D'Artagnan
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Everything posted by D'Artagnan
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I really dont know what it refers to BH - but the company in question name has been recurring in a lot of stuff I have been sent recently. Some of that material is staggering, if I can piece it together it will make for interesting reading one day. Unfortunately Geothermal Renewable Energy (I kid you not) is not an area I am particularly well versed - too say the least
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Ian I suspect - "organisations in which some directors have an interest, as directors or shareholders of the other contracting party" - will probably be the following :- http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/glasgow-eastern-development
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Funny you should say that Compo - but the chromium story is for another day
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Zap Im grateful for you posting this - seem to be having problems earlier with here and DTB (which is still not responding)
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Chris Graham makes you smile on a Monday morning
D'Artagnan replied to SteveC's topic in Rangers Chat
Im quite certain he is - and then some ! -
And if that happened RS I could see Whyte emerging from the shadows to claim credit as the architect of this ! ;-)
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I agree it would take some considerable thought notwithstanding implementation. But on a more positive note and to refer to you above answer re our current situation and political context - the only way is up !
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I would go at it from a more strategic level rs - looking to affect how the various parties react with regard to our cub - as well as engaging with political parties more in order to exert such influence. On a more personal and subjective level, I struggle to understand why any Bear who does not separate politics from football, can vote for the Scottish Labour Party.
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There has to be a way RPB of directing and managing our political influence without as Andy puts it "cosying up" to one particular party. Im not advocating jumping into bed with them in such a way as there is clear bias towards our club, or we find ourselves the recipients of favourable loans etc - but at least it would be nice if some of our MP's had put their heads above the parapet to remind the disciples of the "bloodfest" that we live in a country where you are presumed innocent until proven guilty - not the other way round. And if the clear misdirection by HMRC had caused a clamour for an official enquiry.
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I wouldnt label him a "troll" WBD - I understand he follows a number of the Rangers bloggers and have seen him engage in discussion with many of them, often favourably
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Quote from a recent Czech article.. Chin up brother - I will buy you a bridie on Monday night.
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I had the pleasure to read a tremendous article recently on the Do The Bouncy forums, by Locutus :- http://dothebouncy.com/main/threads/sharks-trolls-headstones-and-apathy.59319/ I love articles you can tell come from the heart, oozing in sheer passion for our club. One particular phrase though set me thinking “Politics should have no place in football , but thats a debate for another day.” Perhaps with events elsewhere – that day has come. Of course in a nirvana state – Politics should have no place in football, neither for that matter should Racism, Sectarianism nor Illegal betting. Unfortunately we do not live in such a sporting utopia and from time to time we have to cope with things invading our game which are neither welcome, nor enhancing for the reputation of our so called “Beautiful game”. In fact, if we are totally honest, at times it is downright ugly rather than beautiful. But if Politics has no place in football – what about Political influence ? For the Rangers support these last 3 years or so have been a real wake up call. As our club lurched from crisis to crisis and was subjected to a catalogue of unjust treatment, the silence from politicians in Scotland was deafening. Compare and contrast such silence with the political response to an illegal procession organised by The Green Brigade. http://news.stv.tv/west-central/218177-celtics-green-brigade-protest-results-in-msps-policing-question/ That’s not to say of course that Scottish Labour MP’s were silent over the crisis at Rangers, some in fact were only too happy to have something to say. http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/913 Some of you will remember Jim McGovern, Labour MP for Dundee West from some of my previous articles. He has been particularly vocal of late. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/westminster-mps-table-motion-condemning-2867719 http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/dundee-mp-calls-for-probe-into-champions-league-trouble-in-amsterdam-1.158942 The Courier article in particular saw some particularly critical online comments directed towards Mr McGovern – particulary as he was not so much vocal but noticeably silent after Celtic supporters misbehaved in his constituency of Dundee. Scenes described by Dundee Operations Manager Jim Thomson as “a throwback to the 1970′s” and “I have never seen anything like the behaviour of the Celtic fans in the 20 years I have been running games at Dens Park” warranted not a murmur from Mr McGovern. Not surprising then with conduct such as this that Mr McGovern requires annual staffing fees of £ 115, 581.17 ( as opposed to his Party leader, and Leader of the Opposition – Ed Miliband’s £ 93, 747.42 ) perhaps his staff are particularly busy answering constituent’s questions about his apparent double standards. With Baron Reid of Cardowan a recent chairman, as well as Brian Wilson currently serving on the board of Celtic FC, it would be foolhardy to suggest our footballing rivals are suffering from a lack of political influence, particularly within the Scottish Labour Party. Though such influence appears not to be confined to the bigger stage but also on a more localised level and has been highlighted previously http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/same-city-council-same-old-story.html With the Co-op Bank, with their historical links to the Labour Party, now subject to both scrutiny and investigation, it begs the question if the favourable loan rates afforded to Celtic FC were as a consequence of Celtic’s rather cosy relationship with the Scottish Labour Party ? And as preliminary enquiries into land deals run their course in Brussels and Tory researchers work long into the night scouring over Co-op loan arrangements, I have a question for the Rangers support. Is it time we sacrificed “politics has no place in football” – for the love of our club ?
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Just to clarify - the suggestion re the mortgage values which BH alludes to - came from someone else following this article being published. I merely asked BH, given his knowledge of such matters, whether this was actually possible. But the link re the Geotechnical Report for the property is correct, I have seen letters where the enquirer requests the report from GCC and they refuse to provide it, only offering extracts from it, It should be remembered some of the various properties acquired by CFC from GCC for just over £1.5 million were then used as collateral/security against a loan from the co-op Bank for £34 million. Something is clearly not right - but the problem may well be with the bank - only those in Brussels will be able to extract the kind of information which will provide us all with some clarity.
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Nor am I I may add - just sifting through screeds of FOI requests & responses. But here is one which will be up your street BH - and is taken from elsewhere in response to this article. Any thoughts on that "hypothetical" BH ?
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BH The District Valuer is not required by law but is available to public sector bodies who wish to avail themselves of their services. The DV has not over-valued the land but placed a value upon it prior to the costs for abnormals and ground conditions being agreed and full inspections of the properties being carried out. It is normal practice to consider abnormals in any valuation; this reflects the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors ("RI CS") Red Book requirements. For example: "10.1.2 Where the client has expressly instructed or agreed that contamination is to be disregarded, it falls to the valuer in preparing valuations of contaminated land to exercise his or her judgement in reflecting the effect of contamination on the property to be valued. 10.1.3 Unless the aforementioned exception applies, it is necessary for the valuer, in preparing the valuation, to take account of all the relevant factors and their inter*relationship. The valuer needs to be able to access the advice of other professionals as to the type and extent of contamination, as well as the scope for remediation and the associated costs." In any valuation, the valuer first produces a gross valuation followed by normal and reasonable deductions, including for abnormals. This requires a geotechnical team to advise on the most cost effective way to remediate the site.
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That would be my understanding as well BH. But you have to ask why they employed the services of the DV in the first place, if they were going to ask him to prepare a report that did not properly reflect the value of the land ? Why did they not provide the information on the abnormals of the land at the outset - and furthermore why did they dispense with the service of the DV after the preliminary report was prepared.
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http://www.heraldscotland.com/celtic-close-to-deal-over-disputed-land-1.851123 One can understand the ire of those in the east of Glasgow, being investigated by the EU with regard to a land deal which on the face of it, looks fairly straightforward. But scraping below the surface of this deal perhaps offers an insight into why the negotiations referred to have been described by Mr Braiden as “often acrimonious”, and perhaps further as to why certain anomalies have caught the eye of EU investigators. The District Valuer of course is not the Council’s own surveyor, but an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs who provide a range of independent valuations and surveying services to public sector bodies. On the 24th Novemeber, 2004, the District Valuer was tasked by Glasgow City Council to provide initial valuations for various Council owned sites ( though not all sites surveyed were those eventually sold to Celtic FC) including Westhorn Recreational Ground, which of course, as per The Glasgow Herald article, was subject of an eventual sale to Celtic FC. The Disrict Valuer proceeded as instructed completing preliminary examinations and providing a preliminary report on 19th Janurary, 2005. The completed preliminary report however, took no cognisance of what is referred to as abnormal ground conditions which existed on the sites. This in itself is particularly odd as Glasgow City Council acknowledge abnormal conditions at various sites within this area. “Outputs from high level desk studies for this area and the East End in general demonstrate that land is likely to be subject to significant abnormal development constraints that would require to be overcome during any development project. These include contamination from industrial activities, contamination from waste deposits and mining. As such the majority of land disposal transactions concluded by the Council in this area are subject to the consideration of abnormal costs” The District Valuer was not instructed by the Council to provide any further valuation reports. The negotiation of the sale of the various areas of land was carried out on behalf of the Council by one of its own Chartered Surveyors in accordance with the Council’s normal procedure, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ guidance and the European Commission’s Communication on State aid elements in sales of land and buildings by public authorities (97/C 209/03). The Council’s own chartered surveyor in conjunction with chartered surveyors appointed by Celitc FC negotiated the market value of the land being offered for sale. Surprisingly, the preliminary, yet ostensibly incomplete District Valuer’s Report was then used as a starting point for negotiations on the sale of the land between the Council and Celtic FC As they say in Penny Lane – Very strange.
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Perhaps you are right Tin Man. Quite a few of us left Ibrox on Saturday feeling particularly emotional - we discussed it on the bus afterwards - Ian's minute silence then Fernando at half time - I dont think any of us claimed not to have a lump in the throat or tear in the eye. Then you get home to find, despite warnings to the contrary, while we were all going through this BBC Scotland are having another cheap dig. But I felt it was relevant when I wrote the article. Too often this nonsense revolves around trophy hauls - well it does for those who covet ours. They omit, of course, to mention that we take on board all of it - even our grief at expressing the loss for one of our players from yesteryear.
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Apologies - double post
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DB Id put it down to 2 things - Hatred & Ego's - though perhaps the first would cover it. The darksiders who maintain, with their 5 minutes legal knowledge, that LNS "got it wrong" will be keen to discuss Scots Company Law with you - in their attempts to convince others of the very learned LNS's error. In their haste to announce "the King is Dead" however they overlook one critical fact - Scots Company Law was not drafted or written with football clubs in mind - a mute but critical point. Its significant that LNS's commentary on the subject appears to almost reflect that of UEFA's who have considerable experience of dealing with these sort of matters. It's of further significance that ASA's recent ruling in our favour saw them contact UEFA for clarification. So Im afraid for all the would be Perry Mason's out there (showing my age now) its not so much " The King is Dead" but alas for them - "Long Live the King"
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Many years ago as a young Marine on leave, I had ventured over to Ibrox to visit the club shop for some mementos to adorn my bed space. No matter where I was serving in the world there was a little corner which was forever Rangers. For the younger Bears amongst us, there was a time the club shop was not so much a mega store but a glorified broom cupboard with barely enough space to swing a cat. The sole staff member was serving a guy about ages with myself, who I immediately recognised as Ian Redford. After Ian had left the shop the female member of staff apologised for the previous customer taking so long “That guy took ages “ she said. I informed her who “that guy” was and she looked suitably embarrassed. Yesterday, along with 42,000 other Bears, we paid our respects to Ian Redford as our club observed a minute's silence in respect of his passing. Bears of today paying appropriate respect to a club servant of yesteryear. Elsewhere in Glasgow however, BBC Scotland with it's cabal of Rangers hating individuals and no doubt well rehearsed guests, were plotting their latest flouting of the BBC Trust ruling regarding Rangers. I’m sure there was much back slapping, mutual praise and schoolboy giggles following the latest BBC Scotland assertion that “Rangers are dead”. Of course the theft of evidence in the Rangers Tax Case, nor an EU preliminary investigation into alleged state aid involving Celtic Football Club and Glasgow Council raises not a murmur of journalistic curiosity, after all, “Rangers baiting” requires far less effort – especially when it is broadcast from a platform paid for by the public. Sometimes “vile” just isn't descriptive enough. When the Rangers Tax Case Blog won the Orwellian Award it was cited as “Bringing you the story that Scottish journalists seem unable to do” Thats the funny thing about history – it seems to have a habit of repeating itself. Freedom of Information is truly an enlightening thing.
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I particularly liked this robust part... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2514682/Co-op-Bank-slammed-cheap-loans-Celtic-Football-Club.html
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Im thinking of copyrighting a Scottish Journalism form of Cluedo - who will be the first Scottish MSM to write an article about this ? It will probably be the only ever Cluedo with no suspects.
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A great article - and a set of events we need to keep highlighting
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It is as a consequence of comments on the SOS Facebook page BH - and the warning is directed at those who post on it.