Uilleam

In search of The War Chest (apologies to Gericault)

Surely the " War Chest " is the one which bears the tattoo, " Terry Munro "?

Another £7M, or thereby, and legal costs no doubt, and all from the public purse. It is easy to agree that being accused of fraud hardly inspires confidence in clients; it is equally easy, and tempting, to jibe that if one, even an accountant and financial adviser, lies down with dogs, one may end up with fleas. In this, latter, regard, it would be interesting to see Mr Grier's client list, and an indication of the type, and amount, of business undertaken with each. For example, If I knew that my financial adviser and/or accountant had a client list that embraced , for the most part, Spivs-R-Us Inc. and like enterprises and enterprising fellows, I think that I would switch to another consultant, even without the Crown proffering charges. Anyway, Mr David Grier is suing for wrongful arrest, wrongful incarceration, wrongful prosecution, etc. what has become, pretty much, the standard litany of grievance from those involved in the Rangers' takeover and subsequent, deliberate, in my admttedly inexpert view, crash. There really needs to be a comprehensive, and independent, Public Inquiry. Rangers arrest was career-ending, says businessman seeking damages James Mulholland Wednesday April 07 2021, 12.01am, The Times Football https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rangers-arrest-was-career-ending-says-businessman-seeking-damages-ff3bn6csr David Grier is suing the lord advocate and the police for £7 million A business consultant has told how his arrest over Craig Whyte’s takeover of Rangers was a “catastrophic” and “career-ending” moment. David Grier was arrested in November 2014 but was later acquitted of all charges against him by a High Court judge. Grier, 60, is suing the lord advocate and the police for £7 million. He told the Court of Session how after Police Scotland detained him his position in financial services had become tarnished and business contacts became “reluctant” to deal with him. He said that there was so much negative publicity surrounding his detention, he had to contact Google to remove information about him. When questioned by his lawyer, Andrew Smith QC, Grier said: “Unfortunately being arrested for fraud when you work in financial services is catastrophic — it’s a career-ending moment. My connections that I had established over many, many years were suddenly not as encouraged to deal with me — for good reason because it’s very difficult to promote someone as a corporate adviser when you have a suspicion of fraud hanging over you. “No matter how hard I tried to make that go away through various things — cleaning up Google and such things — it remains. It’s a very difficult thing to get cleansed.” Grier was one of a number of men arrested during the investigation into Rangers’ financial position during the past decade and the sale of the club to Whyte. Prosecutors claimed that he participated in a fraud with the businessman, claiming that Whyte broke the law by using cash from a firm called Ticketus to acquire the finance to buy Rangers FC. Whyte was also acquitted. Ticketus had agreed to pay Rangers about £26.7 million in return for the future sale of season tickets at the club. In February Lord Tyre concluded that prosecutors had no “probable cause” to prosecute Grier. However, the judge said there was insufficient evidence available at the stage of his ruling to conclude that prosecutors brought the case against Grier maliciously. The cases brought by Grier come in the light of admissions made by the Crown in another case brought by two businessmen, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark. Prosecutors admitted that Whitehouse and Clark had been wrongfully arrested and prosecuted. The two men sought £20.8 million from the Crown Office and Police Scotland. They settled with each receiving £10.3 million. Last year Charles Green, the former Rangers executive, was also able to receive damages after the Crown admitted it had conducted a malicious prosecution against him. Grier said yesterday he first became aware that he was a suspect in the fraud investigation in November 2014. He said that police had come to his home in the south of England and he was detained and taken to Glasgow to be interviewed about the allegations. Grier denied any wrongdoing about his involvement. He told his lawyer that when he was involved in the sale of Rangers to Whyte, he never suspected any wrongdoing in the deal. He said he developed concerns about Whyte’s deal following the conclusion of the sale. Grier said his concerns developed when he was involved in a “small tax case” concerning Rangers and HM Revenue and Customs and made his concerns known to HMRC on several occasions. He said he had spent the past six years scrutinising legal documents about the prosecution. He said: “Some of the disclosed documents have been absolutely enlightening; some of them have been horrific in terms of what I have found.” He added that the police were incorrect in their assessment of the evidence, which they thought showed he was involved in wrongdoing. “It’s entirely unfair,” the business consultant added. He also said that he was suing the BBC for its documentary The Men Who Sold the Jerseys. Grier said that the programme, which told of allegations of wrongdoings at the club, was wrong in its claims and that he was also suing an expert who gave his opinion about Whyte’s takeover. Police Scotland and the Crown Office contest the claims. The hearing, which is expected to take three weeks, continues.

I'll take banana skins like this, every day of the week. I'll put Clancy on a banana boat, likewise.

Just thought: it could be Eddie Howe's first game. Just thought: it could be Eddie Howe's last game.

So, beat Cove, and it's two byes.

In case anyone had forgotten, in the welter of legal actions around the Club, here is the latest on BDO (The Liquidators) versus Duff and Phelps (The Administrators). The report, below, suggests that BDO claims that Duff and Phelps "failed to cut costs sufficiently after they were drafted in to sort the then ailing club", although it may seem to the man on the Cessnock Subway that £56.8M represents an awful lot of cost cutting, during the relatively short period of time, in which D&P were in charge, even if he assumes that BDO aims high. I think that BDO claims, primarily, that D&P had not maximised the return from the disposal of the Company and its assets, and that this may make up the lion's share of the sum sought. You may form your own view on the reliability of Charles Green as a witness. My opinion is that it will be difficult for a man suffering from 'Rangersitis', a chronic affliction, with no known cure, to maintain objectivity, even on the stand. Ex-Rangers executive Charles Green urged to give evidence in £57m case James Mulholland Tuesday March 30 2021, 12.01am, The Times Prosecutors have admitted they should not have taken legal action against Charles Green https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ex-rangers-executive-charles-green-urged-to-give-evidence-in-57m-case-hvk25tjs7 Charles Green, the former Rangers chief executive, was urged to give evidence in a £56.8 million action brought by a financial firm against the club’s former administrators. Lawyers for David Whitehouse and Paul Clark have asked him to appear at the Court of Session. Andrew Young QC told judge Lord Tyre yesterday that solicitors were awaiting for a reply from Green, who is believed to be in France. Whitehouse and Clark are being sued by the club’s former liquidator BDO. The pair worked for Duff & Phelps. The company believes the pair failed to cut costs sufficiently after they were drafted in to sort the then ailing club. Young said: “I don’t have a written statement from him; he has spoken to those who have instructed me and he has given his views on a number of issues. We have asked whether he would sign a witness statement and give evidence.” Whitehouse and Clark were appointed by the Court of Session as administrators after HMRC took Rangers to court for £18 million of unpaid tax in 2012. The men went on to sell the business and assets of the Oldco to Green’s consortium for £5.5 million before BDO was appointed to liquidate the old company. The three were among seven indicted over fraud allegations relating to Rangers before the case was dropped in June 2016. Both men raised a multimillion-pound action against the police and prosecutors last year. Prosecutors admitted the case was “malicious” and conducted “without probable cause”. Both received a large settlement. Prosecutors also admitted Green was wrongfully taken to court.

Is that not what happens?

From the Daily Mail on Twitter. No less!! https://twitter.com/GrahamGGrant/status/1376492093544235012?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

JONATHAN NORTHCROFT | CONNOR GOLDSON INTERVIEW ‘Will Uefa really stand that strong against racism?’ Rangers defender Connor Goldson talks about racial abuse, heart surgery and having your hero turn up at your home Jonathan Northcroft Football Correspondent Sunday March 28 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-uefa-really-stand-that-strong-against-racism-mw6k092sq Goldson has played every second of the season for Rangers, playing his part in the successful bid for the league title Connor Goldson’s team-mate, a friend so close that they sometimes go on holiday together, suffered racial abuse at his workplace this month. Take the football out of it and just look on a human level: you can understand why Goldson is still chewed up, more than a week after Glen Kamara said that he had been called “a f***ing monkey” while playing for Rangers against Slavia Prague in the Europa League. As Kamara’s captain, as Kamara’s mate, Goldson confronted the alleged abuser on the pitch — Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela — and spoke out powerfully at a press conference the next day. “I was emotional, but stand by everything I said — but will Uefa really stand that strong against racism with the punishment they give?” Goldson says. “We’ve all been party to these movements: Kick It Out, taking the knee, wearing T-shirts, but [racism] keeps on happening.” The human level: “I feel like footballers only get seen as footballers, like we’re these robots that don’t get affected, but when you’re coming off the pitch to messages on social media, players having monkey emojis, banana emojis, the words black players get called, it affects you,” Goldson says. “But listen, it’s not a sob story. I’m proud of who I am. I’m proud of the colour I am. I think we all are. Yet it’s still something you don’t want to see, because it looks like you’re downgraded in society.” Courage, strength and leadership were part of the package Steven Gerrard knew he was getting when he made Goldson one of his first Rangers signings in 2018, driving all the way from his home in Merseyside to Goldson’s house in Brighton to seal the deal. Goldson’s partner, Kayleigh, was past her due date while pregnant with Caleb, their son, so the only place a meeting could be held was the central defender’s abode. “[Gerrard] still moans about it now,” Goldson says. Goldson confronted Slavia’s Kudela after the alleged racist abuse Goldson supports Liverpool. So what do you do, if you are a Koppite and Stevie G knocks on your door? Goldson went into overdrive. Kayleigh had cleaned everywhere and when the bell rang, he ushered in his guest and offered a drink. The request was for water and whether through nerves, eagerness — laughing as he tells the story, he says he is not sure what — Goldson thrust a two-litre bottle of Highland Spring in front of the visitor. “I only wanted a glass, mate,” Gerrard said. That meeting did get better and convinced Goldson to leave Brighton & Hove Albion, for whom he had played in the Premier League but was still behind Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk, to try an adventure in Scotland. “[Gerrard] just sold it to me, what the project was and how he wanted me to be a main part of it — I don’t know . . . I just believed him,” Goldson says. Three seasons on he is a league champion and Rangers’ bedrock, having played in every second of the club’s 48 games during their triumphant season. “An absolute mountain, a warrior,” his manager says. At 28, Goldson feels at his peak and that a combination of boss and environment has pushed him there. With Gerrard, “You know you’re in the presence of a winner, you know what he expects from you every day. He brings complete clarity and I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a team talk thinking, ‘I’m not sure today.’ ” With Rangers, “You have to be here to realise the demands. You can play a Scottish League One team or Benfica and it really doesn’t matter — the fans think you should win every game and the club expects you to.” Scottish football is, he says, “quick, a lot more physical. In the Premier League there was more time on the ball, but the intensity of Scotland is a different level. Some games, I call it murderball.” But what that means, reflects Goldson, is having to be physically and mentally “on it” in every second. “If you’re soft in Scotland or let your standards drop, you’ll get beat. “When I came up here I thought not ‘I’ll cruise it’ but ‘I’ll look very good here’. Then all of a sudden there’s balls into your channels, balls into your box, corners, throw-ins, and you’re conceding goals unless you’re in the zone. The pressure has helped me improve.” He describes Gerrard’s drive to bring elite standards everywhere, whether through the quality and detail of tactics sessions, delivered by his assistant, Michael Beale, or revamping the auditorium at the training ground and canteen, tunnel and changing rooms at Ibrox. The manager has entrusted players to look after improving culture and Goldson is in a leadership group with the club captain James Tavernier (absent against Slavia), Ryan Jack, Steven Davis, Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield and Jermain Defoe, who developed a “creed” that all players sign up to. It includes such tenets as: “I give my obligation to this club to work hard every day, improve every day and sacrifice myself for the team.” “There’s a page of it,” Goldson says. “Attitude. Relentlessness. Togetherness. We always say the team is the superstar, not any of us.” Against Livingston this month Goldson became the fastest player to reach 150 competitive games for Rangers. His availability and readiness to play are quite something for a player told his career could be over when he was 24. In 2017, a routine heart test at Brighton picked up a serious issue, later diagnosed as Marfan syndrome, a genetic condition that can fatally enlarge the aortic valve. He had not wanted the scan, organised by Brighton’s head of medical, Adam Brett, whom he will always thank for a belief (not shared at every club) that players should have routine cardiac screening. “A group of us played Call of Duty every afternoon and I remember being in the gym and saying to the boys, ‘I’m going straight home and getting on.’ I walked through the physio room, just to have a laugh on the way back to the changing room, and Adam reminded me about the screening. I was, ‘Aw, no, do I really have to go?’ ” Goldson says, reliving how close to a different fate that he perhaps came. A specialist in London said that his aorta “was stretched to a point that if he let me carry on, it might pop and I’d be dead. He said he would send me to a surgeon and told me, ‘I don’t know if you’ll play football again.’ That was the worst day of my life. We got back in the car, I remember Gibbo — the player liaison [officer] — drove, our club doctor was in the back and I just cried my eyes out and spoke to my missus. “She said, ‘Keep strong and just wait till you see the surgeon,’ but I thought I was finished, aged 24. I’d bought a house the year before and remember thinking, ‘Seven hundred grand, I’ve got a mortgage, I’ve got bills, how am I ever going to live?’ ” His mind swam with family history too. His grandad died of cardiac problems and his father, Winston, had just turned 30 when he had a heart attack while playing for a Sunday league team in Wolverhampton. Connor was there on the touchline aged three or four, though he does not recall it. “I was out for just four months — and two months involved waiting for the operation,” Goldson says. “I always say I was fortunate. It sounds horrific when you hear the word ‘heart’ but in terms of injuries there are many that put you out longer.” Within three days at the end of May, Caleb turns three, it is Kayleigh’s 30th birthday and they are getting married in Cheshire. It will top off, he says, an amazing year. The future? He loves Rangers but there is an ambition he would like to fulfil. “My dream was always to play week in, week out in the Premier League. Whether that happens, time will tell but I think for any English player that’s the dream. “Playing in Europe against really top teams has made me realise I am good enough to play at that level.” A leader, brave as they come, scores at set pieces, good at build-up play — and does not miss matches. Whenever he does leave Ibrox, there will certainly be interest. Football

International Football is it? REPUBLIC OF IRELAND O LUXEMBOURG 1 What's not to like?

Absolutely. Henry Kissinger was brought in as 4th official for a number of seasons. The real reason for that Nobel Peace Prize. (In my view, he didn't really make much difference to the carnage.)

Speciesism. Strange, I had you down as a vegan.

And as for that Glasgow Derby, well....

to Aiberdeen? He'll be after Joe Harper's record, for paternity suits.

Adam McNaughtan wrote a song about it. http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Blood_Upon_the_Grass.htm (You can get it on YouTube, but McNaughtan is not much of a singer)

For both incidents, and without hesitation or deviation. Agreed; he tends to be straight, but is just staggeringly inept at times.

Of course, he should have had two yellows for simulation. But before completely excoriating Collum, ask yourself this : What would Clancy have done? Odsonne will be odds on to dive in his next match.

It seems that rahoops will not appeal Eddie Plongeur's yellow card for "simulation", despite the incident being, according to Manager, and Captain, a 'stonewall' penalty, which even a blind man fleeing backwards in fear of his very life would have seen. Strange that. Either the cost of the appeal -about a £grand, or thereby, a f a I k, - will leave the club short of cash in its amaretti tin (a recent upgrade), or it does not wish the player to be confirmed as the dirty diving bastard he is, by the authorities.

Frightening. Fyi, it seems that Brora has played just one match in 2021, against the mighty Camelon Jnrs, winning 2 - 1, and only 10 competitively since the pandemic began.

I have the distict impression that he pays attention to no one other than himself; I think that he regards this as a positive trait.

Jonathan Liew in today's Guardian. Pricks such as Michael Stewart would do well to read and consider. Furore around Glen Kamara shows how racists can keep getting away with abuse Jonathan Liew To get their personal violations recognised, victims of racism have to navigate an obstacle course of suspicion and bad faith Tue 23 Mar 2021 10.00 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/23/furore-around-glen-kamara-shows-how-racists-can-keep-getting-away-with-abuse You’re a footballer who has been racially abused by an opponent in the course of doing your job. So let’s talk tactics, scenarios, next steps. Yes, I know it happened only a few seconds ago. You’re angry, upset, confused. Above all there’s a football match still to be won, and you don’t want to lose your focus. But really, you need to get your head in the game. Because even in these raw early moments, one false move, one wrong choice, and your prospects of justice are sunk. Obviously you’ll want to lodge a formal complaint as soon as possible. But of course the referee didn’t hear anything, and the opponent has an angelic “Who, me?” expression on his face. Here’s your first task: you need to remember the exact words that were used. Was it “fucking monkey”, “black monkey” or just “monkey”? Yes, it’s gruesome, but it’s important. Get it wrong, admit the merest uncertainty, alter your story one iota, and in a few months’ time a smooth-talking lawyer will be flaying you to ribbons in front of an FA disciplinary panel. Next: make sure you flag the incident up at the time and gather witnesses, or you’ll be accused of making it up afterwards. And remember, you need to look just the right amount of angry: too angry and people will assume you’re motivated by rage, not angry enough and people will assume you’re a scheming, mendacious troublemaker. Once this gets out, you’ll need as thick a skin as you can muster. You’ll be forced to relive those few traumatic seconds again and again, through ever more jaundiced filters. Your reputation and your motives will be dragged through the mud. You will be abused again, this time in great anonymous torrents. And for all the support and encouragement you will also receive, the whole affair will leave an unpleasant aftertaste: a problem everyone wishes would simply go away. By the time of the hearing, the incident will begin to feel like a surreal abstraction: you, who were there, will have your recollections challenged by others who weren’t. The player who abused you will wheel out a succession of character witnesses to defend their honour. If he had said the thing, they will insist, that would make him a racist. But he isn’t a racist, and so he can’t have said it. Ultimately, you will be told, it’s your word against his, and so nothing more can be done. The reason for sketching this process out in such gristly, unpleasant detail is that there remains a significant body of opinion that is convinced people put themselves through all this for a laugh. This cropped up again recently, after the Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara accused Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela of racially abusing him during their Europa League game on Thursday. Kudela has denied the accusation and Uefa will hear the case in due course. And yet already Kamara’s treatment is a reminder of the obstacle course that awaits all victims of racist abuse: gaslighting, obfuscation, counter-narrative, a system that seems to be rigged from top to bottom against the accuser in favour of the accused. I discovered this on a much smaller scale only a few years ago. Towards the end of the last Ashes tour, an English journalist racially abused me in the press box of the Sydney Cricket Ground. Or, more specifically, in a corridor near the press box: a detail I now realise was hardly accidental. As the older journalist flatly denied making the remark he had made about eight seconds earlier, there was a devilish glint in his eye: the stomach-turning realisation that I would never be able to prove otherwise. And in the end, he got away with it. Complaints were lodged. Grave, stony-faced summits were held. My version of events was scrutinised with a forensic laser focus. Did I have a grudge? Did I provoke him? Could I have heard something else? All he had to do, meanwhile, was deny everything. And – legally speaking – that was that. Game over. Multiply this by hundreds, thousands, and you realise why so many acts of personal violation – racism, harassment, sexual abuse – go unpunished. Kamara has received plenty of support, but also a good deal of scepticism and outright hostility from rival fans. Like many before him, he has been accused of simply inventing the whole episode. And remember, this was an on-field incident captured live on television. Imagine the overwhelming burden of proof required to substantiate a similar accusation in amateur football. In a dressing room. In a boardroom. We know racist abuse is a common, widespread problem. Conversely, there is no body of evidence to suggest that false or malicious accusations of racism exist on remotely the same scale. And yet time and again we are nonsensically asked to give these two scenarios equal weight: often under the cloak of well-meaning phrases like “due process” and “innocent until proven guilty”. Yet the presumption of innocence is not a neutral stance in these cases. It presumes, by extension, that the accuser must be lying or mistaken unless proved otherwise. And in so doing, it provides generous cover to any abuser shrewd enough to cover their tracks. This is the landscape that virtually all victims of racism must navigate: suspicion, bad faith, institutional hostility. Meanwhile, football’s authorities wonder aloud why hatred festers in the game and what can be done about it. They can begin, above all, by assuming that those who stick out their neck to denounce racism are telling the truth. And not only that, but by believing them: not blindly or dogmatically, but instinctively, and with empathy. Jonathan Liew was last week awarded the John Bromley trophy for sports writer of the year at the Sports Journalism Awards

A 'natural', a 70s icon, and the party animals' party animal. Frank Worthington, former England forward, dies aged 72 He played for more than 20 clubs including Leicester Frank Worthington pictured with Leicester City in 1973. Photograph: PA PA Media and Guardian sport Tue 23 Mar 2021 08.52 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/23/frank-worthington-former-england-leicester-forward-dies-aged-72 The former England forward Frank Worthington has died at the age of 72 after a long illness, his family have said. Worthington played for more than 20 clubs including Huddersfield, Leicester and Bolton during a long career that stretched from 1966 to 1991. One of English football’s great mavericks, he made his England appearances in 1974, scoring two goals. His family said he died peacefully in hospital in Huddersfield on Monday. Worthington is well remembered for his wonderful individual goal for Bolton in a Division One match against Ipswich in 1979. Worthington’s wife Carol paid tribute to the much-loved football showman. “Frank brought joy to so many people throughout his career and in his private life,” she said. “He will be greatly missed by everyone who loved him so much.” Worthington started his career at Huddersfield before moving to Leicester in 1972. He went on to play in the US, Sweden, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland and Wales as well as for numerous league and non-league clubs in England. After his playing career he had a spell as manager of Tranmere and became an after-dinner speaker. Worthington also released an autobiography, One Hump or Two, which contained entertaining accounts from his playing days, as well as stories about his life off the pitch. Unashamedly non-establishment, Worthington hit the headlines as much for his off-field exploits as his rarefied talents on it. Once described by the former Huddersfield and Bolton manager Ian Greaves as “the working man’s George Best”, Worthington played in 22 consecutive Football League seasons from 1966-67, scoring 266 goals in 882 appearances in all competitions. In 14 of those seasons he played in the top division, getting 150 goals in 466 matches, and won the Golden Boot in 1978-79 as the leading scorer ahead of Kenny Dalglish and Frank Stapleton. In 2016 he denied claims by his daughter Kim-Malou Worthington that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

...but not all adults will be consenting.