boabie

From the Sunday Herald -

" Offshore owners can avoid capital gains tax if they ever sell stakes in clubs, which often control valuable urban real estate, such as stadiums and training grounds, as well as their brand rights.

Fan groups are concerned about the developments. Paul Goodwin of the Scottish Football Supporters Association explained: "We all live in a democracy and people should be paying the right level of tax. We also want to make sure we know and understand who owns our football clubs. That is critical. How can we be assured that the clubs are in safe hands if these owners are shadowy businesses that we don't know enough about?"

" CELTIC

Due to Celtic's status as a Public Limited Company, it is expected to operate transparently. As a PLC, the Parkhead-based giants are traded on the stock exchange, and anyone can buy shares and - technically - go over their books. But supporters, even as they enjoy the high of a fifth consecutive Premiership title and an ambitious new manager in former Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers, can't be quite sure who actually calls the shots at Celtic Park.

That is because some two-fifths of the PLC's shares - by market capitalisation, or the value on business on the stock market - are held offshore. These include three substantial holdings in the name of an account in Gibraltar, Line Nominees.

This business - one of many that acts as nominal shareholder for either the convenience or the privacy of the real owners - is believed to represent the man usually described as Celtic's biggest single investor, Dermot Desmond.

Desmond, an Irish citizen, lists his address in Celtic accounts as a marina in Gibraltar, the British outpost in the Mediterranean that is one of the world's most successful tax havens.

Desmond, 65, was named in the Panama Papers - a massive dump of documents from the Panama law firm, Mossack Fonseca, that has brought renewed focus on the use and abuse of offshore accounts and companies to avoid tax. Desmond made no comment on this revelation - nor did Celtic FC. Being named in the Panama Papers or being found to hold assets or shares offshore is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Line Nominees - which operates a perfectly legal business - was also named in the Panama Papers.

According to Celtic's website, the firm holds 5,131,300 or 32 per cent of the club's 60p convertible cumulative preference shares; 32,772,073 or 35 per cent of its 1p ordinary shares and 8,000,000 or 61 per cent of its preferred convertible preferred ordinary shares. At current market prices, that represents roughly £38m worth of stock.

Desmond, who is said to be a billionaire, has been reported as owning other interests through Line Nominees.

However, Line Nominees is not the only offshore entity with an at least nominal shareholding in Celtic. Another firm whose named cropped up in the Panama Papers, Hanom 1 Limited, whose address is a post box in St Helier, the capital of British offshore haven Jersey, has 625,000 of the £1 shares.

A Swiss firm called Telsar Holdings SA Depfyffer and Associes has another 1,600,000 such shares. A London-based nominee wing of the Bank of New York also formally holds substantial stock. Only shareholdings of more than three per cent in any kind of stock is declared.

The Sunday Herald asked Celtic if it could identify the 'ultimate beneficial owners' - the official expression for what is in layman's terms the 'real owners' - of all these companies. It did not respond. We also asked Celtic if it thought offshore ownership was suitable for football clubs. It did not reply."

There's no embarrassment unfortunately.

 

Clearly this was planned to coincide with the SFA AGM and with various willing journalists on message, the issue is now being discussed openly in the media.

 

Job done.

On their own forums they are clearly disappointed as they seem to think that the sellik board would be coming out with a statement at the same time the advert was appearing.

They have published a letter from HMRC to Rangers about the £2.8m owed. The letter is dated 5 May requesting payment by 16 May. It is somehow intended to be proof that the SFA were telling lies. Regan clearly said yesterday that everything was in order at the end of March so Rangers got the licence to play in Europe and anything thereafter is for UEFA to handle.

I don't see what their gripe is to be honest.

This is apparently the advert -

So who are the sfa answering too, septic fc or their demented shareholders?

Septic FC want nothing to do with this nonsense - they know what side their bread is buttered on. They have sidelined the resolution before their AGM but that still didn't stop them contacting UEFA for "clarity". Muirhead, the tarred one, McHugh and assorted other obsessed bigots are driving the current rubbish. No doubt somebody is skimming off the top and the whole thing when it fails will end up being part of some grand masonic conspiracy.

The only thing keeping it all running is the fact that Ogilvie was with the SFA at the time. The deluded bastards can't even recognise that despite Liewell and his pals running the SFA at the moment it is somehow our fault that nothing is happening.

The most important point though is ; If we are not the same club and have no "history", why do they even bother ?

Maybe some action will happen on the disgusting behaviour of the gangrene brigade which has been going on for years.

Hibs say they are handing out life bans -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-36420550

It'll be interesting to see exactly how many though.

There are two guys in my local who will be buying season tickets after being away from the matches for a few years. I expect sales will be up on last season.

" But not as much as Rangers have managed to diminish theirs in the days since. Their statements on Saturday and Sunday were the polar opposite of good PR – they were public retaliations, not public relations. "

And don't you forget it mate ! We are heartily fed up with suffering PR garbage when answering lies and twisted reporting.

Rangers made a statement pointing at where the blame lies. The statement wasn't wrong in any way.

Rather than calling it "public retaliation" how about just recognising it as telling the truth ?

The best thing that can be said about Hartson - he is not as dumb as and is slightly less bigoted than Sutton.

" At a bare minimum, within 24 hours the match commander should have been publicly admonished and RFC given a full and frank apology by the head honcho of Police Scotland. Of course, all we will receive is the usual feeble platitudes of lessons will be learnt and we’ll get it right next time etc. "

Receiving platitudes is one thing I didn't expect. I would probably have been more comfortable with that. Instead we got exactly what I did expect - the focus turning 180 degrees around to examine the behaviour of the Rangers fans.

Derek Johnstone has his say -

" THE formation of Club 1872 is a really positive step for the supporters and for Rangers.

It will undoubtedly help the club in terms of the money that is raised to fund projects and it will give the fans a real say in how decisions are made at Ibrox.

But it will also give supporters a voice and that is as important as ever in the aftermath of events at Hampden on Saturday.

All the supporters are as one and they will make themselves heard as one. They will defend the club and they will defend the fans.

There will be times where Rangers supporters are in the wrong, of course there will. No support, of any club, is perfect and we are all aware of that.

But when things are thrown at us then it is only right that they back their side and back their fellow fans. You can’t blame them at all for that.

In their statement on Thursday night, Club 1872 claimed that Rangers and the fans are ‘fair game by an unpleasant and active minority who attach themselves to several Scottish football clubs’.

It has not just been the last four years, but it has been prominent in the last four years when we have been down at our lowest. It is the easiest thing in the world to kick people when they are down.

There is no doubt in my mind that that has happened to Rangers. Whether people like me saying that or not, that is a fact.

Rangers are a bit like Manchester United down south. Nobody likes United because they are the big club, they are the successful club.

Everyone hates Man United and I don’t think there is any doubt that Rangers are filling that mantle up here just now. It is easy for people to have a go at Rangers Football Club.

How the events at Hampden can be turned around on the Rangers fans, I don’t know. If thousands of Hibs supporters don’t come on the pitch, there is no trouble.

You can’t start throwing blame at everyone else. You have to look at what the Hibs fans did.

They came on the park and caused mayhem. When you cross the halfway line, you are in opposition territory and you are goading.

They were tearing up the turf, they broke the goals and it was just malicious damage. That is not fans that are happy, that is vandalism.

At the launch of Club 1872 this week, Managing Director Stewart Robertson was asked a lot of questions about the Hampden riot, amongst other things, and he answered them honestly.

Nobody wants to see fans being goaded or attacked. There were Rangers fans on the park and they shouldn’t have been, and Stewart said Rangers will take action if appropriate.

But you can’t shift the focus as to where the blame for this lies. It is down to one club and one club only.

We have had stories coming out about the Rangers fans in the aftermath but the Police, the SFA and Hibernian have to hold their hands up and say they were in the wrong.

Club 1872 were quite right to come out with their statement. That is what they are there for. It will be good for Rangers and the fan base.

If, in the future, Rangers fans are found to have behaved inappropriately at any stage then they will, I am sure, say something about that as well. They have got to be honest and they will be.

Stewart didn’t say anything that I am sure plenty of people will disagree with. What would you rather have, thousands of people fighting on the park or people singing songs? We don’t want to hear any sectarian singing in Scotland and we don’t want people battling it out on the park.

There are no excuses here. The songs were song. But I would rather hear songs than see thousands of people fighting.

I don’t think anyone would differ. Of course, you don’t want to see any of it and we want everyone that goes to football matches to behave in an appropriate manner.

But, you can’t hurt someone with singing. These days, you are more likely to get jailed for singing than you are for being on the park.

We don’t want to see any misbehaviour at football and the SFA have to act decisively now. Back in ’72, UEFA didn’t mess about and Rangers were given a two-year ban, which was reduced to a year on appeal, after our fans came onto the park in Barcelona.

Within a few days, that was it. The SFA now need to act quickly and decisively.

These pictures were all over the world and it presents a really poor image of our game.

You cannot have players on the park fearing for their safety. If you go out and you are thinking ‘if their fans come on, we could be attacked’ then what is the point in playing the game?

While the SFA are investigating what happened on Saturday, they should be having a look at the conduct of their Vice-President.

Club 1872 called for Rod Petrie to be removed from office this week and I certainly agree with them on that.

He came out with the most ridiculous comments after the game and it took him another couple of days before he spoke again. There has been no public apology to Rangers.

He should not be anywhere near the SFA and should not be allowed to have a say in how our game is being run.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/14522390.Derek_Johnstone__Club_1872_have_to_stand_up_for_Rangers_fans___and_the_Hampden_fall_out_proves_it/?

Do you know how much leverage these committees actually have or how much weight they carry? Not an awful lot is the bottom line.

I won't disagree. However, Ratner lost a business through public perception of what he was doing. The "leisure suit" brigade in society may well continue to wander into his shops to buy clothes they can wear for a fortnight solid without washing but I doubt those who read the facts on how he treats his workforce will be buying their kids £100 trainers from there. His company is already sinking. These hearings will hasten his departure.

Apparently we got Motherwell, Stranraer, East Stirling and Annan. So I'm reading online.

Taking the fifth, so to speak, would make him appear even worse than he is perceived now, I don't think he can even look as though

he has come out on top with that strategy.

Of course, he will struggle if he elects to answer, and the Committee members are on their game.

I think of Mrs Margaret Hodge, in this regard, although I don't think she is on that particular panel.

 

Damned if he does, and damned if he don't: a damned shame, don't you think?

I absolutely LOVE these committee hearings. It's the only time MP's appear human to me. They tear into every dodging chancer sitting in front of them. I'll be watching or recording for sure.

I'm more concerned about the lack of condemnation from SPFL/SFA and Scottish Media sources than I am about whether a political party has any Rangers supporters within it because quite frankly its a red herring that is based in sheer conjecture.

 

For example the media are still reporting violence towards Rangers players and staff as 'alleged' when at least one Hibernian supporter has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in July. Which changes alleged an 'accusation' to be answered to an answered conviction. It is no longer alleged that a Hibernian supporter entered the field of play and threatened, intimidated and assaulted a Rangers player. Its a fact that he did!

 

That's what we should be concentrating on.

The agenda has switched from the hibs fans rioting to whataboutery on the Rangers fans songsheet.

Muirhead, John James, The tarred one, Speirs, and every other twisted feckwit with a hatred of us has joined in. Nobody wants to know about Hibs.

I'll make a prediction right now - we will be punished more than Hibs .

I acknowledge that in my post. I know it won't stop a lot of things but it will stop criticism of one issue only which is constantly thrown in our faces. We could argue about the Hun word being used against us but currently that isn't possible.

 

I am of an age before political correctness outlawed the use of certain names to describe people of a different race or colour and these words are not longer in my vocabulary. To be absolutely honest I've never sung the offensive words in my life. By continuing to use these songs the club and supporters leave ourselves open to accusations of being in the dark ages and members of the flat earth society. I don't think this is the image we want for our club. I think we need to accept that times have changed. No whataboutery please. I am only concerned for the good name of one club. A move to totally outlaw these songs coming from the club would be very well received by most fair minded people.

I'll refer you back to my last post BM. If we stopped any rendition of TBB they'd go for another song. If the Rangers fans sang Kumbaya for 90 minutes we'd be accused of slighting our African bethren. Go back a few years - a potato was thrown onto the pitch at the mankdome - that potato became sectarian as it obviously referred to the potato famine. A famine which despite the claims by the downtrodden and repressed affected every person not only in Ireland but Scotland. What sort of twisted mentality demands government action on some idiot throwing a potato onto a football field ? Even worse, when did we reach the stage that anyone calling for that action could be taken seriously ?

Many years ago on another forum I said that we should draw a line in the sand and say no more. The fact we didn't is how we've reached where we are now. It's time to say no more and take these bastards to task.

We are also toxic because of the songs we keep spouting out. I have recently hardened my attitude to this and now firmly believe we must stop it to move forward. If we don't we lay ourselves wide open for haters to have a go at us. If we didn't sing the songs they wouldn't be able to criticise us for that. We need to accept that these songs are unacceptable to the vast majority of people. I am not being naive because I know they criticise us for many other things but I firmly believe we must make changes to our song book. Club 1872 should be looking at this.

Sorry BM but we have reached such a level of hatred that it doesn't matter what we do, the haters will still complain. When you get folk saying stuff like hokey cokey is sectarian, making up stories about grass cut to resemble a sash, or similar garbage and it's taken seriously then you get an idea of what's happening.

I would much rather the board said, "Feck you. We will sing and do what we want simply because others get away with it."

It doesn't matter what we sing or do, there'll still be complaints.

I don't know what the procedure is for this type of thing. It's not a court so I'm thinking along the lines that he may have to go in there and face them alone with no prompting from lawyers on the sidelines. That would be the preferred scenario because this is an individual who appears to have developed a führer type mentality and who may snap when faced with people who have no respect for his kind of mindset.

Last year he sent in one of his senior men, the ex top cop . The MP's tore him up for ersepaper and made him look like a total fool.

I don't believe the SNP are inherently anti-Rangers, no more than any other Scottish political party are. Rangers are not fashionable in political circles, as such there's little to be gained from politicians of any stripe publicly supporting them. That is an issue but i'm not sure that's the fault of the politicians.

 

When you say the SNP didn't support us in the current situation, what did you expect to happen? I mean Hibs fans have been arrested and charged it's not like nothing has happened. I personally would be against government getting involved and putting pressure on independent bodies.

When we were at our lowest not one MP from any political party stepped forward to assist in any way. There was a guy I think from N.Ireland who spoke out briefly but that was the sum total. There is no more hate for us from the SNP than from any other party. FFS think back just a few years to the scum in the labour party.

For all the unionist stuff I read on Rangers forums I can't think of any tory saying a single word in our defence or against any of the pillaging going on in our boardroom.

It serves no MP to come out and support Rangers. We've become toxic due not only because of Murrays legacy but also because of the dignified silence approach pushed for years and years. Until the current board with the fans support go on the attack at every opportunity against every slight we will remain outsiders to be mocked, derided and the subject of lies .

This link gives an insight into how this maggot works -

https://www.buzzfeed.com/simonneville/sports-directs-mike-ashley-is-in-a-major-huff-with-parliamen?utm_term=.lbkm0BZDJ6#.xjWv3GbV45

Really not enthused by this new format.

 

Will be interesting to see how we approach it. I assume we'll use the whole squad as part of our pre-season preparations.

The league cup was played in groups when I was a youngster mate.

RANGERS will find out their League Cup opponents this evening as the new format of the competition is launched.

The Bet Fred Cup is split into group stages for the first time ever and those groups of five will be decided at 7.30pm on Friday.

The draw is regionalised and therefore split into North and South sections with five teams in each group from their respective region. There are eight groups in total.

Each group will contain a top seed, chosen from a pool of four teams, a second seed, again from a pool of four and then three teams from the unseeded pot.

Rangers are a second seed in the south section, along with Morton, St Mirren and Queen of the South – which means they can’t face those teams at this stage.

The top seeds Gers could face are Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Hamilton or Kilmarnock.

Rangers and one of those three clubs will then be joined by three clubs from the following:

Ayr United

Livingston

Stranraer

Airdrieonians

Albion Rovers

Stenhousemuir

Queen’s Park

Clyde

Annan Athletic

Berwick Rangers

Edinburgh City

East Stirlingshire

The group winners and four best runners-up will then proceed to the final 16. The first ties in the competition will be played over the weekend of the 16/17 July. "

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/gers-face-bet-fred-cup/?

" Ugandan midfielder Khalid Aucho has told Goal that he has received an approach to join Rangers this summer - and he wants a move to Ibrox.

The Gers have already snapped up four players for their return to the top flight of Scottish football, with Matt Crooks, Josh Windass, Jordan Rossiter and Joey Barton all penning deals with Mark Warburton's men. "

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/05/27/khalid-aucho-claims-rangers-deal-is-in-early-stages-he-wants-ibr/?

" RANGERS shareholder Mike Ashley has been handed a summons to attend a *Westminster inquiry into working practices at his Sports Direct company.

For months, the tycoon has refused to appear before the Commons business select committee to answer questions about the use of zero-hours contracts at his Derbyshire-based business.

In an increasingly bitter dispute the Newcastle United owner has tried to impose conditions on his evidence and offered to fly members of the committee to his Shirebrook headquarters in his private helicopter.

But chairman Iain Wright MP has written to Ashley saying he expects him to give evidence on June 7.

Ashley may refuse to answer questions from MPs if he does agree to attend the Parliamentary inquiry into workplace practices.

Witnesses cannot refuse a summons to give evidence to a committee, with the ultimate sanction being a warrant and imprisonment in Westminster Palace itself. "

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/mike-ashley-given-summons-attend-8059224?

I see the rag that is The National had an article where they got expert opinion from a solicitor commenting on the Rangers statement. -

" “Apart from the defamation of BBC sportswriter Tom English and SFA vice-president Rod Petrie, the statement was a blatant attempt to influence Rangers supporters to take a very strong club view. That statement has just handed the guilty a real let-off. All any defence lawyer for a Hibs fan needs to do is say that his client cannot possibly get a fair trial because that is the official position of the club and this will have influenced potential jurors. Any sheriff who has ever supported Rangers will need to recuse himself or be accused of following the club line. The damage is done and it’s too late now. Whoever approved that statement has probably ensured that justice will never be done.”

" All any defence lawyer for a Hibs fan needs to do is say that his client cannot possibly get a fair trial because that is the official position of the club and this will have influenced potential jurors." ???

Really ? Does this "expert" solicitor think for one second that jury trials will be required for charges of OBAF, common assault or similar ? Really ?