About the The Scottish Football Monitor
Thursday, August 2, 2012 2,172 Comments
The purpose of The Scottish Football Monitor is to pay homage to, and carry on the work of the groundbreaking RangersTaxCase blog (RTC). The aim of the Scottish Football Monitor is to cast a questioning and watchful eye on Scottish Football officialdom and the compliant mainstream media (MSM).
Scottish football, in the immediate wake of the Rangers FC liquidation, faces great challenges. The MSM have provided no sensible checks or balances on the actions of the authorities. The Scottish Football Monitor aims to provide those checks and balance.
The cosy relationship that has existed between the media and people at the top of Scottish Football has dissuaded those who may otherwise be moved to blow the whistle on wrongdoing. The Scottish Football Monitor aims, through time, and by winning the trust of ordinary fans, to fill a gap in the football media in Scotland that has been up to now filled only by RTC.
The Rangers FC saga, its consequences, and consequences of the accompanying stream of untruths and misdirection fed to us by the MSM is far from over. RTC was successful in getting the previously buried truth of the Rangers tax case into the mainstream despite a hostile MSM reaction. The Scottish Football Monitor hopes to use the skills and expertise of those in our community to a cast light on matters that those in authority would have concealed, or at least present alternative arguments to those being presented as having none.
Scottish Football Monitor asks contributors to remember only a few things;
1. The site is not the domain of any one club and is open to fans of all clubs.
2. Absolutely no discussion with regard to religion should take place.
3. Posters should refrain from using foul or abusive language.
Welcome to The Scottish Football Monitor
About SFM
Scottish Football Monitor 
john clarke says:
August 3, 2012 at 13:24
John Iam of the opinion that ALL payment mechanisms at ALL Scottish clubs or certainly at SPL clubs where these practices are probably more relevant given the higher payment amounts involved need to be investigated and cleaned up.
The Rangers Tax Case was one particular example of players receiving undocumented payments that breached both tax laws and football rules.
Rangers got caught and deservedly so but we cannot blithely assume that there are no other problems lurking or shady practices practised at other clubs.
Tens of millions of Tax Payers money was ultimately not paid by the failures of Rangers FC and Scottish football to effectively monitor and ensure how Scottish football players were being paid.
That is an outrage or at least it should be.
If we want to clean up Scottish football then we should at least be going through all SPL clubs payment practices and rooting out any or all shady schemes wherever these may be encountered.
It’s time to clean up our act and that doesn’t just meaning clubs self certifying themselves that they are okay and up to date.
How our players are paid and the schemes they participate in should be put under far closer scrutiny imo.
Testing to find out the look of my new allocated Gravatar!!
Chris,Thanks for that. Did you read my post? My fault for not making it clear, I thought it was obvious that I was talking about 2 different things. Dual contracts -SPL. Stealing MILLIONS -Hector.
Rangers use of EBT’s is suspected to have contravened the rules on player registrations ?.
Are you Joking?. suspected .!!
Mark Daly’s programme exposed the cheating that went on. Or do you not believe the proof that he discovered?
BY the way what rules? The rules everybody is supposed to adhere to,or the rules according to anybody connected to Rangers IA.
Congratulations to Dundee FC for gaining SPL status again
OT, I got a wee Green man that looks like me,I’m over the Moon. (is my web cam on ?).
Tic 6709 says:
August 3, 2012 at 13:07
Jeez,Is this it ?.Back to the EBT’s, it’s dual contracts that are the real issue here.
No matter how many times it is said it seems as if some people cannot leave the Juninho case alone. Celtic paid the tax,if they paid it late, so what?.
Rangers did not pay what they were supposed to,that is the the reason for the inquiry. No amount of intentional distraction can alter the fact that Rangers systematically over a period of at Least 10 years cheated the taxpayer out of MILLIONS.
If anybody out there thinks that the two cases are in any way comparable,you need your head looked at.
======================================
What you are looking at here is a mindset that will use the rules but avoid the underlying principles at play to suit their purpose. Its like a ref giving a player a yellow cad when it should have been a red and folk arguing nothing can be done because the ref although mistaken in giving a yellow made his decision and it has to stand regardless of the violence of the offence he might have missed at the time. The principle that cautions are there to deter violent foul play gets lost in “the rules” themselves.
What is the principle behind requiring all player income to be recorded on registration, why is it insisted on? I never gave it much thought but if it is to ensure clubs are not making off the record payments to induce players to play for them, perhaps a legacy of cash payment days, then there is an undepinning sport principle that by making underhand payments, the club doing so gains an unfair sporting advantage over clubs who play it by the book.
The unfair sporting advantage gained definitely applies to EBTS if HMRC get the nod from the FTT. Rangers will have made unlawful use of a system that gave them unfair advantage over their opponents.
The danger is that the scrupulous mindset will take dual registration as a “rules” matter only to further their case and in the case of Rangers, they wouldargue that the failure could be put down to administrative oversight deserving only of a fine, whilst the principle of unfair advantage gained, the fact they had men in the SFA who knew it was dodgy (M Bain) but said nothinbg (not to mention the principle of unlawful tax avoidance) would not be factored in.
In the Juhino case regardless of whether Celtic revealed it and paid their taxes and there is nothing systemic in it, that principle would be lost by the unprincipled scrupulous mindset that even thinks the two issues are equal.
When old Adam walked the RTC blog he was typical of the scrupulous mind that knows the rules but not why they exist in the first place (although to be fair to Adam I think he did know and was playinhg a game, but many of his fellow supporters just do not seem to get principles or ethics and how they are the foundation of the rules.
My Wee Red Book has Club 12 still showing, and no Sevco yet in the 3rd Div. It also shows a team called Rangers who have no fixures in any of the leagues. 🙂 For the first time, the WRB could become a collector’s item.
The rags to a man are conflating an illegally run tax avoidance scheme with illegal player registration
No doubt they will soon be describing the investigation as being into an illegally run tax avoidance scheme They will then use this argument to call for no action until the FTT have ruled.
I know it can be construed that way Goosy, i personally think it’s cos the media are no monumentally s*it-thick they just don’t know where to put their faces just now so they try to deflect. For what it’s worth, I think there’s some merit in delaying because the rules concern payments made to players in return for their services. If the FTTT were to return a verdict that the EBT scheme was OK and the loans the players took out were actually discretionary loans, then that present a BIG problem for the SPL because it would centre around the definition of the word “payments”. If a tax tribunal staffed with judges thinks the monies were loans then the SPL would have to take a huge leap in declaring them payments (I use the word payments here to mean monies paid from one party to another in return for services rendered and which becomes the property of the payee afterwards; a loan doesn’t satisfy this because it remains liable for repayment. Of course a series of letters saying the liability to repayment doesn’t exist is something one would imagine precludes the FTTT returning such a verdict)
The purpose of this so called “EBT Investigation” is to pretend to the public that somehow RFC(deid) are innocent of illegal registration if HMRC declare EBTs have not been improperly used for tax avoidance
That’s precisely what they’ll claim though if the FTTT favours Rangers. and they would have (whilst not a precedent-setting, certainly weighty) legal opinion in their favour.
The converse is equally inferred, ie if HMRC find in favour of RFC then the SFA will not punish illegal registration of EBTs
This isn’t the converse – it’s the same as the earlier part (FTTT finds Rangers innocent) – If I’m reading you wrong here, apologies 🙂
This is almost certainly part of a secret deal between King Charles and his fearful Serf Regan
I don’t agree with this, I think it’s the fear of punishing the mighty Rangers is all, oh and the ‘Bowling Club’ mentality which still pervades the SFA (albeit below Regan’s level). I also believe this might abate following their acceptance into Division 3 (there’s nothing left to protect…almost)
This corrupt action poses a great danger for the game and its this:
If HMRC find in favour of RFC(deid) the SFA will very likely not pursue illegal registrations
The SPL may not, for the reasons I posited above.
If HMRC find against RFC(deid) the SFA may still take the cowards way out by stripping titles for tax evasion and not for illegal registration
Tax evasion would be an SFA matter (disrepute) not SPL would it not? I don’t think the SPL rules can do anything about tax evasion per se, although disrepute possibly. No, I honestly believe if the FTTT find against Rangers then the SPL via the Commission will move quickly because legal opinion is behind them and they can consider the payments to be actual payments and not loans
Stripping titles for tax evasion would be challengeable in court as it is none of the SFAs business whether players or clubs engage in tax evasion
Actually the SPL might not, but the SFA would, they already have when you consider they fisted Craigy Boy over the non-payment of taxes & the resultant bringing the game into disrepute.
,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The real significance is that its a continuation of corrupt behavior by Regan and Donkey in favour of RFC(deid). And it is no coincidence that conflating the issues helps Sevco sell more STs
Hopefully now they’re in Division 3 we’ll see an end to the Rangers preservation society (Armageddon seems to have gone away quietly after all) and they’ll grow a pair and ensure justice is done
Nauseating
Agreed.
(Had to switch back from my attempted new monicker of Lunchtime O’Booze to Chris to reply cos the other replies are in moderation…)
We need to use the word suspected because until the commission returns a verdict then the suspicion of contravening registration rules it’s not proven, that’s all I meant 🙂
We all know they’re bang to rights, but until there’s a verdict against them they can cling to the ‘not proven’ nonsense. That’ll end soon enough 🙂
Nawlite says:
August 3, 2012 at 13:31
‘……We can ask – and indeed some have asked – the powers that be (!), but without insiders, how do we actually force them to answer publicly? I’m hopeless and can’t help ….’
—-
Do not despair.
In so far as public money has gone in to Scottish Football, we as taxpayers ( i.e. people who actually pay into the public coffers, unlike the club that used to be in the SPL which has caused so much feckin damage and confusion) we have some right to keep asking for answers.
These issues are not the private concern of private individuals. They will not go away, no matter how much stonewalling the ‘authorities’ might try to indulge in.
You say you’re’ hopeless and and can’t help.?
Fiddlesticks!
Put your queries in writing, bang the letter in an envelope and, not trusting the effectiveness even of their ordinary business administration, send it recorded delivery to the SFA CEO. Give them a couple of weeks or so to reply. And keep doing that until you get a reasonable and reasoned response.
It is disgraceful that none of the MSM hacks has the elliptical male appendages to do this. But we know that already, so we must do it ourselves.
I’ll get my letter off asap.
For the gravatars (pics) it’s really simple folks. Go to your user name top right of the screen, click on the pic and you’ll go to settings. Go to public profile and then “change gravatar”. Simples.
Torquemada says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:43
Ah, so this is where you’ve all got to.
There’s no getting rid of me! lol!
__________________________________________________
Indeed. To quote Mel Brroks “You can’t Torquemada anything!”
spanishcelt says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:12
I think we need to have a list of “issues” that require to be monitored and as we the fans and paying customers are satisfied with the explanation given we can remove them one by one from the list.
________________________________________________
I think this is a splendid idea. Not knowing much about WordPress, I’m wondering if the mods are able to add a tab alongside the “About” tab on the top menu bar, for an issues and questions log. There are just so many unanswered questions that it’s tough to keep track of them, and some could easily slip away.
Well, if we’re looking at this from a “nail it down” perspective, then you need to consider what a club might do in appeal to such a charge of void registration For example, how can you backdate a void registration? Everything happens at a point in time after all and if the action which invalidates the registration (let’s call the the date of signing the contract or piece of paper which says ‘you can apply to this trust for a loan’) occurs after the player’s final match for a club then that club would have a helluva good shout at saying the registration was valid during his playing time.
My earlier suggestion was that the SPL should take the period of offence (so we’re clear – this part ignores a severance payment, and only concerns ‘regular’ payments during a season etc) to be the date from the first received payment to the last.
I think the FTT is doing the analysis of every player (cos for tax purposes, they’ll have to – every employees tax affairs are managed separately) and the SPL will piggyback on that.
Since registrations are on a per-player basis too, I don’t see what else the SPL can do other than look at every player. The good part for the SPL inquiry though is the fact there were at least 11 players on the pitch playing at any one time, the net widens to include any sub of course, and a lot of those players played for years. The SPL can make them forfeit a match if only ONE player on the pitch is improperly regsitered so can save a lot of time the FTTT can’t just by applying a blanket policy to that one player which covers entire seasons where appropriate.
Tic 6709 says:
August 3, 2012 at 13:42
This came from Jim Delahunt on Clyde stating a player or players other than at Rangers had an EBT. He knew fine well it was Juhino at Celtic and the background, but set the hare running to get calls (his job after all). Sure enough within 10 minutes a Rangers supporter called in to confirm that an EBT had been used outside of Rangers. Cue more tonight and before you know it Juhino will have played in all games and in all postions including goalie since 1966.
It is as if the world lives in two time zones ELT (Everday Life Time and BT Blog Time where blog time is 3 months ahead of life time.
Tic 6709 says:
August 3, 2012 at 13:42 Previous in moderation because of Delah*nt
This came from Jim Delahvnt on Clyde stating a player or players other than at Rangers had an EBT. He knew fine well it was Juhino at Celtic and the background, but set the hare running to get calls (his job after all). Sure enough within 10 minutes a Rangers supporter called in to confirm that an EBT had been used outside of Rangers. Cue more tonight and before you know it Juhino will have played in all games and in all postions including goalie since 1966.
It is as if the world lives in two time zones ELT (Everday Life Time and BT Blog Time where blog time is 3 months ahead of life time.
Charlie Brown earlier mentioned the Nimmo-Smith report. This definately needs to be added to the outstanding issues and questions list. Why has this report never been made public? What is in it that is so explosive that the authorities have done their utmost to bury it and pretend it never happened?
It would be interesting to get somebody who works in Tax or HMRC to opine on the validity of the various tax minimizing, avoiding or even evading schemes that football club knowingly use and where these might be in breach of football rules.
Image rights etc is certainly one that deserves closer scrutiny – how do these work? presumably a player gets part of his wages paid through the football club and a certain other percentage paid to his ‘image rights’ company which then pays him in such a way as to minimize his tax payments.
How does that work with regard to who is paid by whom and how that is recorded and interpreted in football contracts which ultimately has eligibility implications according to football’s rules.
It seems like a very tangled web is spun but given even the SFA President is in receipt of a very large ‘loan’ payment that will likely never be repaid nor fully taxed I can see that there is probably little appetite within the governance of football to start looking under these stones.
RayCharles says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:10
I’ll second you not being an arbiter of good taste as I’m on the list, and in the humorous spirit you offered the orginal I’ll quote from Grouch Marx
“I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member.” 😉
I cannot see there being any fudge from now on in with regard to the current enquiries into RFC’s demise. Whilst this may be wishful thinking we have to remember that the genie is out of the bottle.
We have the pending BDO involvement following the Hodge ruling.We have the FTT outcome with possible delays due to suggested criminal action,and we have the SPL dual contract enquiry.
In addition we have a possible multiplicity of court actions to follow in relation to finances and ownership.In addition Police investigations currently ongoing.
There is in essence too much now ‘out there’ for an establishment cover up.
We also have Barca nuclear moments currently pending fusion.
SFM will have ample opportunity to comment on this brave new world, as lo and behold Armageddon failed to take place.
One thing we know already ,there has been a gross lack of dignity in the way that principal players at Ibrox have carried themselves and this in itself is worthy of objective comment and a firm hand from SFA compliance.
Dignity in Scottish Football
Domaine Jessiaume says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:20
The Rangers Football Club Limited to float on the AIM market in October. Zeus getting advisers in now.
English FA paying £500,000 to SFA in relation to the Steve Davis transfer. SFA will deduct £196,000 in respect of fines and pass the balance to Charles Green.
========================================================
I thought the AIM was closing as there was no demand for it?
What are the fines totalling £196,000? £160,000 for disrepute, payable over a year, any others??
Are some of these fines for not paying Dundee Utd for the cup tie, which was supposedly paid?
If the rest is getting paid to SevCO rather than the creditors of Rangers then UEFA must have responded to the request for TUPE law. Has anyone seen this judgement in print anywhere? Has anyone asked the SFA if this has been resolved.
When a club buys a player they buy the registration, anything else is slavery. SevCO do not and cannot hold the registration of any Rangers players, they did not exist as a club.
Blindsummit says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:20
What Rangers told the SFA they had agreed with HMRC re the wee tax bill would be something that should have been looked at and somethingthe SFA would not be keen on making public (they have had ample opportunity).
Captain H, they were not registered to play in that cup game. If they were registered properly don’t you think that SFA would be shouting it from the rooftops.
In any proper organisation Brechin would be awarded the game immediately.
I think SFA/ SPL are slowly dismantling the game of football in Scotland.
How can they adjucate on any case that comes before them in the future. They have flouted so many rules that any club now can operate without fear of sanction.
Perhaps we can compile a large list of all our unresolved issues or queries, break them down into their relevant SFA / SPL / SFL issues and then compose and send a letter to all of Regan, Doncaster & Longmuir asking for their answers or responses to these unresolved or inconsistency issues.
Maybe they each would not relish or like the thought of answering 30+ searching questions and indeed they might even just ignore us but surely we can but try – it certainly seems like the media won’t breach these subjects?
And indeed in the case where they won’t want to answer specifics pending some further actions we can also ask them supplementary questions that are nuetral ie if Club X or Player Y had been found guilty of Z then what range of punishments could we expect? etc
No announcement on SFA membership yet for Rangers, No announcement on Rangers joining the SFL, No announcement on any player registrations, is it another 20:58 shot tonight?
Celtic Underground @celticrumours
Could the hold up in the BTC be due to an ex manager legally challenging the decision to call him a out of work, ginger, tax dodger?
loamfeet says:
August 3, 2012 at 11:56
I was astounded to hear Sportsound “talking up” Scottish football after taking a cue from their interview with Stephen Thompson of Dundee United. Thompson said that the Sky deal on the table would amount to a loss of less than 10% compared to the previous deal that was on the table. “Remarkable,” Richard Gordon said, “that there was so much talk of armageddon only a few weeks ago” singularly failing to note that much of that talk came from pundits on his own show. “Who could have predicted that the top flight could be in this position going into the new season,” he asked. Pretty much every soul on the RTC blog, for a start.
And spare a thought for poor, confused Terry Butcher:
11th May: “From our point of view, it would be a disaster if Rangers were not in the SPL. We need the Old Firm in the SPL for us to survive, like all the other clubs.”
2nd August: ““Rangers going makes it a much more open league than before. [ .. ] Every club is thinking they don’t have to play the Old Firm teams as often. Those games can blight a good run and if you suffer a heavy defeat it has repercussions on a club. [ .. ] We don’t have that now, it is much more open and there is the chance of one or two teams putting good, long runs together against the other sides.”
Talk about cognitive dissonance.
————————————————————————————————
Clear evidence that the MSM and footballers have the attention span of a gnat.
Thank goodness RTC and the internet bampots have somewhat longer memories and active critical faculties.
Unfortunately the majority of readers of the MSM must themselves be in some sub-gnat-like state to keep believing the MSM output. Obviously an interdependent relationship.
Apologies to all gnats for bringing them into this comparison.
/ Red Lichtie
PS No gnats were harmed in the preparation of this posting.
Auldheid says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:23
One of the best parts of RTC was the humour and Rab’s post was very witty.
The reaction to me reposting it has, in my opinion, been a bit po-faced.
Perhaps some people are taking themselves so seriously.
Domaine Jessiaume says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:20
English FA paying £500,000 to SFA in relation to the Steve Davis transfer. SFA will deduct £196,000 in respect of fines and pass the balance to Charles Green.
=======================================================
Where is this from, cannot find it anywhere else?
Test
Stirling Albion announcement on tickets for Rangers game:-
“Following on from discussions with Central Scotland Police and our stewarding company with regards to our October 6 home fixture against Rangers, the SAFC executive board have agreed on the following pricing structure: adults £13, senior citizens £10, children £7. There will be no student tickets available for this match.
Stirling Albion announcement on ticket price for Annan game :-
Saturday August 11
Annan Athletic (H) Division Three, 3pm
Adults £10, Seniors/students £7, children U17 £5
Nothing to beat a bit of capitalism none and again, the SFL3 clubs will now be richer than the SFL2 & SFL1 clubs.
I thought there was a set published rate for games before the season starts.
Pensioners almost 50% increase for a game against Rangers, shame on you.
Auldheid you might want to look at your gravatar if you want to retain your anonimity?
Testing my posting ability and avatar thing. My RTC posts mostly vanished.
smallteaser says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:16
adults £13, senior citizens £10, children £7
Adults £10, Seniors/students £7, children U17 £5
—
So its cheaper for a kid to watch football at McDiarmid Park this season, than it is to go to a SFL3 game!!
For anyone who missed it, Saints, and I believe Aberdeen (could be wrong here!) are letting U12’s in for free all season. Saints include away fans in this.
You can’t blame Stirling though… this may be the only game they get against Sevco should their fans not buy season tickets…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/03/espn-spl-rangers-contract
Rangers must be getting a good share of the TV revenue, 10 games from ESPM + 5 from Sky each season for 5 years, any monetary figures released?
In fact does anyone know any of the details of the TV contract, not how many games, the relevant stuff,like distribution to all 42 clubs etc.
Nothing changes, Scottish football couldn’t survive without Rangers and Scottish football will ensure Rangers survive.
Blindsummit says:
I think we need to have a list of “issues” that require to be monitored and as we the fans and paying customers are satisfied with the explanation given we can remove them one by one from the list.
________________________________________________
I think this is a splendid idea. Not knowing much about WordPress, I’m wondering if the mods are able to add a tab alongside the “About” tab on the top menu bar, for an issues and questions log. There are just so many unanswered questions that it’s tough to keep track of them, and some could easily slip away.
——————————————————————————-
Perhaps an FAQ for questions that are asked a lot (and are a bit historical) and have been answered?? Then the “Issues” tab for stuff that’s current and there’s no complete answer to yet?
Of course don’t want too many tabs or site would become unfocussed.
stevensanph says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:20
You can’t blame Stirling though… this may be the only game they get against Sevco should their fans not buy season tickets…
=========================================================================
Certainly cannot blame them for making money, however if they start budgeting for this then they will go bust, the same as the SPL clubs could not cope when Rangers were withdrawn from the SPL.
The myth that Scottish football can survive without either of them has well and truly been kicked into touch.
Good luck with carrying on the traditions of the original blog guys.
I’ve missed a few days events this week.
Can someone please enlighten me if any reputable source can confirm if Mr C Green actually paid over his £5.5m, to D & P this week, as per his CVA proposals.
Many thanks.
smallteaser says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:21
This is why I won’t be subcribing to ESPN this year
Charlie Brown says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:45
—
‘Perhaps we can compile a large list of all our unresolved issues or queries, break them down into their relevant SFA / SPL / SFL issues and then compose and send a letter to all of Regan, Doncaster & Longmuir asking for their answers or responses to these unresolved or inconsistency issues. ….’
—
A number of serious posters have variously over the last few months tried to list all of the various issues that have arisen out of the disgraced club’s disgraceful actions:
in the field of civil law ( tax evasion, the stiffing of creditors, possible unprofessional conduct by administrators..etc )
in the field of criminal law ( fraudulent, perhaps, sale and purchase of a football club, incitement to violence, etc)
in the field of football administration ( wholesale breaking of the Rules by the disgraced club; possible corruption of senior administrators in possibly hiding that rule-breaking; definitely dodgy rule-breaking by the Football Authorities to avoid having to let the offending club suffer all the consequences of its bad behaviour; highly suspicious granting of conditional membership of the SFA and very questionable admittance to the 3rd Div of the SPL; and peculiar player-registration procedures with a non-existent club)
in the field of Politics ( inappropriate interventions by MSPs and First Minister. and sundry other ‘time-to-move-on quasi-political hoorah henrys..)
in the media field ( unbalanced, partisan and inaccurate and selective reporting by BBC Radio Scotland, …)
The list is long, and very long.
If these posters could now re-post their lists round about the same day, perhaps the rest of us can produce our own individual comprehensive list, ensuring that no facet is left unmentioned.
Otherwise, CB, you’ll require quite a few hours of trawling back through all that has been posted to copy and paste everything. But at least, we now know that the archive is safely preserved, and the info is there.
I notice that sky and espn will be showing a combined total of 60 live Spl games plus 15 “rangers” games per season.
That should help put bums back on seats in our grounds don’t you think?
smallteaser says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:01
English FA paying £500,000 to SFA in relation to the Steve Davis transfer. SFA will deduct £196,000 in respect of fines and pass the balance to Charles Green.
=======================================================
Where is this from, cannot find it anywhere else?
——————————————————————–
It’s been reported (e.g., Herald) that the FA have told Southampton to pay the money they decided off their own bat to pay to SFA and not Sevoc (TheRangers).
I presume because the right of Green’s mob to any money is dubious.
Courtesy of lubolubo on KDS:
Forgot to say (in previous post) – that was only mention I could find, no mention as far as I can see about passing any money on to Green.
Testing
RTC,PL/TSFM,CE,RayCharles,rab…..(especially RTC)….. a very belated “mille grazie per tutto”, I am not worthy.
I promise to TUPE over, but will only post when I have something to say, not because I have to say something !
At that point I will be happy to hook up again with all the good fellas and wiseguys on here. I have been busy with pressing family matters……Stracci, Cuneo,Philip Tattaglia, Barzini, the Rosatto Brothers, Frank Pantangeli…you know the sort of thing.
As for the “Team”, I am flattered to be included—especially given my meagre contributions–mainly about the ramifications, ins-and -outs, etc of the beast known as the Floating Charge….(yawn,yawn) right at the beginning of RTC’s blog.
Remember ,however, none of the players asked or sought to be nominated so there is no clique/elite, and it is grossly unfair to accuse Ray Charles, a stalwart from the beginning, of elitism.
Having said that, I demand a place for slimshady !
Also patently incorrect to suggest–(did the trolls TUPE over as well?)—that the Team is 100% CFC, when it includes Paulie Walnuts, Easy Jambo and Onand (x3) for starters, and there may be others.
Glad to see that the inquisition will continue to ensure that the MSM need to do their jobs better.
Good luck with the new site
testing testing testing
Why did the SFA not conduct the dual contracts investigation¿ Easy one. Because they WANTED to be the appeal body. Why¿ Because if they conducted the investigation the appeal body would be the CAS thereby loosing control of the outcome. simples.
The Ranger’s deliberate 10year EBT scheme vs Celtic’s one-off Juninho EBT.
Any fair minded person knows that the two scenarios are not comparable.
Rangers followed one path with the sole intention of gaining a financial advantage which consequently gave them a footballing advantage. No tax paid to date and possibly not registered with the football authorities. If not registered correctly then matches must be amended to a 3-0 win for the opposition and any titles/trophies must be stripped.
Celtic paid one player on his way out of the club. No footballing advantage. Probably all tax paid but possibly not registered with the football authorities. Does that make the player incorrectly registered? If so then the same consequences must apply.
It does raise an interesting point though. What if payments were made to a player AFTER he left a club? By that I mean that a player might be registered as being on a wage which he is paid throughout his time at the club. But then later, perhaps much later, he is paid lump sum directly or indirectly (eg pension scheme) which wasn’t registered while playing. Obviously this would raise the same trust issues which led to the side letters but it is not inconceivable that a player might be attracted to a club in this way.
Could full public disclosure of players contracts be the answer?
Dundee confirmed as premier league members in a unaminous vote of spl clubs today
RayCharles says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:58
7
2
Rate This
Auldheid says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:23
One of the best parts of RTC was the humour and Rab’s post was very witty.
The reaction to me reposting it has, in my opinion, been a bit po-faced.
Perhaps some people are taking themselves so seriously.
=========================
I took myself too seriously once and it was’nt funny.
The Rangers FC propaganda machine? This smacks of in house positive spin:
http://ibroxnoise.blogspot.no/2012/08/do-rangers-fans-trust-charles-green.html
Unanimous
Don ,what is on and (x3) team?
Chris says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:45
Chris, do we know if this is how it has been done previously or if there has been a new agreement put in place?
I cannot see Rangers giving TV rights to almost all games this season for that amount.
Included in this deal is 3 games at Ibrox.
Bbc saying Dundee spl membership ratified. Does this mean transfered from Rangers(IA)?
Well it looks like all Scottish Football fans (except one club) will have another battle on our hands at the end of this season .
IMO regan /doncaster and longmuir will be putting plans in place to fast track 2012 fc through the leagues ,bypassing all sporting integrity on the way .
It looks to me as if they are hell bent on gambling with the very game in this country to force their will on us all no matter what our views are ,well that’s up to them and I hope it’s worth it as if their gamble does not come off ,there will be no going back .
If the fans who go through the turnstiles lose faith in the game as a contest then it could be fatal for the game and no amount of positive publicity will convince them that there is any level playing field in the game .
The first rule in our game has to be that every member club will be treated the same no matter what .There are thousands of fans who pay their hard earned money week in week out to see their teams and maybe once in a while they will reach a cup final and maybe even win it ,why should these fans clubs be treated any different from the bigger clubs ,there is NO excuse for it .
If a TV company’s contract dictates that ANY teams can’t drop out the league then that contract should not be signed .
rantinrobin,
Onand(x3) was a RFC man, don’t know if he TUPED over to Sevco…..but a good fella and wiseguy, intelligent as well.
john clarke says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:04
We can ask but the SFA are under no obligation to reply and certainly not to reveal what they do not want to in a reply.
You commented on the correspondence between the CST and the SFA where a reply was forthcoming within a few days. That is is because the enquiry came from a fully constituted representative supporters group who could not be ignored.
I posted on the interim blog that it was essential that we have folk on here who are members of groups, particulary supporters trusts as the SFA HAVE to engage with them via Supporters Direct and ask them to raise the issue that are discussed on here.
There is a perfect opportunity coming up to tell the SFA that supporters have lost trust in their ability to govern football fairly and demanding that the SFA tell us what they are going to do to restore that confidence, not platitudes but an action plan.
The opportunity comes in the form of a conference on 19th August at Falkirk Stadium
see
http://www.supporters-direct.coop/events/item.asp?e=6632
Now if the issue of the loss of trust were to be raised there it could not be ignored by the msm or the SFA. That could be done during the workshops which should produce issues that the SFA need to address to meet the aims of the Supporters Direct project and surely restoring trust is key to achieving the aim of greater supporter involvement?.
Registration is required by 15th August if anyone is up for attending.
Some comments about how we make this effective, (no I don’t have the answers so you can stop reading now) but ultimately for this blog to be effective it has to have focus and drive change, how is that done – I would argue it is not the comments but rather the actions that the comments encourage us to do, so all the comments are wasted unless we take these and perform some actions in the real world, as many have said that means letters, emails, call etc. The alternative is what I saw happened with RFC – for all the thousands of fans they all stood back and waited on someone saving them, in reality they could have organised and either bought the club or at least put the right type of pressure on prospective and past buyers. We need to do the same – the SPL & SFL campaigns were won not by RTC itself (no don’t TD yet) but what RTC enabled us to do – organise, be informed and then go back our respective clubs and put pressure on them, This is the model we need – the blog is the inform, document and organise part – but as it stands it will not be the action, that needs to come from us.
Thanks Don.Thought he was,he thinks I am a piper in real life,and makes reference to my musical ability.He has the wrong person.
That’s the virtual world in which we live! I am Batman’s sidekick.
smallteaser says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:01
5 0 Rate This
Domaine Jessiaume says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:20
English FA paying £500,000 to SFA in relation to the Steve Davis transfer. SFA will deduct £196,000 in respect of fines and pass the balance to Charles Green.
=======================================================
Where is this from, cannot find it anywhere else?
======================================
Same source as before on RTC.
(So far as I know it has not been reported anywhere, but I am not an avid reader of Scottish football journalism, to be honest.)
smallteaser says:
August 3, 2012 at 15:21
Nothing changes, Scottish football couldn’t survive without Rangers and Scottish football will ensure Rangers survive.
——————————————————————————————————–
RFC(IA) cannot survive without Scottish football 😉
Auldheid says:
August 3, 2012 at 16:29
Rate This
john clarke says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:04
Better post than mine and essentially covering the same ground, one thing that this reminded me of and has been niggling for some time, even though we have these supporters groups, they are essentially separate from the SFL/SPL/SFL organisations, maybe one thing they can start to push is for direct representation on the committees of these quangos/clubs. So at least we have customer oversight on the workings.
We believe so, yes, but it has to be proven to be incomparable. The FTTT will nail the coffin lid on this one once they detail the astonishing lengths Rangers’ executives went to hide the fact they were cheating, and the fact they were informed in no unneccessary terms that they were cheating, and their subsequent continuation of the same policy afterwards.
Without a doubt. The contravention is the thing which means there should be a sanction, the nature of the contravention (my oft-repeated phrase: breaking the rules on registration to hide tax evasion) is what should nail down the severity of the sanction. Correcting the historical record and retrospectively awarding competitions to other clubs is not a sanction, it’s natural justice being applied and the true winners recognised – a massive fine or even an expulsion from the game completely would be appropriate punishment.
Unfortunately, if he actually played whilst in receipt of monies then yes the same consequence (correcting the historical record) should arise, but the sanction, the punishment should be minimal or nonexistent given the clubs’ subsequent payment of taxes due by their own violition.
Wouldn’t this then fall foul of thirdparty payments cos he’d be registered with another club?
The disclosure is meant to be a requirement already Wobblers old bean, albeit not public disclosure. I don’t see what business it is of the public’s to view players’ remuneration details, what should be public is a sign-off by way of the footballing authorities (i.e. did club X comply with all relevant criteria? Again though this is a nightmare to service and fund)
Or the SPL and SFA could simply tighten their rules to state that all benefits of any kind whether repayable of not must be disclosed for every player upon registration and no provision for any other benefits or payments can be made without the express consent of the SPL/SFA following disclosure of the changes.
Blindsummit says:
August 3, 2012 at 14:09(Edit)
spanishcelt says:
August 3, 2012 at 12:12
I think we need to have a list of “issues” that require to be monitored and as we the fans and paying customers are satisfied with the explanation given we can remove them one by one from the list.
________________________________________________
I think this is a splendid idea. Not knowing much about WordPress, I’m wondering if the mods are able to add a tab alongside the “About” tab on the top menu bar, for an issues and questions log. There are just so many unanswered questions that it’s tough to keep track of them, and some could easily slip away.
_____________________________________________________________
It’s on my To Do list. Hopefully I’ll get something started over the weekend – along with a glossary 🙂
Examples: Whatever happened to the Nimmo report which was withheld from public gaze whilst the Independent Disciplinary Trubunal sat – although it turned out that THEY were never given sight of it. That is an absolutely stunning piece of sophistry which has gone unquestioned in the MSM.
There are other huge questions like that unanswered.
It was heartening to hear the way Motherwell and D,Utd played against good opposition ,they sounded like very good games and the atmosphere at the Motherwell tie sounded very good on the radio .
It bodes well for the SPL season ahead as the boys that played in these games will have been given great confidence in their ability to compete in big games .
The size of their squads will be telling later in the season but if they can stay clear of major injuries ,there is no reason why they can’t have a really good season .If the team is playing well and vying for honours the fans will turn out (hibs div 1 )
May I wish all clubs all the best for the season ahead and I hope we all see some really good football games .
test