Michael Johnston said: “Rangers, the club, is much more than just the corporate entity or people who own it. The newco situation has never arisen before and it isn’t yet on the agenda. So there are a lot of issues to be resolved. If the CVA doesn’t succeed then, looking at it from a legal standpoint as a solicitor, I’d say it’s not going to make any great difference to the creditors. The Green consortium is going to pay the same amount of money whether it’s a CVA or newco exit, whereby they buy the assets from the administrators. I believe a contract has been entered into whereby the same amount will be paid either way. So you better ask yourself at some point, ‘How much should the club be punished going forward for errors of judgment from people in the past? Rangers suffered a 10-point penalty when they went into administration. They have been refused a UEFA licence by the SFA so although they finished second in the league they won’t play in the Champions League. They have also had a transfer embargo imposed by the SFA for a year. So they are three very significant penalties. Anyone who takes over the club is going to have to deal with those consequences. Whether there should be more penalties, which will have a further effect on the club and new owners who are blameless, is a difficult issue to balance.” Amazing aint it? If I did not know better I would guess that these were the words of a man who is actually employed by Rangers FC and not the Chairman of an SPL club which has no connection at all with Rangers.. In his desperate attempt to justify the way his vote will go when it comes to deciding whether or not Rangers 2.0 are allowed entry into the SPL he makes some startling arguments. Firstly he may be correct that a CVA or a Liquidation event will really be the same when it comes to settling outstanding bills/monies owed, but that's not really the point is it? In effect what he is saying is that the Creditors are getting screwed anyway so "No biggie". What a lovely sentiment, he seems to forget that several SPL clubs are owed money they will never see, so he's allright Jack as Killie are not owed anything. He "believes a contract has been entered into whereby the same amount will be paid either way"?? Where did he get this information? It seems strange that the Chairman of Kilmarnock knows this but Rangers fans dont, in fact it seems more than strange, it reeks to be honest. It seems that negotiations are already underway and the chairmen of selected clubs are being fed information in an effort to get them on Rangers' side. He then goes on to ask "How much should the club be punished going forward for errors of judgment from people in the past?" Well that question could come straight from Minty towers itself, so biased, so skewked is it in it's relationship to the facts at hand. We are not talking about "Errors of Judgement", we are talking about potential fraud or Tax evasion, all of which benefitted Rangers, cheating to gain an unfair advantage would be closer to the truth. Next he tells us that Rangers have been "refused a UEFA licence by the SFA" and that the transfer embargo and a 10 point penalty are "three very significant penalties". Absolutely unbelieveable stuff. You can tell he's a lawyer when he starts pretending that "Punishments" and "Penalties" are the same thing. Rangers - lest he has forgotten - were not "refused a UEFA licence by the SFA" as a "punishment" or even a "Penalty", this was because Rangers breached UEFA's own rules. If he seriously thinks that a 10 Point penalty and a one year signing embargo are sufficient punishments for writing off over £100m worth of debt then he is a bigger fool than I thought. He is a ****ing disgrace.
i guess he is just looking after his own club - dont like the man but im not sure i would be doing anything different in his shoes i am, however, morally bankrupt and not an excellent guide for character
He's next to do what rangers are doing and wants to make sure the punishments don't harm his club, in a nutshell.
The guy is chairman of an SPL club and he is a lawyer Is he a disgrace because he has his own opinion and is not frightened to speak it? If he had said Ibrox should be demolished then he would be seen as some kind of hero.
"You have got to be very careful not to come in too heavily with penalties and points deductions or financial penalties going forward which actually put people off investing in that club and trying to make it healthy, After all, it's not the new owners who have done the damage, it is the previous owners". Rangers tried this argument with the SFA and it was thrown out...twice. Johnston thinks differently but is still (like Rangers) 100% wrong.
Must read mark hately column with pish like that. Punish us but not in a way that actually punishes us. Typical lawyer, no morals.
how abut this instead.... every rangers fan has to wear nipple clamps for a month, chains attached, and on the end a pitbull straining at the lead controlled by a celtic fan from easterhouse and we call it evens?
Old Russy on the beel again Mr Johnstone is saying that Rangers have been punished 3 times already, I know you mhutants want to continually punish us forever with continuous sanctions because that's the only way you can beat us, but that's not fair on us now, is it? "rey bettur keep punishun ra buns so we cin kuntinyoo tae cullect taintit wans"
I will never be surprised to hear a SPL Chairman speaking in favour of helping Rangers. Our own club is probably the only club to stand up to Rangers to try to achieve fair play. The remaining clubs bend over backwards to help them. M'well haven't tried to play against for two seasons. The killie's lay down in the final game of the season in May 2011. Hearts rested top players a week earlier against them. Not only are the clubs and referees groomed to help Rangers but also our First Minister and several other leading Scottish politicians. In Football Neil Doncaster has been similarly groomed. Its apparent that ethics an fair play doesn't play any role in Scottish football. Not now and not ever.
Rangers have cheated for last 15 years by playing to their own rules , they should be punished for the next 15 years .
Should Rangers cease to exist in their current form, then they should apply to enter the Scottish Football League at the lowest level. Just like any new member to a competition has to do. If they are given a fast track into the top flight, then that SHOULD come with some form of sanction as payment for the express ticket to get there. I know most Rangers fans have said that they would prefer to start in Div 3 and work back to the SPL, which IMO is the honorable thing to do. Since a NewCo wont have a Uefa license for 3 years anyway, why not just work your way up during this time. I think this whole sorry saga could turn into a turning point for Scottish Football. (no i wouldnt be thinking this way if it was Celtic, before you ask) Rangers suffer a few years of rebuilding the club (lets say for arguments sake it takes them 5 yrs to get back to title challenge strength). In this time, yes Celtic will PROBABLY walk the title, Hearts/Hibs/Dundee Utd/Aberdeen/Motherwell all fighting for second place (and a Champs League spot, depending on co-efficients). All clubs knowing that knock Celtic out of the cups (not that hard based on this year) and they have a real strong chance of silverware. When was the last season that ANY other non O/F club could put serious expectations on winning something, before a ball was kicked? This may encourage chairmen to open the check book a little further and hopefully encourage younger players to stay put for a bit longer. Overall it makes the league a little more competitive. Celtic will not spend if they dont have too, so will probably weaken the team, which will also help the other clubs get closer. So maybe in a few years the title wont be a foregone conclusion. Similar thing happened back in the early 80s, then in the 90s you had Aberdeen and Motherwell challenging Rangers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18170360 I wonder what Mr johnston would say to these 12 players who have just lost there jobs. Doesn't seem fair that one club is punished for obeying the rules and keeping their finances in order while the other gets rewarded with entry straight back into the spl for its reckless behaviour, which was done on purpose. Dunfermline should be given re-entry into the spl and those players would get there jobs back.
