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Glenn Gibbons: McCoist and Smith fail to see true Ibrox saboteurs Published on Saturday 28 April 2012 03:57 FOR someone who is possibly the oldest rookie manager in the history of the game, Ally McCoist this week gave a flawless impersonation of an impulsive, vengeful and nasty-minded adolescent. Notoriety attached itself to the former striker with the suddenness and potential devastation of a pernicious virus the moment he demanded the release of the names of the three-man independent review panel who imposed sanctions on Rangers in accordance with the seriousness of the Ibrox club’s breaches of football’s regulations. The suspicion that his disturbingly sinister outburst – “I want to know who these people are, Rangers supporters want to know who these people are” – was a prime example of premeditated mischief-making did not take long to harden into certainty. It came with the revelation of an SFA spokesperson that the supposedly bemused manager would undoubtedly already have known the identities of the judges, since Rangers had a representative attend the entire judicial proceedings. At a stroke, McCoist’s long-established image as an ebullient and irrepressible charmer was transformed into a hideous representation of spiteful retribution. Nor did the damage inflicted on his own reputation come anywhere near to being undone by his declaration the following day that he was “disgusted” by the thought of any Rangers fan visiting abuse on the panel members and issuing threats against them and their families so distressing that the police began investigations with a view to criminal charges. “I would not for one moment want anyone to interpret my remarks as a signal to engage in any form of threatening behaviour,” he said. The picture of a stable door being bolted while, in the background, a horse at the gallop disappears over the horizon springs to mind. It was noticeable, too, that McCoist’s attempt at a “rescue” did not even hint at the possibility of culpability on his part, far less an apology to the panellists and their distraught families. He may be relatively inexperienced in his present post, but he has been in professional football for 33 years, all but a handful of them in association with Rangers. In the circumstances, he would, unquestionably, be perfectly aware of the potential for appalling behaviour among certain followers of the club. If nothing else, he ought surely to have been familiar with the regularly-documented and legally-pursued instances of assaults, abuses, threats and attempts on the life of his rival at Celtic, Neil Lennon. But McCoist’s injudiciousness simply chimes with the general transformation of Rangers over the past two decades from a trophy-gathering phenomenon into a magnet for bad management. The series of saboteurs ranges from David Murray, whose ego-driven excesses should be recognised as the single most significant factor in Rangers’ present predicament, through the questionable motives and actions of his successor, Craig Whyte, to the representatives of Duff & Phelps, now widely regarded as the most incompetent administrators ever to be charged with righting a listing football club. Astoundingly, Murray seems still to command the loyalty of a reliable band of apologists, among whom his former manager, Walter Smith, may be understandably – and even forgivably – numbered. But the attempts in certain quarters of the media to present a revisionist view of history – one in which Murray is totally exculpated in the matter of Rangers’ potentially fatal wounding – have been utterly shameless. It is as though the former owner/chairman, who is officially dead where football is concerned, continues to exert an influence on his former lapdogs from beyond the grave. Smith’s recent exercise in condemning Whyte was such an example of unadulterated propaganda, complete with see-through inaccuracies, that it was easy to wonder if we were playing the old time machine game, returning to the Murray heyday. Having expressed bewilderment over the speed with which Rangers seemed to have descended into penury, Smith insisted that he had, at the end of last season, left “a debt-free club” that was on a sound financial footing. Staggeringly, he insisted that the extravagances of the Murray tenure were an irrelevance. “You can make your own judgment on what happened before,” said Smith, “but the fact is none of that mattered. In May of last year, all of that had disappeared.” Well, all of it except the £18 million of bank debt that had been transferred to Whyte, the admitted £4.2 million bill known as the wee tax case, the millions owed to clubs in Scotland, England and Europe for a variety of reasons, plus a lengthy list of creditors from ancillary trades. There was also, of course, the spectre of the big tax case, which could yield a further liability of upwards of £70 million. To paraphrase John Cleese in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, “apart from that, what harm did David Murray ever do Rangers?” As if Murray and Whyte were not enough for one benighted club to take, the administrators have, since their arrival, proved about as helpful as gatecrashers. Consultation with an array of qualified people in the financial and legal professions has confirmed that none has ever heard of a period of administration that has not produced a single redundancy. What it has brought is further haemorrhaging, to the tune of £2.5 million in the first two months of the Duff & Phelps stewardship. Now the administrators, who seem not to have complied with even one of their own “final and binding” deadlines since they took the wheel on 14 February, are making confident noises about winning an appeal against the sentence of the judicial panel. Their optimism reportedly based on encouraging (private) words from the SFA chief executive, Stewart Regan. Maybe Regan didn’t want to spoil the moment with a reminder that any appeals panel will also be independent. And quite beyond his influence. Deserves to be in this thread in its entirety. Here it is in the Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/sport/football/glenn-gibbons-mccoist-and-smith-fail-to-see-true-ibrox-saboteurs-1-2261890

TAKE PART IN HALF TIME ACTIVITY AT THE RANGERS GAME If you are between Primary 5 and Secondary 2 age and would like to be a part of the half time football activity during the Saints v Rangers game on Sunday 13th May, don't miss out on this..... Surely St Johnstone can come up with a better money making scheme - letting kids take penalties at half time in Rangers (IA)'s last game - what a wasted opportunity. There must be better entertainment - Mr Custard the Clown, Bear Baiting, Pin the Tail on Broadfoot...

..aye if you win promotion - which looks like a long shot too

Couldn't agree more sports journalism in the Scottish lo-brow press is closer to Heat magazine - panting away at third rate 'stars' most of the time. You get the felling that some of these guys think they are big shots because they'e got Kirk Broadfoot's mobile phone number - deeply sad.

Not so sure I thoroughly enjoyed it and spotted Hearts, Dundee Utd, St Johnsntone and a host of Euro-diddies. Excellent clip show.

Don't agree it was Dutch caps that wanted EBTs in the first place. Liquidate

Yes. Not one of them has clocked that two hours before the transfer window they were still trying to get St Johnstone's Sanadaza for £250k without having the cash to pay. Talk about trading insolvently. The quicker this lot are allowed the die the better - where's the Grand National vet don't let this lame horse limp any longer?

HMRC have already decided that the EBT was being inapproriately administered and are seeking the Tribunal to reject Rangers' appeal. If players were sytematically being paid through a loan mechanism via EBTs and that the payment was agreed and expected as part of the player's overall remuneration package, then the tribunal will find against Rangers. At that stage the SPL/SFA/UEFA will have three key areas of concern - inappropriate payment systems that lacked transparency over many seasons, numerous players whose contract of remunerations were not wholly regisitered with the association, and finacial activity that would probably fall foul of Financial Fair Play criteria. One is bad enough all three is a disaster for a financially crippled club lurching form one fiasco to another. . Curtains.

...I'd normally back your thought but when the one you are seeking to defend is arrogant, trouble making and with a disreputable role in the war in Iraq - maybe best to duck out in case it looks like you are defending moral bankruptcy....

Trying to answer a question a pal asked and can't find the info. Maybe someone on P&B knows the asnwer Rangers key real estate assets - Murray Park, Ibrox and the Car Park have been valued as part of the process of administration on an existing use basis and alternative use basis? The Administrators agents, Lambert Smith, were appointed to provide an indicative valuation of Ibrox Stadium on an existing use and alternative use basis. Does anyone know what value were placed on them and what range of alternative uses were imagined?

No but HMRC's increasing intolerance of football clubs that play fast and loose with tax does. So Porstmouth and Port Vale are spicing things up nicely for Rangers. I do hope its painful.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Port-Vale-HMRC-set-reject-CVA-deal/story-15804212-detail/story.html Looks like the Tax Man doesn't dig those CVA deals and always good to see Traynor has another career - as an administrator in Staffordshire Port Vale: HMRC set to reject CVA deal Friday, April 13, 2012The Sentinel FollowTHE taxman looks certain to vote against a proposed deal to pay off Vale's creditors – but their opposition won't be enough to derail the takeover. HM Revenue & Customs are owed £189,965 by Vale, making them the third largest creditor of the club, which entered administration in March. ​ Vale's administrator, Begbies Traynor, has set out a Company Voluntary Arrangement which will be voted on by creditors at a meeting on April 26. The arrangement requires approval from 75 per cent of the value of the club's £2.69m debt to be passed. But only those creditors who vote will be counted in the calculations. If approved it will clear the path for Lancashire businessman Keith Ryder to complete his £1.4m takeover. However, the deal involves unsecured creditors, like HMRC, receiving 3p for each £1 they are owed, which would pocket them just £5,700. All football creditors, including players who have wage arrears, are paid in full, which reduces the available cash for other parties. A Revenue and Customs spokesman said: "HMRC has a long-standing policy that we will not support a CVA which seeks to give preference to one class of unsecured creditor over another. "HMRC has challenged the operation of the football creditor rule in the High Court, since this rule seeks to give an advantage to unsecured football creditors over other non-football unsecured creditors. "The practical application of the so-called 'football creditor rule' can mean that the risk of revenue losses in the football sector can be particularly high. "HMRC's view is that the rule is unfair, unlawful and unacceptable which is why we are challenging it in the courts."

They announced that a club in an insolvency position could transfer their SPL share to a newco - far from kicking Rangers this is a gift to them. Only the ludicrous Rangers Supporters 'Trust' could get into a moral huff about that. The media give these fuds too much status. The least trustworthy people currently representing fan opinion.

Anti SPL campaign has kicked off on Bella Caledonia - share via Facebook http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2012/04/11/spl-reduce-scottish-football-to-farce/

..and when Rangers vist St Johnstone the crowds swell to the dizzying heights of 6000 - wow. They make more from funerals from the crematorium next door than from Rangers. See yourself as others see you - blighted not benefactors

...why then is Peter Lawell so keen to protect them? Hhe has already erupted against the other clubs for wanting a more equitable voting structure. If Celtic and the businessmen that run it had shown any enthusiasm for change it would be happening - what we have is a squalid set of proposals that will in the long term 'forgive' the cheating. So until there is consistent evidence that what Celtic want and what Rangers want are clearly different don't be suprised when your squalid partnership and utterly immoral voting pact bind you togther as an 'old firm'. Either change it or live with it.

Although I remain a firm beliver in the get-tae-f*ck school of thought and would prefer that Rangers were liquidated am I right in interpreting the that the following three amends would a) permit a newco but would deduct at least 15 points for the following season, and b) then deduct 10 for the two seasons thereafter. And c) that for all three offending years the club would have 75% reduced money and probably no European qualification? Resolution 1 proposes an increase in the sporting sanction (points deduction) on any Club which suffers or is subject to an Insolvency Event from 10 points to the greater of 15 points and 1/3 of the Club’s SPL points in the preceding season. Resolution 2A proposes further sporting sanctions in the event that any Club undergoes an Insolvency Transfer Event (i.e. transfers its share in the SPL to a new company where this occurs because of the insolvency of the transferor) of 10 points in each of two consecutive seasons from the Insolvency Transfer Event. Resolution 2B proposes revisions to the fee payment arrangements i.e. SPL fees to any Club which has undergone an Insolvency Transfer Event will be reduced by 75% in each of three consecutive seasons from the Insolvency Transfer Event.

Possibly not. If there were future insolvency events such as buying Ragers from administarion then liquidating them then re-luanching the Newco into SPL may have a financial impact on the bids as it would happne after the May date in all liklihood. I assume all the bids plan to liquidate unless you are a muppet fan's rep in the Blue Knights consortia. In which case you will never liquidate etc etc.

Although one of the resolution look suspicioulsy worded to allow a Newco into the league via share transfer and thus would help Rangers. "Resolution 2A proposes further sporting sanctions in the event that any Club undergoes an Insolvency Transfer Event (i.e. transfers its share in the SPL to a new company where this occurs because of the insolvency of the transferor) of 10 points in each of two consecutive seasons from the Insolvency Transfer Event."

Looks like the BBC are breaking this story - time for the Vanguard Bears to bury their heads deeper in the sand and picket the BBC again. BBCDouglsFraser : Rapid Vienna, owed >£1m by #Rangers, tells BBC it expects to be paid in full. If not, hints at block on UEFA participation unknown time agomore »36 retweets | 3 replies BBCjsutherland : Rapid Vienna say they will go to UEFA if they don't get the money owed for Nikica Jelavic #Rangersunknown time agomore »25 retweets JaneLewisSport : Rapid Vienna will go to UEFA if Rangers dont pay the money they owe for Nikica Jelavic. They also say they wouldnt b willing 2 accept a CVA. unknown time ago

If you really want to feel sick here is an entry from a Rangers wiki site: "Sir John Ure Primrose, 1st Baronet LL.D (b.1847-d.1924), was the second ever chairman of The Rangers Football Club. He held many other important positions within the city and was active in community life, particularly around the Ibrox area, where he was a founder member of Lodge Pollok No772 and involved in the choir of a local church. Described as a wise, gracious, elegant and charitable man, he held high views on the words 'sportsmanship' and can be said to have made sure this value was installed in everyone connected with the club. He was also particularly enthusiastic in Rangers participation in the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup, and often helped smaller clubs with things such as functions and dinners. His great nephew Bob Wilson played for Wolves, Arsenal and Scotland." I can just about stand all the stuff about Lodges, the hypocritcial cack about sportmanship and the patronising help to the diddy clubs of the day - but Bob Wilson's great-uncle - that's the last straw. Liquidate them now

ET and EBTs Dutch Tax law makes provision for Extraterritorial Employee (ET) ......If an employee qualifies as a so-called extraterritorial employee, his or her employer can reimburse, tax-free, all expenses that qualify as extraterritorial expenses. An extraterritorial employee is an employee who lives abroad and starts working in the Netherlands. The employee must be hired outside the Netherlands by a withholding entity or seconded to a withholding entity and must have a specific expertise that is not or is scarcely available in the Dutch labour market. I'd be interested if any of RFC's Dutch recruits - reportedly at the heart of the EBT issue - meet the above criteria. Did you witness any showing skills scarecly avalaible in the Dutch market.? Van Vossen's missed sitter by any chance?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17667092?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=sportsound "Rangers: Andrew Ellis in legal action over Craig Whyte shares" Andrew Ellis has instructed his lawyers to take legal action against Rangers owner Craig Whyte after claiming he is due a quarter of the club's shares. Ibrox director Ellis says he was promised a 24.9% stake in the Glasgow club by Whyte when he completed his takeover in May. "It certainly will not hold up the sale of the club," insisted Ellis. "I'm suing Craig, not the football club. "I've been trying to sort it out for the last nine or 10 months." Whyte last week revealed that he had himself taken action through the courts to secure his shareholding. But the venture capitalist's right to the whole 85% shareholding he bought for £1 from Sir David Murray is being challenged by his former colleague. "I haven't got anywhere, so I've handed it over to the legal team," said property developer Ellis, who had been involved in a failed takeover bid in 2010 and was appointed a non-executive director by Whyte in January. Administrator Duff and Phelps is poised to name a preferred bidder this week after narrowing the field down to three interested parties. The Blue Knights, led by former Rangers director Paul Murray, American tycoon Bill Miller and a Far East group led by Singapore-based businessman Bill Ng are vying for control. Ng, a 52-year-old businessman with a reported personal wealth of £40m, is chairman of Hougang United Football Club in his homeland. Miller, a 65-year-old vehicle towing company tycoon, was previously involved in a failed stock car league in his homeland.

I stay away from RFC fan stuff - why is this guy so reviled and if he is why is he part of the Blue Knights bid - or is he not? Simple stuff please and if its unpleasant I'd rather not know?

...not anger ( since I support a team that would have benefitted from Sandaza being away from Perth) - and sure as hell not sorrow (because I'd be quite happy to see Rangers scuttled for good) I'm just curious about your shallow argument - the contract was being drafted at the request of your club manager not Craig Whyte.