You won’t find Neil Lennon joining the ‘they won them on the pitch’ tripe being peddled by certain apologists.
No one at Celtic suffered more for paying Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs than the Irishman as he battled for glory with opponents whose earnings were topped up by massive EBT payments.
In midweek justice finally arrived when HMRC were declared the victors in The Big Tax Case with Lennon and every player, manager and supporter involved in the game suffering between 1999 and 2010.
There is no clamour for Alex McLeish, Alex Rae, Barry Ferguson, Neil McCann, Stevie Thompson and Billy Dodds to hand back the medals they won at great cost to Her Majesty. As they celebrated their victories and spent their bonuses schools, soldiers and hospitals went without badly needed equipment.
Those that benefited can hold onto their medals, a knock at the door from Hector is more likely that Neil Doncaster sending out a batch of jiffy bags.
Lennon gave everything on the pitch and in the dug out to be successful with 40% plus of his earnings going straight to Her Majesty. To stop him from winning David Murray recruited players he couldn’t afford with the promise of millions put into trusts. Ferguson, McLeish, Stefan Klos and Murray all had millions deposited out of reach from HMRC, other minor figures like McCann and Rae ‘only’ had £500,000 loans.
Without those shameful loans Murray would have been fielding a team of journeymen similar to the stars recruited by Mark Warburton during the summer, cast offs from Wigan, Swindon and Hearts up against Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert, Bobo Balde, Shunsuke Nakamura.
Lennon the player then had to work within a limited budget as a manager. Tax and national insurance was paid on the salaries to Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper and Fraser Forster.
Speaking about the SPL commission looking into the side letters issued to Rangers employees, in July 2012 the former Celtic boss said: “I will see what the commission finds and, if they are found to have broken the rules, then they should be stripped of their titles.
“It will not change what has gone on in the past but I suppose there will be a sort of moral victory in that respect.
“It is not going to change my life now, by any stretch of the imagination, but it would be good to be changed for historical reference.
“I can’t get that title or feeling back and it won’t make a huge dent on my life from here on in. It would be a lot better on my CV, though. I wouldn’t want the medals, just the recognition. That would be enough.”
Asked about the consequences of more than a decade of Ibrox cheating he suggested: “It might have cost players contracts, bonuses, managers their jobs and might have relegated teams.
“There are so many ripple effects to it. Again, you go back to the integrity of the game, was it there? If not, then it should be investigated. That is all we ask for. We are in the game for the glory and then the money comes with it.
“The more successful you are, the more money you get but when you are a kid growing up all you want to do is to play football for a big club and to win things. That never changes.”
As well as Celtic Ayr United, Queen of the South, Falkirk, Motherwell, Dundee United and Aberdeen lost cup finals to Rangers (IL) while they were cheating HMRC although every club that played a cup tie did so on an uneven playing field.
Sorry Mr Lennon and all who make any kind of concession to those who cheat. Cheats should not win. Allowing them any kind of concession eg keep medals, titles etc totally negates that principle. Modifying a principle, I would suggest ridicules the integrity of sport in this case and I would, on a personal level have seriously consider whether I could continue following a team who would not take serious action against cheating. What would be the point! Rangers have been for generations a disgrace to Scottish football. The role of the Scottish press both in the past and present has been a disgrace. The ex Record reporter/editor a fine example of this.
First.y, Lenny said this in July 2012, not recently. What you think he said isn’t what Lenny was saying at all! He wants the title recognition which is deserved. He doesn’t need the bling!
You are confusing one with the other. The medal is a symbol, just like a stolen poppy for example. Wearing it without feeling it is false. Its like the star above the club crest on the jersey which represents being champions of europe. We have one. One which we earned. Other clubs who have won and been champions of europe wear the number of stars to reflect the number of times won. But the old rangers who were never champions of europe, wear a bunch of stars above their crest. This doesn’t fool anyone except their own fans. The new club also wear these. Now as a three year old club, how do you think they fool anyone with so many stars? Only their own fans, just like the old club. Don’t misread Lenny. I agree with his sentiment of July 2012.
totally agree “sevco are a disgrace to the game “and should be stripped of everything they won by cheating ” also the whole club should be disbanded and made redundant “scottish football does not need sevco “or theyre bigoted sectarian filth racist fans .
Well said.
NL has to maintain the high road, and he has. He got his point across just stating the facts. Well done.
Hail, Hail!!
Lenny. you will always be a hero to me,great player fine manager and what you had to put up with will always shame this so called tolerant society, absolutley disgusting. They must not retain these titles or cups.When i think that the genius of Stein was not awarded a knighthood and that so called business leaders were, it turns my stomach. They cheated Scottish supporters the Scottish public and the SFA how can they look at themselves in the mirror. H.H.
Turn it up. Chris Sutton…poor comment…you were spouting all sorts when the Celts lost the league on that final day…..and now you work for the daily rag,,,,it’s they won it on the pitch , crap….tell you what Mr Sutton…if video celts paid you a salary,,, bet it would go something like…we wus robbed of our titles..there needs to be punishment,,,,,the fans don’t forget…..
about ten years ago, HMRC tried to sequestrate me for a poxy £7500
They tried to take my house off of me coz they said I owed £7500 for supposed rent I was paid on a property I had in Wales. I borrowed money off my dad and paid it off coz I shat it. I then submitted a few years worth of self assessments and they ended up owing me 2,500 plus my £7500 back. It took me six months to get my money back off the them.
Every ex Rangers player that received an EBT, I want taken to task. Even Steven Smith for his £7500 EBT.
If not for me then for the face painter thats owed £75
The treatment of Neil was deplorable In so called tolerant Scotland even Muslim agitators get kid glove treatment from the Police .
Thank you Neil for your service.
Gone but never forgotten Hail Hail
Title stripping no less should follow with an asterisk in the history books showing why, end of.
The Bears are just about to be hit with a tsunami of bad headlines when the trials kick off.
I would suggest that the EBT scandal, the non paying of fines etc will be small potatos when the truth outs.
From the issue of the 2011 European licence to SDM, Whyte and Green’s dealings with a not fit for purpose football authority.
It’s taken years to sort out the EBT mess, we have only just found out that the fine levied post LNS has not been paid, also just found out about King’s suspended sentence in SA for contempt of court.
These issues will be the tip of the iceberg.
JJ is blogging that not only did Ogilvie have a vote on the F&P status of King but that CO was the conduit for Al, paperwork passed to the LNS enquiry.
Whit the f***. If this is true then the ball is well and truly burst.
The man who we were told had removed himself from all deliberations Rangers had a vote and also decided what paperwork was fit for LNS to view.
I have my doubts about this because not even the SFA could be that stupid………surely not!
Next thing you know we will find out that he handled the paperwork for Rangers 2011 European licence……….! Might have to wait a couple of weeks for this one tbc, when the Craigster presses play on his tape recorder.