Possibly the worst & most self congratulatory article ever written by a Scottish so called journo, & that's some achievement! He has the nerve to question others' integrity re Sevco just before decamping to em Sevco! What an absolute roaster!
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Do we know if the £2.5m includes money set aside for the various court cases and fines that may arise?
Does it include the £400k to the Scottish fitba authorities?
There's no mention of Paul Gascoigne on the EBT list which I find surprising given that he must have been among the highest paid players ever! Was his money put behind the bar?
If/when the Lying King gets jailed will he time behind bars count against the time he's allowed to stay in the UK for tax purposes?
Jim Traynor was the senior Sports Editor at the Daily Record at the time it was written, he had final say.
Ultimately he was responsible for all the football stories at the Record including changing the content of articles written by other journalists and issuing the copywriters with strict instructions.
The £2.5m needed to see out the season was reported on BBC Newsdrive. I think I heard them say that Sevco are confident that this sum will be easily met by existing investors.
I agree except that Traynor was a hugely intimidating figure at the Record and despite his bluff Uncle Jim radio personality, the truth was that he ruled the Sports Department at the Record by aggression and intimidation. This was his resignation letter, it was going in regardless.
SPFL to make a statement that it cares about " sporting integrity" and all its other members by quickly removing all the honours gained by cheating? They could do themselves and Scottish football a real favour if they really wanted to start to repair its image.
Don't hold your breath
Ashley's a monumental **** but he's also a businessman par excellence, especially when it comes to desperate, 'distressed' brands, and hun obviously fall into that category. Then you have to factor in the sheer amount of undiluted spite that instructs the way he does business - wherever he's not wanted, that's where he does his most nefarious work.
He's got the hun by the nads, wants King in jail (which is probably where he belongs, to be fair) and so I reckon MA will pony up the necessary £ to get hun to the end of the season. No-one else has it, and no-one will lend to them - so hun will have to pay wonga-esque levels of interest; not necessarily monetarily, but MA will be able to name his terms.
It's going to get very messy indeed and I can't wait.
Statement from Rangers
CLUB STATEMENT
Rangers Football Club would like to correct some misleading information that has been circulating on what is described as the “Big Tax Case”.
For the avoidance of doubt, Rangers have not lost the case. There is no question of any liability impacting on our Club, its history or any member of the Rangers International Football Club plc Group.
... The Rangers Football Club and the entities which currently own and manage it are not party to these proceedings nor do we have any say in what happens. The proceedings are a matter for those affected by them.
We note that the assessments for tax which were the subject for appeal and which are referred to as the Big Tax Case relate to Murray Group Holdings Limited, Murray Group Management Limited, The Premier Group Property Limited, GM Mining Limited and RFC 2012 PLC (in liquidation).
Excellent, so they are a new club, why would anyone want to lay claim to the history of the club that blatantly built its successes on the back of cheating? Now the courts have sorted that out it's surely best for all if all aspects of the now defunct club are left in the gutter:confused:
Lose the debt but keep the trophies and name. They and their Edinburgh cousins have no shame. They will be begging for Ashley to bale them out once again very soon. :hibees
Andrew Smith in the Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footba...#axzz3qbHP8pxh
Quote:
Andrew Smith: Rangers were heading for rocks before Craig Whyte
A FEW myths were exploded, a few matters set straight and a few more made altogether more complicated by the Court of Session’s decision yesterday to uphold the appeal of HMRC that Rangers ought to have paid tax on their Employee Benefits Trusts.
For too long, too many followers of the Ibrox club have attempted to paint the “oldco” Rangers’ demise as being the sole responsibility of Craig Whyte. They have sought to promote the narrative that, had he never appeared on the scene, Rangers would not have suffered liquidation and been forced to reform in the Third Division.
Murray found the club unsellable to all but Whyte because of the so-called ‘big tax case’ that hung over it. It would have continued to cast a shadow until today
Yesterday’s ruling by the Court of Session in Edinburgh lays bare that Rangers were heading for the rocks long before anyone in the Scottish game had ever heard of Whyte. It also makes plain that, had David Murray remained in charge and not sold the club to Whyte for £1 in 2011, the old Ibrox club was still well and truly finished. All that would have been different would have been the timing of its immolation.
Murray found the club unsellable to all but Whyte because of the so-called “big tax case” that hung over it. It would have continued to cast a shadow until today... when a £40 million tax bill would have been renewed. Murray, and his bankers, would not/could not have stumped up for that, administration would have followed and no CVA could have been forthcoming because HMRC, the main creditor, votes against these in football as a matter of course.
It was a case of persistence paying off for HMRC. Murray had earlier won a First Tier Tribunal in 2012, on a 2-1 majority, before HMRC largely lost its first appeal in July 2014, but a change of legal tactics saw it succeed. A counter-appeal remains possible but it is hard to escape the sense that Murray is responisble for Rangers’ demise. Tax and national insurance should have been paid on the sums players at the club received as EBTs between 2001/02 and 2009/10.
There could be a whole heap of fall-out from yesterday’s “common sense” judgment, bearing in mind that current chairman Dave King and Paul Murray both sat on the board that sanctioned the EBT scheme.
The independent commission chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith two years ago into the use of EBTs by Rangers – and the failure of the club to disclose side-letters and payments – arrived as something of a fudge because the first tier tax tribunal into Rangers’ EBT use that delivered a verdict in 2012 had stopped short of declaring the “loans” as sham.
Lord Nimmo Smith found Rangers guilty of a “deliberate” breaking of the, then, SPL, and SFA rules through failing to disclose to these bodies all payments made to players. A fine of £250,000 was imposed. Yet, Lord Nimmo danced on the head of a pin to avoid stating that Rangers had cheated between 2001 and 2010, even though that would be the “common sense” understanding of deliberately breaking the rules.
Rangers wriggled off the hook over the side- letters potentially leading to improper player registrations, which could have caused results obtained with these players to be wiped.
In the first instance, they did so because it emerged that the SFA, possibly in order to protect itself from any delayed litigation, would not essentially “back date” voiding of players’ registrations.
Looking at this issue of legitimacy in a broader sense, Nimmo Smith is again made to look rather unconvincing. Rangers’ title wins during their EBT years did not come into question, he said in 2013, because the club gained no sporting advantage from failing to disclose the payments and accompanying side letters as, in the main, these did not contravene tax law.
Now, it has transpired that they did. The only conclusion to be drawn is that Rangers gained a considerable sporting advantage by withholding monies due to the Revenue on a widespread, systematic basis.
By using EBTs they were able to recruit and retain players they would have otherwise been unable to afford.
There is likely to be little appetite for putting right the wrongs of a morally dubious scheme that sought to spare rich individuals from meeting their tax obligations. However, there should be.
At the very least, the titles Rangers won in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010 should be declared void. These honours were won in the most dishonourable fashion.
And, almost as if yesterday was considered a bad day to bury bad news, the current Rangers announced losses of £7.5m for the year to June
Morally bankrupt club which cheated taxpayers now being managed by a City Spiv and overseen by a glib and shameless lier. How apt.