The tax spotlight is now on Celtic and every other club in Scotland after the Supreme Court ruled against BDO and Rangers (IL) in the big tax case.
After dragging a cut and dried case out for more than five years it has been confirmed that for more than a decade Rangers (IL) used players that were being paid and incentivised through an illegal tax scam that wasn’t available to other clubs.
During the tax cheating years the club from Ibrox were champions of Scotland in 2002/03, 2004/05, 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11.
In 2012 the Nimmo Smith Enquiry handed out a paltry £250,000 fine for a decade of concealing full player payment details from the football authorities.
Partly justifying that fine Nimmo Smith claimed that the Employment Benefit Trust scheme was also available to other clubs. Today that claim has been overturned by the Supreme Court.
Over the last half dozen years the SFA , SPL and SPFL have shown no appetite for dealing with rule breaking issues from Ibrox.
The SFA, SPL and SPFL are made up of the member clubs, almost every club suffered from the tax cheating years, Falkirk and Queen of the South lost Scottish Cup Finals to a team recruited with ‘players that they couldn’t normally afford’ to quote David Murray.
Celtic will struggle to get compensation for losing five titles to tax cheats, they were denied prize money and the opportunity to play in the Champions League.
It’s not out of the question to say that Celtic have lost £50m or more from these actions- the SFA, SPL and SPFL have shown no interest in righting this wrong.
A large number of Celtic fans are now looking for reaction from the club, it may be water under the bridge to some but it’s a live issue for thousands of fans.
Having every draw and victory changed to a 3-0 defeat is the first part of the process.
Whether the titles are retrospectively awarded to Celtic or just removed from the record books is one issue.
What thousands of Celtic fans want is to hear from the club that this issue matters.
Anything less than a strong statement and immediate answers from the SFA and SPFL will be unacceptable to the fans who paid their money during a decade when their club was cheated of a level playing field.
