The build up to Saturday’s match against Sevco will come in two distinct forms.
Led by the cheerleaders of BBC Scotland the facts of 2012, the losses of 276 creditors including numerous public bodies resulting in Rangers Football Club being put into liquidation will be airbrushed away like a bad dream for Bobby Ewing.
Fortunately there are alternative view points, pesky internet bampots haven’t deviated from the truth, the truth of 2012 may be uncomfortable for many but unlike supporters of Hearts and Dunfermline the Ibrox hoardes walked away with their hands in their pockets with their club on the brink of extinction.
Hearts and Dunfermline fans are still paying for the financial mistakes of previous boardrooms while those of an Ibrox persuation have still to come to terms with the concept of living within their means.
As BBC Scotland work themselves into an O** F*** frenzy it’s good to be able to call upon the wise words of Brogan, Rogan, Trevino, Hogan for some clarity and reality.
Introducing a broader theme to the debate BRTH explained on CQN: “Interest in the entire affair should not be restricted to football fans as there is clear evidence of conduct which must alarm the professions in general, banking in particular, those who are interested in proper sporting governance and last, but not least, the Government and the British tax payer.”
Anticipating the week ahead in the media he states some facts: “1. Between 1989 and 2011 Rangers Football Club (Rangers PLC) amassed losses which in real terms came to over £180 Million.
“2. During that period, the club were directly or indirectly (via MIH) funded by the absolutely disgraced management of the Bank of Scotland.
“3. During the same period, the same bank financed the majority of the other senior football clubs in Scotland, and during that time they reigned in the available finance to those clubs whilst continually extending further credit lines to Rangers until such times as it became plain that the club was operating at an unsustainable level of debt. Eventually they sought to reduce their “book” damage by funneling money through MIH which allowed Sir David Murray to shore up a totally failed share issue in 2005.
“4. Throughout this period, the governing body of Scottish Football and the body which regulated premier league football failed to take any steps which would safeguard the interests of small individual investors in Rangers Football Club. There was little, if any, attempt at real club financial regulation by the Scottish Authorities nor any detailed, or even cursory, examination of the strange and unsettling financial model and practice which was enveloping Scottish Football as a whole where the contrast between the one bank’s attitude towards Murray and Rangers was in stark contrast to their practice everywhere else.
“5. Despite having a written mandate from all clubs which allowed them to make independent enquiries. The SFA failed to make any enquiries whatsoever as to the status of paid or unpaid taxes by the football club concerned at any juncture even when it became plain that there was a major and life threatening dispute between HMRC and RFC. There was no clarification sought about the nature and the practices behind EBT schemes employed by Rangers PLC nor was it ever questioned as to why one club would employ such a scheme while all others did not.”
Against those facts it’s crystal clear why the vast majority of Celtic fans, and most at other Scottish clubs utterly reject the continuity myth peddled by those that like to call upon financial meltdown and other phrases rather than using the dreaded L word.
Continuing the theme BRTH added: “The SFA has a duty to ensure that all clubs play by and adhere to the same rules. They have checks and balances to ensure this and they have the powers to make enquiry and seek clarification. The fact that while armed with accountants, lawyers and compliance specialists they allowed Rangers to run up huge debts and employ an unlawful tax scheme for years, and to avoid proper player registration consistently without question is a matter of corporate failure and professional shame.
“The Bank has a duty to shareholders and savers to invest in businesses wisely and prudently with proper due diligence and business management being employed to protect investors funds and to ensure that the banking decisions reached are based on solid knowledge and proper business compliance.
“It doesn’t always work out of course, no one and no business is perfect, but repeated losses totalling £180 Million over a thirteen year period is hard to support especially when the business concerned fails to adhere to professional governance essentials and embarks on at least two questionable, challengeable or unlawful tax schemes with catastrophic financial consequences if deemed unlawful.
“However, for the sake of Scottish football and for the benefit of media sales and press access, much of this detail will be ignored, brushed under the carpet and forgotten about.
“The attempts to preserve the “Celtic and Rangers thing” was scuppered when fans absolutely rejected any new club (following the liquidation of Rangers PLC) being shoe horned into the premier or first divisions and forced club chairmen to think again.
“Had it been left to the clubs themselves, at least at the outset, then ” normal service” would have been resumed as quickly as possible.
“Many media outlets will simply say “let’s move on” and many Rangers fans will argue that anyone who wishes to investigate and learn from this abject business failure is no more than a Rangers hater.
“However, as can be seen from the recent changes afoot at UEFA, Scottish Football is being left behind financially and is perhaps considered a backwater which contains two big clubs and a shower of “diddies”.
“Even Fergus McCann recently stated that having any kind of Rangers out of the top league was “bad for business” and that the other teams were fed by Celtic and Rangers and went on to imply that they should just toe the line.
“With respect to Fergus, that is not acceptable to this football fan.
“I welcome Celtic playing against any football club but only if the same rules, on field and off field, apply to all.
“Other football clubs are to be respected no matter what their financial or playing strength and there is far more to Scottish Football than just Celtic and Rangers.
“However, until there is a full examination of just what happened at Ibrox, how it happened and the effect it had on clubs beyond Celtic then we will collectively have learned nothing.
“That is not good for fans of either Celtic or Rangers, and it is sure as hell is not good for football fans who are hell bent on supporting other clubs without whom we have no league, no cup competitions, no farmework and no justifiable case for maintaining a league which falls within the ambit of UEFA.
“If we can’t run and supervise football properly in Scotland (both on the pitch and off it) why should UEFA continue to have us come under their umbrella at all?”
CLICK HERE for the full CQN discussion.
