The Worst Piece Of Propaganda Yet

If we had a Post of the Day section, this would be today's winner

 

Cossy in believing Neil Lennon

http://dailymail.co.uk/lennon-believes-celts-can-win-champions-league

 

Never A*Penalty!
******50 Votes

The Scotsman today is carrying a remarkable interview with former Rangers and Scotland coach Walter Smith. It is worth noting in a couple of respects.

This is the first interview (of which I am aware) that Walter Smith has given since withdrawing his short-lived bid to purchase Rangers. Since that time, Alex Thompson of Channel 4 News has been trying to get Smith to answer a few simple questions:

- Did you receive payment from any of the EBTs Rangers / Murray Group established to make tax-free payments to employees?

- If so, when did you receive these payments?

- If you received such payments, were they significantly after your employment with the club ended?

- If you received payments long after your employment ended, for what purpose were they made?

Of course, I have no way of knowing if the journalist, Alex Gordon, has ever heard of Alex Thompson or follows my twitter feed.*Scottish journalist doing research? After recent reports that 83 Rangers employees had received tax-free payments through the EBT, it would be a fairly obvious line of questioning. That another former manager, Graeme Souness, received a series of payments through the EBT scheme ten years after he resigned also raises some awkward questions. If Mr. Smith did not receive any payments, or if such payments are easily explained, I am sure that he would have welcomed the opportunity to clear any misunderstandings. Oh well. back to you Mr. Thompson.

Walter Smith’s interview can be seen as part of the PR deluge of terrifying stories about the great disaster that will befall Scottish football if Sevco 5088 Ltd is not allowed to enter a team in the Scottish Football League system with instant promotion to the first rather than the third division. This past weekend has seen many such articles and we should get used to more shrieking hysterics as we approach some kind of decision point. (Such is the*bureaucratic incompetence within the organisations that run Scottish football, no one is exactly sure when a final vote might take place).

Mr. Smith might be a genius at constructing*anti-futbol defences (I do admire his pragmatic approach to coaching), but he is either being disingenuous in this article or is struggling to grasp the administrative details. Smith is reported as saying: “Ten years ago Motherwell went in to administration. Four years ago Gretna went defunct. So, surely the SFA should have put sanctions in place then? That’s why I am saying they have been negligent. Now we’ve got a free-for-all around Rangers and everyone is having a kick at them”

This is a great example of the type of factually incorrect statements that the Scottish media is fond of regurgitating. As the old cliche says- an untruth repeated often enough is eventually accepted as fact. So let us refresh Mr. Smith’s memory.

The SPL introduced the 10-point penalty for going into administration during a season, or being in administration at the start of season, for the*beginning*of the 2004/05 campaign. Motherwell (and Dundee) were already in administration when the new rule came into effect. Both clubs were able to conclude CVAs*fast enough to avoid the 10-point penalties and *to continue the life of the existing legal entities. The same rules that were introduced then have been applied to Rangers. The SFA are a bumbling shambles, but let us assail them for their actual mistakes. It is not the SFA or SPL’s*fault that HMRC want to pursue investigations of what happened at Ibrox in the last 11 years and would not agree to a CVA.

The case of Gretna is actually similar to what happened to Rangers FC. Gretna owed its creditors (including HMRC) more than it could pay and the club went into administration in 2008. Unable to fund a CVA that was acceptable, Gretna FC was liquidated. That was the end of the Gretna story. Supporters formed a new club, Gretna 2008 FC and were admitted to the East of Scotland Football League. (Those of us who would accept a Sevco 5088 Ltd team entering the third division are actually still offering this club a huge advantage over every other newly formed team).*If only Gretna had Duff & Phelps on the case to promote fictions such as the one that says that a liquidated company lives on so long as its assets are sold as a job-lot rather than individually.

Mr. Smith appears to be deliberately trying to confuse us and drum up sympathy for the new club. The only punishment that has been administered in the Rangers saga was to the old Rangers FC for experiencing an insolvency event. The rule that applied this penalty has been on the SPL books for eight years! (The SFA does not need to have a separate punishment).

As yet, there have been no penalties applied for the oldco Rangers FC pocketing the millions of pounds that were deducted from players’ wages to be paid in tax while other clubs paid their dues.

As yet, there have been no penalties applied for oldco Rangers paying the majority of their players through a mechanism that is, at best, in violation of SFA and SPL rules. I expect that when the First Tier Tribunal (Tax) returns with its findings in Rangers’ appeal of the Big Tax Case, that use of an illegal tax strategy will be added to the list of offences. If found to be using the EBT scheme illegally, it will prove that Rangers obtained the benefit of paying its players with money it did not have. How can Smith complain about penalties that have not been levied yet?

We all know this stuff already, as I am sure, Mr. Smith does too. There is a studied ignorance that has become fashionable in certain circles of late. They pretend to not understand the facts. In this case, Smith is trying to drum up support for the notion that people have been “kicking Rangers while they are down” and “haven’t we been punished enough”?

Let us be fully aware of the truth: The Rangers Football Club plc has not yet been punished AT ALL for its actions of the last eleven years.

There is a simple way for Sevco 5088 Ltd to avoid all talk of sanctions and punishment. Apply for entry to the Scottish Football League third division without claiming that a transfer of the oldco’s SPL membership has taken place. By not forming any ties to the old club, Sevco 5088 Ltd can avoid any historical liabilities. My guess is that all concerned- the SFA, the SPL, and the clubs would breathe a sigh of relief and would be delighted to draw a line under this disaster. However, time is not on their side. If Sevco 5088 Ltd is to field a team of any description next season, an acceptable solution must be found quickly.

 

Traynor's blog today absolutely beggars belief so one sided is it.



“For months now there has been a savagery”.
“the lust to tear and shred one club. It's as though a century of hatred and probably jealousy have erupted”.
“The trouble is too many men with influence have been working not for the good of the game but to selfish agendas”.
“they are inflaming and prolonging an agonisingly painful and damaging period”.
“Those who are consumed by petty matters and the settling of old, ancient scores”
“downright spitefulness “
“our rabid rush to condemn and stone Rangers”
“forget the ones who can't see beyond their own hatred - willing to see what they believe to be justice done no matter the cost or consequences?”
“Morals and integrity are fine but we must all be sure we can cope with the fall out”
“too many clubs saw Rangers' insolvency as an opportunity to promote their own agendas”
“allowing them to invade the moral high ground for a short while”
"They have the power to deny this new club any chance of life but they'll be condemning themselves to a miserable, empty future. Without the millions a healthy Rangers and their fans help generate, Scottish football will decline rapidly. All credibility at home and abroad will be lost.
because some want to settle old scores with Rangers"


An utter disgrace.

 

Graham Spiers tweeted this morning that congratulations were due to Jim Delahunt for being the first person to suggest that their might be no "Rangers" playing anywhere next season.

 

I'm not ****ing ginger, okay!!!

 

And still no one inside ibrox has come out and apologised for the whole sorry mess they have got scottish football in. Yes it was pish before. We all accepted it and for the best part got on with it. However as soon as Rangers we're put into admin then liquidated its gone downhill fast.
How can any bear sit on here or any other forum and say that scottish football should die because their not in it? you gave up the right to be in it as soon as you lot started cheating.
why should this newco get preferential treatment over any other small club that wants to join the 3rd div? Because they were once rangers? Get a grip! as for the media i wouldn't believe the date if those idiots told me. The sfa need to grow a set of balls and take the correct measures not ones that suit them and to hell with the rest.

 

**** the newco.

 

Here, have a banana.

please log in to view this image

 

how nice of you Jim, but no thanks. You might need the banana for erm more practical reasons

 

Totally - some Celtic fans suggested that some "internet bampots" beat him to it by several months but Spiers rubbished this as they were "Celtic fans slavishly praying, hoping against hope for the death of Rangers. Instead, I mean kosher insight"

 

bus ****er

 

Bus AND train ****er

Zonecard CSC (aw my travel to Edinburgh gets paid for by the work, though)

 

Does that involve lubing up the exhaust and giving it a good stroking?

 

Very rarely I agree with you and on this occasion I do.

The restructuring of the game may help in the long run but it's being done for the wrong reasons. Change happens in Scottish football at a glacial rate but this has provided a catalyst to speed things along.

Rangers should start in Division 3.

Not many Celtic fans have stated that this will adversely affect their club. To me it's obvious that it will have a significant effect on Celtic's spending on players for the next few seasons until Rangers are again in a position to challenge. I do not believe that any other club will mount a serious challenge to Celtic until Rangers get into the SPL.

 

Rangers have done nothing wrong
Ron Scott – The Voice of Experience – Sunday Post - July1 2012

"The way the Scottish football authorities have allowed the Rangers scenario to unravel is nothing short of disgraceful.

The whole sorry episode should have been nipped in the bud.

Instead we're now in the situation where it's not just the survival of Rangers that's at stake, but the Scottish game itself. As the fans and clubs become hysterical about how the Light Blues should be punished, it's worth remembering the Ibrox club has done nothing unlawful.

Employment Benefit Trusts are legal. That's why HMRC wants to close this particular loophole. Informed sources suggest, at worst, Rangers will receive a fine, and there appears no danger of having to pay back-tax on the system Sir David Murray implemented.

The SFA then decided to impose severe sanctions on Rangers after awakening to the fact that Craig Whyte was not a fit and proper person to own the club. Yet the independent Ibrox board set up to look into Whyte while he was still negotiating with Murray decided themselves that [he] wasn't fit and proper to own the club.

They told the SFA that at least fifteen months ago,but the powers-that-be decided in their wisdom to take no action at that time. Now the situation is like a runaway train full of explosives that's about to be derailed and blow up the whole of Scottish football.


Let's face the obvious here. Not even Celtc will be able to sustain their present level for long without Rangers. So if they end up having to make cuts, how is the rest of Scottish football going to survive? There are already whispers that other SPL clubs will be forced into administration.

There is even talk of part-time football at the highest level, never mind the First Division.
It's all very well to bleat on about sporting integrity. But why risk the entire future of Scottish football especially when the facts clearly show Rangers have done nothing wrong.

At the end of the day, the main villan of the piece remains Whyte, with Murray a close second. It's totally wrong to run the risk of losing Rangers altogether and sending down the entire game with them. It is especially wrong when the facts show there is absolutely no need for the authorities to treat Rangers the way they appear hell-bent on doing."

 

How many bookmarked articles do you have, Russ?

Some good points made there by Mr Scott though