What will it take for President Ogilvie to walk away?
For years we’ve heard the tale of how wonderful Ogilvie is when it comes to paperwork, his incredible knowledge of the rule book and understanding of the game from grassroots through to FIFA level.
That myth was well and truly dismissed yesterday by Lord Nimmo Smith’s enquiry into undeclared payments to Rangers players and officials, including Ogilvie, for over a decade with the SFA President at the heart of the matter for a number of those years.
Nimmo Smith’s report states: “Mr Ogilvie dealt with all aspects of football administration at Rangers until late 2002 or early 2003”, and “assumed that these (payments) were made in respect of the players’ playing football”.
The report added: “It should be noted that Mr Ogilvie was a member of the board of directors who approved the statutory accounts of Oldco which disclosed very substantial payments made under EBT arrangements.
“There is insufficient evidence before us to enable us to draw any conclusion as to exactly how the senior management of Oldco came to the conclusion that the EBT arrangements did not require to be disclosed to the SPL or the SFA.
“In our view, the apparent assumption both that the side-letter arrangements were entirely discretionary, and that they did not form part of any player’s contractual entitlement, was seriously misconceived.
“There is no evidence that the Board of Directors of Oldco took any steps to obtain proper external legal or accountancy advice to the Board as to the risks inherent in agreeing to pay players through the EBT arrangements without disclosure to the football authorities.
“The directors of Oldco must bear a heavy responsibility for this. While there is no question of dishonesty, individual or corporate, we nevertheless take the view that the nondisclosure must be regarded as deliberate, in the sense that a decision was taken that the side-letters need not be or should not be disclosed.
“No steps were taken to check, even on a hypothetical basis, the validity of that assumption with the SPL or the SFA.”
“It is the board of directors of Oldco as a company, as distinct from the football management or players of Rangers FC as a club, which appears to us to bear the responsibility for the breaches of the relevant rules.”
Ogilvie stood down from Rangers in 2005 as Martin Bain rose to the top taking over many of his roles.
Since 2003 Andrew Dickson has been head of football administration at both Rangers and Sevco, Dickson was named by the BBC in May 2012 as having received a £33,000 EBT.
While the scale of Lord Nimmo Smith’s punishment is laughable for serial rule breaches lasting over a decade the continuing involvement of Ogilvie and Dickson in Scottish football probably says even more than applying a fine to a club in liquidation.
As he communicates daily with his president Stewart Regan really ought to be concerned about his next career move, Ogilvie’s continued involvement makes Scottish football, and in particular it’s chief executive no favours.
CLICK HERE for the BBC list of EBT’S.
CLICK HERE for Lennon: Some good players may be leaving
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