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Resolution 12 makes an unexpected return to the spotlight

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Image for Resolution 12 makes an unexpected return to the spotlight

Resolution 12, concerning the issue of UEFA licences by the SFA in 2011/12 made an unexpected return to the news agenda today.

SFA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell claimed that he hoped that the matter would be dealt with soon with a timescale of before the end of the year suggests. With the way heals have been dragged over this issue that timescale seems almost encouraging.

The issue first arose at the 2013 Celtic AGM when a group of concerned shareholders asked for UEFA to look into the licence given to the old Rangers club in 2011 when there was an overdue tax payable at the 31 March deadline.

While the Celtic board claimed that the issue had been covered by the SFA further evidence demonstrated that that was not the case and a licence shouldn’t have been issued.

In that case Celtic should have entered the Champions League qualifiers as they were upto date with tax payments.

The issue has dragged on with no apparent enthusiasm from the Celtic board despite Champions League participation in the 2012/13 season adding £24m to turnover.

In September 2017 Stewart Regan opted to investigate that issue but not others, last May the SFA announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport would be the only body by make a decision but so far it hasn’t been sent to CAS for a ruling.

It does seem like a classic case of constantly kicking the can but this morning a sideline in The Times brought new light to the matter.

The SFA is also likely to decide before the end of the year whether to pursue Rangers over alleged irregularities in their application for a Uefa licence in 2011. It is two years since the ruling body asked its compliance officer to investigate the affair, which centres on the club having had an unpaid tax liability at the time they submitted their application which, had it been disclosed at the time, would have resulted in Celtic rather than Rangers being entered in the Champions League qualifying rounds by the SFA for the following season.

Rangers claimed that the Five-Way agreement signed in 2012 by the SFA, the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Football League, the old Rangers and the new club formed by Charles Green meant that the SFA had no jurisdiction in this matter and, last July, the SFA’s judicial panel agreed that it must be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland if they intended to punish the club.

I would expect that to come back to the board in the not too distant future,” Maxwell said. “It [going to CAS] is still under consideration. We’ll come back on that in due course. I wouldn’t want to put a timescale on it . . . but I don’t think we would let it go for ever.”

This issue isn’t about the club from Ibrox but SFA procedures and governance. New President Rod Petrie was on the committee that approved the licence alongwith Andrew Dickson.

Getting transparency on the matter and ensuring that those that were involved are no longer able to repeat their errors has been the entire thrust of the matter from the Resolution 12 shareholders.

Despite losing out on a potential windfall of £24m no one on the Celtic board has ever asked for publication of Resolution 12.

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