Former Rangers owner David Murray has issued a statement denying that the club cheated their way to titles under his stewardship.
The man who sold the club to Craig Whyte for £1 has had his legacy tarnished by the administration and liquidation of the club and is held in contempt by many supporters.
Murray’s statements during his 21 year reign at Ibrox are legendary with his claim that he’s spend a tenner for every fiver that Celtic spent coming back top haunt the club.
HMRC are awaiting a verdict on the use of EBT”s that could see the club hit with a total bill of upto £70m with the SPL also investigating the issue.
Rangers claim that the EBT’s were discretionary payments and not contractual but all payments to players must be recorded in the contracts registered with the SFA and SPL.
Five Rangers titles are under threat if players were being made undisclosed payments with Murray setting out his marker as the SPL investigation is handed to an independent committee.
“During my stewardship of Rangers no rules were breached or circumvented and I reject and resent any suggestion that anything was done which amounted to cheating,” the former Ibrox chief claimed.
“I cannot be anything other than angered at the suggestion Rangers should be stripped of titles or other competition victories.
“It would appear that the SPL is once again seeking to invest itself with a power of retrospective penalty beyond that prescribed in its own rules.”
Rangers start the league season at Peterhead on Saturday in the Irn Bru Division 3 with Murray’s dream of bringing the European Cup to Govan a distant memory.
He added: ”I have decided to issue this statement because of the concerns which I have at the continuing attempts to inflict further punishment on Rangers Football Club.
“While the “Newco” Rangers was rejected for membership of the SPL on the publicly stated grounds of sporting integrity, I would question whether this was the underlying motive for many who took this decision.
“I am not totally convinced by the explanation that they were reacting to the opinions of the supporters of their individual clubs.
“This, in my opinion, is a suitable answer to cover many other agendas.
“I applaud the decision of the SFL to accept Rangers for membership and respect the decision of the member clubs of the SFL to admit Rangers to its Third Division.
“The problems at Rangers have brought no credit to Scottish football and are a tragedy for the club and for all those connected with it and who support it.
“They cannot be condoned and it is appropriate that there should be a proportionate penalty for the club for the events over the last year.
“However, I urge all those connected with Scottish football to bring this sad affair to a close – now. Bayoneting the wounded is neither justified nor proportionate.
“Nevertheless, I cannot be anything other than angered at the suggestion that Rangers should be stripped of titles or other competition victories.
“This suggestion is an insult to the staff and players who achieved these successes thanks to skill, hard work and commitment and for no other reason.
“It is also an insult to the thousands of Rangers supporters who spent their hard-earned money to support the club they love.
“I hope that those presently in charge of Rangers show sufficient resolve when it comes to resisting this move, despite the incentives being offered to do otherwise.”
Murray had originally hoped to get upwards of £30m for his 85% stake in the club but after three years trying to find a buyer claimed that he was duped into selling to Whyte for £1.
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Just one question to Sir Moonbeams~~~
DID YOU PAY ANY TAX ON THE 6MILLION “YOU” PERSONALLY RECEIVED FROM THE EBT
thank-you…. TheCelticWay.net
How can this proclaimed business man claim he was duped when he knew exactly what he was doing in getting rid of that poisoned chalice to anyone desperate enough to take it off his hands. He knew full well Hectors net was closing in fast on him like a noose round his neck.
Still, if he says that EBT’s didn’t constitute illegal payments then no doubt the forces of darkness will jump on the bandwagon and once again proclaim him as the Messiah.
‘Over the last year ‘ its incredible. These guys dont realise its more than a decades worth of uhm uncertainty.
Issues such as why Souness recieved a payment years after leaving the club need to be answered. I would not question Souness’ integrity as he has always been a humble upstanding citizen. It was nice and just a coincedence he signed Tugay for Blackburn around the same time.
The reaper’s on his way’ there’s debt and tax to pay.hmrc will get the keys because of your fraud with ebt’s. Now your up to knee’s alright .but when you look down you’ll see that its shite.GIRUY.
Who wheeled the Lumley-botherer (copyright-Paul67) out of his dotage retirement for yet more mealymouthed rentaquotes?
“Bayonetting the wounded?!?”
No, it is called justifiable retrospective punishment for years of financial doping. Yes, Sir Minty, the trouble that Rangers are getting into (and let’s be fair they have NOT been punished yet) is all due to you gargantuan out of control ego that wanted to leave it’s imprint on the world of Scottish football and beyond. Well, Mr Moonbeams, you certainly have left a legacy that will NEVER be forgotten.
The best of this messy & hilarious saga is yet to come, beleive me. Tick-tock, tick-tock………
Poor Murray. No matter how much he pleads his innocence, its there for all to see. He’s lied, cheated and manipulated the media, but he went too far and stole from the taxman.
Sir Minty claims to be innocent of any cheating, yet he calls for the current owners of “ragers” to “resist” the investigation or any attempts to take their titles.
Well, Mr Murray, if your innocent of any cheating, why does anyone need to resist the investigation? If your innocent, like you say, all you have to do is cooperate with the investigation and wait for the decision.
GLAD TAE SEE HE`S STILL AROUND,UNLIKE WHITE,WHO `HE` DUPED INTO BUYING IT FOR A QUID,GONE BUT FONDLY REMEMBERED.TOO LITTLE TOO LATE,THOUGH I`M GLAD HE`S STILL AROUND-TO BE PUNISHED FOR PURSUING WHAT they NEVER ATTAINED;AND NEVER WILL.
HH+G.B. NEIL LENNON.YCTsw.div.
So Murray FINALLY sticks his nose in! this is a long time coming, I was beginning to think he was in exile. I think this outburst is drawn from fear. The seat his bum’s on is starting to get squeaky as he could actually go to jail if this is carried out properly.
Squealing like a pig already and the BDO haven’t even started on you yet. Wait until all those LEG ENDS get tax bills that YOU said didn’t need to be paid LOL
Taking away tainted titles….not even a start
Walter – Walter where are you….Wa l t e r r r r r r rrrr we will find you
I see he’s following Charles Greens party line in claiming they got put in Div.3 because of other “Agendas”. Really sad & nasty & appealing to the knuckle draggers that follow their stinking team.
Wat bout these poor Huns that supported their cheating team …at the end of the day it was u Murray that cheated your own fans by lettin them support a myth …u cheated all of us it doesn’t matter wether it was Celtic fans or St Mirren .St Johnstone or any other supporters put their money into their team while u knew all along about your EBT . Get a grip u deserve to get these titles and cups stripped of after the pain u put all us through u stupid Hun
More neck than ET
I’m sick to death with all this diverting and deflection.There’s only one way to sort this out.
Let’s have them all on the Jeremy Kyle show to do a lie detector test.(Only joking.)
Dear Minty I know you might not read this personally, but you’ll have a lackie checking out how your lies are being portrayed by the Internet bampots.
Who would I have a claim against for ten years of season ticket money I’ve paid while the dual contracts have been in play, would that be oldco newco SFA or possibly all three.
That’s possibly hundreds of thousands of claims if of course dual contracts are proven.
When the Tax Man and Liquidators go and ask the players questions, I doubt they and their representatives will agree with Minty! They will soon be dragging a few skeletons out.
Billy Dodds has already stated that his EBT was paid after tax. So someone’s telling porkies, I tend to believe Dodds rather than the snake oil salesman.
This ain’t going to end well for some.
Please remember that if found guilty as charged the removal of titles is only a consequence. If I was and Rangers fan I would be more worried about any Tangiable punishment that is on its way. Only if found guilty of course…..
Look as celtic fans lets just wait an see what punishment if any they get we know the msm are going to make them out to be the victims afterall they still are the establishments club. But lets keep the crowd at paradise above 40k the club needs us all and we know we need the club its more than a club to us we are a family hail hail