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If this is proven to be true, then HMRC could have likely negotiated a deal with the OldCo for a lesser sum of monies and we would have been fine in the long-term. There is so much about this case that looks like manufactured grievance from the HMRC side. They claimed they wanted to set a precedent but I don't recall them following up our case with a grand return of revenue from other clubs/companies in similar cases. Basically HMRC have cheated the tax payer out of revenue to pursue personal vendetta. We now need to know the who of HMRC drove this case and why. Public workers should be accountable to the public for mismanagement of public bodies and funds.

When will that be? By that time they will be flutes, banned.

Monday mornings in February...

Bleak Midwinter. It was Christmas week and both schools and amateur football were placed in cold storage. It would be mid-January before an opportunity presented for tying on the fitbaw bits. Shin pads were optional but on Saturday 18th December'71, they became compulsory as Airdrieonians were the visitors to Ibrox. The Tannochside RSC bus was two thirds full for the Diamonds but already had a waiting list for Christmas Day's visit to the Hibees. The Ibrox attendance was sparse, given as 20,000 but I suspect that was optimistic? Airdrie had a grim reputation that the teams of the era did not deserve. Rangers lined up : McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, Jackson, Smith, McLean, Conn, Stein, Fyfe and, MacDonald. Airdrie put out : McKenzie, Jonquin, Clarke, Menzies, Delaney, D Whiteford, Wilson, McKay, Busby, Jarvie and, Cowan. Rangers were in a hurry, running in three goals in the first half. Stein notched in the second minute, Sandy got the second on the 33rd and, Fyfe completed the scoreline on the 37th. The comfort of a three zip result was quite surprising. Airdrie had knocked out both Manchester City(4-2 on aggregate) and Huddersfield(7-2 on aggregate) in the Texaco Cup in the previous several weeks. In fact the Diamonds went all the way to the final, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Brian Clough's Derby County. Drew Jarvie went on to have a decade long career at Aberdeen, the last Third Lanark player playing, Drew Busby did similar at Hearts. McKenzie was a Northern Ireland Keeper, kept out the international side by Spurs Pat Jennings, Paul Jonquin was a battering ram in the tackle and, Billy Wilson had blistering pace. In those days, trips to Broomfield were usually a high scoring adventure, it could be 4-3 either way. I felt a better standard of Manager could have taken that Airdrie side to a sustained higher level? Benny Hill was still number one in the charts, novelty records were quite the thing in the 60s and 70s. BBC 2 aired a serious music show for the first time in September'71. David Attenborough commissioned the Old Grey Whistle Test and was presented by Richard Williams. On the 21st December, TOGWT began another tradition; a ninety minute Christmas Special of highlights. Lindisfarne, David Bowie, Heads Hands and Feet, Elton John, Cat Stevens, Wishbone Ash and Glasgow's very own, Stone the Crows had us captivated. Maggie Bell had the pipes. Christmas Day TV was a cornucopia, Michael Aspel, the Black and White Minstrel Show, Basil Brush, Rolf Harris, Ken Dodd, Morecambe and Wise and, Bruce Forsyth all had their own shows. Endurance and survival techniques were required if you wanted to survive. The big film was, 'Arabesque' - starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. I am convinced the Saviour's Day became a national holiday in Scotland because of the televisual feast. We did New Years back then, the major religious festival was Easter, we worshipped the risen Lord. Half a century past was the last time football matches were scheduled for Christmas Day and for us, Easter Road waited. My old man worked Christmas morning and decided to visit the Mothers Pride Edinburgh Bakery. I accompanied and we took in the game in Leith. The old Dutch fulminated, our Festive Lunch was served at 7 O'Clock in deepest, darkest Lanarkshire. Why do we have Turkey as the preferred festive dish? My Mother proclaimed it to be non-native and always served roasted leg of lamb. It was most welcome that day, the snow flurried continually at Easter Road. Hibs ran out : Herriot, Brownlie, Schaedler, McEwan, Stanton, Blackley, Edwards, Hamilton, O'Rourke, Cropley and, Duncan. We lined up : McCloy, Jardine, Denny, Greig, Jackson, Smith, McLean, Conn, Stein, MacDonald and, Johnston. Rangers had a huge travelling support crammed on to the old high terrace of the Edinburgh ground. The attendance was given as 26,000 but I thought that to be several thousand light? The constant wind whipping up off the Forth made life on the terrace grim but, our tenacity was rewarded in the final minute when Colin Stein emerged from a growing blizzard to knock the ball past Jim Herriot. A 0-1 victory and the two points secured lifted us to third in the table, seven points behind joint leaders Sellik and Aberdeen. One of my Christmas presents that day was a copy of Alistair MacLean's new novel, 'Bear Island'. My Aunt thought it appropriate because it was about Rangers. The tome was set in Norway, not the Isle of Lewis.

I thought Hagi played a lot better in the second half when he was playing more in the middle. I read that the back 4 change was due to Dundee Utd having a different formation than expected, but I think it was partly Tav looking uncertain in the middle. Kamara looked lost in the attacking midfield position so he was moved back and Lundstram pushed up. Both are defensive midfielders so neither looked comfortable playing as part of the attacking midfielders. Lundstram looked OK when he was playing as the defensive midfielder and is cover for that position but he can't play as one of the attackers in the midfield V that Gio seems to like.

Having had dealings with HMRC at work and on a personal level, I've concluded that they're a set of incompetent bastards, from top to bottom.

Fingers crossed this blinking virus doesn't mess things up

I was like this, this morning never mind February

If memory serves me right I think the solicitor was named Moore he was recommended to my father by the them top Glasgow solicitor Joe Beltrami the trial was all over in less than two hours .

The Christmas day match was the one I got carted by Edinburgh's finest for thumping one at Saint Andrews square, got found not guilty at trial but it was some punch 😉

Highlights from the game ... ... and a picture snatched from this thread over on FF

For me this has always had the smell of more than incompetence. There's no doubt HMRC is capable of some appalling misjudgements but this was so specifically directed and so sustained that I believe it was carefully targeted for reasons other than just recovering unpaid taxes. I think this was an opportunistic attempt to bury Rangers, conducted by our "cultural enemies".

I think we have two Kamaras on our books. One of them is fluid, sharp and effective in transitioning the ball to the attacking players. The other one, the one we've selected these last few weeks is hesitant, cautious, slows down play and can only function in a more withdrawn role where he has the constant option of safe passes backwards or sideways. We need to get rid of this guy and keep only the better Kamara. We also seem to have two Hagis.... the dysfunctional winger and the creative advanced midfielder. I was interesting that GvB decided to play them both on Saturday but declined to field them at the same time.

I believe HMRC were manipulated by SLAB politicians and maybe one or two others to pursue this. The timing of the initial claim was always critical i.e. just before the 2010 G.E. which Labour were expected to lose and did.

IMO he was getting no service from the others and HAD to go chasing the ball,overall a poor performance from the team but happy to take 3 points.

Let's not kid ourselves Saturday's first half performance was totally unacceptable, no pace to much passing in midfield it was dire ,thank heck that was an under strength United.

Poor performance from us yesterday on many levels. Perhaps we looked at the team sheet for Dundee Untd and thought the game was already won. I admit its hard to play against teams that are well organised but this was a team heavily disrupted by COVID and a few youths thrown into the biggest day of their lives. Hagi - I have no idea what was going on with him yesterday. End of game rabona right out the park apart. He was dreadful. I am a massive fan of Hagi, but yesterday he looked like a drunk chasing a balloon in a bouncy castle. Couldn't stay on his feet, couldn't trap a ball. Struggled to find a team mate. One to forget. The back 4 - not sure if it was a ploy to disrupt Dundee U but the bizarre change at 2 mins of Bassey back to CB and Tav to RB was a bit off. Midfield - Not sure why the manager decided to put Lundstram as the deepest sitting mid, then changed to Kamara when neither player was getting anything productive. Airfield was quiet and not getting into the box like he usually does. I don't see a long-term future for Lundstram here, I just don't see how he fits in but think he was unfortunate yesterday to be the player taken off for Wright to come on. Forward- Morelos was reverting back to his old back habit of dropping too deep and spending too much time wide. Probably because he was crowded out the box by Dundee U. Get between the posts, in the box and lead the line pls Fredo. The penalty - stonest of stonewallers. No idea what the defender was doing but I'll take it. Put away very well by the captain. Few days off now for the players, lets reset, recharge our batteries and come back strong for St Mirren.

There was some very strange interpretation of this VAR system at the weekend it was introduced to help but seems to hinder just as much

The Times reports on Messrs BDO's latest update to creditors. Staggering, and staggering figures. It appears that the Tax Authority demanded a ludicrous sum, presumably knowing that this claim had dubious merit, and would be indefensible under scrutiny, and forced a business into unnecessary liquidation, while, all the time, being prepared to settle for a %age of a %age of its initial, fanciful, bid. If BDO's position is anywhere near well founded, we must ask if HMRC's original claim was -merely incompetent, or -designed pour encourager les autres and devil take any/all other creditors, and the shareholders, or -constructed with malicious intent? None of these are acceptable as explanation, of course. Rangers liquidators want to cut millions off tax bill Greig Cameron Monday December 20 2021, 12.01am, The Times Football https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rangers-liquidators-want-to-cut-millions-off-tax-bill-q8hqv9w5h Liquidators disputing about £51 million of the £64.5 million which is still being claimed by HMRC The liquidators of the Rangers oldco have said they continue to make progress in discussions about reducing the size of the tax liability owed to HMRC. BDO is disputing about £51 million of the £64.5 million which is still being claimed by the revenue. In the region of £30 million has already been knocked off the original sum the tax authorities thought they were due when the company, which is now known as RFC 2012, went into insolvency almost a decade ago. The bulk of what remains, almost £48.9 million, relates to the use of employee benefit trusts for former staff and players under what came to be known as the big tax case. BDO is disputing that figure along with amounts owed under inheritance tax, £1.3 million, and a separate smaller tax case, £1 million. Much of what BDO has admitted the oldco is due is the £10.3 million of PAYE and National Insurance which went unpaid while unpaid while Craig Whyte was owner of Rangers. In the latest update to creditors BDO said much of the focus of recent months was on court proceedings against the team from Duff & Phelps, which handled the administration of the oldco. Last month Lord Tyre ruled in BDO’s favour in a Court of Session judgment which suggested the administrators, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, had breached their duties by failing to sell marketable players and not considering a sale and leaseback of Ibrox stadium. However, the award of £3.4 million plus interest and costs was some way below the near £57 million which BDO had been aiming for. In its update to creditors BDO confirmed a sum of £4.7 million had been received by its legal team. However, talks about how much of the costs of the case BDO can recover are ongoing. BDO believes it will be in a position to pay further money back to creditors but warned the “timing and quantum will be dependent on the finalisation of the HMRC claim and the ultimate recovery of expenses from the former joint administrators”. The cost of litigation relating to the Rangers wrongful prosecution scandal, involving Whitehouse, Clark, Charles Green and Imran Ahmad, has reached £39.9 million, government figures released last week revealed.

Probably, but it's the inconsistency.

Probably the only way to get away from McPake and Griffiths ...

Both reds IMO.

My report on today's Lowland League game https://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/2021/12/19/two-hat-tricks-for-colts/

Wait...how come we've scored more than Angeball's free flowing cavalier brand of fitba? Maybe the BBC can answer that?

Kamara the best of a bad lot , need to improve.

Not much to choose from as it was a very lacklustre performance. Tav had the balls to step up and dispatch the penalty brilliantly so he gets my vote.

They've probably never finished reading a book either....

I wonder if the fans who leave the football early also leave the cinema before a film ends? Or if they leave they theatre before the play ends? Or leave a concert before the gig has ended?

The issue is more to do with us doing our job as supporters than how the players react. Support your team until the final whistle. No Surrender (unless I can't be arsed).

Why would you leave early when the game isn't decided? Folk care more about getting a pint than supporting the team. That's the crux of it. Having said that, I agree with Bill that the players should be able to do their job regardless.

Hate to sound like a broken record but watching thousands of fans leave well before the final whistle, must be disheartening for the players. Especially when the game is on a knife edge.

Well--that was the easiest write-up ever... Correct Result (1 pt): Everyone who entered. Correct Number of Rangers Goals (1pt): - FGS (2 pts): - Correct Score (3 pts): - Welcome to new player @Sutton_blows_goats! Latest Standings:

Let’s move on FWIW I think Gerard & Co should have gone last summer I think we’ve now got a better manager & back room staff