Neil McCann has claimed that footballing dreams and not a £2m ‘tax free’ EBT was the reason that he joined Rangers (IL) in 1998.
According to an interview in the Daily Mail the Sky Sports pundit joined Dick Advocaat’s soccer revolution in December 1998 to play alongside talents like Rod Wallace and Craig Moore rather than get his hands on the nest egg of all nest eggs.
McCann was signing up for a £2m bonus, the same figure as Hearts received as a transfer fee, on top of his monthly salary.
Throughout the interview the reader is constantly reminded that McCann was brought up a catholic in Port Glasgow and ought to have joined Celtic. Tommy Burns made enquiries while he was playing for Dundee but decided against making a move.
Explaining the reason behind his move to Ibrox he told the Daily Mail: “It was a no-brainer, I knew what was at stake, growing up in Port Glasgow as a Catholic but I was ecstatic.
“I was delighted first of all because I repaid Jim Jefferies (Hearts manager) and the club. I said I would pay him back when he signed me. We won the Scottish Cup and I earned £2million for the club in a transfer fee. I remember Jim asking me: “What if Celtic come in for you?” I said: “I want to go to Rangers”. Jim said: “Really?”
“There was something about the club at that time, it was an easy decision. There were feelings about what could happen outside of football but I couldn’t give a damn. I was going because it was an amazing football move. The whole religion stuff had no relevance to me, to what I was doing for my career and what I could do at Rangers.
“I remember sitting at my first press conference and the first question was: “What is it like to sign for Rangers when you are a Celtic fan”. People assume you’re a Celtic fan because of your religion. I just looked at him. I thought: there’s the start of it. But I had the time of my life.”
Following the 1999 Scottish Cup Final win over Celtic McCann was on stage in the video that led to Donald Findlay resigning from Rangers after singing about his hatred of catholics.
Twenty one months after his dream move McCann was in the Rangers team that lost 6-2 to Celtic as a team of tax payers turned the tables on Murray and Advocaat.
In a further twist to the shameful performance of Hugh Dallas at the Celtic v Rangers match in May 1999 McCann gave an insight into the motivations of the referee whose hatred of catholics extended to emailing jokes to his SFA colleague.
Recalling the 1999 fixture he said: “I went around Stewart Kerr and knocked the ball into the empty net and my momentum took me towards the Celtic fans.
“I was wheeling around the back of the goal and Hugh Dallas was tugging at me saying: “If you don’t get back on to the park, I will have to send you off”.
In September 2015 BBC Scotland claimed that McCann picked up £2m in EBT payments with a side letter guaranteeing that sum.
McCann has never contradicted that report or taken legal action against the BBC.
With Rangers now in liquidation it’s believed that HMRC are now in dialogue with the EBT gang and serving them with tax demands.
Media favourites such as Barry Ferguson, Alex McLeish, Steven Thompson, Billy Dodds and Alex Rae also had EBT payments made on top of their regular salaries.