
The SFA appeal tribunal, which was chaired by Court of Session judge Lord Carloway, argued that the initial panel was entitled to impose a lesser sanction than the maximum stipulated provided it was something the SFA could control and enforce.
Lord Glennie said: “I regret that I cannot accept that view.”
The judge pointed to rule 62 in the SFA judicial panel protocol which lays down a maximum fine of £1million and termination of membership for paying a match official more money than they are due.
The judge said: "There is no mention of suspensions, expulsions or ejection from the cup.
“It makes no sense to have these sanctions spelled out in rule 62 but omitted from rule 66 if they were available.”
The SFA earlier failed with a challenge to the court’s jurisdiction over the matter, with the judge ruling that the SFA had not been explicit enough in recognising the Court of Arbitration for Sport as an arbiter and that their rules stated an appeal decision was final, suggesting there was no other recourse for the club.
Rangers, who were awarded expenses, had called for the additional punishment to be suspended with no further hearing or the case at least brought back to the initial judicial panel hearing, however the judge rejected that argument and proposed the decision revert to an SFA appeal tribunal.
The SFA were discussing the case with their lawyers before making any comment while Rangers joint administrator Paul Clark said: "We welcome the decision by Judge Lord Glennie today that vindicates the club’s position that the original SFA judicial panel tribunal and the appellate tribunal acted beyond their powers in imposing a transfer embargo on the club.
"The costs for this legal action have been awarded against the SFA and it is our position it is very regrettable that court action was required.
“Both we, and the SFA, will have to study the full ramifications of the judgment when it is published and either side has 21 days in which to decide the next course of action or whether they wish to appeal.”
FIFA broke their silence on the matter after the verdict when they pointed out national associations should take “direct action” to prevent clubs using the law courts to determine disputes.
A statement from FIFA read: "At the time of writing we have not received any communication from the Scottish FA.
"In such a case, FIFA will ask the member association to take action so that the club withdraws its request from the ordinary courts.
"FIFA will closely monitor the situation so that the issue is resolved as fast as possible
Not sure what to make of this. FIFA don’t entertain clubs going to the civil courts ahead of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (see FC Sion last season for example). This may be a pyrrhic victory for them when things eventually play out.
The CVA announced today was beyond bizarre.
Looks like the war chest can be dusted off.
Bye, Bye Rangers…
Ally McCoist looks like a man going through a midlife crisis.
Have they any players at all worth taking off them on the cheap Totti?
McGregor, Davis and possibly Naismith would all do well for EPL clubs outside the top six. The likes of Goian, Lafferty and Whittaker would probably be decent players for the relegation fodder.
Some more cracking developments today.
Walter Smith’s daring, brave, honest and dignified bid to take over the huns has ended with him walking away from the bid. He has released a statement citing money and different ideas of the direction the club should go as his rationale.
Alex Thompson has a different opinion and has had some cracking tweets:
Lawyer connected to fmr Rangers manager tells #c4news “there’s a massive fraud in Rangers waiting to come out”
[font=verdana]Was Smith just running scared of EBT questions? Because HMRC will want to know Walter. Unlike you, they’re not walking away from the mess.[/font]
“now HMRC have gloves off under liquidation, they’ll go after Whyte and Murray and more.”
“how on earth was Green ever allowed to buy the assets like that under liquidation - you can’t do that. Not surpised Smith left.”
Vladimir Romanov speaks out in his own inimitable style.
http://www.heartsfc…2241384_2818454
[b]
VR statement[/b]
21.06.2012
Mr Vladimir Romanov today issued the following statement after recent revelations that have had a hugely damaging affect on the game in this country.
Mr Romanov, who has been consistent in his views since investing in Scottish football in 2005, said:
"The opinion of Heart of Midlothian FC in regards to the current situation of Scottish football is clear and robust.
"The football mafia represented by former owners of Rangers FC and Rupert Murdoch’s media are to blame for some of the worst problems to hit Scottish football and must not be allowed back in under any circumstances.
"As regards the club itself, we can only express our deepest condolences to its supporters, who have been lied to for so many years.
"It had to happen sooner or later. Victories were achieved not by sporting merits, but through slander, conspiracies amongst players and their poaching via third parties, unfair pressuring of referees, who in themselves are as valuable to the fabric of football as the football stars themselves.
"All of this brought hollow victories and destroyed football. We can also mention the attempts to eliminate Hearts with the help of the tax petitions, through false accusations and threats to revoke the club license. There is a saying about digging a grave for someone: you get it for yourself …
"Without these people football will become cleaner and stronger. Without Murdoch the whole of society will improve, in particular sport and culture.
"Supporters deserve a new beginning and have to accept the fact that their club has to start from the lower league, keeping order in the SPL and without creating unfair competition with other clubs.
"As regards the pitiful state of Scottish football finances, a lot of the blame should be placed at the doors of Murdoch’s media. They pay huge sums to English clubs, whilst in Scotland, where football is better supported per capita than anywhere else in Europe and there are more cable or Sky subscribers per capita than in England, clubs receive peanuts for their broadcasting rights.
"At the very least this is discrimination and protectionism for the English football product, which at the same time stunts the development of the game in Scotland, that is regarded as the cradle of football.
"I feel that it is absolutely realistic to create a company that would bring to Scottish clubs at least the same broadcasting income, and even grow it by 50-100% over the next two to three years. This company should be in the hands of Scottish clubs and work with those who want to earn money the honest way, instead of conducting business the Murdoch way.
“They have lived beyond law and all morals, and should now be declared beyond the pale. A society that allows the destruction of integrity in sport, which is a crucial part of Scottish culture, is destroying itself - and all for the benefit of a media aborigine.”
Romanov actually makes some good points in that.
Following on from Rocko’s Alex Thomson tweets, there’s some further speculation that criminal charges will follow in due course with regard to falsifying club accounts among other things.
Some fanciful story overnight too about the ex huns new owners buying Bury FC and playing in the English league. :rolleyes:
GLASGOW Rangers’ opening league game of next season will be on August 11 at home to Dumbarton in the first division of the Scottish Football League, if major moves behind the scenes to resolve the Ibrox crisis are successful.
Informal but intensive talks involving several parties have taken place and will continue throughout the week.
The belief is growing that the single solution with a significant chance of achieving a consensus will be the readmission of Rangers[/url] to the [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Scottish_Premier_League”]Scottish Premier League as a newco - but with the sanction of immediate relegation because of past misdeeds. Several obstacles have yet to be negotiated for this outcome to prevail.
For a start, most chairmen of non-Old Firm clubs want a change in the voting structure of the SPL[/url], from the current 11-1 majority required for key issues, such as distribution of TV revenue, to a 9-3 majority. Some hope that the consortium headed by Charles Green, which achieved control of Rangers last week, will agree to a pact on the voting process - which would leave [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Celtic_FC”]Celtic as sole supporters of the 11-1 rule – before the general meeting of SPL clubs considers the application for admission by the Ibrox newco at Hampden Park on July 4.
However, if Rangers are relegated, Celtic would no longer have their Old Firm ally to veto any such proposal for change, which Dundee - last season’s first division runners-up and next in line for promotion - would support on their admission to the top league.
Meanwhile, the SPL has stated that charges, in respect of unregistered payments to players when Sir David Murray controlled Rangers, will be brought once the status of the club is clarified. While this raises the question of how far the new entity should continue to be punished for the sins of previous owners, it also allows chairmen of other SPL clubs - who are under pressure from their fans not to permit free access to a newco - to minimise the potential all-round damage by demoting Rangers and gambling on the assumption that the Ibrox club would regain their top-flight status within a year.
An additional and crucial calculation - that has yet to be verified by the broadcasters - is that the SPL’s TV contracts would not be affected materially if Rangers were to be absent for a single season, despite the loss of by far the biggest fixture on the schedule, the Old Firm derby, which guarantees substantial viewing figures four times a season. Telegraph Sport understands that if the broadcast contracts should be torn up, there will be an immediate move to set up a dedicated SPL TV channel.
A number of first division sources – whose club representatives met yesterday – have told Telegraph Sport that they want the SPL to compensate them for agreeing to accept Rangers into their ranks. “If Rangers play to their potential we are effectively competing in a dead championship for the next year,” one said last night.
The SPL’s response is likely to be that the presence of Rangers in the lower league would increase the other clubs’ revenue by up to £250,000 apiece, but the mood within the SFL is to play hardball on that issue.
As for Rangers, Green has previously stated that the best outcome would be simple admission to the SPL as a newco and he returned to the theme on Wednesday when he said, on his club’s online TV channel: “Look, we’ve always said that we bought the club because we want to play a team in Europe, we want to rebuild the image of this club, and everybody wants to play in the Premier League. Whether that can happen is out of my control. It’s in the hands of the other members of that league but my emails are blocked at the moment with fans thanking me for saving their club and making it very clear that Rangers fans will unite whether we play in the SPL, the First Division or Third Division.
“I know Rangers fans will not desert this club but it’s important, not just for Rangers but for the whole of Scottish football, because the financial implications for the whole of Scotland, not just for SPL clubs, is a massive, massive problem to face up to.
“There is no easy solution. It’s something we all have to deal with, we all have to take responsibility for and we all have to come up with something that works, not just for an individual club, but for the whole collective.”
Green added: “I think some of the views we see and some of the comments are not based on business and, of course, the criticism I regularly get burdened with is, for me, every decision is about business. It’s not about passion, it’s not about commitment to a cause. It’s purely about doing what is right financially because if there is no money - and that doesn’t just include Rangers FC, it includes the SFA, SPL and the old mantra of going right down to grassroots football, we go out of business.”
Green’s mention of the SFL third division was a reference to the publicly expressed belief among some Rangers fans that it would be better to start at the bottom of the league pyramid and work back to the SPL over three years - during which the newco is, in any event, banned from competing in Europe - in a self-imposed exile that would have the additional purpose of inflicting pain on top league clubs by depriving them of TV, sponsorship and corporate revenue.
That prospect is diminishing, Telegraph Sport has learned. One SFL chairman described the prospect of Rangers playing through Scottish football’s bottom tier, as “an invitation to carnage.” He added: “It raises too many questions about policing and resources and also a gross mismatch of resources. In fact, there is now a greater chance of the SFL refusing to allow Rangers admission if they are rejected as a newco by the SPL - so where will they play and who will they play against if that happens?”
More immediately, Green stated that he and Ally McCoist will meet the players on their return from holiday next week to discuss their status. It is his belief that their contracts shifted automatically to the newco, a view disputed by PFA Scotland.
“We, as a newco, started having discussions and, as far as we are concerned, all the contracts transferred under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). They’ve also been having holidays and taking their families away so it has been more difficult with the playing staff than the non-playing staff.
“We’ve been speaking to the PFA though and to individual agents and, as the players come back next week, Alistair and I will be sitting down with them and explaining where we are.”
Also on Wednesday night, two Glasgow property developers - Alan Stewart and Steve McKenna - claimed to be preparing a bid worth £11 million for the club. The men are directors of a scaffolding firm in Glasgow but their business past includes an episode which will resonate in depressing fashion with fans. When matters were seemingly going well for them in property development – in 2007 - they claimed to have a turnover of £134 million a year and to have constructed 14,000 flats worldwide. Three years later their original company, Stewart & McKenna Ltd - which was founded in 2005 - was placed in the hands of liquidators, Buchanan Roxburgh, after being taken to court by HMRC over an unpaid tax bill of £78,000.
© Telegraph.co.uk
Romanov is a terrific speaker. Very understated and articulate in his measured statement there.