Big Rangers Administration/Liquidation Thread - All chat here!

[blanco]

I have said i don't want them suspended or expelled...What fan would want that for their club?

From my very first post on this thread i have consistently said Rangers should be made to start again from the SFL 3. They are now starting again and it is not up to me where they start. It is now entirely out of Rangers hands and down to the chairman of the other 11 clubs to make their decision.

This is a once in a life time chance to change Scottish football for the better. It should not be about destroying a club...destroying the game. There have been a lot of hysterics on this thread about Killing them off...Make them suffer....Die Rangers Die. It gets tedious tbh but Scottish football in general is tedious so i suppose it is appropriate in representing our game

This whole thing became tedious long ago, i don't know how you can be bothered explaining yourself daily. Maybe you should go for a red dot record

[No8.]

Fair enough, I'll take that one on the chin.

No problem. It was a fair enough assumption tbh. I know many Rangers fans that would love it. They just see the £££ signs and want to dive right in. The reality is we would be midtable at best and with the money men behind celtic there is a good chance they would leave us behind. Dermott Desmond and the other one behind the scenes..I think he is called something O'Neill...are in the top 10 wealthiest men in British football. They are prudent with their money as they see no gain in Scottish football for them BUT if they were ever to get to England they might loosen the purse strings a little.

Nope Scottish leagues for me

[Unitedlad]

This whole process has been a con , nobody bid against Charles Green so that there was no pushing teh proice up to pay creditors. The figure of £5.5m was just to make sure Duff & Phelps got paid.

Now Rangers newco are free of Tax Liablities the real owners can step forward and buy off Green. They can use Walter Smith to get the fans on their side , and the players to transfer over then use fan power to force Green to sell.

1) David Murray gets away with paying tax on Big Tax Case

2) Craig Whyte a pawn in the game

3) Charles Green , a pawn in the game will make money for his trouble of being the big bad wolf putting Rangers into liquidation

4) Rangers supporting businessmen will own Rangers with no debt and no HMRC liablities from previous ownerships.

Well done to all involved you played a blinder and showed how the Old Firm are more powerful then SPL and SFA.

Maybe the press will blamr Craig Levein when Hampden is empty for the World Cup Qualifers, the SFA better do the right thing and see through this charade.

Just catching up - I reckon this is absolutely spot on. There were murmours of a consortium back at the time of the Blue Knights/Bill Miller bidding war which was said to include some pretty high profile Scottish names, who may well be Wattie, Park and McColl.

I would be extremely surprised if Wattie & Co havent been working/discussing with Charles Green etc in the background the last month or so, manufacturing the exact position that Rangers are in today.

Charles Green has agreed to act as the party that goes through the motions of the CVA and carries out the liquidation and formation of the Newco, and the Scottish consortium then stroll in to take over once the new Rangers are set-up - debt free with no BTC hanging over them. Charles Green makes a few million quid, and the only gamble is whether the other SPL clubs vote the Newco in - which we all know they will.

I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere, but will the revised punishment which the SFA come up with (instead of the 12 month registration embargo) apply to the newco?

[No8.]

This whole thing became tedious long ago, i don't know how you can be bothered explaining yourself daily. Maybe you should go for a red dot record

I have actually gone down dramatically....I think a lot were sympathy greenies after the last few days i have had.

[beermonkey]

I have said i don't want them suspended or expelled...What fan would want that for their club?

From my very first post on this thread i have consistently said Rangers should be made to start again from the SFL 3. They are now starting again and it is not up to me where they start. It is now entirely out of Rangers hands and down to the chairman of the other 11 clubs to make their decision.

This is a once in a life time chance to change Scottish football for the better. It should not be about destroying a club...destroying the game. There have been a lot of hysterics on this thread about Killing them off...Make them suffer....Die Rangers Die. It gets tedious tbh but Scottish football in general is tedious so i suppose it is appropriate in representing our game

Not really, new club could just come out & say we'll start at the bottom cos that's fair.

[stonedsailor]

I have said i don't want them suspended or expelled...What fan would want that for their club?

From my very first post on this thread i have consistently said t'Rangers should be made to start again from the SFL 3. They are now starting again a new club and it is not up to me where they start. It is now entirely out of t'Rangers hands and down to the chairman of the other 11 clubs to make their decision.

This is a once in a life time chance to change Scottish football for the better. It should not be about destroying a club...creating a new club, destroying the game. There have been a lot of hysterics on this thread about Killing them off...Make them suffer....Die Rangers Died. It gets tedious tbh but Scottish football in general is tedious so i suppose it is appropriate in representing our game

Sorted, like I told you it will take a season or three to get used to it, Rangers are dead, t'Rangers have been created in their place.

[No8.]

Not really, new club could just come out & say we'll start at the bottom cos that's fair.

Don't start Mr X. According to him relegating Rangers is a fair punishment as long as the other clubs decide. If Rangers decide to say 'f**k It SFL 3 it is' then it is no punishment at all.

Have i got that correct MrX ?

[Dundee Hibernian]

Here's a simple point:

Media men such as Traynor, Young and many more used the excuse that they are football journalists, not business writers, as their excuse for not exposing more about the goings on at Ibrox.

Yet these same individuals tell us our Scottish football clubs rely on Rangers and their fans for our businesses to survive.

They know so much about finances of clubs they rarely report on, yet missed all of what was happening at Ibrox, where they almost live.

Somebody should be asking them about this.

[No8.]

Sorted, like I told you it will take a season or three to get used to it, Rangers are dead, t'Rangers have been created in their place.

Right and with that i am away for a walk to try and shake this hangover....My Head is bursting and this is not helping!!

[Caff]

I have said i don't want them suspended or expelled...What fan would want that for their club?

From my very first post on this thread i have consistently said Rangers should be made to start again from the SFL 3. They are now starting again and it is not up to me where they start. It is now entirely out of Rangers hands and down to the chairman of the other 11 clubs to make their decision.

This is a once in a life time chance to change Scottish football for the better. It should not be about destroying a club...destroying the game. There have been a lot of hysterics on this thread about Killing them off...Make them suffer....Die Rangers Die. It gets tedious tbh but Scottish football in general is tedious so i suppose it is appropriate in representing our game

I've no idea what the rant above has to do with my post. I was merely pointing out that....

it is pointless discussing something that has still to be ruled on

..is a ridiculous statement to make.

[GreenockRover]

I have said i don't want them suspended or expelled...What fan would want that for their club?

From my very first post on this thread i have consistently said Rangers should be made to start again from the SFL 3. They are now starting again and it is not up to me where they start. It is now entirely out of Rangers hands and down to the chairman of the other 11 clubs to make their decision.

This is a once in a life time chance to change Scottish football for the better. It should not be about destroying a club...destroying the game. There have been a lot of hysterics on this thread about Killing them off...Make them suffer....Die Rangers Die. It gets tedious tbh but Scottish football in general is tedious so i suppose it is appropriate in representing our game

Troglodites exist in EVERY CLUB's fanbase - it is just one of those things you have to accept.... but only up to a point.

The problem with droolers like them is they have a tendency to be more radical (unhinged even), shout louder and be more noticed than the "less active" fans. Sometimes the silence of the moderates gets taken by others as an acceptance of the lunatic fringe and those moderates get swept up in the generality of judgemental finger pointing.

In situations such as this, the moderates need to be equally loud if not louder and more noticeable than the zoomers so that other clubs fans can clearly see that the "majority" are appalled and horrified by these events..... otherwise, silence rapidly gets interpreted as agreement.

The rest as they say, is history - in the case of Newco RFC it is a chance to shed themselves of the parasites that continually give your team in blue such a shocking rep.

[7-2]

Gavin Browne ‏@GavinBrowne77questions about where the Croft info came from - can't reveal my source but I'll happily say it wasn't the Record...

Hmmmmmmmm...

[Florentine_Pogen]

From RTC today

Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:

15/06/2012 at 11:31 am

Good Morning,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls… can I welcome you this morning to a whole new era. A new world, a new dawn… in short a whole new existence.

Let me say at the outset, that the words above are NOT a reference to any New Co that has been formed recently and is now the owner of assets that previously belonged to Rangers PLC, nor is it a reference to a new structure within Scottish Football– although today– 15th June 2012– is the first day since the inception of League football in Scotland that there has been no club called Rangers that can legally claim to have a place within the football league structure.

The New Co has a stadium but no Licence, and Rangers PLC technically has a licence but with no accounts and no ground etc it does not comply with many of the conditions required to maintain that licence. Further. a straight question to Duff & Phelps will confirm that the company that they are in charge of has no intention of playing Association Football today or at any time in the future.

No this new dawn arrived yesterday. In fact if you look back in time you may have caught a glimpse of it arriving in the trailing moments of Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland two nights ago when Jim Traynor inexplicably ended the programme with a call to arms when he suddenly and without warning pronounced that this was a chance for Rangers to be reborn without all the sectarian baggage, a chance to clean the “club” of its past divisive policies, its debts, its tax burden, and effectively its abuse of Scottish football.

It was a comment that struck as slightly out of context at the time but was one I welcomed. For the avoidance of doubt and in the interest of fairness it is only right that I should say that JT has made similar calls in respect of Rangers past practices before, and so it was not a new mantra from him.

However what is new– so blindingly new– is the MSM dissection of the events of yesterday. Don’t get me wrong they did not get everything right, they did not see all the moves nor have they cottoned on to all the circumstances and consequences that were revealed yesterday… but by God what they did do ( at least in parts ) shows that this blog and many other footballing blogs and internet activities have kicked what would have been the standard of sports reporting well into the past…… although whether things remain that way is as yet to be seen.

New media has changed things although some have yet to catch up, wake up nd shape up.

There was criticism ( rightly so in my opinion ) of Charles Green before yesterday, but Thursday morning saw the revelation that Ally McCoist was to be sacked as Green had supposedly revealed to a former Rangers Director that he was secretly planning on booting Ally out.

Now pardon me for being cynical, but this is not much of a secret if you reveal it to a past Rangers Director who must have had some working relationship with Ally, and who is then in possession of information which is explosive and headline grabbing. Green is no dummy– a brash man, maybe an arrogant man, maybe even a brazen carpetbagger– but he is not stupid enough to release such information into the public or private domain in the midst of a takeover and season ticket renewals.

If he did make the comment then he is more of a fool than I took him for, partly because whoever this former Director was has clearly shown to Mr Green and everyone else that he cannot be trusted with sensitive information. Within hours it was in the Daily Record, and hours later Walter Smith, Douglas Park, and Jim McColl go public with an offer to buy the goods that Green has already acquired under contract. Ally– that most media friendly of personalities appears at the requisite meetings but says absolutely nothing! We await his every utterance.

Despite this earth shattering turn of events and the call to Green to stand aside, just ask yourself this: At what time yesterday did you first hear any of the mainstream media use the word “Choreographed”? Throughout late yesterday afternoon and on into the night the word came up time and time again, from numerous contributors. It is clear that certain sections of the media had been briefed as in days of old, provided with information, and given a nod and a wink—- yet they were at pains to not so subtly point out that there was an obvious “pincer movement”– another phrase used more than once— at play and that the McCoist sacking story or McCoist set to quit story was part of one and the same movement as Walter to the rescue story.

Whether, the second part of the story was fully released before the press statement is open to debate, but there were hints that Smith would make an offer before the McCoist revelations.

Perhaps, some in the media felt used yesterday as the dark arts came into play as in days of yore, though this time was met with a little more scepticism and a reluctance just to accept all that was being said.

Last night questions were being asked why didn’t these guys offer before, where have they been and so on– so they are not getting a completely free ride in terms of press.

However, so far the scrutiny of yesterday, what it meant and what it means has not dug nearly deep enough in terms of analysis and comment… and hasn’t scratched the surface in terms of questions asked or to be asked.

So let’s have a look at what can be said and asked this morning as some things are clear.

The first obvious thing is that Jim McColl, Douglas Park, Walter Smith and everyone associated with them were not prepared to save Rangers PLC or its trading history etc from obliteration and ultimate consignment to the History books. They might have wanted to, they might have liked to…. but they were simply not prepared to.

At no time did this conglomeration of a genuinely successful international businessman with a real and accounted for multimillion pound fortune, a very successful car dealer and property man and a former Rangers, EPL and International football manager make any attempt to strike a deal with Administrators, Tax Authorities or Creditors which would salvage the entity that was Rangers PLC. Nothing that they attempted to do yesterday offered any money to the tax man who collects taxes for you and me, offered any money to any of the creditors who traded with the football company in good faith– certainly nothing to any of the other football clubs who have been left high and dry by all previous Rangers management– and perhaps most important of all– nothing whatsoever to the 26,000 sould who made an emotional but financial investment in the fabric of Rangers Football club– be that Dave King with his millions or the wee guy down the road who cashed in his premium bonds to invest in their football club.

No– this conglomeration merely want to buy the assets– the carcass— of what once was Rangers FC.

Now don’t get me wrong, for Park & McColl this is a straight business deal– although I am bemused at the stance of Douglas Park who has allowed his name to be associated with the blue knights consortium from day one. Perhaps he no longer fancies Paul Murray ( he may have good reason ), but for whatever reason he has been portrayed as being at the forefront of an organisation who has constantly and publicly championed the saving of the club by way of CVA.

McColl and Park played no part in bringing about the downfall of Rangers PLC in terms of its financial Armageddon– other than perhaps by remaining among that group who could be described as not so much the quiet men but the silent knights!

These two know accounts and balance sheets inside out. They can read accounts, can see losses as they mount, see expenditure when it is out of control and so on. They know about tax authorities, tax appeals, tax inspections and so on and so forth– yet to my knowledge throughout the entire Murray era– from start to finish– they have never uttered a word of warning or caution.

Despite such silence the tax debt and the creditors are not theirs so why should they pay them? The point is, that with all the assets, business opportunity that Rangers FC presents– the brand, the goodwill, the name, the support and so on– they have clearly taken the business decision not to use those assets and the clubs reputation to raise money for the benefit of creditors or shareholders. Instead they sat back and allowed first Whyte and then Green to come in and scoop the goods.

Green is an unashamed carpet bagger, a fast buck Freddie, a turnaround merchant with football experience who pounces on a situation where people make a mess of a business and where others who would be interested in buying have sat on their hands and done nothing to rescue the situation. He has been allowed by all concerned at Rangers to climb to the top of the castle and literally stare down at the dirty wee rascals below– and that in this instance includes McColl, Park, Kennedy and everyone else.

He will sell– he announced before he bought anything that he would sell. But he is in with some heavy hitters who will sweat the purchasers– which is precisely what happened yesterday.

However, both he and the McColl/Park partnership have still not looked out to sea and caught sight of the Tsunami on the horizon. Nor have the press– or if they have they have not sounded the storm warning as yet.

You see there is an almighty set of investigations coming and the events of yesterday simply saw the start of the biggest one of all. Yes the SPL will look at dual contracts– and will report pretty soon. Yes the committee under Lord Carloway might well suspend or expel any old Rangers of your choosing. Yes the other clubs may block and refuse or regularly condition with penalties any further participation in the SPL, and yes the FTT may well return soon and condemn Rangers past Tax practices and say that the club is liable for £xMillion.

However, by far the biggest wave on the horizon is the one that was announced by HMRC last week when they announced their refusal to accept the CVA and specifically gave the reasoning behind that decision… they do not want to compromise the chase and pursuit of those involved in the tax dodging practices and financial mismanagement of Rangers PLC.

I think they will chase certain individuals who benefited from that scheme. This will include players and former players. It will include Directors and former Directors. Where necessary it will include those deemed to be shadow Directors.

A shadow director is defined in section 741(2) of the Companies Act 1985 as a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company are accustomed to act (although a person is not deemed a shadow director by reason only that the directors act on advice given by him in a professional capacity).

The High Court has said that this means that a governing majority of the board must be accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of the alleged shadow director. The purpose of the legislation is to catch a person who effectively controls the running of the company by controlling the board. Therefore, a person is unlikely to be within the definition of a shadow director if only one or two directors on a board of several directors follow his instructions.

The directors must act on the alleged shadow director’s directions as a matter of regular practice; it must be a regular course of conduct of the directors over a period of time.

A shadow director must declare his interest in any contract or proposed contract with the company at a board meeting.

Any transaction by which the company will acquire from the shadow director, or his business associates or through a connected party, or by which the shadow director will acquire from the company a non-cash asset value of the requisite value (i.e. its value exceeds £100,000 or 10 per cent of the company’s net asset value) must first be approved by an ordinary resolution of the shareholders of the company. If prior shareholder approval is not obtained, the transaction could potentially be unravelled.

And then there is what can be described a s a De Facto director.

A de facto director is a person who performs the functions of a director but who has not been formally appointed as a director. The High Court in Ultraframe reiterated that a de facto director is a person who undertakes functions that should probably only be discharged by a director and who has an equal ability to participate in decision making.

It is unlikely that a person will be a shadow director and a de facto director at the same time, although it will be possible for a person to be a shadow director before becoming a de facto director.

Directors should review the decision-making process of the board on a regular basis, in particular the functions and responsibilities of senior managers, to ensure that they are not accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of non-directors, and to ensure that such senior managers are not de facto directors or shadow directors.

And therein lies the problem for Walter Smith and anyone seeking to employ Walter Smith. The same would apply to Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and anyone else who occupied the managers chair at Rangers FC during the Murray Era.

All but Walter Smith have been named as beneficiaries under the EBT scheme.

Presumably Charles Green ( having offered Smith the Chairmanship ). Douglas Park and Jim McColl have satisfied themselves that Walter Smith was not party to, or a beneficiary under, that scheme and have had assurances to that effect.

This is crucial because the scale of the financial claim that HMRC may have against Directors, shadow Directors may well amount to well over £100Million pounds when you include interest and add on expenses and so on.

The manager of a football club ceased to be simply a guy who picks the players and fields the team a long time ago. Managers now get involved in transfers, salary negotiations, bonus payments and so on. I doubt very much that the Directors of a football club simply decide to go and buy this player or that– they act on the manager’s instructions or recommendations ultimately

The manager will also have a huge say in how he allocates his salary or transfer budget. He will say yes or no to the agreed fees or salary– and then the board will implement the contract and have employees of the company see to the details. The manager plays a crucial part in the chain of command.

Also remember that more than once, Rangers have given someone the title “Director of Football” whether they were formally adopted on to the PLC board or not. Whether there is a titled Director of football or not, someone has carried out the duties of a Director of Football. In fact without someone de facto being the Director of Football a modern football club cannot actually operate and trade.

I don’t know what, where and how Walter Smith was paid in return for his services on behalf of Rangers PLC, but others do and some questions were asked yesterday which were….. let’s say illuminating.

Walter Smith has, at various times, been at the very heart of the operations of Rangers Football Club. His activities, his remuneration and his conduct may well come under scrutiny from various corners in the coming months and years, and it may be that to avoid any possibility of being labelled a shadow or De Facto Director he is going to have to tell all he knows and point to who did what.

If he knew anything about the EBT’s and played any part in massive overspending then he has actively played a part in all the minor shareholders losing their money. He did not speak out about Whyte nor express any great concern about the sale to Whyte when it happened.

He publicly proclaimed after the massive spend on players post Kaunas that everyone could see where the money has been spent– on the park— yet raised no concerns about the fact that some of the players under his charge were being paid by way of EBT nor that perhaps it would be wise to set aside funds for a potential tax liability that had already been claimed by HMRC.

Yet yesterday, this same man fronted a bid for the clubs assets and claimed that none of those involved wanted to make money out of the club. That is hard to stomach as the entire movement yesterday was designed to ensure that this consortium were the only people who COULD DECIDE to make money out of the “club” if Green accepted their bid. As I say no offer for the minor shareholders or the creditors and nothing for any football creditors.

If, however, it were ever shown that Walter Smith gained personal benefit by way of payments through the EBT scheme— then can he not stand accused of misleading everyone. From the footballing authority for whom he worked, the minority shareholders whose assets he was meant to protect, the tax authorities who were deceived, down to his partners who have enough business savvy not to want to go into business with someone who is going to come under huge scrutiny and have their very business integrity questioned and examined? In short, it is entirely possible that Walter Smith might not be able to avoid being deemed a Director ( shadow or otherwise ) of Rangers PLC and therefore carrying legal responsibility for the failure of the club. In short he could be named along with several others as the Nero Knights… those who fiddled while Ibrox , the shareholders, the creditors and Rangers FC burned

Unless of course, McColl and Park are no more than the latest incarnation of the Murray Ethos– the “we will look after ourselves and to hell with everyone else” brigade– an attitude which brought Rangers to its knees in the first place!

If so, then they had better wake up to this new day and this new age, where the internet bampots just happen to comprise of some pretty sharp cookies like RTC, Paul 67 and others who now not only have an audience and easy access to all sorts of expertise on business matters, but who have created a sufficient impact to ensure that the MSM yesterday immediately likened the SMITH/MCCOLL/PARK/MCCOIST movement to a choreographed dance movement.

Perhaps this latest group would be best described as the BOOGIE KNIGHTS and so far having listened to the reaction to their approach from Charles Green they must take the view “Weir Pumped!”.

Either way… there are those among their number who should prepare themselves for Hector the BOGEY man and his dashing big Sergeant !

Jim Traynor made a very public call on the radio— it is time for a complete change. Total, absolute, unqualified and dramatic change. From the Empire to the Republic, where openness transparency accountability, social responsibility, public awareness and inclusion are embraced adopted and actioned.

That is the only way forward for any new Rangers

[LiamDFC]

Here's a simple point:

Media men such as Traynor, Young and many more used the excuse that they are football journalists, not business writers, as their excuse for not exposing more about the goings on at Ibrox.

Yet these same individuals tell us our Scottish football clubs rely on Rangers and their fans for our businesses to survive.

They know so much about finances of clubs they rarely report on, yet missed all of what was happening at Ibrox, where they almost live.

Somebody should be asking them about this.

This is the big game. Perhaps after the Rangers fiasco comes to its natural conclusion we could get rid of a few other dirges on the Scottish game — namely Traynor and co — before focusing the Diddy Death-star upon the shiny emerald stain that is Celtic FC.

[itzdrk]

From RTC today

Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:

15/06/2012 at 11:31 am

Good Morning,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls… can I welcome you this morning to a whole new era. A new world, a new dawn… in short a whole new existence.

Let me say at the outset, that the words above are NOT a reference to any New Co that has been formed recently and is now the owner of assets that previously belonged to Rangers PLC, nor is it a reference to a new structure within Scottish Football– although today– 15th June 2012– is the first day since the inception of League football in Scotland that there has been no club called Rangers that can legally claim to have a place within the football league structure.

The New Co has a stadium but no Licence, and Rangers PLC technically has a licence but with no accounts and no ground etc it does not comply with many of the conditions required to maintain that licence. Further. a straight question to Duff & Phelps will confirm that the company that they are in charge of has no intention of playing Association Football today or at any time in the future.

No this new dawn arrived yesterday. In fact if you look back in time you may have caught a glimpse of it arriving in the trailing moments of Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland two nights ago when Jim Traynor inexplicably ended the programme with a call to arms when he suddenly and without warning pronounced that this was a chance for Rangers to be reborn without all the sectarian baggage, a chance to clean the "club" of its past divisive policies, its debts, its tax burden, and effectively its abuse of Scottish football.

It was a comment that struck as slightly out of context at the time but was one I welcomed. For the avoidance of doubt and in the interest of fairness it is only right that I should say that JT has made similar calls in respect of Rangers past practices before, and so it was not a new mantra from him.

However what is new– so blindingly new– is the MSM dissection of the events of yesterday. Don't get me wrong they did not get everything right, they did not see all the moves nor have they cottoned on to all the circumstances and consequences that were revealed yesterday… but by God what they did do ( at least in parts ) shows that this blog and many other footballing blogs and internet activities have kicked what would have been the standard of sports reporting well into the past…… although whether things remain that way is as yet to be seen.

New media has changed things although some have yet to catch up, wake up nd shape up.

There was criticism ( rightly so in my opinion ) of Charles Green before yesterday, but Thursday morning saw the revelation that Ally McCoist was to be sacked as Green had supposedly revealed to a former Rangers Director that he was secretly planning on booting Ally out.

Now pardon me for being cynical, but this is not much of a secret if you reveal it to a past Rangers Director who must have had some working relationship with Ally, and who is then in possession of information which is explosive and headline grabbing. Green is no dummy– a brash man, maybe an arrogant man, maybe even a brazen carpetbagger– but he is not stupid enough to release such information into the public or private domain in the midst of a takeover and season ticket renewals.

If he did make the comment then he is more of a fool than I took him for, partly because whoever this former Director was has clearly shown to Mr Green and everyone else that he cannot be trusted with sensitive information. Within hours it was in the Daily Record, and hours later Walter Smith, Douglas Park, and Jim McColl go public with an offer to buy the goods that Green has already acquired under contract. Ally– that most media friendly of personalities appears at the requisite meetings but says absolutely nothing! We await his every utterance.

Despite this earth shattering turn of events and the call to Green to stand aside, just ask yourself this: At what time yesterday did you first hear any of the mainstream media use the word "Choreographed"? Throughout late yesterday afternoon and on into the night the word came up time and time again, from numerous contributors. It is clear that certain sections of the media had been briefed as in days of old, provided with information, and given a nod and a wink—- yet they were at pains to not so subtly point out that there was an obvious "pincer movement"– another phrase used more than once— at play and that the McCoist sacking story or McCoist set to quit story was part of one and the same movement as Walter to the rescue story.

Whether, the second part of the story was fully released before the press statement is open to debate, but there were hints that Smith would make an offer before the McCoist revelations.

Perhaps, some in the media felt used yesterday as the dark arts came into play as in days of yore, though this time was met with a little more scepticism and a reluctance just to accept all that was being said.

Last night questions were being asked why didn't these guys offer before, where have they been and so on– so they are not getting a completely free ride in terms of press.

However, so far the scrutiny of yesterday, what it meant and what it means has not dug nearly deep enough in terms of analysis and comment… and hasn't scratched the surface in terms of questions asked or to be asked.

So let's have a look at what can be said and asked this morning as some things are clear.

The first obvious thing is that Jim McColl, Douglas Park, Walter Smith and everyone associated with them were not prepared to save Rangers PLC or its trading history etc from obliteration and ultimate consignment to the History books. They might have wanted to, they might have liked to…. but they were simply not prepared to.

At no time did this conglomeration of a genuinely successful international businessman with a real and accounted for multimillion pound fortune, a very successful car dealer and property man and a former Rangers, EPL and International football manager make any attempt to strike a deal with Administrators, Tax Authorities or Creditors which would salvage the entity that was Rangers PLC. Nothing that they attempted to do yesterday offered any money to the tax man who collects taxes for you and me, offered any money to any of the creditors who traded with the football company in good faith– certainly nothing to any of the other football clubs who have been left high and dry by all previous Rangers management– and perhaps most important of all– nothing whatsoever to the 26,000 sould who made an emotional but financial investment in the fabric of Rangers Football club– be that Dave King with his millions or the wee guy down the road who cashed in his premium bonds to invest in their football club.

No– this conglomeration merely want to buy the assets– the carcass— of what once was Rangers FC.

Now don't get me wrong, for Park & McColl this is a straight business deal– although I am bemused at the stance of Douglas Park who has allowed his name to be associated with the blue knights consortium from day one. Perhaps he no longer fancies Paul Murray ( he may have good reason ), but for whatever reason he has been portrayed as being at the forefront of an organisation who has constantly and publicly championed the saving of the club by way of CVA.

McColl and Park played no part in bringing about the downfall of Rangers PLC in terms of its financial Armageddon– other than perhaps by remaining among that group who could be described as not so much the quiet men but the silent knights!

These two know accounts and balance sheets inside out. They can read accounts, can see losses as they mount, see expenditure when it is out of control and so on. They know about tax authorities, tax appeals, tax inspections and so on and so forth– yet to my knowledge throughout the entire Murray era– from start to finish– they have never uttered a word of warning or caution.

Despite such silence the tax debt and the creditors are not theirs so why should they pay them? The point is, that with all the assets, business opportunity that Rangers FC presents– the brand, the goodwill, the name, the support and so on– they have clearly taken the business decision not to use those assets and the clubs reputation to raise money for the benefit of creditors or shareholders. Instead they sat back and allowed first Whyte and then Green to come in and scoop the goods.

Green is an unashamed carpet bagger, a fast buck Freddie, a turnaround merchant with football experience who pounces on a situation where people make a mess of a business and where others who would be interested in buying have sat on their hands and done nothing to rescue the situation. He has been allowed by all concerned at Rangers to climb to the top of the castle and literally stare down at the dirty wee rascals below– and that in this instance includes McColl, Park, Kennedy and everyone else.

He will sell– he announced before he bought anything that he would sell. But he is in with some heavy hitters who will sweat the purchasers– which is precisely what happened yesterday.

However, both he and the McColl/Park partnership have still not looked out to sea and caught sight of the Tsunami on the horizon. Nor have the press– or if they have they have not sounded the storm warning as yet.

You see there is an almighty set of investigations coming and the events of yesterday simply saw the start of the biggest one of all. Yes the SPL will look at dual contracts– and will report pretty soon. Yes the committee under Lord Carloway might well suspend or expel any old Rangers of your choosing. Yes the other clubs may block and refuse or regularly condition with penalties any further participation in the SPL, and yes the FTT may well return soon and condemn Rangers past Tax practices and say that the club is liable for £xMillion.

However, by far the biggest wave on the horizon is the one that was announced by HMRC last week when they announced their refusal to accept the CVA and specifically gave the reasoning behind that decision… they do not want to compromise the chase and pursuit of those involved in the tax dodging practices and financial mismanagement of Rangers PLC.

I think they will chase certain individuals who benefited from that scheme. This will include players and former players. It will include Directors and former Directors. Where necessary it will include those deemed to be shadow Directors.

A shadow director is defined in section 741(2) of the Companies Act 1985 as a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company are accustomed to act (although a person is not deemed a shadow director by reason only that the directors act on advice given by him in a professional capacity).

The High Court has said that this means that a governing majority of the board must be accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of the alleged shadow director. The purpose of the legislation is to catch a person who effectively controls the running of the company by controlling the board. Therefore, a person is unlikely to be within the definition of a shadow director if only one or two directors on a board of several directors follow his instructions.

The directors must act on the alleged shadow director's directions as a matter of regular practice; it must be a regular course of conduct of the directors over a period of time.

A shadow director must declare his interest in any contract or proposed contract with the company at a board meeting.

Any transaction by which the company will acquire from the shadow director, or his business associates or through a connected party, or by which the shadow director will acquire from the company a non-cash asset value of the requisite value (i.e. its value exceeds £100,000 or 10 per cent of the company's net asset value) must first be approved by an ordinary resolution of the shareholders of the company. If prior shareholder approval is not obtained, the transaction could potentially be unravelled.

And then there is what can be described a s a De Facto director.

A de facto director is a person who performs the functions of a director but who has not been formally appointed as a director. The High Court in Ultraframe reiterated that a de facto director is a person who undertakes functions that should probably only be discharged by a director and who has an equal ability to participate in decision making.

It is unlikely that a person will be a shadow director and a de facto director at the same time, although it will be possible for a person to be a shadow director before becoming a de facto director.

Directors should review the decision-making process of the board on a regular basis, in particular the functions and responsibilities of senior managers, to ensure that they are not accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of non-directors, and to ensure that such senior managers are not de facto directors or shadow directors.

And therein lies the problem for Walter Smith and anyone seeking to employ Walter Smith. The same would apply to Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and anyone else who occupied the managers chair at Rangers FC during the Murray Era.

All but Walter Smith have been named as beneficiaries under the EBT scheme.

Presumably Charles Green ( having offered Smith the Chairmanship ). Douglas Park and Jim McColl have satisfied themselves that Walter Smith was not party to, or a beneficiary under, that scheme and have had assurances to that effect.

This is crucial because the scale of the financial claim that HMRC may have against Directors, shadow Directors may well amount to well over £100Million pounds when you include interest and add on expenses and so on.

The manager of a football club ceased to be simply a guy who picks the players and fields the team a long time ago. Managers now get involved in transfers, salary negotiations, bonus payments and so on. I doubt very much that the Directors of a football club simply decide to go and buy this player or that– they act on the manager's instructions or recommendations ultimately

The manager will also have a huge say in how he allocates his salary or transfer budget. He will say yes or no to the agreed fees or salary– and then the board will implement the contract and have employees of the company see to the details. The manager plays a crucial part in the chain of command.

Also remember that more than once, Rangers have given someone the title "Director of Football" whether they were formally adopted on to the PLC board or not. Whether there is a titled Director of football or not, someone has carried out the duties of a Director of Football. In fact without someone de facto being the Director of Football a modern football club cannot actually operate and trade.

I don't know what, where and how Walter Smith was paid in return for his services on behalf of Rangers PLC, but others do and some questions were asked yesterday which were….. let's say illuminating.

Walter Smith has, at various times, been at the very heart of the operations of Rangers Football Club. His activities, his remuneration and his conduct may well come under scrutiny from various corners in the coming months and years, and it may be that to avoid any possibility of being labelled a shadow or De Facto Director he is going to have to tell all he knows and point to who did what.

If he knew anything about the EBT's and played any part in massive overspending then he has actively played a part in all the minor shareholders losing their money. He did not speak out about Whyte nor express any great concern about the sale to Whyte when it happened.

He publicly proclaimed after the massive spend on players post Kaunas that everyone could see where the money has been spent– on the park— yet raised no concerns about the fact that some of the players under his charge were being paid by way of EBT nor that perhaps it would be wise to set aside funds for a potential tax liability that had already been claimed by HMRC.

Yet yesterday, this same man fronted a bid for the clubs assets and claimed that none of those involved wanted to make money out of the club. That is hard to stomach as the entire movement yesterday was designed to ensure that this consortium were the only people who COULD DECIDE to make money out of the "club" if Green accepted their bid. As I say no offer for the minor shareholders or the creditors and nothing for any football creditors.

If, however, it were ever shown that Walter Smith gained personal benefit by way of payments through the EBT scheme— then can he not stand accused of misleading everyone. From the footballing authority for whom he worked, the minority shareholders whose assets he was meant to protect, the tax authorities who were deceived, down to his partners who have enough business savvy not to want to go into business with someone who is going to come under huge scrutiny and have their very business integrity questioned and examined? In short, it is entirely possible that Walter Smith might not be able to avoid being deemed a Director ( shadow or otherwise ) of Rangers PLC and therefore carrying legal responsibility for the failure of the club. In short he could be named along with several others as the Nero Knights… those who fiddled while Ibrox , the shareholders, the creditors and Rangers FC burned

Unless of course, McColl and Park are no more than the latest incarnation of the Murray Ethos– the "we will look after ourselves and to hell with everyone else" brigade– an attitude which brought Rangers to its knees in the first place!

If so, then they had better wake up to this new day and this new age, where the internet bampots just happen to comprise of some pretty sharp cookies like RTC, Paul 67 and others who now not only have an audience and easy access to all sorts of expertise on business matters, but who have created a sufficient impact to ensure that the MSM yesterday immediately likened the SMITH/MCCOLL/PARK/MCCOIST movement to a choreographed dance movement.

Perhaps this latest group would be best described as the BOOGIE KNIGHTS and so far having listened to the reaction to their approach from Charles Green they must take the view "Weir Pumped!".

Either way… there are those among their number who should prepare themselves for Hector the BOGEY man and his dashing big Sergeant !

Jim Traynor made a very public call on the radio— it is time for a complete change. Total, absolute, unqualified and dramatic change. From the Empire to the Republic, where openness transparency accountability, social responsibility, public awareness and inclusion are embraced adopted and actioned.

That is the only way forward for any new Rangers

[Broken Algorithms]

Aye shite would Rangers newco come along and forget all their sectarian bullshit! We've been bigoted in the past, hired bigoted employees, we've cheated our way throughout the last decade to numerous titles and cups through tax-evasion, we've cheated the taxman, but everything is fine. Rangers newco are filled with nice happy people who would be more than willing to embrace all walks of life including Irish catholics in society? Up to our knees in blood, no, no no, you misunderstand, we'll be up to our knees in Guinness as we accept those in Scotland with an Irish catholic heritage!

[xbl]

For me, there were two key points from that RTC article. The second one is actually of less relevance.

However, both he and the McColl/Park partnership have still not looked out to sea and caught sight of the Tsunami on the horizon. Nor have the press– or if they have they have not sounded the storm warning as yet.

It goes on to outline HMRC action against directors etc. This is of relevance to Murray, Walter Smith, Whyte etc. but doesn't concern Rangers, and doesn't effect Ranger's the newco. In fact, the blog specifically mentions that Park and McColl have no involvement in this, and neither does Green. So the key thrust of the article is action against those formerly associated with Rangers NOT the future of Rangers itself. They try and drag Walter Smith in, but he's clearly just the front man in any potential deal.

No, for me, the first point is much more interesting...

Now don't get me wrong, for Park & McColl this is a straight business deal...These two know accounts and balance sheets inside out. They can read accounts, can see losses as they mount, see expenditure when it is out of control and so on. They know about tax authorities, tax appeals, tax inspections and so on and so forth– yet to my knowledge throughout the entire Murray era– from start to finish– they have never uttered a word of warning or caution.

Despite such silence the tax debt and the creditors are not theirs so why should they pay them? The point is, that with all the assets, business opportunity that Rangers FC presents– the brand, the goodwill, the name, the support and so on– they have clearly taken the business decision not to use those assets and the clubs reputation to raise money for the benefit of creditors or shareholders. Instead they sat back and allowed first Whyte and then Green to come in and scoop the goods.

Green is an unashamed carpet bagger, a fast buck Freddie, a turnaround merchant with football experience who pounces on a situation where people make a mess of a business and where others who would be interested in buying have sat on their hands and done nothing to rescue the situation. He has been allowed by all concerned at Rangers to climb to the top of the castle and literally stare down at the dirty wee rascals below– and that in this instance includes McColl, Park, Kennedy and everyone else.

He will sell– he announced before he bought anything that he would sell. But he is in with some heavy hitters who will sweat the purchasers– which is precisely what happened yesterday.

This for me is interesting going forward. These guys, assuming they are serious, have prepped the media, they know the way things work up here inside out, and they will know how to make Green sweat. Assuming these guys are serious, and the fact that Walter Smith is involves suggests to me that it is, then Green is going to be in for a tougher time than he realises IMO.

Edited to add, if they want the club, they'll get it, and for less than Green thinks he will be able to get...

Edited June 15, 2012 by xbl

[ForzaDundee]

From RTC today

Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:

15/06/2012 at 11:31 am

Good Morning,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls… can I welcome you this morning to a whole new era. A new world, a new dawn… in short a whole new existence.

Let me say at the outset, that the words above are NOT a reference to any New Co that has been formed recently and is now the owner of assets that previously belonged to Rangers PLC, nor is it a reference to a new structure within Scottish Football– although today– 15th June 2012– is the first day since the inception of League football in Scotland that there has been no club called Rangers that can legally claim to have a place within the football league structure.

The New Co has a stadium but no Licence, and Rangers PLC technically has a licence but with no accounts and no ground etc it does not comply with many of the conditions required to maintain that licence. Further. a straight question to Duff & Phelps will confirm that the company that they are in charge of has no intention of playing Association Football today or at any time in the future.

No this new dawn arrived yesterday. In fact if you look back in time you may have caught a glimpse of it arriving in the trailing moments of Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland two nights ago when Jim Traynor inexplicably ended the programme with a call to arms when he suddenly and without warning pronounced that this was a chance for Rangers to be reborn without all the sectarian baggage, a chance to clean the "club" of its past divisive policies, its debts, its tax burden, and effectively its abuse of Scottish football.

It was a comment that struck as slightly out of context at the time but was one I welcomed. For the avoidance of doubt and in the interest of fairness it is only right that I should say that JT has made similar calls in respect of Rangers past practices before, and so it was not a new mantra from him.

However what is new– so blindingly new– is the MSM dissection of the events of yesterday. Don't get me wrong they did not get everything right, they did not see all the moves nor have they cottoned on to all the circumstances and consequences that were revealed yesterday… but by God what they did do ( at least in parts ) shows that this blog and many other footballing blogs and internet activities have kicked what would have been the standard of sports reporting well into the past…… although whether things remain that way is as yet to be seen.

New media has changed things although some have yet to catch up, wake up nd shape up.

There was criticism ( rightly so in my opinion ) of Charles Green before yesterday, but Thursday morning saw the revelation that Ally McCoist was to be sacked as Green had supposedly revealed to a former Rangers Director that he was secretly planning on booting Ally out.

Now pardon me for being cynical, but this is not much of a secret if you reveal it to a past Rangers Director who must have had some working relationship with Ally, and who is then in possession of information which is explosive and headline grabbing. Green is no dummy– a brash man, maybe an arrogant man, maybe even a brazen carpetbagger– but he is not stupid enough to release such information into the public or private domain in the midst of a takeover and season ticket renewals.

If he did make the comment then he is more of a fool than I took him for, partly because whoever this former Director was has clearly shown to Mr Green and everyone else that he cannot be trusted with sensitive information. Within hours it was in the Daily Record, and hours later Walter Smith, Douglas Park, and Jim McColl go public with an offer to buy the goods that Green has already acquired under contract. Ally– that most media friendly of personalities appears at the requisite meetings but says absolutely nothing! We await his every utterance.

Despite this earth shattering turn of events and the call to Green to stand aside, just ask yourself this: At what time yesterday did you first hear any of the mainstream media use the word "Choreographed"? Throughout late yesterday afternoon and on into the night the word came up time and time again, from numerous contributors. It is clear that certain sections of the media had been briefed as in days of old, provided with information, and given a nod and a wink—- yet they were at pains to not so subtly point out that there was an obvious "pincer movement"– another phrase used more than once— at play and that the McCoist sacking story or McCoist set to quit story was part of one and the same movement as Walter to the rescue story.

Whether, the second part of the story was fully released before the press statement is open to debate, but there were hints that Smith would make an offer before the McCoist revelations.

Perhaps, some in the media felt used yesterday as the dark arts came into play as in days of yore, though this time was met with a little more scepticism and a reluctance just to accept all that was being said.

Last night questions were being asked why didn't these guys offer before, where have they been and so on– so they are not getting a completely free ride in terms of press.

However, so far the scrutiny of yesterday, what it meant and what it means has not dug nearly deep enough in terms of analysis and comment… and hasn't scratched the surface in terms of questions asked or to be asked.

So let's have a look at what can be said and asked this morning as some things are clear.

The first obvious thing is that Jim McColl, Douglas Park, Walter Smith and everyone associated with them were not prepared to save Rangers PLC or its trading history etc from obliteration and ultimate consignment to the History books. They might have wanted to, they might have liked to…. but they were simply not prepared to.

At no time did this conglomeration of a genuinely successful international businessman with a real and accounted for multimillion pound fortune, a very successful car dealer and property man and a former Rangers, EPL and International football manager make any attempt to strike a deal with Administrators, Tax Authorities or Creditors which would salvage the entity that was Rangers PLC. Nothing that they attempted to do yesterday offered any money to the tax man who collects taxes for you and me, offered any money to any of the creditors who traded with the football company in good faith– certainly nothing to any of the other football clubs who have been left high and dry by all previous Rangers management– and perhaps most important of all– nothing whatsoever to the 26,000 sould who made an emotional but financial investment in the fabric of Rangers Football club– be that Dave King with his millions or the wee guy down the road who cashed in his premium bonds to invest in their football club.

No– this conglomeration merely want to buy the assets– the carcass— of what once was Rangers FC.

Now don't get me wrong, for Park & McColl this is a straight business deal– although I am bemused at the stance of Douglas Park who has allowed his name to be associated with the blue knights consortium from day one. Perhaps he no longer fancies Paul Murray ( he may have good reason ), but for whatever reason he has been portrayed as being at the forefront of an organisation who has constantly and publicly championed the saving of the club by way of CVA.

McColl and Park played no part in bringing about the downfall of Rangers PLC in terms of its financial Armageddon– other than perhaps by remaining among that group who could be described as not so much the quiet men but the silent knights!

These two know accounts and balance sheets inside out. They can read accounts, can see losses as they mount, see expenditure when it is out of control and so on. They know about tax authorities, tax appeals, tax inspections and so on and so forth– yet to my knowledge throughout the entire Murray era– from start to finish– they have never uttered a word of warning or caution.

Despite such silence the tax debt and the creditors are not theirs so why should they pay them? The point is, that with all the assets, business opportunity that Rangers FC presents– the brand, the goodwill, the name, the support and so on– they have clearly taken the business decision not to use those assets and the clubs reputation to raise money for the benefit of creditors or shareholders. Instead they sat back and allowed first Whyte and then Green to come in and scoop the goods.

Green is an unashamed carpet bagger, a fast buck Freddie, a turnaround merchant with football experience who pounces on a situation where people make a mess of a business and where others who would be interested in buying have sat on their hands and done nothing to rescue the situation. He has been allowed by all concerned at Rangers to climb to the top of the castle and literally stare down at the dirty wee rascals below– and that in this instance includes McColl, Park, Kennedy and everyone else.

He will sell– he announced before he bought anything that he would sell. But he is in with some heavy hitters who will sweat the purchasers– which is precisely what happened yesterday.

However, both he and the McColl/Park partnership have still not looked out to sea and caught sight of the Tsunami on the horizon. Nor have the press– or if they have they have not sounded the storm warning as yet.

You see there is an almighty set of investigations coming and the events of yesterday simply saw the start of the biggest one of all. Yes the SPL will look at dual contracts– and will report pretty soon. Yes the committee under Lord Carloway might well suspend or expel any old Rangers of your choosing. Yes the other clubs may block and refuse or regularly condition with penalties any further participation in the SPL, and yes the FTT may well return soon and condemn Rangers past Tax practices and say that the club is liable for £xMillion.

However, by far the biggest wave on the horizon is the one that was announced by HMRC last week when they announced their refusal to accept the CVA and specifically gave the reasoning behind that decision… they do not want to compromise the chase and pursuit of those involved in the tax dodging practices and financial mismanagement of Rangers PLC.

I think they will chase certain individuals who benefited from that scheme. This will include players and former players. It will include Directors and former Directors. Where necessary it will include those deemed to be shadow Directors.

A shadow director is defined in section 741(2) of the Companies Act 1985 as a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company are accustomed to act (although a person is not deemed a shadow director by reason only that the directors act on advice given by him in a professional capacity).

The High Court has said that this means that a governing majority of the board must be accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of the alleged shadow director. The purpose of the legislation is to catch a person who effectively controls the running of the company by controlling the board. Therefore, a person is unlikely to be within the definition of a shadow director if only one or two directors on a board of several directors follow his instructions.

The directors must act on the alleged shadow director's directions as a matter of regular practice; it must be a regular course of conduct of the directors over a period of time.

A shadow director must declare his interest in any contract or proposed contract with the company at a board meeting.

Any transaction by which the company will acquire from the shadow director, or his business associates or through a connected party, or by which the shadow director will acquire from the company a non-cash asset value of the requisite value (i.e. its value exceeds £100,000 or 10 per cent of the company's net asset value) must first be approved by an ordinary resolution of the shareholders of the company. If prior shareholder approval is not obtained, the transaction could potentially be unravelled.

And then there is what can be described a s a De Facto director.

A de facto director is a person who performs the functions of a director but who has not been formally appointed as a director. The High Court in Ultraframe reiterated that a de facto director is a person who undertakes functions that should probably only be discharged by a director and who has an equal ability to participate in decision making.

It is unlikely that a person will be a shadow director and a de facto director at the same time, although it will be possible for a person to be a shadow director before becoming a de facto director.

Directors should review the decision-making process of the board on a regular basis, in particular the functions and responsibilities of senior managers, to ensure that they are not accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of non-directors, and to ensure that such senior managers are not de facto directors or shadow directors.

And therein lies the problem for Walter Smith and anyone seeking to employ Walter Smith. The same would apply to Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and anyone else who occupied the managers chair at Rangers FC during the Murray Era.

All but Walter Smith have been named as beneficiaries under the EBT scheme.

Presumably Charles Green ( having offered Smith the Chairmanship ). Douglas Park and Jim McColl have satisfied themselves that Walter Smith was not party to, or a beneficiary under, that scheme and have had assurances to that effect.

This is crucial because the scale of the financial claim that HMRC may have against Directors, shadow Directors may well amount to well over £100Million pounds when you include interest and add on expenses and so on.

The manager of a football club ceased to be simply a guy who picks the players and fields the team a long time ago. Managers now get involved in transfers, salary negotiations, bonus payments and so on. I doubt very much that the Directors of a football club simply decide to go and buy this player or that– they act on the manager's instructions or recommendations ultimately

The manager will also have a huge say in how he allocates his salary or transfer budget. He will say yes or no to the agreed fees or salary– and then the board will implement the contract and have employees of the company see to the details. The manager plays a crucial part in the chain of command.

Also remember that more than once, Rangers have given someone the title "Director of Football" whether they were formally adopted on to the PLC board or not. Whether there is a titled Director of football or not, someone has carried out the duties of a Director of Football. In fact without someone de facto being the Director of Football a modern football club cannot actually operate and trade.

I don't know what, where and how Walter Smith was paid in return for his services on behalf of Rangers PLC, but others do and some questions were asked yesterday which were….. let's say illuminating.

Walter Smith has, at various times, been at the very heart of the operations of Rangers Football Club. His activities, his remuneration and his conduct may well come under scrutiny from various corners in the coming months and years, and it may be that to avoid any possibility of being labelled a shadow or De Facto Director he is going to have to tell all he knows and point to who did what.

If he knew anything about the EBT's and played any part in massive overspending then he has actively played a part in all the minor shareholders losing their money. He did not speak out about Whyte nor express any great concern about the sale to Whyte when it happened.

He publicly proclaimed after the massive spend on players post Kaunas that everyone could see where the money has been spent– on the park— yet raised no concerns about the fact that some of the players under his charge were being paid by way of EBT nor that perhaps it would be wise to set aside funds for a potential tax liability that had already been claimed by HMRC.

Yet yesterday, this same man fronted a bid for the clubs assets and claimed that none of those involved wanted to make money out of the club. That is hard to stomach as the entire movement yesterday was designed to ensure that this consortium were the only people who COULD DECIDE to make money out of the "club" if Green accepted their bid. As I say no offer for the minor shareholders or the creditors and nothing for any football creditors.

If, however, it were ever shown that Walter Smith gained personal benefit by way of payments through the EBT scheme— then can he not stand accused of misleading everyone. From the footballing authority for whom he worked, the minority shareholders whose assets he was meant to protect, the tax authorities who were deceived, down to his partners who have enough business savvy not to want to go into business with someone who is going to come under huge scrutiny and have their very business integrity questioned and examined? In short, it is entirely possible that Walter Smith might not be able to avoid being deemed a Director ( shadow or otherwise ) of Rangers PLC and therefore carrying legal responsibility for the failure of the club. In short he could be named along with several others as the Nero Knights… those who fiddled while Ibrox , the shareholders, the creditors and Rangers FC burned

Unless of course, McColl and Park are no more than the latest incarnation of the Murray Ethos– the "we will look after ourselves and to hell with everyone else" brigade– an attitude which brought Rangers to its knees in the first place!

If so, then they had better wake up to this new day and this new age, where the internet bampots just happen to comprise of some pretty sharp cookies like RTC, Paul 67 and others who now not only have an audience and easy access to all sorts of expertise on business matters, but who have created a sufficient impact to ensure that the MSM yesterday immediately likened the SMITH/MCCOLL/PARK/MCCOIST movement to a choreographed dance movement.

Perhaps this latest group would be best described as the BOOGIE KNIGHTS and so far having listened to the reaction to their approach from Charles Green they must take the view "Weir Pumped!".

Either way… there are those among their number who should prepare themselves for Hector the BOGEY man and his dashing big Sergeant !

Jim Traynor made a very public call on the radio— it is time for a complete change. Total, absolute, unqualified and dramatic change. From the Empire to the Republic, where openness transparency accountability, social responsibility, public awareness and inclusion are embraced adopted and actioned.

That is the only way forward for any new Rangers

tl;dr

[cyderspaceman]

I love that the main talking points following both programmes include

"I thought Tom English would look different"

and

"Jim Spence was wearing a snappy suit"

Did you miss all the sexist references to Tracy Campbell-Hynd?

I realise all remarks were in the best possible taste.

[Sting777]

Dont know if its been posted but pretty good article in The Sun by Bill Leckie!! I am all for the bit right at the end. Let Newco play Sellick 38 times a season in their own wee league and let the rest of us get on with it!!!

http://www.thescotti...conditions.html

Edited June 15, 2012 by Sting777