Blue Moon

Does Duitser mean German?

GDS also said categorically we wouldn't be stripped of titles. He's gone very quiet on this.

Must admit, I wondered what JC was talking about

Nice wee statement. I would just like to say that we at Rangers would also like to put the past behind us and look to the future. Try telling that to your ruling bodies, Motherwell.

What an act of crass stupidity if he is a Rangers supporter. Is he living in a fog? Rangers fans are no longer prepared to accept these kind of slurs. Someone should point out to him the climate has changed. People who make threats only assist our enemies.

Very strong statement from Alistair Johnston. Well done sir.

What a superb article setting the background to Rangers admin and putting the subsequent events into one thread. Why are these people still in a job?

The SFL are saying we're innocent until proven guilty, so the SFA/SPL assumption of guilt makes a mockery of their process and is tantamount to a witch hunt. What I am saying is that it is unlikely to stop the process that has started. The Commission answered this in their statement yesterday in response to Rangers objections. While the views of this person concur with ours and it is great to see, I cannot see the SPL cancelling the whole thing. They rae far too arrogant for that. Also, the HMRC process isn't to prove innocence or guilt, it's to identify whether a legal scheme which we (and others) operated is taxable. If it is we'd be liable to pay back the tax. It's not about guilty or not guilty. Sorry, I should have made it clear I was referring to a scenario where the Commission decide to fine us. In his statement Lord Nimmo Smith set out that to fine the Oldco would be taking money from the creditors pot and leave them open to litigation. The enquiry is about whether these payments were contractual, not the fact we operated them. That's why the SFA/SFA process is a sham, as the EBT debate is between us and HMRC, and nobody else needs be involved. The SFA/SPL have known we used EBTs since we started using them, so why wait the best part of 15 years to decide they're 'illegal' for Scottish teams? I know that, you know that, everybody knows that but it hasn't stopped them. We all know it is a witch hunt, now someone from the SFL has said it, what difference will it make?

This report cranks up the pressure and is great to see but I can't see what good it will do at this stage. The process is under way and there is no way it will stop now. The important phrase is "innocent until proven guilty", so presumably if we are found guilty the SFL will accept it. They will not fine us or face the threat of legal action from HMRC, so it will be stripping of titles or innocent.

Having established that we are the same club therefore the legality of the proceedings, it is no longer in our interests to fail to represent ourselves at this hearing, in fact it is critical that we do, especially in the light of the point made that the conduct of the SPL is not relevant at this time but may become so in the future. Secondly, I think we can rule out financial sanctions which would require the SPL to go to court.

Thought that one was said to Souness.

Pretty dynamite question that requires an answer. If it is the SPL then who at the SPL and to what purpose? More evidence coming out about the underhand tactics used against us. Well done the fans and fan organisations. Perhaps someone in the MSM will pick this up or start to do their job.

He just needs to use 2 words in his defence...... Turnbull Hutton.

This is precisely why I have always objected to being called a Hun. Take your pick from a barbaric tribe or Nazis. The one handed salute many of the fans give is too similar to the Nazi salute for my liking. The sale of NF publications out side Ibrox has always enraged me. They seem to think they are on a fertile ground. Whatever the convoluted reason for us being called Huns, I detest being called a Hun because of the historical connotations of the word. It is used as a term of abuse by bigots.

This article would be quite at home in the Celtic View.

I suspect that is what Templeton was trying to do yesterday.

It would be extremely harsh to strip us of titles on a technicality ie the side letters, especially since the EBTs were declared to the SPL every year. As for the latest catchword that is getting right up my nose, "financial doping", the payment of big money signings by Celtic directors is exactly the same. The players are paid what they are paid. Our players were paid by the club, end of story. The EBts are not illegal, apparently the way we administered them was. It has been said repeatedly that this was done after consultation with experts and that the club did not knowingly administer them wrongly. In other words a technicality. As for the explanation of Celtic's EBT being after The player left. Don't insult my intelligence by expecting me to believe that it was not by prior agreement ie a side letter.

That is one of the most unbelievable statements I have seen on here.

That wouldn't be a wise move.

It is not as simple as a fine costing money and titles costing nothing. Green is nobody's fool and I am sure he is aware of how tenuous the support of the fans is. If he doesn't defend the titles he will be well aware the fans will turn and this will affect the future of the club. He needs to be sure the fans will stick by the club when the time for it to be sold arrives. He needs a healthy, well supported club. Although he is a hard nosed businessman, he cannot possibly have known just how huge our club is. He must be influenced by this and by everything that has happened to the club. All in all it makes no sense to me for him to accept the loss of titles as opposed to a one off or short term financial penalty. I think he may fight it whatever.

I meant selling him on.

Boumsong was the deal of the century.

I agree that the SPL has failed and indeed stopped going to Ibrox because I was bored with the product. I would agree with the idea of 2 bigger leagues and by default wealth would be spread to more clubs. It wouldn't cost our club any more but the money would be distributed more widely. The SPL has almost been the death of Scottish football and has had it's day. The SFL must establish a prominent place in any reconstruction talks. Scottish football will not recover until the name SPL and the institution itself are abolished. Only then would I agree that Rangers could return to the top league when the time came.

From the official website. FOLLOWING a number of inaccurate reports in today’s newspapers, the Club can confirm it has agreed a long-term contract with Barrie McKay. Reports in today’s press suggested the SFA would reject McKay’s five-year deal as rules prevent players under the age of 18 from signing a contract of that length. For the avoidance of doubt, the Club is well aware of the rule and at no time confirmed Barrie had signed a five-year contract. Barrie has pledged his future to Rangers for the next five years – as stated on the Rangers website on Tuesday evening.

Good piece here from Chris Graham. Interesting Conflicts – SPL EBT Hypocrisy September 12, 2012Leave a comment The news that Celtic have been cleared of any culpability for the EBT they used for Juninho in the 2004/2005 season comes as no surprise to those of us who have followed this case and the people prosecuting it. However, I do feel it is worth highlighting as it is yet another example of the hypocrisy and corruption at the SPL. It is worth noting some things regarding the operation of EBT schemes. The issue of whether tax was paid on the EBTs has nothing to do with the SPL investigation into Rangers. The issue is purely whether the loans from the EBT scheme for players were declared to the SPL and SFA and whether they required to be declared. It is clear that Rangers did not specifically declare them because they do not consider them to be payments. The whole point of the scheme is that they are loans. That leaves us only with the question of whether they required to be declared i.e were they payments. Now, those who demand Rangers be punished like to muddy the waters by talking about HMRC, unpaid tax, sporting advantage and higher moral considerations. The only consideration for the SPL, however, is were they payments and were they declared. The SPL have decided that Rangers have a case to answer. Today they have decided that Celtic do not. This is curious in relation to the above since, on the 23rd May, the BBC claim to have written to all SPL clubs asking about use of EBTs. The following is exactly what they were told. “BBC Scotland Investigates wrote to all of the Scottish Premier League’s member clubs and asked whether they had ever operated an EBT scheme. Celtic confirmed that it established one EBT scheme in April 2005, which BBC Scotland understands was for the benefit of the Brazilian midfielder Juninho Paulista. The scheme was worth £765,000 but the club did not declare the trust payment to the Scottish Football Association or the Scottish Premier League. The payments made to the trust were declared in Celtic’s annual report for 2004/2005, but in 2008 the club became aware of an event giving rise to a potential tax liability which was subsequently paid after agreement with HMRC. The remaining 10 SPL clubs replied and confirmed they had never set up an EBT scheme for any of their employees.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18169502 Now it is quite clear from this that Celtic did operate an EBT and they did not declare it to the SPL or SFA as part of Juninho’s registration. This makes the case absolutely identical to the Rangers case. So why is there no case to answer? That is a difficult question. Celtic like to claim it is because they paid the tax that HMRC felt was due for the use of the EBT. This appears to be true but does not in any way impact on the registration issue. Either the EBT was declared on the registration or it was not. The issue of tax paid is one for HMRC. When considering this, we need to know who actually investigated on behalf of the SPL. At the moment we don’t. It is well documented that Rod McKenzie of Harper MacLeod has conducted the investigation into Rangers. Harper Macleod are the SPL lawyers on this matter so it seems likely to be the case that they would have examined the Celtic case too. They can’t have though, because that would be as clear a case of conflict of interest as you could ever get. Harper Macleod are also Celtic lawyers and it would be unethical and utterly absurd for them to have been involved here. So who at the SPL decided there was no case to answer? Was another law firm employed to investigate Celtic? If so, then why was this firm not also used to investigate Rangers given the issues with Rod McKenzie and Celtic’s lawyers doing so? If the BBC information is correct then how did these nameless investigators come to the conclusion that the evidence did not need to be examined by an ‘independent’ tribunal? It is clearly an identical situation. Let me be absolutely clear. I think the SPL made the correct decision regarding Celtic. The idea that a sporting advantage was gained from EBTs is absurd. EBTs could never have been declared to the SPL because doing so would have rendered the whole point of them, a tax benefit, unavailable. In a competition where there is no salary cap on players, the rules on registration exist purely to protect players and ensure that in areas of dispute the players can show exactly what they are contractually due. To my knowledge, no Rangers or Celtic players are complaining that they did not receive payments they were due. The SPL investigation is a sham. It is an excuse to further attack Rangers. There is no sporting advantage, no ‘financial doping’, no match fixing. The fact that a player is being paid is important because that is why registration is needed – how much they are being paid is totally irrelevant. These claims are absurd and have been made specifically to inflame public opinion ahead of a pre-determined verdict. If the SPL got it absolutely correct on Celtic then question should be why are they pursuing Rangers? The answer to that lies with the people conducting the witch hunt and it is about time the media in this country started doing their job and asked the required questions.