SFA in the spotlight as Green and Whyte charges are laid out

There wasn’t much detail coming out of the High Court in Edinburgh today but what did emerge must be worrying for the SFA.

In the summer of 2012 after lengthy discussions temporary membership was granted to Sevco Scotland- the club formed by Charles Green.

A background check on the big ‘anded Yorkshireman would raise alarm among any group of supporters, for the guardians of the Scottish game to be duped by his sweet talking and promises is alarming.

Providing the best coverage from Edinburgh was James Doleman who summed up the three key areas of the trial, among them is: “The second set of charges relate to allegations of a conspiracy between Whyte, Whitehouse, Clark and Charles Green to place RFC in administration and then, after appointing Duff and Phelps as administrators acquiring the assets of the business for a sum significantly below the market value using a company, Sevco 5088 as a vehicle.

“This, the prosecution say deprived the company’s creditors of money that should have been due to them. Greens consortium, the Crown said, paid Duff and Phelps a £200,000 “exclusivity fee,” of which £137,500 of which was refunded by Craig Whyte. Green is also charged with misleading investors and others about Whyte’s role in the transaction.”

On April 23 the SFA announced: “Under Articles 94.1 and 95, the Tribunal expelled Craig Whyte for life from any participation in Association Football in Scotland.”

Three months later it wasn’t difficult to piece together the links between Mr Green and Mr Whyte with the former billionaire appointing Duff & Phelps as administrators. The Manchester based company then sold Ibrox Stadium and the state-of-the-art Murray Park to Mr Green for a knock-down fee of £5.5m.

Wary of the criticism that had followed their hands off approach to Mr Whyte the SFA were involved in extensive talks with Mr Green to ensure that everything was squeaky clean.

With the clock ticking down towards the Ramsdens Cup tie at Brechin the SFA were convinced that the man from Yorkshire was the real deal. A name change from Sevco 5088 to Sevco Scotland would surely have been explained.

On Friday July 27 the SFA announced: “The Scottish FA has received all necessary information and documentation from Sevco Scotland Ltd, including details of the company structure, shareholders, financial projections and business plan.

“Sevco Scotland Ltd has agreed to accept all conditions relating to RFC (IA)’s charges of bringing the game into disrepute, namely the 12-month transfer embargo, beginning at 0.01a.m on 1st September 2012, and payment of all outstanding fines and costs.

“Sevco Scotland Ltd has agreed to settle all outstanding football debts to other members of the Scottish FA plus clubs under the jurisdiction of other Football Associations.”

Stewart Regan added: “We are pleased for everyone involved in this process, and indeed the whole of Scottish football, that a conclusion has been reached.

“There were a number of complex and challenging issues involved but, primarily, the Scottish FA had to be satisfied that the new owners of Rangers would operate in the best interests of the club, its fans and Scottish football in general.

“We have reached agreement on all terms and conditions attached to the transfer of membership and are able to grant conditional membership, ahead of the formal transfer of the SPL share a week today.

“This will allow the season to kick-off as planned this weekend and I am sure there will be many who will join me in welcoming the start of the new football season in Scotland.”

On July 17 the SFA specifically commented on the role of Clark and Whitehouse with Duff & Phelps.

In a Q & A feature they stated: “The Scottish FA has received private and confidential documentation from Sevco Scotland Ltd relating to the above (Fit and Proper test). We have asked Sevco to provide further supplementary information and will consider that information this week.

“Under new Scottish FA rules, it is a requirement of the outgoing club directors to conduct a full investigation under the Fit and Proper Guidelines. Given Rangers FC’s insolvency event, it has been incumbent on the administrators, Duff and Phelps, to carry out the necessary checks on the proposed new directors, as well as our own investigations.”

It’ll be sometime before the connection between Mr Whyte and Mr Green is confirmed in court or otherwise.

Other events are likely to push the current club into administration before a verdict is given sparing the SFA some embarrassment.

From this distance it looks like tough decisions should have been taken in 2012, if they had four sets of season ticket money may have been spared.

A club from Ibrox or called Rangers 2013 would almost certainly have emerged, lived within it’s means and worked their way through the football structure without the controversy that has dogged Sevco for over three seasons.

Hopefully lessons have been learned from the fiasco of 2012. With another Armageddon brewing tough decisions will have to be taken to keep Scottish football out of the high court.