Kowalski Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Daily Ranger has a quote from an unnamed SLF offical claiming that a 75% majority is not required to allow Newco in but just a straight majority vote. Taken from the BBC story yesterday: All changes have to be approved by SPL and SFL clubs over the next few days. The plans require the support of eight SPL clubs and a majority of SFL clubs to be passed. Quote
Mentorred Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Here is the statement given to all SFL clubs The proposal to SFL clubs, titled "Your Game, Your Club, Your Future WHY DOES RESISTANCE TO CHANGE IN FOOTBALL EXIST? •Fear of the unknown •Lack of involvement •Lack of information •Threat to power, or status •No perceived benefits •Fear of failure •Unless behaviour changes, nothing changes UNDERSTANDING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE •Perceptions of being “worse off” •If the reasons for change are not clear •If implementation plans are not clear •If there is no clear “link” with your own objectives •If a change is seen as a threat to your long term security or well being WE THEREFORE NEED SOME CLEAR COMMUNICATION PRIORITIES FOR THE SFL •Logical and positive communication to eliminate doubt, threat and insecurity •Fully explained in terms of short and long term benefits to you and the organisation •Not left to the last minute •Involving you at an early stage •And seen in the context of a wider strategic plan CURRENT REALITY •Rangers have no where to go •SPL Clubs have indicated their voting intentions •SFA wish to see a solution in the interests of the game •Moral/sporting question vs financial collapse •Are The SFL are in a position to accommodate a solution? WE HAVE CONSIDERED FIVE SCENARIOS 1.Rangers stay in SPL 2.Rangers to Third Division 3.Rangers to First Division 4.Rangers to SPL2 5.Rangers terminated or suspended 1. RANGERS STAY IN SPL •Not an option •SPL clubs have indicated no 2. RANGERS TO THIRD DIVISION •Takes approximately £16 million out of the game •Commercial partners walk away and seek compensation •The settlement agreement becomes a major risk •The sporting opportunity is quashed for other clubs 3. RANGERS TO FIRST DIVISION •Reduces SPL income by approximately 30% •Balances short term need for redemption with a least worst case financial scenario •It is financially possible to recover from this scenario 4. RANGERS TO SPL2 •Currently not supported by the SFA •Creates a bigger divide •Leads to some short term commercial losses •A legal challenge could paralyse the game •The overall pot would be much less than anticipated 5. RANGERS TERMINATED OR SUSPENDED •Complete financial meltdown •Settlement agreement is obliterated •Fans are lost to the game forever •The game survives but where? WE HAVE CONSIDERED THE FIVE SCENARIOS 1 Rangers stay in SPL 2 Rangers to Third Division 3 Rangers to First Division 4 Rangers to SPL2 5 Rangers terminated or suspended **SO WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE BEING ASKED TO CONSIDER? ** •Rangers in the IRN-BRU First Division this coming season •A one off fee to buy out the Rangers media value. (£1million) thus protecting the current contracts in place. IF WE AGREE THEN WE REQUIRE THE FOLLOWING •Play-Offs immediately, based on current format •A new distribution model with the settlement agreement value protected and future proofed •An amalgamation of the SPL & SFL •A more balanced governance model (as circulated) IF WE AGREE THEN WE REQUIRE THE FOLLOWING •Play-Offs immediately, based on our format •A new distribution model with the settlement agreement value protected and future proofed •An amalgamation of the SPL & SFL •A more balanced governance model (as circulated) WHICH WILL DELIVER BENEFITS TO THE SCOTTISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE •Immediate cash benefit for all 30 clubs! •Gate receipt uplift in Division 1 •Potential hospitality & advertising values increase •Sponsors receive added value through additional exposure •Scottish Government remain committed to our community strategy •SFL has more influence at the top table •Play-Offs restore the sporting meritocracy and deliver additional value AND BENEFITS TO SCOTTISH FOOTBALL •A unified plan presented to the Scottish footballing public which offers real possibilities for the game •Keeps all 42 clubs together avoiding a divisive SPL2 split •Deals with the need for sporting integrity with regard to Newco •Delivers innovation in the form of a single league, Play-Offs and a pyramid plan •Delivers new value for the game •Potentially narrows the financial gap between Scottish Premier League & Scottish League •Shows leadership for the game in Scotland •Allows fans to engage in the bigger picture •A positive media outcome Please note the plans for division 1 and division 3.... notice 3 means fans are lost forever, what rangers fans? what about all the other fans in other clubs if option for Div 1 is used? fucking unbelievable and stinks of pure filth that the SFA would even threaten clubs to accept this farce Almost reminds me of how the USA outlawed online poker. On the voting ballot they had a list of things they were going to do to stop terrorists and secure the borders, all good things that you would be stupid not to vote for, then at the bottm they put oh yeah and we are going to make onine poker illegal. Quote
Kowalski Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Good statement from Dunfermline: http://www.dafc.co.uk/articles/20120629/dafc-board-statement-on-revised-sfa-spl-sfl-proposals_2208030_2827302 Quote
Mentorred Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Good statement from Dunfermline: http://www.dafc.co.uk/articles/20120629/dafc-board-statement-on-revised-sfa-spl-sfl-proposals_2208030_2827302 :clap: Quote
tlg1903 Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Good statement from Dunfermline: http://www.dafc.co.uk/articles/20120629/dafc-board-statement-on-revised-sfa-spl-sfl-proposals_2208030_2827302 Yep well done dunfermline, i think they are right to ask why dundee take rangers place too. Quote
Madbadteacher Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 It's a fair point, I can see the arguments for both sides. Not sure how to sort this other than a previous suggestion of 1 season of SPL 13? Quote
Mentorred Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Scottish FA ?@Scottish_FA We have received, via our lawyers, Sevco Scotland info pack relevant to membership application. It will be reviewed in early course Quote
tom_widdows Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 Scottish FA ?@Scottish_FA We have received, via our lawyers, Sevco Scotland info pack relevant to membership application. It will be reviewed in early course Quote
Mentorred Posted June 29, 2012 Report Posted June 29, 2012 I would if it wasn't so near the truth. Nothing would surprise me after what we have heard this week. Quote
Kowalski Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 Tremendous stuff from Clyde: http://www.clydefc.co.uk/news/2012/06/30/4134/ Quote
Madbadteacher Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 That is a fantastic, clear and well structured statement that speaks volumes. Maybe, just maybe, the bodies that run Scottish Football, SFA, SPL, SFL, Daily Record will now see that they CAN'T bully and chaet "their" club back into anything they want. Clyde just gone up in my estimation, I might even forgive them for having john brown(cunt) as a manager. Quote
mizer Posted June 30, 2012 Author Report Posted June 30, 2012 Tremendous stuff from Clyde: http://www.clydefc.co.uk/news/2012/06/30/4134/ :clap: Quote
tlg1903 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 Tremendous stuff again from alex thompson http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/people-hampden-long-predicted-rangers-meltdown/2113 Quote
Kowalski Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 Raith Rovers chairman Turnbull Hutton has gone in feet first: "If we are at the stage of bending rules and accommodating, threatening and blackmailing, we want to give it up. "There is a lot of pressure being applied on various people. "There has been an abdication of duty from the SPL. Now the Scottish FA wade in and it's being punted to the SFL to let them try and sort it out "And, just to help the process along, why don't we blackmail and frighten them? It's bizarre. "'If you don't vote in favour of this, we'll set up an SPL2 and invite clubs in. If you vote against, you won't get an invite.' What sort of organisation is that?" :clap: Sounds like he should be in charge of Scottish football, not the cunts we have at the moment. Quote
tom_widdows Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18658805 Ive got a bad feeling that in a few years time people will be talking of 'The Lafferty Ruling' Would the SFA really still have the brass neck to mess about with FIFA? Quote
octavion Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 This could be what we need to slay the sfa , Fifa steem roll in and tell them to stop pussy footing around with der hun and send them packing Quote
Madbadteacher Posted June 30, 2012 Report Posted June 30, 2012 Oh FUCK OFF! Green and sevco-ex-hun-bastard-cunty fc haven't got a leg to stand on here (ironically ) The players "may have agreed to ca cut in wages in return for reduced transfer fees" but, err, tha's with a "club" that NO LONGER FUCKING EXISTS. Are these guys like Green really morons? Are morons "fit and proper persons"? Quote
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 http://wingsland.podgamer.com/the-lead-parachute/ Quote
Nellie The Don Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 http://wingsland.podgamer.com/the-lead-parachute/ Superb article. The last paragraph in particular I feel warrnts repetition to many on here: If adopted, it would lead to the greatest massexodus of supporters in the history of Scottish football. SFL2 and SFL3 clubs would be signing their own death warrants, and those of the SPL clubs too, which would in turn destroy the SFL1 clubs. They’re not that stupid. We said it yesterday and we’ll say it again today – it has absolutely no chance. Get down off the window-ledge and make yourself a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. Everything’s going to be fine. Quote
glasgowdon Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 Just seen the full John Brown speech on YouTube. Threats and delusion. Horrible, horrible former football club and these walking germs really need put down forever. Quote
mini59dons Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 I was listening to the BBC podcast thing today. One statement was that the clubs reckon they CAN survive without SKY but not this year! Now, does the SPL not have a contract with Sky? Surely to the ends of fuck the SPL haven't allowed a contract that Sky can just decide to tear up? Surely Sky wouldn't just tear it up for fear of Tims and the rest of scottish football turning off! So I think my point is this... If the sky deal is to 'go away' it won't be within a year! The only worry for SPL clubs is the lack of 3 or 4 Old Farm Games next season??? Quote
Mentorred Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 What more do Sky want. They have Scottish cup winners Hearts, league cup winners Killie, Aberdeen the last team from Scotland to win a European trophy, Champions league contenders Motherwell, Ross County who run away with the Div 1 title, Dundee United who have won the Scottish cup twice in recent years and they are crying over some new team that has won nothing and who won't even be in Europe. Quote
Madbadteacher Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 Sky want your soul mentor, they want it soooooooooooooooooo bad Quote
glasgow sheep Posted July 2, 2012 Report Posted July 2, 2012 RTC Latest As well as the Smith interview mentioned I believe the Retard have similar stories from Traynor and Keevins including the latest bullshit that 20 SFL clubs will go bust without rangers The Scotsman today is carrying a remarkable interview with former Rangers and Scotland coach Walter Smith. It is worth noting in a couple of respects. This is the first interview (of which I am aware) that Walter Smith has given since withdrawing his short-lived bid to purchase Rangers. Since that time, Alex Thompson of Channel 4 News has been trying to get Smith to answer a few simple questions: - Did you receive payment from any of the EBTs Rangers / Murray Group established to make tax-free payments to employees? - If so, when did you receive these payments? - If you received such payments, were they significantly after your employment with the club ended? - If you received payments long after your employment ended, for what purpose were they made? Of course, I have no way of knowing if the journalist, Alex Gordon, has ever heard of Alex Thompson or follows my twitter feed. Scottish journalist doing research? After recent reports that 83 Rangers employees had received tax-free payments through the EBT, it would be a fairly obvious line of questioning. That another former manager, Graeme Souness, received a series of payments through the EBT scheme ten years after he resigned also raises some awkward questions. If Mr. Smith did not receive any payments, or if such payments are easily explained, I am sure that he would have welcomed the opportunity to clear any misunderstandings. Oh well. back to you Mr. Thompson. Walter Smith’s interview can be seen as part of the PR deluge of terrifying stories about the great disaster that will befall Scottish football if Sevco 5088 Ltd is not allowed to enter a team in the Scottish Football League system with instant promotion to the first rather than the third division. This past weekend has seen many such articles and we should get used to more shrieking hysterics as we approach some kind of decision point. (Such is the bureaucratic incompetence within the organisations that run Scottish football, no one is exactly sure when a final vote might take place). Mr. Smith might be a genius at constructing anti-futbol defences (I do admire his pragmatic approach to coaching), but he is either being disingenuous in this article or is struggling to grasp the administrative details. Smith is reported as saying: “Ten years ago Motherwell went in to administration. Four years ago Gretna went defunct. So, surely the SFA should have put sanctions in place then? That’s why I am saying they have been negligent. Now we’ve got a free-for-all around Rangers and everyone is having a kick at them” This is a great example of the type of factually incorrect statements that the Scottish media is fond of regurgitating. As the old cliche says- an untruth repeated often enough is eventually accepted as fact. So let us refresh Mr. Smith’s memory. The SPL introduced the 10-point penalty for going into administration during a season, or being in administration at the start of season, for the beginning of the 2004/05 campaign. Motherwell (and Dundee) were already in administration when the new rule came into effect. Both clubs were able to conclude CVAs fast enough to avoid the 10-point penalties and to continue the life of the existing legal entities. The same rules that were introduced then have been applied to Rangers. The SFA are a bumbling shambles, but let us assail them for their actual mistakes. It is not the SFA or SPL’s fault that HMRC want to pursue investigations of what happened at Ibrox in the last 11 years and would not agree to a CVA. The case of Gretna is actually similar to what happened to Rangers FC. Gretna owed its creditors (including HMRC) more than it could pay and the club went into administration in 2008. Unable to fund a CVA that was acceptable, Gretna FC was liquidated. That was the end of the Gretna story. Supporters formed a new club, Gretna 2008 FC and were admitted to the East of Scotland Football League. (Those of us who would accept a Sevco 5088 Ltd team entering the third division are actually still offering this club a huge advantage over every other newly formed team). If only Gretna had Duff & Phelps on the case to promote fictions such as the one that says that a liquidated company lives on so long as its assets are sold as a job-lot rather than individually. Mr. Smith appears to be deliberately trying to confuse us and drum up sympathy for the new club. The only punishment that has been administered in the Rangers saga was to the old Rangers FC for experiencing an insolvency event. The rule that applied this penalty has been on the SPL books for eight years! (The SFA does not need to have a separate punishment). As yet, there have been no penalties applied for the oldco Rangers FC pocketing the millions of pounds that were deducted from players’ wages to be paid in tax while other clubs paid their dues. As yet, there have been no penalties applied for oldco Rangers paying the majority of their players through a mechanism that is, at best, in violation of SFA and SPL rules. I expect that when the First Tier Tribunal (Tax) returns with its findings in Rangers’ appeal of the Big Tax Case, that use of an illegal tax strategy will be added to the list of offences. If found to be using the EBT scheme illegally, it will prove that Rangers obtained the benefit of paying its players with money it did not have. How can Smith complain about penalties that have not been levied yet? We all know this stuff already, as I am sure, Mr. Smith does too. There is a studied ignorance that has become fashionable in certain circles of late. They pretend to not understand the facts. In this case, Smith is trying to drum up support for the notion that people have been “kicking Rangers while they are down” and “haven’t we been punished enough”? Let us be fully aware of the truth: The Rangers Football Club plc has not yet been punished AT ALL for its actions of the last eleven years. There is a simple way for Sevco 5088 Ltd to avoid all talk of sanctions and punishment. Apply for entry to the Scottish Football League third division without claiming that a transfer of the oldco’s SPL membership has taken place. By not forming any ties to the old club, Sevco 5088 Ltd can avoid any historical liabilities. My guess is that all concerned- the SFA, the SPL, and the clubs would breathe a sigh of relief and would be delighted to draw a line under this disaster. However, time is not on their side. If Sevco 5088 Ltd is to field a team of any description next season, an acceptable solution must be found quickly. Quote
mizer Posted July 2, 2012 Author Report Posted July 2, 2012 From Jim Traynor THE shape of things to come will be decided by close of play Wednesday. We should know by then if Scottish football has been big enough to edge back from the brink. For months now there has been a savagery. The game has been ripping itself apart all in the name of fair play. Or was it sporting integrity? Forgive me, the reasons for the crisis that threatens to destroy Scottish football have been lost somewhere in the lust to tear and shred one club. It's as though a century of hatred and probably jealousy have erupted. And the handful of reasoned souls left in the game are fighting a losing battle to cap the flow. The trouble is too many men with influence have been working not for the good of the game but to selfish agendas. They've done bad things in the name of morality. They've abused their privileged positions and if there was any decency left in the sleazy, tacky football world they inhabit they would not be allowed inside Hampden this or any other week. The dishonourable posing as protectors of the game's integrity by making up laws and punishments as they go along. By arguing and pressing for more severe punishments and demanding that Rangers newco be stripped of titles and trophies won in the EBT years by another business entirely, they are inflaming and prolonging an agonisingly painful and damaging period. Anyone who believes that stripping the old Rangers of baubles will help solve this meltdown should be ignored, pushed aside because we are way beyond bragging rights. We, Scottish football, are on the brink of total collapse. Those who are consumed by petty matters and the settling of old, ancient scores have made it harder to find the solution, the compromise agreement that's badly needed. One day the truth about the subterfuge, deception, and downright spitefulness used to prolong this saga might be told but right now those who are trying to save what is left of the game need to be given space. And hopefully the right and sensible decisions will be made when the SFL and SPL meet tomorrow and Wednesday respectively. Everything, the game's fate and Rangers' chances of survival never mind revival, depends on these leagues of gentlemen, if of course they do meet tomorrow. The situation is critical yet it seems we have two clubs threatening to block tomorrow's meeting. Stenhousemuir and Alloa have an objection. God help us. Hopefully the meetings will go ahead and if honesty and common sense prevail we might just begin to emerge from the darkness and see clearly who is working for the game and who is working for themselves. We might also notice that in our rabid rush to condemn and stone Rangers we have stumbled to the very precipice of catastrophe. Another misguided step or irrational utterance and Scottish football will be in total free fall so tomorrow the SFL must do one of two things. Either they decide to let Rangers newco - who already know they don't have the support of enough SPL clubs to get the share that would let them begin again at the top - kick off in the First Division or the way is cleared for them to start in the bottom tier. But research has shown the game will lose £16million if Rangers are dumped in the Third Division and frankly that would be too great a loss to an already impoverished business. Supporters, of course, are entitled to be heard but the question is this: Are fans - forget the ones who can't see beyond their own hatred - willing to see what they believe to be justice done no matter the cost or consequences? What if their justice means Scottish football would be reduced to a truly moribund state that would make recovery impossible? What if their idea of fair play meant our game would be forever locked out of the big boys' playground? Morals and integrity are fine but we must all be sure we can cope with the fall out, which would be considerable. Clubs will cut right back on numbers as we're already seeing with Hibernian who have just paid off Pat Fenlon's deputy Billy Brown. Players and wages will be next, although the first real casualty is more likely to be youth development. Mark my words, clubs are already being squeezed by their banks who have seen Lloyds get out with all of their money back from Rangers. The other lenders also want shot of their football clients and they'll be imposing tougher repayment plans on clubs, who will use these demands as excuses to make swingeing cuts on their budgets. If they are asked to reduce spending by £300,000 a year they'll make it £600,000 and blame it all on Rangers. But even by making savage cuts, a number of clubs will still go bust. This will be the true price of sporting integrity. And when the doors are being padlocked let's have no wailing or tears because too many clubs saw Rangers' insolvency as an opportunity to promote their own agendas. Yet what good has that done any of them, apart from allowing them to invade the moral high ground for a short while. Now, though, as they hobble down having broken their toes through kicking Rangers they are suddenly confronted with reality. They have the power to deny this new club any chance of life but they'll be condemning themselves to a miserable, empty future. Without the millions a healthy Rangers and their fans help generate, Scottish football will decline rapidly. All credibility at home and abroad will be lost. If this is what we wish then fine, deny Rangers an SPL share on Wednesday and SFA membership when the Appellate Tribunal sits again to decide a punishment acceptable in the eyes of the real law. If this is what upholding fair play means then let's go for it. Let's take decisions tomorrow and the next day that will chime with whatever our notions of integrity are and kill the game. After all, we can't put a price on justice, especially in football where justice is something to be kicked around without finesse or direction. Of course justice should be about fairness and handing down punishments that reflect the nature of crimes committed. It should always be about observing the law according to the rules and principles written down. But that's the problem with applying justice in a morally bankrupt game. Nothing seems to be written down. If it is there in black and white no one can understand it. The SFL have called in lawyers to make sense of their own articles ahead of tomorrow's meetings and, of course, the SFA spent a couple of years revamping their own codes, leaning heavily on the finest legal minds. Yet, when a transfer ban on Rangers was imposed it was kicked out in Edinburgh's Court of Session. It's a grotesque farce and one club chairman had to remove himself from the entire business yesterday. He had to plod along a west-coast beach in the wind and rain to try and clear his head. The game is pulling itself apart because some want to settle old scores with Rangers while others strive only to make the most of the problems and strengthen their own positions. Okay, but what's the point in being powerful within a game that will soon have no real significance beyond its own boundaries? But here are a few questions those 'just' men should ask themselves as they file into their meeting rooms on Hampden's sixth floor over the next couple of days: Is losing all credibility, standing in the game, SFA licence, SPL share and being treated with the utmost contempt not punishment enough? No? Then ask yourselves this: Is going out of business, struggling to emerge as a newco without fan support and being banned from playing in Europe for three years and being branded pariahs not punishment enough? If the answer is still no then there is no justice. And there is no hope. The game, and not just Rangers, will be doomed. Quote
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