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"I'd have been hounded out of Ibrox if I'd taken that penalty!"

Ah the victim card. How predictable

He's injured

Frozen for some, up significantly for others. Bar72

Thanks Ian don't know how to copy these things?

They have been getting their own way for years, making up rules as they go, persuading/bullying/threatening/coercing/lying and all other clubs to fall in line being led along for scraps from their table, they probably sincerely believe they have done nothing wrong.

Isn't it utterly bizarre that so many clubs are saying they won't support the inquiry before they've seen what Rangers has to evidence the need for it? I'd have thought there was enough already to warrant an investigation so I am even more suspicious when I read this. In the case of Celtic, I wouldn't care how much I hated another company or club, I'd support an inquiry if corruption was evident. If I didn't I'm risking prison. The other SPFL board members are doing everything they can to end up with a criminal conviction. Any organisation must investigate whistleblowing, so if Rangers do provide additional evidence it must be considered. They have no choice!!! If they choose to ignore it, I'll be calling the police myself. If any other commercial organisation in the world was seen to be encouraging stakeholders to turn a blind eye to evidence they would be up on charges right away. And let's be clear that the charges wouldn't be for the corruption, it would be for the culture of the board. I work in a highly regulated business and I'd have received a fine and probably a prison sentence by now if I'd have said or done the things this SPFL board has. The SFA is supposed to hold that role in Scotland so where are they? We know the answer to that and that's why I hope this goes the whole way to court. There will be many people who will find out the hard way just what their responsibilities were, and ignorance is no defence.

There's Doncaster setting his farewell agenda - I'm leaving due to the (sectarian) abuse I am receiving. Case closed your honour.

Again, Doncaster shows further evidence of maladministration ... he is the CEO, sanctions an 'independent' inquiry by Deloitte (run by MacLennan), and doesn't know how much it cost?!?!? If money is so tight, any CEO will know how much they are spending on something as important as this, even ballpark. Maybe Doncaster is quite happy for board members to spend large amounts of SPFL money without knowing how much. In which case maybe Robertson should just go ahead and arrange it himself. Doncaster is proving himself to be either incompetent or a liar. Either way he has to go. Also, it is clear that they've all been briefed and are now reciting rehearsed answers and phrases. You don't need to rehearse such things unless there's fear of consequences. This is becoming juicy.

KJ: The general consensus is that you’re guilty either of incompetence or corruption. Which one is it? ND: Clearly what happened with the Dundee vote was unfortunate – first getting caught in the quarantine system and then Dundee having a change of heart and submitting a second return. But I don’t think those circumstances were of our making. At every stage we have tried to respond to each issue as it has emerged and to do so with the best interests of all 42 clubs at heart. That we have the support of 81 per cent of those clubs indicates that we have done exactly that. It’s telling that, in the three weeks since that resolution was sent out to clubs, no one has come up with a viable alternative.KJ: Why not issue loans against end-of-season prize money? ND: In theory you could have tried to change the articles and maybe gone with equal distributions to all clubs. But that would have required the backing of 11 clubs in the Premiership plus huge majorities elsewhere which is not realistic.KJ: Aberdeen’s Dave Cormack revealed in a radio interview that you called him shortly before the 5pm voting deadline. Did his comments expose you and imply coercion? ND: Not at all. I had conversations with a huge number of chairmen and chief executives, answering their questions. Those discussions are absolutely common place. It’s telling that eight out of nine directors on the board of the SPFL still believe it was the right approach.KJ: So there was nothing inappropriate about telling Aberdeen their vote was no longer required? ND: That’s not quite the context of the discussion. Aberdeen were looking for a commitment that we could not give. They wanted some sort of vote with all Premiership clubs before a line could be drawn under season 19/20. Prior to our 5pm board meeting, out of courtesy I called Aberdeen back and said: “We’ve already got the threshold required in the Premiership.” It was not a question of saying: “Your vote is no longer required.” I was phoning to ask if they still wanted me to take their original request to the board. At that point they said they didn’t. It is not quite as has been portrayed.KJ: Surely you accept it was an error of judgement to announce the results of the ballot before all votes were in?ND: Our PR team were fielding numerous calls just after five o’clock from journalists desperate for an update. If we hadn’t published those numbers we would have been accused of unwarranted secrecy. We were trying to be open and transparent. If we had said nothing until all votes were in or until the 28 days had expired, that would have been completely untenable.KJ: But that started the Dundee debacle. Do you regret anything about how that soap opera unfolded? ND: The fact that Dundee had a change of heart was not of our doing. They were entitled to do so. In retrospect we should have requested the returns to be made slightly later, after the Easter weekend. It’s important that, where things could have been handled better, we reflect on that. But in terms of any improper behaviour, the Deloitte independent investigation looked through all of our emails, telephone record and texts and it simply found no evidence of improper behaviour by me or any of my staff. That doesn’t surprise me. I trust my team implicitly.KJ: Is the SPFL guilty of a lack of contrition? ND: I would hope not. But the allegations that have been made are far more serious than that. They are suggesting improper behaviour in a vague and generalised way without any specifics. I don’t think that’s an acceptable way to go about things. If anyone feels there has been improper behaviour then they should bring it to the public’s attention and raise it with the chairman of the SPFL for a proper investigation. That simply hasn’t happened. There have been calls for myself and [SPFL legal adviser] Rod McKenzie to be suspended without a shred of any alleged evidence being produced.KJ: How have you coped with these accusations on a personal level? ND: It’s extremely unpleasant for all of my small team of staff dealing with all manner of hugely complicated issues. That would have been testing enough without all of these suggestions, innuendo and personal attacks. Yes, it takes a toll. It’s extremely unpleasant and extremely time consuming. There are literally hundreds of abusive and in some cases threatening emails and calls that have been made to my staff. That’s just not acceptable.KJ: Are the police involved?ND: I would rather not say. That is for the individuals concerned to deal with. It’s highly unfortunate but it’s perhaps inevitable when allegations are made but not a shred of evidence is produced.KJ: Have you personally received threats? ND: No. I’ve had some unpleasant communications but no threats. Over the years I’ve been involved in some very unpleasant situations where people are very passionate about their club and wish to take it out on the public face of the organisation. That’s why I think it’s really important that people are very careful with the words that they use and avoid personalising issues. We should deal with the facts and what people’s concerns are. That’s why I would urge anyone who believes there is any evidence of any improper behaviour by me or any member of my staff to bring forward details of precisely what those accusations are. We’ve had weeks now of innuendo without anything of substance being put forward.KJ: Rangers must have a reason for calling for your suspension. What have they got on you?ND: I’ve got no idea and it’s probably unhelpful to speculate. Those calls were made in the immediate aftermath of the Good Friday returns. That was all about the Dundee return. Ultimately, the Deloitte investigation looked forensically at our emails, calls and texts and found no evidence of any improper behaviour by me, Rod McKenzie or any other member of the SPFL team. So what do Rangers have on me? I genuinely do not know.KJ: Given the extent of damage done to your relationship with Rangers do you agree your position is untenable? ND: You have to rise above individual criticism. You have to do your job for the benefit of all 42 clubs as best you can. That’s something I have done for over 10 years in spite of the ups and downs we’ve all faced. You will be very familiar with the events of 2012 and the very public criticism from the likes of Charles Green. To an extent that’s part of the job. Clubs won’t always like decisions. However in this instance over 80 per cent of clubs agreedwith our proposals. Hearts Rangers and Stranraer now want a QC investigation. Eight out of nine of the members of the board believe it is not the right approach.KJ: If your position is tenable then is Stewart Robertson’s? ND: I don’t think it’s right that I make any comment on individual members of the SPFL board. I won’t allow myself to be sidetracked by individual criticism.KJ: What is this bad blood costing Scottish football? How much was the Deloitte investigation? What sums would be involved in a QC investigation? ND: The Deloitte investigation was commissioned by [SPFL chairman] Murdoch MacLennan and [board member] Karen McCluskey. They have those details. But you are right, that cost has been born by all 42 clubs already.KJ: How much? ND: I don’t know the figure. It was only right that myself and Rod had nothing to do with that. We were interviewed by Deloitte but we weren’t involved in establishing that investigation. In terms of the QC investigation, that would be open ended and it would cost a huge amount of money and a massive amount of time – when what we should be doing is devoting all our energy to trying to defeat the common enemy – Covid-19. We must find a conciliatory approach to work together for the good of the game.KJ: Are you embarrassed by Scottish football’s behaviour at a time of global suffering? ND: It’s extremely disappointing and very unseemly when people are losing their lives around the world. Absolutely. We should be working together to come up with a plan for restarting the game as soon as possible rather than this continued infighting.KJ: Is September a realistic target for a restart? ND: We all want the game to recommence as soon as is safely possible. We look forward to working with the Scottish government to try to achieve that. We have a meeting with Joe FitzPatrick [Minister for Public Health, Sport andWellbeing] next Tuesday along with the likes of the SRU, Sport Scotland and Scottish Racing and we look forward to engagement with government about how quickly we can return to action. But I’d be reluctant to put any date on that at this time.KJ: Can Scottish football survive this? ND: We are extremely concerned. The football industry is of vital importance to the soul of Scotland. It’s a fragile thing but it’s a vital thing. We must therefor all work together to get games returning as soon as is safely possible. That’s one of the reasons that this infighting is so hugely regrettable. It’s distracting us from the real task in hand.

The question remains in all of this why Dundee changed their vote & in doing so passed the SPFL resolution. Were they offered something to do so? If so what & by whom ? If they have been offered something then are we looking at bribery? Corruption? The actions of both MacLennan & now Doncaster makes me think that they’re trying to hide something

Just scap the season let the positions stand for any European competition next season if any the idiots down south want to finish their league by playing behind closed doors, how do you keep two metres away from your teammates or opponents, all this nonsense to keep their sponsors happy I think shows they dont give a toot about their fans .

Decent summary of events from English. You can tell he smells some blood here. And in one sense he can't lose. Either the SPFL or Rangers get stuffed by this and he gets to write about it. He wants this played out to a conclusion and not shut down like Doncaster and his cronies. You have to wonder what they are scared of. Because it's clear they want this stopped and no scrutiny to take place. Rangers should hold on to what we have despite all the clamour for disclosure. Keep them sweating a few more days Rangers. Who knows what other ammunition they might inadvertently provide us.

As soon as anyone dares speak the truth about Celtic the foot soldiers are sent out to bleat about Irish persecution and anti-Catholic bigotry.