BrahimHemdani

Sorry, but that's not an acceptable excuse for missing the Gersnet Dinner.

I'll put you on the bench, STB, get your speech ready.

You will be most welcome.

Don't worry, Frankie, I will do just that.

Yes I did but there was absolutely no need to introduce that which has been done to death in a thread where I sought simply to say that I invited the current CEO to attend our dinner and he has declined for the reason stated. What is it you guys are fond of saying about trolling?

I know your original comment wasn't serious and neither was my reply.

Which one would you prefer?

I took advantage of a recent opportunity, to invite Rangers CEO to be our guest at the Gernset Dinner on 30 January 2016. Unfortunately I have just had this response from his secretary "Having consulted his personal commitments and tried to alter them to accommodate your request, unfortunately Stewart is unable to accept your invitation to your event on 30 January 2016." I have some other irons in the fire.

Even stranger considering the Basque culture and the history of that Club.

But in both cases only if control of the money has passed to the employee, however for tax income tax & NIC avoidance. Discuss. It will be interesting to see if he deals with the "common sense" argument in part 2.

Fair enough Barca but I would suggest that trying to argue the rights and wrongs of the tax case is a no win situation. As I suggest in more detail above, if I could multi task, I would stick to the three basic points: WE did nothing illegal WE didn't gain any sporting or competitive advantage WE are and always will be Rangers Football Club and I'll add a fourth "WE ARE THE PEOPLE" A cry that was common in my youth but seems to have disappeared behind some of today's ditties.

I'm not sure I can explain my view on this too well, LG; but it's not so much, "No one likes us we don't care", I think the people who chant that do so for a different reason. My point of view is that we should prove ourselves BETTER than THEM. We should rise above the online and media tittle tattle and the demented folk who race to express their ignorance on the phone-ins and concentrate on some basic issues. 1) The EBT's were widely used at the time and 5,000 other companies (inc many other football clubs such as Celtic and Arsenal) used them, having taken appropriate advice that they were a valid means of tax avoidance, which has never been illegal. Minimising tax liablity was "not a breach of SPL Rules" (Nimmo Smith and see below) 2) Lord Nimmo Smith held ceteris paribus: "Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements" "Rangers were not judged to have gained any sporting advantage. None of the players were ineligible to play." "We are satisfied that the registration of the Specified Players with the SPL was valid from the outset, and accordingly that they were eligible to play in official matches." "This is an important finding, as it means that there was no instance shown of Rangers FC fielding an ineligible player. " 3) Everyone who is anyone in football and and every organisation that matters knows that Rangers Football Club are still Rangers Football Club and we will come out of this with the same trophies as we went in. In fact, difficult as it has been, we will come out of it stronger for the journey we have taken, which WE will never forget; we need no others to remind us. I for one will not easily forget freezing my boll**** off in the snow at Peterhead and being half way to Aberdeen on the bus before my ears popped and hands thawed out enough to contemplate certain actions for which they are usually considered necessary. Whether this judgement is appealed or not (and I can see no significant advantage in so doing), will not change any of the above. That is why I think it's time to move on and concentrate on our rise back to the SPL and Europe in due course. Throughout this period I've often drawn a parallel with Fiorentina, who went bankrupt in 2002 but who rose to meet us six seasons later in the UEFA Cup Semi Final of 2007/08 which was their first season back in Europe after starting again like us in the fourth tier of Italian football. They have played in Europe in 5 of the succeeding 8 seasons and currently sit top of Serie A. I'm not suggesting that we will contest the latter stages of the Europa League in 2017/18; it would be nice to be in it and even nicer to get to the group stages. Let's concentrate on the road forward however long and let others worry about how we got here.

I am sure we gan agree to differ, Boabie, but I would submit I'm not alone on here, though clearly in a minority. However, it would seem that I have already been proved correct in terms of the SPFL.

That may well be partly at least because a number settled out of court and many others will have been watching the progress of our case. That's evident from the HMRC statement. A lot more will settle now.

Might the "third party" be the much maligned Murray?

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/judgment?id=8213f5a6-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7 If the Murray companies are in liquidation and didn't oppose this Appeal, I'm not sure how they could then be party to an Appeal to the Supreme Court. Regardless, we seem to be in the clear as far as the SPL are concerned, as several have pointed out the basis of their decision was the positon at that time.

I think McKay would be an excellent no.10 where he started his career (but there is no room for that in the MW formation) but he is not a CMF player. He is a fast clever player but suffers on the LW because he has no left foot and always has to cut inside. It's difficult for him to get to the bye line and cut the ball back with his left. I have been impressed with Holt. At 4 goals and 5 assists in 16 games, I reckon he's value for money.

He did a great job for us at RB, pushing Whittaker into midfield and as he says, rarely got a chance in his natural CB position; but where have we heard that before. All the best to him.

Davie Smith alluded to that when he spoke at our dinner last year. Although he didn't say as much, it was fairly clear that he felt that we might have won the game with Jim Forrest playing.

Will he or Gasparroto ever get a chance, doesn't look likely.

Was it a selfie?

That's not as daft as it sounds. He was reputedly going to sign for us in 2012 had it not all gone pear shaped. 38 is getting on for a midfielder but if I had a choice of Lampard who would be just turned 38 or Eustace who would then be well on the way to 37, I know who I'd take.

It was the third, scored by Ralph Brand.

Maybe he's going to invest that £50 million in them? They need some help right now. Might buy about one and a half new players. Of course, he'll be talking to Mourinho about his future as well.