A second complaint against Jim Spence by supporters of the clubs from Ibrox has been dismissed- this time by the BBC.
The Dundee based broadcaster sparked fury during a Sportsound broadcast when he said: “John McLelland, who was chairman of the old club, some people will tell you the club, well the club that died, possibly coming back in terms of the new chairman.”
Almost as soon as the sentence had been broadcast social media turned blue with outraged fans of the Ibrox clubs expressing their fury.
With Rangers Football Club in the process of being liquidated the gullible and easily influenced have been fed a diet of half truths to retain the incredible claim that a football club cannot die.
Several BBC broadcasters have been at the forefront of passing on that yarn but the principled Spence refused to flow with the tide that hundreds of creditors and millions of pounds could be dumped while deluded supporters were patted on the back and told that they had suffered enough.
The BBC Trust was swamped by over 400 complaints about Spence’s comments but fortunately the London based organisation were able to cut through the continuity myth.
Responding to the complaints a statement from the BBC;s Editorial Complaints Unit said: “The Committee did not believe that evidence had been presented that would lead it to conclude that the output had breached the editorial guidelines.
“The Committee therefore decided that this appeal did not qualify to proceed for consideration.”
Yesterday it was revealed that a similar complaint against Spence, this time writing in the Dundee based Courier, was dismissed by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
Defending Spence’s view of illegal payments and financial doping during the EBT years the IPSO stated: “Rangers had benefited in terms of player recruitment from the adoption of a scheme designed to minimise the payment of tax. The Court of Session had subsequently found the club was not entitled to operate this scheme lawfully without paying the higher rate of tax due.
“The Committee noted the arguments put forward by the complainant, including the opinion of a QC specialising in tax law. However, the article in question was a broad-ranging opinion piece on Scottish football, not a technical legal analysis of the Court of Session’s decision.
“The article did not say that the activities of Rangers were criminal or fraudulent in nature; it said that the club had gained an advantage from the use of Employee Benefit Trusts which was described variously as “illegal” and “unlawful”. In that sense, the term “illegal” was not inaccurate; there was no breach of Clause 1.
“The author expressed his opinion that Rangers were benefiting from “a scheme that was not open to other clubs, because it was unlawful.”
With Sevco expected to clinch promotion to the SPFL over the next week the BBC have a number of special tributes lined up to celebrate The Journey, it’s not expected that the reasons for starting The Journey will be covered in any deptH.
When the current club at Ibrox follows Rangers into administration and liquidation it’s unlikely that many supporters will reflect on the warnings given about the credentials of Charles Green, Paul Murray and the South African based criminal Dave King.
Tommorow, working as a freelance, Spence will be covering the Dundee v Ross County match for BBC Scotland.
Valid complaints against reporters should be investigated &important that reporters are publicly exonerated when complaint is without merit.
— Jim Spence (@JimSpenceSport) April 1, 2016