Remembering Paul McConville

Paul McConville died unexpectedly last week aged just 47.  His is not a name that I imagine many liberals will have heard of (and as I have never met him I don't even know what his politics were).  He was a prolific Scottish blogger, but didn't often write about politics.  His main passion was football in general and Albion Rovers in particular.

But McConville's blog was arguably the most influential Scottish blog of the last few years.  He used his legal training to dissect much of the spin and wishful thinking surrounding the collapse and eventual liquidation of Glasgow Rangers.  He was one of less than a handful of people - all bloggers - who ignored the spin emanating from Ibrox and the corridors of the SFA HQ and told the truth about Rangers theft of tens of millions of public money through non-payment of tax.  He was miles ahead of the mainstream media in explaining the financial shenanigans and exposing the shady characters who were running the football club.

He did this while so called experienced sports journalists were enjoying their 'succulent lamb' on Rangers expense accounts and regurgitating the lies if not their actual free lunch. And he was called a 'bampot' for his trouble.

With Scottish journalism so compromised by this affair - and seemingly not learning any lessons with almost entirely unquestioning reporting of the not too dissimilar Hearts collapse - Paul McConville will be very sorely missed. 

Soldiers sing sectarian songs at Ibrox

The police are somewhat belatedly investigating an incident on Saturday where members of the armed forces joined in with fans of the Rangers in singing sectarian songs before their routine victory over Stenhousemuir.  The troops were there to celebrate armed forces day pre-match.

Singing sectarian songs as this YouTube video shows is an offence under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 - an act inspired by the late Donald Gorrie who championed anti-sectarianism as a Lib Dem MSP.

Fans of the Rangers (and their predecessor club Rangers) have sung these songs with impunity for years - the question is now will the authorities take any action now the reputation of the armed forces is on the line?

Was Alex Ferguson ever a manager in Scotland?

By most accounts you wouldn't think so.  But he was one of the most successful managers in Scottish football before he took the helm at Manchester United.

As manager of Aberdeen he broke the stranglehold of the old firm - winning three Championships, four Scottish cups, a League Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup - beating Real Madrid in the final.

He also managed Scotland, St Mirren and East Stirlingshire.

Is Ally McCoist a closet Lib Dem?

This picture from today's Scotsman - showing a creative use of bar chart technology - suggests he might be:

Hearts ask fans to pay tax bill

The financial crisis at Hearts - who failed to pay their players again last month - has surely reached its penultimate stage before they go bust.  They face a tax bill of £1.75m and have asked their supporters to cough up through buying £100 or more of their worthless shares.

Despite claims of cost cutting director Sergejus Fedotovas - one of the Russian/Lithuanians running the club under the ownership of Vladimir Romanov - admitted they were still spending much more than their income.  He told the BBC "The cost of the squad that won silverware last season is £8m and our income is just short of £7m".  And this excludes non-wage running costs which were running at a further £8m in their last set of accounts - now nearly two years out of date.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the behaviour of the owners of Hearts has been to deliberately cheat - by spending money they didn't have and had no realistic way of earning - so cheating the taxman and the rest of Scottish football.  Exactly like Glasgow Rangers.  Given the SFA are looking at stripping the now defunct Rangers of some of their titles won while cheating - will they do the same for the two Scottish cups Hearts won under the now ill fated Romanove regime?

'Shock' as team 14 places below opponent loses cup tie

Rangers made a shock exit in the Ramsdens Cup say the beeb. 

The last time I looked Queen of the South were top of division 2 and Rangers were 4th in division 3 - a mere 14 places below. 

So farewell then Rangers

The overwhelming decision by Scottish Football League clubs to accept a newly formed club called Rangers to replace the now defunct Rangers (1872) is a victory for sporting integrity and common sense.  The new Rangers will start at the bottom of the league - like any other new entrant to Scottish football.

Scottish football authorities have been trying to shoehorn a new club into the upper echelons of the league to preserve as much of the failed status quo as possible and may well not take this latest 'no' for an answer.  They shouldn't bother - the vast majority of Scottish football fans want Rangers (who afterall went belly up owing the public £80 million in unpaid taxes) to be treated like anyone else.

A competent management shouldn't be trying to rewrite history they should be adapting to the new reality - financial and otherwise - and act for the best interest of all involved in the game.  These people have overseen a slide down the international rankings of the national team, the collapse of several not particularly generous TV deals and have refused to restructure the game to prevent the slide into mediocrity.  Until now.

But a restructure is needed - not just to save one half of the poisonous duo that have dominated Scottish football for more than a hundred years.  And it is clear that Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan - the not so dynamic duo who have been trying to force the reformed Rangers up the league structure - are now so damaged (35 out of the 42 clubs in Scotland rejected their advances) that they should resign.

Out of this crisis should come a plan for the long term future of all Scottish football - overseen by people with the best interests of the game at heart.

Rangers face the end...

Glasgow Rangers have been liquidated, their assets sold on the cheap to a company snappily named Sevco 5088, the majority of their first team have walked away for nothing (as they are entitled to do under employment law), six SPL clubs have declared they won't support a 'new' Rangers going straight back into the top division and lower division clubs are lining up to send them to start again at the bottom of the league (or lower). 

So just when Rangers fans thought it couldn't get any worse along comes BNP leader Nick Griffin to offer support...

As St Mirren supporting Scottish crime novelist Chris Brookmyre tweets: "We are Rangers Super Rangers No-one likes us.  And it appears we may have failed to anticipate some of the long-term ramifications of this."

When all you are left with is Griffin and his neo-nazis you know your goose is well and truly cooked.

Will Celtic be the club to save Rangers?

On 4th July the Scottish Premier League clubs meet to decide whether to allow a new Rangers company formed from the wreckage of the liquidated one to continue in the SPL.

They need no more than four clubs to vote against their application.  At the moment Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and Dundee United are committed to voting against a 'newco'.  The Beeb's analysis shows how the other clubs may vote - and bizarrely the liquidated Rangers get to vote on their successor (only in Scottish football!).

But with four definite votes against it will take the vote of just one more club to throw Rangers out of the league as punishment for their misdemenours. 

One would assume that Rangers's greatest rivals Celtic would be guaranteed to be the fifth club needed to do just that.  But Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell's has said, "Our guiding principle is that we will do what is in the best interests of Celtic Football Club and our supporters..."  And the best interests of Celtic may well best be served by voting to keep Rangers in the SPL - without them the old firm veto on all decisions goes and of course they lose significant income without derby games. 

So Celtic vote to save Rangers - surely not?

Time for the SFA to expel Rangers

Two events today show how Rangers intend to bully the football (and tax) authorities into allowing them to carry on as if their insolvency never happened. 

Firstly, they issued a draft company voluntary agreement (CVA) that outlines how they will meet the £135m they owe - most of which is to the UK taxpayer.  Their proposal is that creditors should receive 8p for every pound they owe.  At the same time they demand the right to remain in the SPL, sign new players and take the profit from selling existing ones.  All the while the the £80 million they owe to the taxman - that should be paying for schools and hospitals (among others) will be written off - all bar £600k or so.

The second event was their successful attempt at the court of session to overturn the football authorities ban on them signing new players as a punishment for bringing the game into disrepute.  The problem with this is that FIFA are clear that football disputes should only be resolved through football and sporting tribunals.  They recently threatened to expel the Swiss FA from world competitions for failing to take action against FC Sion who had gone to civil courts to overturn sporting punishment - just as Rangers have done today.

It is now clear Rangers now think they are bigger than Scottish football - they believe they should be allowed to spend money they don't have, defraud the taxpayer, cheat the football supporter, cover up their financial shenanigans and when they get found out - go unpunished and be allowed to do it all again. 

Over the last 20 years Rangers have consistently cheated - skewing Scottish football so much in their favour that only Celtc (sic) had the financial wherewithall to keep up.  In this time they made many attempts to leave Scottish football to play on a bigger stage - they have shown no loyalty to the SFA or Scottish football.

It's time for Scottish football to fight back - Rangers need to be punished in a way that reflects their long term cheating and fraudulent behaviour.  And that can only be expulsion from the association they were so keen to leave a few years ago.

If the SFA doesn't have the kahoonas to do it then FIFA surely will.

Time to strip Sir David Murray of his knighthood?

A devastating BBC Scotland documentary - still available on iplayer - on the financial shenanigans at Glasgow Rangers suggests that ex-Chairman, David Murray received more than £6 million - tax free - from an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT).

Rangers are estimated to owe the taxman in the region of £70 million as a result of their use of EBTs and the adminstrators are looking at a deal that might see the taxman (ie you and me) get just £700,000 back.

So Sir David's £6+ million would make a big difference to the creditors.  Perhaps the threat of removal of his title (as with that other fallen Scottish knight 'Fred the Shred') might concentrate his mind.

Incidently, David Murray is on record as saying he didn't take a penny out of the club during his 20 odd year ownership.

A bad day for Man City, Rangers and football

While it may appear churlish to criticise Manchester City on the day they won their first championship in 40 odd years, or Rangers who appear to have found a last minute saviour, both these events are bad for football.

Rangers bought success over many years by cheating - spending money they didn't have, defrauding the taxman (and all of us by extension) and failing to pay dozens of small local suppiers for their goods and services.  The fact that they may now be saved and allow to carry on in the upper echelon of Scottish football by wriggling out of their debts by offering creditors a few pence in the pound without further sanction from the Scottish football authorities would be plain wrong.  It also sets a dangerous precedent that will destroy what remains of Scottish football's sporting integrity and drive away more decent football fans from the game.

The similarity with Manchester City may not be immediately apparent.  There is no evidence that City are failing to meet their liabilities and for success starved fans the impact of middle eastern sovereign millions has been transformational.  From mid table anonymity to champions in a couple of years - outspending the EPL's traditional big guns - city rivals United and Arsenal and Chelsea.

But like Rangers, Manchester City's spending is unsustainable.  According to the Guardian - last year players' wages accounted for 104% of their turnover and the club lost nearly £200 million.  City aren't playing by the rules of other clubs, their capacity to generate income bears no relation to either their supporter base or on field success.  And competition is devalued if one club can simply buy success.  They also leave themselves open to complete financial collapse - like Glasgow Rangers - if Sheik Mansour gets bored with his English play thing.

UEFA are rightly keen to see a more level financial playing field across European football.  So it is time for the Scottish and English football authorities to take action and introduce financial fair play rules - so that all football clubs are run sustainably for the long term good of the game.

Hibs survive the drop...

... and according to the Beeb (and other news agencies) Dunfermline are relegated.

But with the liquidation of Glasgow Rangers surely only days away - the Pars ought to stay in the SPL and Rangers (especially if they cheat on their liabilities and form a new company) should be removed from the premier league and be forced to apply for league membership in division 3.


So it may not be over for Dunfermline - but given the stitch up going on between Rangers, Celtc and the SFA I wouldn't hold my breath.

Monty Python does Rangers administration

This was posted on Hibs.net forum earlier today and it is so good it deserves repeating...

Scene:

Duff and Phelps Insolvency Practice

Cast:

Paul Clark of Duff and Phelps played by Michael Palin

Irate Customer played by John Cleese

The sketch:

An irate customer enters the insolvency practise

Irate customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(Clark does not respond.)

Irate customer: 'Ello, Miss?

Clark: What do you mean "miss"?

Irate customer: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

Clark: We're closin' for lunch.

Irate customer: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this football club what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very insolvency practice.

Clark: Oh yes, the, uh, the Bigotted Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Irate customer: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'it's bust, that's what's wrong with it!

Clark: No, no, 'e's uh,...it's debt free.

Irate customer: Look, matey, I know a bankrupt club when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

(Irate customer brandishes portfolio of bank statements and documents)

Irate customer: As soon as a took the club home some guy in a bowler hat from HMRC demanded £70 million. Then some ticket tout said he was looking for most of our ticket money for the next four years. Finally some spiv came around saying he was the real owner of the club.

Clark: No no it's not bust, it's recovering'! Remarkable club, the Bigotted Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful away strip!

Irate customer: The away strip don't enter into it. It's totally insolvent.

Clark: Nononono, no, no! it's emerging from administration!

Irate customer: All right then, if it's recovering', I'll check it's bank balance! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Broxi Bear! I've got a lovely cash injection for you if you show any sign of life...

(Clark hits the nudges the portfolio)

Owner: There, it moved!

Irate customer: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the portfolio!

Clark: I never!!

Irate customer: Yes, you did!

Clark: I never, never did anything...

Irate customer: (yelling and hitting the portfolio repeatedly) 'ELLO BROXI!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your financial health checkl!

(Takes bank statement out of the portfolio and thumps it on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it fall to the floor and bounce up and down.)

Irate customer: Now that's what I call an insolvent club.

Clark: No, no.....No, it's got a short-term cash flow problem!

Irate customer: A short-term cash flow problem?!?

Clark: Yeah! You spent all the bank balance by payin' the wage bill, just as it was moving into profitability! Bigotted Blues run of of cash easily, major.

Irate customer: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That club is definitely bust, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of cash was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged title celebration party.

Clark: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the Boyne.

Irate customer: PININ' for the BOYNE?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why was the bank account empty the moment I got 'im home?

Clark: The Bigotted Blue prefers running with limited financial reserves! Remarkable club, id'nit, squire? Lovely home strip!

Irate customent: Look, I took the liberty of examining the clubs' books when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it was still in the League was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

Clark: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have been out of the SPL, and legged in to the English Premier League and the Champions' League Group stages. VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Irate customer: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this club wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'it's bleedin' demised!

Clark: No no! 'it's recovering!

Irate customer: 'it's not recovering'! 'it's passed on! This club is no more! It has ceased to be! 'It's expired and gone to meet its maker! 'it's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the SPL 'it'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'it's off the twig! 'it's kicked the bucket, 'it's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-CLUB!! If you hadn't cooked the books it would be in oblivion with Third Lanark, Aidrieonians and Gretna.

(pause)

Clark: Well, I'd better replace it, then. (he takes a quick peek behind the counter) Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of Blues.

Irate customent: I see. I see, I get the picture. Have you not got any Paranoid Greens?

Clark: No we've got no Greens at the moment.

(pause)

We're expecting a Manky Maroon in any day now

Irate customer: Pray, does it win things?

Clark: Nnnnot really.

Irate customer: WELL IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!!???!!?

Rangers Blue Knights to fail fit and proper test?

So says the ever informed Scots Law Thoughts.

One of the problems (a few bloggers excepted) of the reporting of Rangers administration is the supine cravings of the Scottish media. Sports journalists north of the border fish in a very small pool and the often tedious going ons at both halves of the Old Firm conjoined twins are given prominence they rarely deserve. As a result journalists enjoy too close relationships with the PR departments of Rangers and Celtc in a bid to get the next 'scoop'. And therefore the serious investigation and questioning of Ranngers and their administrators has pretty much been avoided by the mainstream Scottish media.

So it can only be good news that C4 News's chief reporter, Alex Thomson, has taken an interest. So far he has provided a lot more insight (and reported the views of non-Old Firm fans) than the average west of Scotland hack.

Rangers administration: now plod investigate

The insolvency of one of the UK's largest and richest football clubs - Glasgow Rangers - has dominated the back pages for most of the week. And as each day goes by it becomes clearer that the regime of the dubious Craig Whyte was built on sand. The Beeb reports that the local plod are now investigating the apparent disappearance of £24 million in future season ticket sales.

But the place to go for real insight and analysis of the Rangers case is this rather good blog by a Scots lawyer, Albion Rovers supporter and Douglas Adams fan - with that pedigree you really can't go wrong.