Never having been one for believing in ‘agendas’ or ‘conspiracies’ against Rangers, this season has been something of an eye-opener. While the BBC may have ultimately been correct about Craig Whyte (while being admittedly slightly tabloid in their presentation), this season has felt closer to a witch-hunt against the club than can be recalled for some considerable time.
There has always been a notion of ‘no one likes us, we don’t care’ about the club, one the supporters have ultimately been defiantly proud of, but this season that statement has only been proven half correct. No one likes us, but we definitely care now, especially when the treatment of the club as a result has been so close to a vendetta from many quarters.
The difference in authorities globally from Scotland regarding their stance on stricken clubs is vast and embarrassing – where suffering clubs are aided by those in control. Take Real Madrid – the Spanish government have historically helped the Galacticos financially, using public funds to do it – notably when the City bought Madrid’s training ground in order to clear the club’s gigantic debt. They have also furnished other Spanish clubs with similar cash from the tax purse. In England, Portsmouth’s City council leader Gerald Vernon Jackson has proposed a purchase of Fratton Park to save it from the bulldozers. Admittedly this would only be in the event of liquidation, but the plan B is there to protect the club’s stadium from peril.
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| The man trying to save Fratton Park. Could use him in Scotland. |
Back to Scotland and to help Rangers during the worst spell in their entire history the SPL are trying to deliver further sanctions on the club, following investigations regarding supposed non-disclosure of certain player payments – something the club rigidly deny ever occurred. Add to this the current stance of the SFA of crucifying Rangers to the tune of £160k and banning the Govan side from engaging in any transfer activity for 12 months and the help these organisations are providing Rangers with is heart warming.
This stance from the authorities not only unfair, perverse and extreme, but it is close to masochism too. Rangers and Celtic critically need each other, no matter how much certain individuals argue to the contrary – both clubs feed off each other, and the truth is many fans on both sides need to hate their rivals as much as loving their own club. Take that away, and the slippery slope into oblivion would begin for the Scottish game.
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| Sorry chaps, but without Rangers you too would suffer badly. |
So take the next step and focus on why the governing bodies feel the urge to castigate Rangers as much as possible, near into the abyss as they can. The SPL and the SFA need Rangers – financially, commercially, and on a basic football level. They need Celtic too, but fortunately for them Celtic are not in financial peril. Rangers are, and need help from anyone capable of providing it. So these constant sanctions against the club, putting it closer and closer to liquidation can only be described as some kind of curious self-harm process from the SFA.
Rightly furious Rangers supporters have been calling for a boycott of SFA sponsors as a way of hitting the association where it hurts. The problem with this line of action is these sponsors are contracted to the SFA – boycotting their services simply hurts their own profits and the SFA would be unaffected. Take Adidas – their contract with the SFA runs till summer 2013 – there is a chance they might withdraw if their profits here get affected, but that is over a year away. It is a noble line of intention, but the truth is it will simply not affect the SFA at all. Not immediately and not for many, many months.
The more effective way to hurt the SFA is to categorically withdraw club participation from SFA competition, as suggested by the Rangers Supporters’ Assembly’s Andy Kerr. Withdrawing from the national team would affect qualification for Brazil in 2014, without top class players like Naismith, McGregor, and Whittaker to call on. But even more vicious upon the SFA’s coffers would be non-participation in the Scottish Cup – the majority of cash this tournament generates is from Old Firm matches, particularly when they play one another. Take half of that cash away and it is a huge and significant hole:
“Potentially, there will be a call not to enter the Scottish Cup. The other one is non co-operation with national squads.”
There is also a very useful suggestion of boycotting away grounds. Such action might even tempt Sky Sports and ESPN to reconsider their contracts on expiry – albeit that is not for another 5 years so is a pretty moot point. In general this action would hurt not only the SFA, but very importantly lesser clubs in the SPL, many of whom have been anything but supportive of Rangers during this period. The flip side of this coin is the club’s players having no support away from Ibrox. But it may be a necessary evil.
Rangers appealed the SFA embargo and fine, but given the ‘independent tribunal’ was chosen by the SFA, it rather questions the ‘independent’ part of the affair. Naturally, the appeal was thrown out. This brings a further question of why an appeal had to be made to the very body who punished the club. It seems absurd to expect them to ‘change their minds’. This is where CAS would come into play.
Furthermore, the punishment itself is debatable legally:
“The decision by the appellate tribunal to uphold the sanction, namely the suspension of registration of players for one year, is not competent in the view of the club and its legal advisers. Such a sanction was not available to the tribunal and should not have been imposed and it is the intention of the club to challenge the determination.”
Did the SFA even have the right, never mind the desire, to sanction the club in this way?
The actions of the governing bodies controlling the game in Scotland are simply bizarre. They are not even in their own self interests. Whether Celtic fans agree with the punishments, surely even the sensible ones among them know the potential demise of their rivals is only going to hinder themselves and the national game down the line?
The SPL and the SFA badly need to overhaul their practices. And Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster especially are responsible for the health of Scottish football.
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| Stewart Regan. |
If they do not change procedures, they will be responsible for its demise.
Why would anyone want to help a club that has defrauded the government of millions of pounds. Schools, hospitals, libraries everything that makes our society a good one has been left short by Rangers cheating the system.
Here we go – more faux moral outrage from the whiter than white brigade..
Take a look at your own history . sweep sweep ..
scumbag
Schools, hospitals, libraries I believe that in the 9 months under Whyte's control Rangers failed to pay around 15 million in tax. As you are a sure expert on the subject just how many Schools, hospitals, libraries could have been built with that 15 million pounds of unpaid tax ?
Yes but how many could have benefited from the 15 million
Murray's monstrous creation, the insidious malfeasant – has both feet in the liquidiser and the body is going to be pushed fully down into it and squeezed until they can get the lid on and put the threshers onto full power. Wheeeeeee! The Archbishop of Westminster performs the rite of exorcism over the putrid vessel (his Glasgow counterpart had been threatened by a Jardinesque horde and couldn't perform this duty). The liquid is a mixture of blue, white, red, and yellow (pus). It is taken taken to Hunterston and put into a high speed centrifuge where the blue and white are removed, leaving an orange mixture. Volunteers spoon it into the reactor and ATOMISE it. No hasta la vista baby. No Murraystein 2
Could wee Nacho do any good?
IF Green has millions and millions of pounds (already 20mil plus) why would creditors accept the extremly low figures being quoted? Maybe he should keep his mouth shut?
We are really so very very sorry. We cheated all of you, and apart from the piggery mob we would gladly hand over all the other trophies we stole and reimburse all the European money we deprived you of. I know its tens of millions, and we also have to pay all the clubs, filth excluded, we still owe money to, but we have dignity and we will pay back every penny. We do want you (well apart from the swinepots) all to love us and we will do everything we possibly can to achieve that. True by Luther Wesley McWhirter.
LUTHER??? who think yo are. Nae sorries, nae sorrender. Goodnuff for them GBKB.
the appeal tribunal goes out of its way to hold the club responsible for massive tax fraud – not simply the former owner Craig Whyte. The “club” in law is its chairman and board of directors of the plc. Look carefully at their wording:
“The Disciplinary Tribunal was correct to determine that the conduct involved – especially the deliberate non-payment of very large sums, estimated in excess of £13m of tax in the form of PAYE, NIC and VAT – was attributable to the club as a member of the Scottish FA.”
Now, remember what it was that the tribunal determined? That key named directors at Rangers at that time: John McClelland, John Greig, David King, Ken Olverman and Martin Bain (he of the shredded contracts as revealed by C4 News) had to have known what was going on and did nothing about it.
This was the ‘club’ in law. The directors. These men of Rangers who walked away from Rangers.
Since what was going on was ‘deliberate non payment’ income tax, national insurance and VAT to the value of £13m it is reasonable to ask whether these men, along with Mr Whyte, are now going to face a police investigation for possible fraud. I shall be making inquiries from first thing.
Quite possibly they are innocent men, shut out from what was happening by the ever-increasingly-absent Craig Whyte. Though the tribunal has already stated they must have known something very wrong was happening at Ibrox, yet chose to do little or nothing about it.
Mr Whyte is accused by an eminent legal tribunal of directly masterminding a deliberate non-payment of tax. But the whole point here is that tribunal first and now appelate tribunal explicitly hold the ‘club’ (the directors) responsible for this joint enterprise of non-payment. They do not just blame Craig Whyte.
Craig Whyte’s reaction? No change there since he’s always regarded the entire procedure as a “kangaroo court”, “a complete joke” and “a total charade”. He will not bother to appeal, that being his view.
As for the football side of things? Well, there is a football side of things and since Ibrox has been the scene of a major tax fraud, Rangers are exceedingly lucky that this even exists today.
The appeal tribunal duly notes there are 40 players who can still turn up next season because the buy-ban doesn’t stop the club extending contracts of these 40 already on the books:
“…the Appellate Tribunal recognises that the Disciplinary Tribunal decision does not affect Rangers’ ability to extend the contracts of existing professional players, including those whose contracts will expire at the end of this season and including also those currently on loan to other clubs. The Appellate Tribunal observes that Rangers FC have over 40 professional players in this category.”
But footy’s nothing if not short as a career. The window for glory is just a few seasons for most players. Ryan Giggs is an exception proving a brutal rule: life’s short at the top.
Realistically, the better the player, the more likely they are to look elsewhere for glory and european football, when many contracts expire next month at Rangers.
Clearly, from all this, the only reasonable response from Ibrox should be relief and gratitude that they still exist. Scores of clubs, charities, individuals, businesses, councils and colleges across Scotland, the UK and beyond are owed money by this football club – and so are all of us owed at least £13m in deliberate unpaid taxes aka fraud aka serious crime.
The only thing Scotland and the UK taxpayer need hear from Rangers PLC today is the word “sorry”. That’s about as likely as a Craig Whyte pitch-side press conference at Ibrox.
Deluded if you think your players will risk their international careers to support a corrupt club they owe nothing to. They will be heading for the exit anyway.
Doncaster is an idiot but he is only bowing to popular demand for integrity, Without it the game is not worth playing,
The players that this article mentions, i believe, would be too old to properly represent our country, therefore player boycott would be nonsense…ok youth…but i do not believe they would be ready….all these threats would be pointless and only antagonises global views…..would you sponsor/have dealings with a company when all that comes out of the club are threats and bad publicity…don't think so…..companies sponsor mainly for tax reasons….very few, if any, would want to be associated with bad press…namely the club and their supporters….the sooner they realise this the better….
Why can't Rangers fans see that the SFA and the SPL are actually doing everything they can to help Rangers, but they have to be seen to be upholding the rules of the League….which, by the way, Rangers agreed to and signed up to.
There cannot be one rule for Rangers and another rule for every other club in the country, that would make a mockery of what is, after all, supposed to be a sport.
I didn't hear any Rangers fans protesting about Livingston being relegated or when Rangers put Airdrie out of business or even when Celtic were almost put into administration in 94…..quite the opposite actually.!
This is not a witch hunt as you put it, it is simply a case of applying the rules of the league which you have blatantly disregarded and openly flaunted.
The faux moral outrage at Rangers "cheating" the public purse is quite frankly a disgrace.
One look at today's headlines that the taxpayer is losing out on 2 BILLION pounds thanks to northern rock really puts Rangers "crime" into perspective.
We've already seen examples of big business having huge sums of money due to HMRC written off, the most quoted example is Vodaphone who I believe "cheated" the public purse of over £700M.
Where was the public outrage at this? Where were the boycotts of Vodaphone and other companies who cost the tax payer far far more than Rangers have – even if found to owe the full tier 1 tribunal money.
It's just a pathetic excuse to try and beat Rangers down with pathetic wailing about hospitals and schools.
Yes it's sad when any money comes out of the public purse but the level of outrage being aimed at Rangers is ridiculously over the top and based in self interest of demonising Rangers and not some kind of moralistic crusade.
Some tosh is being talked by delusional individuals.
example: Rangers players not playing for Scotland. Wonder which professional would agree that they should limit the practice of their craft to just provicial competitions.
Every footballer craves getting caps.At the end of thie career that is all they have to show ..medals and caps. For some reason some deluded person believes that if you tell a proffessional footballer that by playing for your team he is not allowed to be capped by his country, and his chance of winning a medal is reduced, (as Rangers will withdraw from all cup cupetitions), ……well I will be interested to see how many good Scottish players still remain at Rangers.
these fanatics somehow forget that football is a profession and each professional wants to play at the highest level and amass as much caps and meddals as they could win their playing days.
I expect that once UEFA enforces a 3 years ban on Rangers that Rangers can withdraw from UEFA backed competitions. Stop drinking coke… buying Nike ..watching television …well just about stop living as most things are now tied with football. Currently Rangers troubles is at the local level, SPL,SFA. Later is will get to UEFA level ..there is some talk of club owned money in Europe taking the complaint to EUFA if they are not payed in full. Not sure if there is mileage in that.
As for wanting support from other SPL clubs, well a club like Hibs had to sell all their top players to clear their debt. They are supposed to feel sympathy for Rangers for living above their means by screwing other clubs and the government. Why exactly are the rest of the clubs in SPL trying to live within their means they must be mugs… they should just run up debts and screw creditors, buy players they can't afford.
Poor Rangers …someone send me the address of where I should send donation to ensure that Rangers continue in their great tradition.
why write such a long winded post? You have too much value in your own opinion. Keep your posts short and less boring.
Here's a short one then……Rangers are deid.
You simply are a sad bitter bigoted and twisted little man . It clear for anybody not of the same mind set as you to see .
if you think the punnishment handed down was harsh then you are seriously deluded, you got a "slap on the wrist" nothing more, be thankfull you are still in existence…for now.
The Spanish gornment helping out clubs is a good thing and something we should look at here, but when the money is owed to the government, why on earh would they put their hands in their pockets to help when they have been mugged themselves, I hope Rangers do survive, whether it be as a newco or down in div 3, but I that the punishment fits the crime, Rangers got let off lightly, there is more to come I would imagine, its sad I suppose but you have to play by the rules, thats why they are there in the 1st place
I for 1 dont care about the public purse or the tax man i want this club to die and take its history of racism bigotry and sectarianism with it, then maybe it will save a generation of kids being brought up being brainwashed into this hideous ideology that is rangers and scottish society can finally move into the 21st century without having to look back at a club that has brought nothing but shame on our country where ever it has gone, if we are looking to the future the best thing to happen for Scotland would be to let them die and bury there ugly history with them
mmm … think the ones pulling the strings went to the same "brainwashing" school as yourself. Think you should like to sweep a great deal of your bigoted history under the carpet!
rangers "ugly ' history probably could be buried but could celtics'
What ugly history? Please explain
Animal ugly examples: Barcelona charging the crack riot squad drawn from all over Spain, Manchester, kicking policemen to death, Barcelona again. Not welcome ANYWHERE. Football ugly, Wattenacio for years, semi final in Italy, Fiorentina had 26 shots on target despite your 10 man defence and you had one – on a breakaway. Signing policy ugly: I travelled all over th UK, Continental Europe and the US for 32 years. Your club gave Scotland a reputation as a backward almost neanderthal country. It lives on till this day. Is that enough? I can go on. Lachie Campbell proud BB Captain 1962-64.
I feel sorry for the Ranger's fans who have been conned time and time again and if Rangers are to survive it will be fans money that does it ..at some point Green will ask you to save your club ..which you will ..but the money will go to your new owners who will pleasd poverty at every turn…and ask you for more and more and more
That's what fans do – buy tickets, buy merchandise, buy shares. The main thing is that the club survives. Can't get my head around Whyte's motives (or stupidity) for the way he has gone about trying to fool everyone.
If the SFA and the SPL don't get Rangers, Platini certainly will.
I do feel sorry for the decent Rangers supporters but not for the ones who think they should be treated as a 'special case'..!!
If I cheated the tax man for any amount I would be prosecuted, if I was a sportsman and I got caught cheating I would be banned, so why do you think you should be any different?
If you do survive and you boycott all away games, who do you think will care? It would be a pleasure not to have to listen to your sick songs ever again..!!
Rangers need to be punished. It seems like the authorities are making the rules up as they go along. What's the point in fining a club that has no money. They have already been punished 10 points this season for going into admin – that rule was already in place for that circumstance. For whatever reason, it was Whyte that decided not to pay the PAYE and forced the club down that road. The other "debts" listed are not yet a reality as the "Big Tax Case" has not yet been decided. Clubs that are owed money for players should get that when they payments are due – as are Rangers due money from other clubs. Seems like most folk just like kicking them when they are down!
What deluded comments to make.If SFA used their
rulebook as initial punishment Rangers would have been
kicked out of all Scottish football.Stop your bleating
and read the facts.
I wonder who the next club will be to go bust, Hearts then Dundee Utd or Kille…then we will find out about integrity.
If RFC go to the 3rd Div then we will see you down there, eh sorry, no we wont as we will be in the 2nd.
And who will be to blame if other clubs go bust.
Em I think it's Rangers
Yea, why not blame them. Better still slap another fine and maybe extend the transfer embargo. As long there is a glimpse of hope that they will survive land another kick. Give it a rest!!
Imagine not paying tax, outrageous. Guess the government should be outlawing accountants.
Do you have to pay tax on Big Issue sales or dole money?
Have to laugh at That's what fans do .. buy shares. No you didn't when Murray was in charge he had to underwrite to the tune of £50 million of shares that weren't taken up
Think you'd find that wouldn't be the case this time – done properly. Fans have been responding well for the fighting fund.
Ménage à trois:- Ticketus – Rangers (IA) – Hon Craig Whyte. In dispute £27 million, of which 18 million gone to Lloyds, location of the rest unknown. As things stand season ticket sales money would go to Ticketus but RIA saying they want Ticketus contract to be dishonoured meaning RIA would collect money from Season Ticket Sales and Ticketus would get nothing from these sales. Ticketus suing Whyte for the full amount. They obviously won't be paid twice, but their action against Whyte is simply insurance against losing their counteraction against Rangers (still to be raised but won't be long in coming). So two interdependent high court civil actions – both appealable, both ridiculously expensive on top of Duff and Phelps fees of £800,000 per month. Run till at least the end of the year. O me miserum! And no chance they'll be able to touch the money from season ticket sales for a while, if ever – the courts will direct that it has to go into escrow until the rights to the money are decided. If RIA win against Ticketus and Ticketus win against Whyte, Whyte will raise an action against Rangers and so it will run on – he has to because he would be aunt Sally and its the honourable thing to do. We should take no pleasure in this schadenfreude.
Give it a few years & no one will know you. Rangers will become a club like Dynamo Berlin.
I have never read a more whinging load of rubbish in my life.
Rangers(In administration)FC…enjoyed over one hundred years of SFA/Refereeing collusion (Check with Craig Levein for example)and never once complained.
Now, having been caught cheating, on a massive scale ..do we hear contrition …an apology…an acceptance of punishment?
Oh no..what we get is this typical argument , which smacks of..
"We arra peepul" you can't punish us.
Well I hope you get everything you deserve and then some.
Oh and if you think Scottish football can't do without you…
think again…'Cos if you don't go into Division3 …there will be no Scottish football..it will have sold it's soul..
and gone to the Big Bad Fire.
Bright wee lassie you are. You've understood us perfectly. No Surrender!
Mr Murray's monstrous creation, the insidious malfeasant – has both feet in the liquidiser and the body is going to be pushed fully down into it and squeezed until they can get the lid on and put the threshers onto full power. Wheeeeeee! The Archbishop of Westminster performs the rite of exorcism over the putrid vessel (his Glasgow counterpart had been threatened by a Jardinesque horde and couldn't perform this duty). The liquid is a mixture of blue, white, red, and yellow (pus). It is taken taken to Hunterston and put into a high speed centrifuge where the blue and white are removed, leaving an orange mixture. Volunteers spoon it into the reactor and ATOMISE it. No hasta la vista baby. No Murraystein 2.
Whatever Galaxy your from, it's time to go home, Planet Earth does not need your likes.
I'm from Govan and sell snacks outside Ibrox. The proceeds go towards repair work being done in my church. Regards Patrick
Well said Patrick. Let's hope you have many punters next season to enable you to keep up the good work.
No one likes you and you only have yourself to blame. You think you can do whatever you want, cheat all you like, steal all you want. And then when somebody steps on your thieving fingers have the audacity to cry and complain how everyone is unfair to you.
You have no idea how much negative publicity your club attracts outside of Scotland. The only news we get in Slovenia on Rangers is either about how your fans have pillaged one of the European cities or how you owe millions of pounds to the HMRC due to unpaid taxes, how you buy players and never pay for them and other similar stories. And this not only affects how people from outside view your club but also what they think of Scottish football in general.
I had the pleasure to meet (and drink, may I add) with the Tartan Army when they were in Slovenia and I cannont believe we are talking about the same country. And I believe there were some Rangers fans somewhere in there. And nothing bad ever happened. Your traveling support, when it comes to games of your national team, is widely regarded as one of the best and most faithful in the world. And you have every right to be proud of that. This is why it is so much harder to believe that this is the same country that the Rangers (and their fans) come from. I don't know exactly when or how this happened but I advise you to start from scratch. Going bust and starting afresh with young players is the best thing that could happen to you in this situation. Man up and start taking some responsibilty for your wrongdoings. It's the only way you will gain at least some respect from non-Rangers supporters. And not just in Scotland but from football fans all over the world.
Your command of English is excellent!
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