The Herald has become the first Scottish newspaper to cover the report into the SFA recently published by The Offshore Game.
Despite numerous detailed allegations about the conduct of the SFA the report seems to have been embargoed by most media outlets who are normally keen to jump at any excuse to have a pop at Stewart Regan and co.
The report by The Offshore Game centres on the Nimmo Smith Report which resulted in a £250,000 fine, still unpaid, for over a decade of fielding players that weren’t properly registered with the SFA and SPL. The justification seems to be that the EBT scheme was deemed legal at the time, since the report HMRC have won their case on appeal with one further appeal underway.
Additionally the report highlights how the SFA awarded Rangers (IL) a license to play in 2011/12 UEFA competitions despite having an overdue tax payable to HMRC at the 30 June 2011 deadline. The Herald report also covers the wee tax case which has never been touched by the football authorities involving illegal payments made to Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer.
Taking the argument to the SFA rather than Rangers (IL) seems to be a sensible way of directing the story. While fans of the Ibrox club rush to hang onto trophies the truth is that if the SFA and SPL had applied the rules of the game Dave Murray wouldn’t have been able to run up a potential tax bill that made the club toxic to everyone except a former billionaire from Motherwell.
Neil Cameron of The Herald contacted George Turner from the Tax Justice Network and published the answers and arguments that go to the heart of how the SFA govern Scottish football.
Turner explains: “The report focuses on the way the SFA handled the financial crisis at Rangers and the regulatory questions which arose from that. We look at two specific things: the Lord Nimmo Smith inquiry, which looked into rulebreaking by Rangers Football Club, and the grant of a licence to play in Europe in the 2011/12 season.
“In both those instances, we think the SFA are shown to be having behaved poorly. It is about the importance of good regulations.”
Turner adds: “An inquiry has to be set up by the SFA about how it regulates the game, considering the instances raised in this report and by many other people. There also should be an independent inquiry about how appropriate the controls and procedures the SFA have are in light of what happened in the past.
“It’s very clear from the decisions that they (Lord Nimmo Smith inquiry) were only looking at the tax avoidance scheme which became known as the Big Tax Case, which is still in the courts. They came to the conclusion that, because it was legal at the time, there was no competitive advantage to Rangers and, therefore, they could not be deducted points or suffer any sporting sanctions
“However, we know that Rangers were operating another tax avoidance scheme, which is known popularly as the Discounted Option Scheme (Small Tax Case).
“Now, it may well be if they had known everything at the end of the process, that they might have come to the same conclusion, but you do need to have a process people can believe in because, at the end of the day, you are trying to come to a judgement about an issue many people have a different view on.
“It is really important that, at the end of the process, as many people as possible know the truth even if they disagree with it.”
On his twitter account Cameron has announced that he will be following the article up which seems certain to involve getting a reply from the SFA. With The Herald covering the issue the twitter excuses of the BBC and others will be much harder to justify.
Once the story is turned to how the SFA failed to protect Rangers (IL) it is likely to gain momentum rather than the narrative to date.
