It's not, they are just arguing over costs.
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Take a look at @STVGrant's Tweet: https://twitter.com/STVGrant/status/...302348800?s=09
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Would love it if someone would just extend the FOI legislation to cover organisations like the SFA who have inbuilt monopolies
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It sounds to me like a load of cobblers. My reading of that is that MASH have seen documents which rendered a court case a waste of their time and money, but it almost appears to me that they had to agree to some kind of confidentiality agreement before they could view them. They are suggesting that the SFA should publish documents which would apparently harm them - why in the world would they do that? It seems to me that despite the bluster of the Ashley camp that the glib and shameless liar has wiped the floor with them.
The SFA's response.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/f...737ivEWKl17.97
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Is it possible to reproduce the article CWG? Personally I find the daily ****** such an odious rag I have no desire to benefit them by clicking on their site.
SFA brand Mike Ashley ‘delusional’ after Sports Direct tycoon ends legal bid over Dave King's role at Rangers
06:00, 29 Apr 2016
By Keith Jackson
GOVERNING body hits out after Ashley releases bizarre statement to Record Sport hinting of impropriety and collusion between them and King’s regime.
THE SFA last night dismissed Mike Ashley as ‘delusional’ after the Newcastle owner was forced to drop legal action against them at the Court of Session - only to claim afterwards that he was in fact the winner.
Record Sport revealed yesterday how the Sports Direct tycoon was facing a humiliation in court with his lawyers set to abandon at the eleventh hour a judicial review of the SFA’s decision to pass Rangers chairman Dave King as ‘fit and proper’.
And, after they did officially pull the plug on their own petition yesterday morning, judge Lord Bannatyne left Ashley sweating on whether he will be forced to cover the legal costs incurred by both the Hampden beaks and King. A bill which could run into hundreds of thousands.
But while the game’s governing body was celebrating the collapse of Ashley’s case, the bullish billionaire was busy issuing a bizarre statement to Record Sport in which he claimed the defeat was, in actual fact, a victory - and hinting of impropriety and collusion between the SFA and King’s regime.
A spokesman for Ashley’s business empire MASH Holdings said: “We are delighted that the wall of secrecy surrounding the SFA’s decision declare Dave King a “fit and proper person” is finally crumbing.
“As a result of legal action concluded today, the SFA has been forced to divulge documents in private to us that reveal the true reasons behind this controversial decision.
“This represents a significant victory for MASH and we believe there is a strong public interest in this information now also being made available by the SFA to all football fans. We therefore urge the SFA to come clean with the public about all its dealings in relation to Dave King.”
One high level SFA insider responded to Ashley’s release by branding the controversial businessman as ‘delusional’. It’s understood the reaction to Ashley’s comments on Hampden’s sixth floor was scathing.
And later last night the SFA released the following statement to the Daily Record.
It read: ““Ordinarily, we would be loath to respond to such a disingenuous statement but in the interests of transparency and accuracy, it should be made abundantly clear it was MASH who today chose to abandon their ill-founded litigation.
“We have been consistent all along that the process of determining Mr Dave King’s Fit and Proper request, submitted via an amendment to Rangers FC’s Official Return, was conducted in the correct and appropriate manner.
“Indeed, at the time, we outlined the unprecedented scale of the due diligence undertaken, befitting the complexities of the consideration placed before our Board. This was released to the media and stated that this diligence involved communication with the relevant authorities in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“As part of the recent litigation process we elected - with the consent of Mr King - to provide certain confidential information expanding on our statement. There was never any obligation for us to do so and we were certainly never “forced” to do so. This is a matter of fact and legal record.
“It is regrettable that we found ourselves in an unnecessary Judicial Review process in the first place: one that serves only to absorb Scottish football’s time, money and human resource which could otherwise have been utilised for the good of the game. The same applies to responding to these unedifying comments.”
The information at the heart of the dispute is understood to have been a letter from the South African tax authorities clearing King’s name despite a long running legal dispute over unpaid tax.
Ashley’s camp had argued that King’s long running legal battle with the taxman - which ended in 41 convictions and a cash settlement of almost £44m - made a mockery of the decision to pass him as a fit and proper person.
But they were forced to U-turn on that stance earlier this week when, under the procedure laid down for the judicial review, the SFA’s legal team provided them with a copy of King’s ‘certificate of good standing’ from SARS.
It was after discovering that the South African taxman had vouched for King’s credentials that Ashley’s lawyers were left with no option but to back down.
They then argued that Ashley should not be forced to cover the legal costs of all parties - a bill which will run into several hundred thousand pounds.
But Lord Bannatyne will now decide on this matter before giving his verdict in writing.
In the most bewildering part of the statement from MASH, King’s position at the head of the club’s PLC board - not the club’s football board - is also questioned.
It continues: “MASH notes that the SFA did not approve Dave King to be a director of the football club (The Rangers Football Club Limited, the body which has membership of the SFA), but instead only approved him as a director of the club’s holding company (Rangers International Football Club plc).
“We find it astonishing that Mr King talks and acts as if he runs Rangers, whilst at the same time his lawyers claim he is not a de facto director of The Rangers Football Club Limited.”
Although King declined to comment Rangers insider said: “The football board is answerable to the PLC board. In fact, previously, Ashley’s old ally Sandy Easdale could only have a seat on the football board as opposed to the PLC board precisely because he would not have been cleared as fit and proper.
“To suggest anything other than that is ludicrous.”
Nice balanced and objective article.
As we all know, in most walks of life in British society today a string of convictions for tax fraud makes you fit and proper to run a facsimile of a business that was liquidated having failed to pay its tax liabilities.
The joint delight of the football authorities and the rangers hasn't been lost on the rest of us.
It's just a pity there isn't a real investigative journalist in Scotland so we are stuck with them hiding behind a nice letter from south Africa telling us that despite them pursuing and convicting him they are happy to say he's fine to run a business in Scotland.
No matter what I think of Sevco it is pretty pleasing to see Ashley get a kicking in court again. I hope he gets hammered for costs.
We need a Mike Ashley chant for the cup final.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/domesti...gers-1-4114478
Domestic violence reports soar on day of Celtic v Rangers
THE number of domestic abuse calls to police almost doubled on the day of a Celtic v Rangers Scottish Cup match earlier this month.
Police Scotland reported a 43 per cent rise in domestic violence on 17 April, the day of the game at Hampden Park.
There were a total of 210 reported incidents throughout Scotland, compared to 146 on an average Sunday.
Most of the alleged crimes took place in and around the Glasgow area, police confirmed.
Chief Superintendent Barry McEwan, head of Police Scotland’s licensing and violence reduction division, said: “Following the recent Scottish Cup semi-final between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden it is disappointing to see an increase in reported incidents of domestic abuse.
“Dealing with this remains a priority for Police Scotland, one which we pro-actively addressed prior to this match taking place.
“Our officers have detected around 60 per cent of the domestic crimes committed that day and will continue to pursue the outstanding crimes and target those offenders that cause harm to their victims.
He added: “Our priority is always to protect victims from potential harm and we have been directly engaging with known offenders to remind them of the consequences of their actions should they offend.”
Ch Supt McEwan said excess drinking was behind most incidents. He added: “Although we can’t attribute all of these incidents of domestic abuse directly to the Rangers and Celtic match, these figures underline that this event often leads to individuals having too much alcohol to drink which unfortunately lead to anti-social behaviour, violence and domestic abuse.
“There was a clear proactive strategy ahead of last week’s fixtures, which included working with partners to address violence and disorder, domestic abuse and licensing issues.”
Meanwhile, a futher 18 arrests were made in and around Hampden and in Glasgow on the day of the semi-final, which Rangers won 5-4 on penalties. They were charged with offences including sectarian, threatening or abusive behaviour, assault and running on to the pitch.
'Lord Bannatyne left Ashley sweating on whether he will be forced to cover the legal costs incurred'
Yeah, Ashley is really sweating over THAT - the article reads more a 'R*tard Editors View' than an genuine article reporting the facts !!
Once again, Scottish Football is the loser as the power still lies with the religiously-bigoted, crooked and the immoral people in our game !!
Something along the lines of -
You are welcome to him, we really need him to operate somewhere other than here so please just have the SFA draft a letter that's suits their purpose and we will sign it.
Here, the SFA operate with a similar institutional mentality as say the South Yorkshire Police did throughout the Hillsborough enquiry. The institution decides what it wants then sets about establishing the evidence to support what it wants. Obviously a different scale here but the culture is the same.
Its only when they are dragged kicking and screaming to disclose what they actually have that you get a chance to truly assess what's involved and what was done and what was hidden.
The fact that they have managed to get the magic letter to point to doesn't wipe out the reality that we have a multiple convicted tax fraudster meeting the Scottish football authorities "fit and proper" person test for running a club that in a previous guise stiffed the taxman amongst many others. If the SPFL/SFA were a country they would be a banana republic.
Wave 1 Uber fan/Paid up in the club- Have a ticket and here's another for your Granny.
Wave 2 Serial non attenders- You'll get a ticket if your lucky and it'll be a crap seat but we dont care.
Wave 3 lol.