TheWeeBlueDevil

Press Statement ~ Independent Commission The Independent Commission chaired by Rt Hon Lord Nimmo Smith, sitting with Nicholas Stewart QC and Charles Flint QC, to determine issues concerning EBT payments and arrangements at RFC 2012 PLC (in liquidation) (formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc) (â??Oldcoâ?) and Rangers Football Club, heard evidence and submissions at a hearing on 29, 30 & 31 January 2013. Parties before the commission were: The Scottish Premier League Limited, represented by Mr. Rod McKenzie of Harper MacLeod; and Oldco, represented by Mr. James Mure QC, instructed by Mr Michael McLaughlin of DWF Biggart Baillie. Mr Mure QC also on 31 January represented Rangers Football Club and The Rangers Football Club Ltd (â??Newcoâ?) in regard to submissions on any possible sanction which might apply in the event that any breach was established. The Commission has reserved judgement and will issue a full written decision in due course. Until that decision is issued no further comment will be made.

SUNDAY, 27 JANUARY 2013 14:30 Club Statement WRITTEN BY RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB FOLLOWING an article in today's Sunday Mail the club has issued the following statement: Rangers have always had a close and respectful relationship with this country’s services personnel and associated charities. That will continue. No one from any of the Forces has been in contact with us other than to thank us for our support and help. Indeed, it was pointed out that our Remembrance event proved to be the single largest memorial event in Scotland in the year in question. The Remembrance part of the afternoon was observed impeccably and carried precisely the correct degree of solemnity. This was, as should always be the case, entirely separate from anything that some might have deemed frivolous during half time an hour or so later. That was when service people about to be deployed abroad wanted to celebrate in normal football style. All activities on the day were arranged in full co-operation with the Royal Navy, RAF and Army. They have always been extremely appreciative of the club’s efforts and acknowledge we are massive supporters of the country’s serving men and women, as well as veterans

http://rangers.co.uk...ld-expand-ibrox CHARLES GREEN has revealed he has discussed the idea of expanding the capacity of Ibrox Stadium with manager Ally McCoist. At present, the 51,082 seats inside the ground are serving supporters well, with a number of games there close to selling out completely this season. Demand to see Rangers in action is high despite the club’s move from the SPL to the Third Division over the summer as fans continue to give phenomenal backing to the team. Green expects that hunger to increase as the Light Blues move through the leagues and hopefully take their place back at the top of the Scottish game and in European competition. There are no concrete plans in place to develop Ibrox further at present but the chief executive has ideas of how it could be enhanced. And he said: “It’s for further down the line but it’s a discussion I’ve had with Ally. He knows this club significantly better than I do. “He said: ‘Look Charles, if you can achieve your dream and consistently deliver Champions League football and get into the last 16, this stadium is not big enough’. “Even when I wasn’t at Rangers, I saw the turnout when you all went to Manchester so I do know what is behind this club. “One of the reasons for bringing institutional investors into Ibrox is if and when we get to that position – as I’m confident we will – those are discussions this board will happily have. “The way the ground is configured, there is a great opportunity to fill in the two corners and put another Club Deck on the Govan Stand. “That would substantially increase the stadium’s capacity and we wouldn’t be frightened of doing that once we know we’ve the demand. The top league in Europe would deliver that.” Another reason to add extra seats would be if the current season ticket figure of just over 38,000 was to rise significantly. Green thinks that’s a possibility after he spoke last night at a fans meeting of the fact 9,000 fans who had seats last term didn’t buy them again for this campaign. He understands the reasons for that and is hopeful at least some of those supporters can be encouraged to come back to Ibrox for 2013/14. Green added: “The season tickets went on sale so late that some of those people had spent their money and unashamedly, some people don’t have the cash available. “They might have kept the cash for normal season ticket sales in May or June but they didn’t go on sale until August. “During that summer period, people might have had bills to pay, expenses, holidays, shoes for the kids and school uniforms to buy. “All of those things are a challenge for families today as cash is tight so they spent their money. “We will be on the mark this year and we’ll be putting season tickets out early once we know what league we are going to be in. Hopefully we’ll know that before the end of this season. “The reality is when we analyse the database that there are 9,000 people who had tickets previously and didn’t renew. “I actually see that as a positive. I understand why those people might not have bought and there would have people doubting me too. They still weren’t sure about me. “I would hope by next season those doubts have disappeared. They might not like me but they shouldn’t doubt me and I can live with that. “I think 9,000 people will come back to the club. We’ve sold 38,000 season tickets this year, our highest in the last three years, and that is amazing. “If we can bring in 50 per cent of that 9,000 it would be amazing. If we can bring it all back then who would have more season tickets in the UK? Not many.”

Great article by Chris Graham. Copied from RM Next week will see the resumption of the SPL tribunal into so called â??double contractsâ? at Rangers. I say double contracts but I believe the terminology now used is â??side lettersâ?, or indeed whatever terminology gives the greatest likelihood of a negative result for Rangers. Whatever the terminology, the tribunal has already been hugely undermined by the result of the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) which found that Rangers had conducted their EBT scheme correctly with only a handful of administrative errors. Those errors have been clung to by those wishing to continue the SPLâ??s vendetta against the club but there have been a number of pieces of good news which have come to the attention of the Rangers Standard ahead of the tribunal, and a number of unanswered questions for those at the SPL intent on continuing this witch hunt. The first piece of good news is that Rangers will now be represented at the tribunal. Charles Green has quite rightly taken the view that this tribunal has no authority or relevance to the new company running the club and under the terms of insolvency obligations it was always unlikely that the old company would defend the charges. This is because the liquidators cannot be seen to spend money on legal action which brings no benefit to the creditors. However, the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund (RFFF) have now stepped into the grey area in which the SPL have been trying to operate and have agreed that they will underwrite the legal costs of a solicitor and a QC to attend the tribunal and fight the charges. It had been thought that the RFFF statement made last week involved costs for a subsequent legal challenge but the funds are being used to fight these charges at every step. This is a big leap forward because the SPL lawyers, Harper MacLeod, have been relying on the fact that nobody would be present to challenge their ridiculous assertion that Rangers have been â??cheatingâ?. The next piece of good news comes from the FTT decision. It was widely reported at the time that Rangers were found to have conducted the vast majority of their EBTs correctly. This included the tribunal members confirming that the EBT payments did in fact constitute loans, were not emoluments and therefore did not need to be declared to the SPL as they were not contractual. The tribunal was very specific on this point and it was a huge blow to the SPLâ??s case. However, it is also now possible to clarify the remaining point that those who have been seeking to damage the club have been clinging to. Those who have spent months, and in some cases years, attempting to blacken the name of the club, latched on to the fact that five players were found to have had their EBTs wrongly administered and held this up as â??evidenceâ?? that the club were guilty of breaching SPL rules and that they would therefore have titles stripped for the years in which those players were employed. In fact, entirely the opposite is the case. Once again, in their rush to attack Rangers, they have got their information completely wrong. The cases of the five players involve circumstances where they were incorrectly paid for contractual obligations through an EBT. The payments were detailed in their contract but, instead of being paid using standard methods, were paid using an EBT. This has caused them to be singled out by the FTT as administrative errors but has completely the opposite effect for this SPL tribunal as the payments in question were detailed in the playersâ?? contracts and lodged with the SPL. So the smoking gun that the internet hordes have been clinging to for the past few months actually works in Rangers favour. The EBTs themselves have been shown by the FTT to be above board, correctly administered and loans, not emoluments, for the purpose of the SPL tribunal. The only EBT payments to fall foul of the FTT were in fact detailed in contracts and lodged with the SPL, so they have no reasonable recourse against either the EBTs or these contractual payments. The SPL case is dead in the water. However, there are still issues for the club to face because, as with the SFA tribunal which imposed an unlawful sanction on the club, this SPL tribunal is essentially a law unto itself. Nobody is casting doubt on the integrity of Lord Nimmo Smith or the two QCs who have been chosen to sit on the tribunal. I am sure they will do their job with the utmost adherence to fairness and the law. The one thing which cannot be legislated for however is the SPLâ??s rulebook and their lawyerâ??s interpretation of it. As with the SFA tribunal, these learned, legal figures are being asked to make judgement based on a set of rules which were never designed to deal with situations such as this. In fact the SPL rules on player registration were designed to protect the players and ensure they were always paid their contractual entitlement. They are now being bent to a different purpose by those in the SPL who wish to see Rangers punished. The legal minds on the tribunal have to take guidance from the SPL (and Celtic) lawyers Harper MacLeod on the interpretation of the rules and, just like the SFA tribunal, are somewhat at the mercy of those who wish to twist and bend the wording of the rules for their own means. It would appear that, in order to be successful, the SPL lawyers will have to convince the tribunal that any benefit given to a player has to be lodged with them - not just those which are contractual. If they are successful then this should lead to a review of every club in Scotland who give their players a company car, put them up in a hotel the night before the game or even give them a free pie or a drink in the bar after the game. That is before we even get started on image rights. This may sound ridiculous but this is now what the SPL case is based on. This is the level they will be stooping to during this tribunal and we all know that this interpretation of their rules, if successful, will only be applied to Rangers. We have already seen this in action with Ian Blairâ??s convenient dismissal of questions regarding the payments to Juninho by Celtic. No tribunal; no â??low level paper gatheringâ? by Harper MacLeod partner Rod McKenzie, minimal press coverage, case dismissed. However, it may be that the SPL themselves have some tricky questions to answer when they meet for their monthly board update the day before the tribunal starts. There are several chairmen starting to question just exactly how much this witch hunt being carried out on behalf of Celtic is costing the SPL. They are also wondering whether they are being kept up to date on the costs. The bill to date for Harper MacLeodâ??s â??low level paper gatheringâ? is estimated to be around £150-200k. This works out at around £15-20k for each of the 10 lever arch files of â??evidenceâ?? delivered to the SPL tribunal â?? not bad work if you can get it. The tribunal costs themselves, including the fees for the members of the tribunal, lawyersâ?? attendance and further preparatory work are likely to double this figure. Can the SPL, currently in huge financial difficulty, really afford to spend up to £400k in order to attempt to steal some titles for Celtic that they were unable to win on the pitch? Even if they can afford it, have the SPL board been keeping their members informed of the price of this action? Every month the board members are given a pack of information for their meetings which includes a breakdown of the costs for that month. Included in these are the figures for fees to Harper MacLeod. They obviously carry out a lot more work for the SPL than just this tribunal action but has the work related to the tribunal been included? Are only select members of the SPL board aware of the true cost of this witch hunt? I am sure Celtic would see £400k as a small price to pay to buy a few titles they couldnâ??t win on the pitch, but we have to assume they are not bearing the cost of this themselves. It would be a worthwhile exercise for the press and broadcast journalists who read this to go to those chairmen who are not part of the inner sanctum at the SPL and see if they can confirm any knowledge of just how much this is costing them. After all, there is no prospect of the SPL being able to impose a fine against the old company which ran Rangers in order to recoup costs. That comes from no less an authority than Lord Nimmo Smith himself, who made it clear the SPL tribunal was not a legal process for the purposes of the Insolvency Act, and that court action would likely be required if the SPL wished to levy a fine on the company currently going through liquidation. The bottom line is that Rangers are now well represented thanks to the money the fans poured into the RFFF and have a very strong case. Unless the SPL are allowed to engage in the same underhand action that the SFA took when they imposed an unlawful transfer ban on Rangers, then the club should emerge from this tribunal with titles intact and completely vindicated. I have faith in the members of the tribunal to act with integrity but I cannot say the same about the process which brought this about and that is where my concern lies. We will see what the outcome is soon enough but it will be a bleak day for Scottish football if the small cabal running the SPL get their way. In fact it would effectively end any chance for reconciliation in the Scottish game â?? reconciliation which is looking difficult enough to achieve as it is.

I knew you would

Not a chance any proposal put forward by Rangers will be giving credibility by the bitter bastards that lurk in the corridors of Hampden, even if its the best proposal out there.

I know we are much better than them, I don't need any attendance figures to prove that ... You only need to look at their games on the tv on Sunday nights to see they are full of shite. ( 46k lol ) Celtic are corrupt to their rotten core.

Piper at Ibrox yesterday playing 'Flowers of the forest' in tribute to the fans who never returned

"Football alone could not contain the Rangers story. The events and consequences of Rangers Football Club plc falling into administration reached into law, accountancy, media, even politics. The impact was on an institution of Scottish life, but it was best understood by how it affected individuals, how priorities and perspectives altered. Some issues even now remain unresolved. It began on Valentine's Day, when Craig Whyte stood on the steps outside the main entrance of Ibrox and read out a statement revealing that he had called in administrators. The moment was resonant, but also indicative. Whyte, after all, did not need to face the resentment of the Rangers fans in public. In many ways, he was a significant part of the saga. He lied, almost from the outset, and his purchase of the club – using money borrowed from London-based firm Ticketus against future season ticket sales – then his refusal to pay Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) the PAYE that they were due, was the work of a man living by his wits and old habits. Yet at no stage were the football authorities able, or willing, to intervene. Who was protecting Rangers – or indeed any club – from the harm caused by an unsuitable owner? That inadequacy remains unaddressed, so that the traumas Rangers faced could still be visited on any other club. Similarly, politicians tended to steer clear of the situation, particularly since the tax aspect made it a less appealing case. Yet we consider football clubs, and the Old Firm in particular, to be social, cultural and community institutions, and in turn they deserve proper political support. There has always been a tendency to try to frame what happened to Rangers as part of an overarching conspiracy, that each of the critical decisions was linked. In truth, though, it was individual misjudgments, greed, opportunism, and panic that worked together on the fate of the club. Rangers were victims, in a sense, of Sir David Murray's willingness to drive up the clubs's debt, and use the Employee Benefit Trusts tax avoidance scheme to such an extent that it prompted HMRC to serve a tax bill of £24 million, and so left the club in limbo until the case was resolved by the First Tier Tribunal – in Murray's favour – last month. By then it was too late.Those circumstances drove away potential buyers, leaving only Whyte in May 2011. It was Rangers fans, as well as the players and staff, who suffered, though, along with the creditors who lost out when Whyte's actions led to administration. They had all benefited, materially and emotionally, from the largesse of Murray's ownership – the hefty salaries, the success, the glory – so the painful consequences had to be borne. But Whyte's recklessness, and the descent into insolvency, was more abrupt and more traumatic than the price of Murray's bombast. The financial crisis gripped the support – they turned up in vast numbers for matches but were raw and emotional – and left us to reflect on what constitutes a football club. Since it was the loyalty and commitment of the fans and the staff that kept Rangers afloat, there is a strong argument to acknowledge that a club is what those who follow it want it to be. Rival supporters claim that Rangers died when the plc failed to achieve a Company Voluntary Arrangement, and the business and assets were sold to a consortium fronted by Charles Green. Yet many clubs have changed ownership and ownership structure during their histories, and have remained the same entity. Once the Scottish Football Association transferred Rangers' original licence to Green's consortium, it was recognised by the governing body, UEFA, and more recently the European Club Association, as the same Rangers: 140 years old. There were already broken relationships in Scottish football, but the demands placed on clubs and administrators to deal with Rangers' situation caused further estrangement. Scottish Football League clubs did not appreciate being dictated to by Scottish Premier League chairmen, who voted not to transfer Rangers Football Club plc's share to Green's consortium, and so consigned the club to the lower leagues. In a plan devised by Stewart Regan, the SFA chief executive, Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, and David Longmuir, the SFL chief executive, the Ibrox side would have been accommodated in the First Division, and so in all likelihood would have returned to the top-flight within a year, protecting the SPL's television and commercial deals.Yet the SFL clubs – and the vast majority of Rangers fans and staff – did not want to accept this compromise. Now, as talks continue over league reconstruction, the wounds of last summer have not yet healed enough to allow agreements to be reached. Rangers are slowly rebuilding, and last week's £22.2m share issue will allow the club to invest in its future, but the game itself has yet to recover. Last summer, the SPL demanded that Rangers accept the stripping of five championships won during the years that EBTs were in use, in return for being granted their SFA licence, even though Rangers had not been found guilty of registration breaches in the way they administered the tax avoidance scheme. That was a prejudicial stance, and an independent commission established by the SPL will sit in judgment in January. There were lessons for all clubs to learn, though, since fan power became a significant issue during the summer. A "No To Newco" campaign rose among activist fans of clubs such as Celtic, Aberdeen and United to compel their club chairmen to vote against transferring the SPL share to Green's consortium. Now Rangers have said they will not accept their ticket allocation for Tannadice in February because fans don't want to go, and will donate their half of the cup gate receipts to charity. Supporters, for so long disenfranchised, now hold sway over their clubs. Decisions might be less measured or ameliorative, but in many ways they will be more democratic. It is, after all, fans who hold their club together during a time of crisis, as the Rangers supporters showed. Questions have been raised about the way Duff and Phelps handled the administration process, and legal challenges abounded as Rangers received a registration embargo and Green fought the club's corner vigorously after taking over.However, the media, perhaps, has been one of the areas most affected. No aspect of the story held for newspapers, so social media moved to the forefront of coverage. As did bloggers, in particular the Rangers Tax Case (RTC) site that began as a source of pertinent information but became swallowed up by its own self-regard and ultimately called the outcome of the case wrongly. A new wave of bloggers has emerged, particular among Rangers fans, who now discuss and write about the clubs's roots, culture and social history more than ever. That is liberating but as with RTC – and the venomous spite that is evident online around contentious subjects – it is unrestrained. Newspapers once broke the stories, but as the Rangers saga showed, they are now better placed to analyse them, to provide perspective, reason and commentary. There was a time when most people, blithely and wrongly, assumed that an institution such as Rangers would never fall so far. In falling, the club has found a way to adjust and revive itself, but so too must the others touched by this story. Richard Wilson The Herald

Its a group of supporters meeting up to walk to the match. Why should they need permission, they will all still be traveling to Hampden regardless, as will thousands of others . Away fans meet up and walk to the match in groups in just about every country in the world where football is played.

It's only a few days until the end of 2012 and it's been a momentous year in the history of Rangers FC. The past 12 months tells the story of a club taken to the edge of the cliff, pushed over, then pulled back to safety. As you probably know, the first six months saw the holding company enter administration and liquidation, which resulted in the football club becoming rudderless in the perfect storm of weakness and rival opportunism. There were long days in the summer when the fans didn't know if the football club would survive as it seemed possible the Scottish Football Association would allow it to disappear by only accepting a new membership. Whether this was over going to happen or was an unrealistic fear will be revealed in the coming years, but it felt possible at the time. Fortunately the worst didn't come to pass and the football history remained unbroken with the transfer of membership from the old company to the new. Even then, it was predicted that although the lion on the badge might be the same, it would be without any teeth or claws. Many non-Rangers people and pundits happily told all who would listen the club was finished. They said supporters would desert the team in droves and that Ibrox crowds would dwindle to 10 to 15 thousand. Some even talked about a boost to Scottish football with all those former Gers fans turning up to watch other teams. But it was rubbish. They did not understand Rangers fans and had started believing their own gossip. Two crucial points were distorted or ignored. The first was the size of the fan base and the second was the motivations for supporting the club in the first place. For the latter, many non-Rangers fans convinced themselves that (unlike themselves) the Gers support only followed the team because they win trophies, play in Europe or other nonsensical reasons. The truth is that most do not choose to follow the Light Blues at all - it's part of their very identity. Whether it's because of family history, friends or because they seem to have always been there, it's not something you pick like your favourite music group. The supporters could no more walk away from Rangers in distress than they could chop off their right arm because it brings them pain. This is why in retrospect the story of passion and renewal that gripped Ibrox should not be a surprise to those who understand how much the club means to the 'Rangers family'. Itâ??s a remarkable sports story that has resulted in media from Brazil to Japan asking how this can happen. The fans not only stayed, but pushed the club forward in numbers that were bigger than seasons before? How can a football club that was days from ending and who now play in the fourth-tier of Scottish football get 37,000 season ticket holders, the highest average league attendance in Scotland, the fourth-highest in the UK and the 12th highest in Europe? While US international Carlos Bocanegra was answering this to his Spanish friends with the brilliant, "Hey, it's the Rangers and that's how it is", in Scotland there was still little credit given to the fans. 'Defiance' was the early buzzword, that - like 'transparency' and â??sporting integrity' months before - became Scottish footballâ??s new 'groupthink' (or should that be grudging?) term of choice. "Just wait till the cold December games - when the novelty wear off then so will the number of fans," they said. That Rangers' highest crowd of 49,913 was on a cold December day embarrassed no one. Like those who fail to predict the end of the world, they now say they were mistaken and the downfall is postponed to next year. Yet for all the negative bluster, it was true that Rangers might not be completely out of danger if there was a poor take-up of the share issue. So it was fitting that in the last month of 2012 the club found their finances solidified with an oversubscribed IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Much of the praise for this has to go to Rangers CEO Charles Green. He admits he's no altruist and fans should always remain vigilant of those in charge after past experiences, but he has kept his word on bringing in the sort of cash needed. He has also been pro-active in better PR for the club while the 'signing' of Jim Traynor is inspired. No one knows the formal and informal workings of the Scottish media and football authorities better than the former Daily Record journalist. Working through all this off-the-field hassle, Ally McCoist was charged with a seemingly secondary activity - football! Although for the first six months, the Rangers manager could not properly concentrate on his real job, when he, along with Sandy Jardine, had to keep the football club together. With no board and only administrators in charge, McCoist became the figurehead and was put under enormous pressure. But McCoist stood firm and did not waver. His love for the club was a guiding light through the hardest days Although he was already a Rangers legend as a player, he will never be forgotten for his dedication to the cause when it mattered most. Yet even when Green and Malcolm Murray steadied the ship, he still had to endure most players leaving, a year-long player registration ban from the SFA (that the Court of Session had previously deemed unconstitutional) and life in SFL3. After a sticky start he has taken his young and inexperienced squad to 12 points clear and playing good football. Forget Murray Park, it should be McCoist Park. As the great Jock Wallace would snarl in a way that personified a generation who didn't expect the easy life - this past year has shown that you need 'character' to overcome obstacles and eventually win. And from Ally McCoist to the fans who would not give up, this is a club and support that looked into the abyss, and the abyss blinked. Incredibly, in a turn that Michael Mols would be proud of, instead of defeat and pessimism, 2012 has produced a renewed confidence and an overwhelming desire to succeed at Ibrox. Donâ??t tell anyone, but the Rangers Football Club know the worst is over and believe their journey back to the peak of Scottish football is now inevitable John Gow on ESPN

Union bears statement We regret to announce that tomorrow's planned march to Hampden Stadium has been cancelled due to threats of arrest emanating from Strathclyde Police. We've been advised late this afternoon that if we go ahead with the planned 15 minute walk to the ground then anyone suspected of organising the march will be arrested and charged. In light of recent intimidation, harassment, brutality and a number of trivial charges coming from the aforementioned force we've made the decision not to put our members and fellow fans in the position where they may be easily arrested. Our group exists to provide vocal and visual support to the players and management of our football club. If we continue to allow members to be arrested and banned for trivial matters such as walking to the stadium in a show of unity with the wider support we'll no longer be in a position to do so. With that in mind, we call on all like-minded fans to join us in the West Stand tomorrow to help roar the lads on to yet another victory in the original Glasgow Derby. Union Bears No Surrender

153 players listed , could you even pick a decent starting 11 from that list ? shows how poor a standard the SPL really is IMO

copied this from RM According to the Heart & Hand podcast's Twitter we have sold 31,000 tickets for the QP game on Saturday. Their source was the ticket office .