And there was me getting my hopes up:
Associated Press
Tuesday 17 July
1800 GMT
Rangers “victims of massive transfer fraud” according to Economic Crime Squad insider:
Police raids carried out on two relatively big football clubs, and Glasgow Rangers also, sparked a frenzy of speculation yesterday morning which has continued unabated throughout today also. It was initially believed that the raids, which were carried out at the request of the City of London Police force’s Economic Crime Squad, were sparked by the Stevens’ investigation into corrupt transfer dealings. However, police sources have this evening revealed that at least one of the clubs, Rangers, are believed to be the victims of concerted crime rather than the perpetrators of any offence.
It is believed that the police investigation is mainly concentrating on the transfer of Filip Sebo to Rangers, the Slovakian international having arrived at Ibrox in a 2m transfer from Austria Vienna in July 2006. “We believe that Rangers have been defrauded on a massive scale”, a source close to the investigation commented this evening. “Filip Sebo isn’t fit for purpose. Whoever sold him to Rangers is clearly a con-man - and a good one at that.”
Police removed twelve boxes of material from Rangers’ Ibrox Park stadium late this afternoon. It is being widely reported that they contained DVDs of last season’s fixtures, which the police consider to be “damning evidence”. “All you need to do is watch a couple of these games,” our source revealed, “and it becomes painfully clear that whoever the mysterious Mr. Sebo actually is, he’s not a professional footballer.”
It is also believed that once police scratched behind the surface of the Sebo deal they quickly uncovered substantial additional evidence confirming that Rangers have also been defrauded in dozens of other transfer deals in a systematic and repeated manner over a period of time spanning nearly a decade.
Officers are now said to be investigating the transfer deals involving the following players: Tor Andre Flo; Jean Pierre Fan-Fan; Julien Rodriguez; Nuno Capucho; Michael Ball; Seb Rozenthal; Sasa Papac, Karl Svensson; Liobor Sionko; Lionel Leitizi; Barry Ferguson; Egil Ostenstad; Francis ‘Fox in the Box’ Jeffers; Gavin Rae; Ian Murray and Bert Konterman. However, this is by means an exhaustive list and police are said to be adding to it on an ongoing basis.
Sources close to Rangers’ Chairman, David Murray, have tonight confirmed the entire club are in a state of shock and complete turmoil given the extent of the fraud perpetrated on them. Latest estimates suggest the fraudsters may have made off with amounts in excess of 200m.