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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-harsh-treatment-hearts-3015628?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=tw IS the treatment of Hearts fair? Absolutely not. Must it continue unabated and without mercy? Sadly, there can be no other way. What we are currently witnessing at Tynecastle is unedifying, bordering on inhumane. Gary Locke has been forced into a position where he has no choice but to flog the life out of his youngsters who are now dropping to their knees in the utter exhaustion of fighting what has been, from the outset, an impossible task. They are only half way through but Hearts are goners already. And the more squeamish may very well feel like looking the other way for the second half of this season as they stagger and stumble towards their own demise. This is heartbreaking cruelty in every conceivable way. But Scottish football must not be allowed to avert its gaze. Not for one single second. Rather, it should be strapped into a seat and forced to sit through every gory moment of this collapse. Scottish football has done this to Hearts and now it must watch every last consequence of its actions, no matter how harrowing it may become. Promising young players may be left broken in spirit and body. They may be cast aside and unable ever to fully recover from the traumas of this campaign. So be it. Locke too may never be the same again given what he has had to endure in this, his first ever managerial post. Already his credentials for the job are being debated and dissected. In some cases, he has been dismissed as some wet behind the ears, lame duck of a boss who has neither the know-how nor the work ethic to save Hearts from their fate. This picking on Locke is savage and unnecessary and almost wholly unfounded. After all, how can any reasonable assessment be made on Locke’s qualities or otherwise as a manager when he has been placed in a position which leaves him almost entirely unable to manage? Unlike his peers, he can neither buy new players nor even loan them, which means he must make do with what little he has on the books. And yet, so sparse is his squad that Locke is not afforded even the most basic managerial prerogative of choosing a starting XI. He has no choice but to count heads and send them out. No matter if these players are suffering from loss of form or even fitness. Locke’s only option is to run these youngsters into the ground until the time comes when either Hearts are unable to fulfill their fixtures or, in order to keep up the pretence that they are still a functioning football club, filling up maroon shirts with school children and sending them out to be humiliated by grown-up professionals. All in the name of sporting integrity. Under these circumstances it is simply not possible to judge Locke’s managerial merits one way or the other. He is not managing Hearts. He is merely enabling them to keep up this pretence until the club has taken its last breath in the top flight. Anyone who cannot acknowledge that their fate was predetermined before he had given them his first team talk must be a fool. Yes, Locke is learning on the job and will have made mistakes along the way. Of course he will. But by depriving him of so many of the fundamentals of football management, we make his human error almost redundant. The truth is, there was never any hope for Hearts. That was part of the deal. When this club limped over the line last season to stay in the top division at the expense of Dundee, they knew administration was on its way. We all did. It’s all been a charade ever since. The new rules which were drawn up to deal with insolvency events were designed not just to punish offenders but to throttle them. It had to be this way because of the appalling blood lust with which Rangers had been treated the previous year. Had level heads been applied to the financial meltdown at Ibrox then Rangers would have been helped back up from the gutter in which Craig Whyte left them. Instead, they were trampled down and kicked to the kerb. The urge to maximise the damage Whyte had done quickly became overwhelming and, in many cases, it was led by downright malevolence. Neil Doncaster, the chief executive of the then SPL, wished to apply some logic and reason to the debate for no other reason than it made business sense to protect Rangers. Perish the thought, maybe even to help them in their darkest hour. But he was shouted down by the baying crowd that had gathered around him. And now, as a result of this mob mentality, Hearts are paying the heaviest of prices for the roguish actions of their own former owner. There would be uproar among Rangers supporters in particular if it were any other way. This residual need for revenge is understandable. They believe their club was wronged and so they will demand parity across the board. Even if it reduces Scottish football to a bloodbath. In fact, so bitter have some of them become that they would wish it to be so. They make no attempt to hide their delight at the suffering of others and nor should they be expected to as Rangers is their only concern. But if Scottish football is to correct itself then it must transcend this kind of small-minded tribalism. For the greater good, it must also be prepared to accept that mistakes have been made and that, now they are being repeated, the youngsters of Hearts are being brutalised. With more than half a season gone, they have still not unshackled themselves fully from the 15-point penalty with which they set out. Twenty-two games into this mission impossible, with just 16 more to go, Hearts are marooned on minus two. Locke is unable to call for reinforcements. It’s about to become unwatchable. But watch on we must. And maybe when it is over – when Hearts have been crushed, lying there, limp and lifeless on the floor – then Scottish football will have cause to reflect and to confront itself. To ask itself how it got into such a dark and mean state of mind. To look inside itself in search of empathy and common sense. And then to find a better way for the future before more vulnerable clubs and more innocent young players are forced to suffer as Hearts have this season. Yes, there must still be stiff deterrents in order to keep the game safe from the next Whyte or the next Romanov. But there must also be a realisation that the current penalties are draconian and hurting all the wrong people. While Whyte and Romanov escape unscathed, the players and supporters they left behind continue to pay for all of their sins. And while so many old scores are being settled, Scottish football continues to hate itself to death.
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by ANDREW SMITH A BUMPER crowd is expected as Celtic bring in the bells at home to Partick Thistle on Wednesday. With free tickets dished out and buses laid on, who knows, the Parkhead ground may even be at least half full. It hasn’t been that way recently. Indeed, the past two league games are the first back-to-back such encounters to have attracted crowds of less than 30,000 while the championship has been a live issue since the stadium became a 60,000-seater arena in 1998. Then, accurate attendances were given out. Now, these require freedom of information requests, with the club aggregating the number of paid-for-seats, which amounted to 46,000 for each of the victories over Hibernian and Hearts this month. If that appears undoubtedly healthy then what is not is that around 20,000 season ticket holders – around half the entire figure, in fact – are electing to think better of occupying seats they have already parted with their money for. It will be pointed out that the weather and time of year led to a dip in attendances throughout the country but that doesn’t explain what is driving down Celtic’s capacity to have punters come out to watch them. In the year-and-a-half the top flight has been devoid of the Rangers brand, Celtic have made great play of the fact that they have a standalone strategy not dependent on rivalry with a club playing out of Ibrox. And, having turned a debt into cash in the bank and posted a near-£10 million profit last year, they are making good on their assertion. Yet the declining interest from Celtic fans in watching a procession to their third championship demonstrates that they would struggle to operate at their current level if there was never again a team called Rangers in the top flight. The last two home games offered a glimpse of what would be the norm if the club operated in an environment in which they had no major – even from a numerical and cultural sense – rival. The 20,000 no-showers among Celtic’s season ticket holder base probably retain their tickets currently for two reasons: they received a £100 reduction on them last summer and it will probably be only 18 months before there is a Rangers to ridicule and lord it over in the Premiership. Without that promise of ding-dong derby days, most of these fans would probably chuck their tickets. In a non-Rangers world, then, Celtic would have a rain-or-shine hardcore of around 25,000. When they won the last of their nine-in-a-row run of titles in 1974, that was roughly their home average, as it was when they hit rock bottom in 1994. To live within the means that a 25,000 season-ticket-holder base generated, there is no way Celtic would operate with the £30m playing budget they have at present, or spend even sums of £2m on a couple of players every summer. Such a reduced season-ticket-holder figure – with child and younger person reductions taken into account – would bring in around £8m. Celtic’s ticket sales for the Champions League last year alone were £10m. In the Martin O’Neill era, season tickets sales coined in £23m. Celtic are too cautious to rely on Champions League income every year to prevent major losses. However much their club’s supporters may want to be in denial about it, then, with no Rangers permanently in their domain, Celtic would undergo serious downsizing and most home games the club’s stadium would be morgue-like. In turn, a lower spend on player wages would inhibit the calibre of individual that could be recruited, which would result in the team being weaker and potentially more vulnerable across the three rounds of Champions League qualifiers they require to negotiate to reach the group stages. It is perhaps surprising just how quickly almost half Celtic’s season ticket holders have canned watching domestic games. Two years ago, their team wasn’t even champions. The apologists would claim that the club’s treatment of the now dispersed Green Brigade and its perceived attempts to “sanitise” the support has helped turn off sections of the support, but few are buying that. In the Glasgow domain, for a great many it is quite clear that hatred of the other side fuels interest more than love of their own club. And without this adversarial outlet, it is noticeable how the stuggles of both Celtic and Rangers have become internalised. When it was put to Celtic manager Neil Lennon that some of his supporters appear to have short memories, he said: “And a self-destrcut button. And it’s not helpful.” The Irishman said he “can’t look at” the possibility that some Celtic fans have turned to navel gazing about their club as a more satisfying pastime than actually attending games. “My objective is to take the team forward,” Lennon said. “I am aware of the point being made because it is almost as if they need something to fight or argue about. But I can’t do anything about that.” In terms of the lowly 25,000 crowd estimated to have turned up for the 12.15 visit of Hearts last Saturday, Lennon pointed to mitigating circumstances beyond climate. “It’s the first time we’ve had a home game televised for a while and it’s Christmas as well which might have had a big effect on the crowd. We are always looking to give fans value for money and we’re always looking to bring a player in who might capture the imagination as well. But we’re 16 games unbeaten and we can’t do much more than that. Our away form has been very good but it’s a little bit different at home where teams camp in for long periods of the game. I know it’s up to us to try and break them down but we try to give the fans value for money at home as well. “I don’t think [what has happened with the Green Brigade] has had any effect. There might have been a Champions League hangover as well. We’re out of that competition now. I would expect over the festive period the crowds will pick up again and we have Partick Thistle on New Year’s Day and I would imagine there will be a decent crowd for that one.” A “decent crowd” these days, is very different from what it was five years ago. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/poor-attendances-suggest-celtic-need-rangers-1-3249508
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.......three years after causing referee row that led to strikes MCDONALD has been instated as a Development Officer at Hampden after his 2010 Tannadice blunder forced him to quit the game completely. Former refereee McDonald is back at the SFA, three years after quitting amidst Tannadice row CONTROVERSIAL former referee Dougie McDonald is back working for the SFA as a Development Advisor. McDonald quit as a Category One whistler in November 2010 after coming under intense pressure for lying to Neil Lennon about changing his mind on a penalty he had initially awarded to Celtic against Dundee United at Tannadice. The aftermath of that shook the game to its core and the incident resulted in his assistant referee that afternoon, Steven Craven, resigning. Weeks later refs chief Hugh Dallas also quit the SFA and the whistlers went on strike as they felt they weren’t protected enough by their Hampden employers. On the day he stood down, McDonald claimed Category One refs had been treated in an “outrageous way” and blasted the SFA for a “lack of support”. Such an attack would normally lead to someone being banished from Hampden but McDonald is back on board. The 48-year-old is highly rated and referee chiefs feel his input and advice to young officials will be invaluable. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/ex-official-dougie-mcdonald-back-2969113 -
I wrote the above paragraph a few weeks ago in an article which was published in the inaugural launch of WATP magazine. Much of course has changed during that time with the coming and going of the AGM, and the confirmation of our board of directors. Even as a fence sitter throughout all of this, I cannot hide my inward disappointment that Brian Stockbridge remains on the board. But perhaps in that regard I am being unfair to Mr Stockbridge as I don’t have in my possession the information which allows me to make an informed choice. I don’t know for instance whether he, in his role as financial director, was merely rubber stamping the overly generous bonuses previous board members had arranged for themselves, nor for instance what part, (as has been claimed in this overloaded propaganda war) nominee Malcolm Murray had in the setting of such bonuses. That will always be the case of course so long as the Rangers support remains dis-empowered and disenfranchised from the systems and processes I alluded to several weeks ago. But the system and process which determines the make up of the Rangers board has spoken, and furthermore it has spoken in a way which is democratic. We may not all like the results it has delivered but that, I’m afraid, is life. Of course, we can attempt to usurp that democratic process. and there has already been talk of boycotts with regard to season tickets and club merchandise, and I have no doubt such action will make those who clearly wield power – institutional investors – sit up and take notice. Notwithstanding the damage such boycotts would cause to our club, perhaps we should also consider the damage such action would cause to democratic process and what kind of “notice” would be initiated within institutional investors ? If the democratic process to elect a board is usurped by way of boycotts, a refusal to accept the decisions that process has delivered, do you think this will instil confidence in any future investment in the club from others ? Ask yourself this – would you invest heavily in an institution where your majority shareholding and the decisions you make relative to that investment, through proper process, can be overturned by the militant actions of others with a lesser shareholding ? I don’t like where our club sits at present, nor do I have complete confidence in those who are charged with taking us out of our current predicament and to another place. But given the choice between giving them a chance as opposed to damaging both club and destroying confidence in that democratic process – then I know which one I will choose. Season Ticket renewed.
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Nice to see Celtic showing why Scottish football is so vibrant and dynamic at the moment. Trying not to be too Jim Spence-like in my praise, but it's clear that only getting gubbed 3-0 by Milan is a clear sign of how healthy the SPL is. Surely that's the case. It can't be otherwise....
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Fire up the rolls & slice, pour a cuppa and enjoy/suffer the latest epistle from your local Handwringer in Chief. Liberal democracy is a good thing. It certainly has its faults, but overall a system which allows you to disagree with it without consequence is always preferable to one which imposes penalty on speech or thought. You might think, given the experience of the 20th century, that this is a lesson humanity has finally learned, but alas the lesson of history is that mistakes are seldom, if ever, absorbed. These thoughts came to mind last week as I re-read my copy of Clive James's wonderful 'Cultural Amnesia', a collection of essays on the effects of totalitarianism on humanity and the humanities in the last century. As always with Mr James, it is genius written with the lightest of touches: the best kind of teaching. You can pick up a copy for about £3 on Amazon and I'd heartily recommend it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cultural-Amnesia-Necessary-Memories-History/dp/039333354X The defence of freedom of speech was quite the hot potato this week, with some idiot celtc fans feeling the need to compare a 14th century bandido with a 20th century murderer. As if the 700 years in between hadn't taught the Irish anything; no, they were fit to be subjected to medieval methods of warfare. If only they could see how insulting they are to the people they stupidly profess to defend! And in fairness, loud had been the opprobrium from on high within Parkhead. Mr Lawwell don't like it, Mr Lennon don't like it, and surely the final nail for celtc fans, even Mr Spiers, he don't like it. But what is it they don't like, exactly? Well, the timing and the place. Not the picture of a mentally unbalanced killer with a persecution complex added to a natural penchant for psychosis on banners, but the doing of it in such a way as to embarrass celtc fc. In what was probably a throwaway but nonetheless revealing comment last week, Mr Spiers was of the opinion that 'there are rights and wrongs about the IRA but the football is not the place' to discuss them. I have spend a few days trying to think what the 'rights ' of the IRA were and have drawn a blank. Perhaps some other readers can write in with their solutions to this problem. A free bus ride around Belfast town centre, loudly setting out your thesis, will be the prize. On the rare occasions I think about Ireland, I guess that in the long run of history, it will probably end up as the one country. Not exactly plan 'A' to make you popular in amongst the Vanguard Bears, but there it is. But if it happens, it will be through democracy, not violence. Terrorism is always wrong. So here's where poor Clive James is roped in to educate the wretched Mr Spiers and his pals in the east. Terrorism is always wrong. Whether it be Bobby Sands or, as we discovered last week, some madmen in the British Army running about acting like an Argentine death squad, it is always wrong. And using it to score cheap points is always wrong, and not just on the grounds of timing - on the grounds that rehabilitating terrorists in the way that celtc fans and the BBC have done this week ('IRA hunger striker' is so much less aggressive than 'terrorist murderer', isn't it?) is dangerous to democracy. As the lessons of the 20th century showed us, we need to be on our guard against those who would deny free speech. It may seem hypocritcal to ask for free speech and then deny it for the Green Brigade, but with the freedom to speak comes the need to speak with responsibility. No more throwaway remarks about 'rights and wrongs', some things are always wrong. You don't have to be a cynic to wonder where the Scottish Journalist's Book of Adjectives to Describe Current Buns went this week: no 'vile', no 'songs of hate', no 'embarrassment to Scotland in the 21st century', 'no sectarian bitterness', no quotes from Peter Kearney about how awful it all is. Just 'rights and wrongs' and 'maybe the wrong time and place'. We can only hope that such lunatics as Bobby Sands never return to our shores to demonstrate to the likes of Mr Spiers just how thin the divide between liberal democracy and terror in our society is. Hopefully he will get 'Cultural Amnesia' for his Christmas - one way or another, he, and the celtc fans, need to get the message: terrorism is always wrong. But, as always, there's a but. And while it has been lovely to bask in the reflected inglory of the other mob this week, we must be careful what we wish for. For should the amazing happen and Vincent Lunny actually dare chib celtc for once, you can bet he will be on uber-Orange alert for something to even up the score. And we will give him the ammo he needs, I fear. 'What's the handwringer moaning about now?' I hear you ask. Well... 'Super Rangers' for a start. It is going to have to go, and it would be better if we did it rather than had another war. But even that is a bit old hat, and I'm not keen to have that same argument over again. What's bugging me is maybe something that Lunny wouldn't notice, but a super sensitive handwringer such as myself does. When big Daly got us off the mark against Arbroath, about 50 Bears chose to express their happiness with a burst of The Sash. You may think that a coincidence: I don't. I think it was a classless and tasteless riposte, along the lines of 'Aye, well, you may have scored, but don't think we're going anywhere!' At least they left out the add on, which about 10 Bears didn't at kick off. Nevertheless, what a nice touch to thank a model professional. I hope they get over it, and soon. Now, I actually think that reducing the idiot rump of our fan base to about 70 or 80 away fans is something pretty amazing, and the club and most of the fans ought to be congratulated for it. But they won't, you know they won't. In a society which falls over itself to avoid offending the sensibilities of IRA supporters you know that as long as one Bluenose yells FTP we will be hauled up. We could easily lose the musical two fingers to Jon Daly, and we should lose the forbidden line in Super Rangers. It will make them look worse, and that's always good! And especially, we could lose the UVF tribute lines....terrorism is ALWAYS wrong, remember. Weirdly, in Scotland support for terrorism seems to be considered slightly less offensive than what I stubbornly believe is meaningless yells from football fans with a drink in them. You'll never persuade me that the Green Brigade were all steaming when they rattled up what must have been the least catchy slogan last week, and you'll never persuade me that the vast majority of 'sectarian' events in Scotland are little more than Rangers-Celtic tittle tattle. But that's how the chips are falling, thanks in part to liberal consciences like Mr Spiers'. We can't let distaste for the like of him push us away from defending liberal democracy, but there are one or two things we could do to make it better. It may make you feel slightly sick to actually have to tell people this is 2013: it should do. But Mr Lawwell, Mr Lennon, Mr Spiers, and our own hero-worshippers: terrorism is always wrong.
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VoiceAndColour footballfansceneUK 1h #Aberdeen fans with banner outside #Hampden today in protest against corrupt SFA & SPFL leaders. pic.twitter.com/DlSq47Y6g3 https://twitter.com/VoiceAndColour/status/407131705959411713/photo/1/large
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http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/article.php?i=137&a=vb-calls-for-peter-lawwell-to-resign-from-sfa
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AS the row over Peter Lawwell's Celtic AGM comments rumbles on, KEITH JACKSON reckons its time both sides of the Old Firm stopped the grandstanding and concentrated on their own priorities. LIKE Alan Partridge, Scottish football is bouncing back. In just 10 months Gordon Strachan has taken this team of ours and stopped it from being a laughing stock. As a result of all his hard work, Scotland are no longer driving from Norwich to Dundee in their bare feet, gorging on assorted Toblerones. Friday’s 0-0 draw with the USA at Hampden may hardly have been inspirational but even so it was yet more proof that Strachan has us on the road to recovery. His players are not losing games against supposedly vastly superior opponents, even when performing well below their own best standards. That’s progress and it comes at a time when things are looking up. All over the country, talented young players are emerging at club level and thriving with the responsibility of first-team football. Stuart Armstrong has just earned his first call-up to Strachan’s full squad while Ryan Gauld and Stevie May will soon be knocking on the door. At last, after years of internal vandalism, we’re getting our own house back in some sort of order. It’s not immaculate but no longer does it make us cringe with embarrassment. Until, that is, someone goes and mentions the Old Firm. I did it once but I think I got away with it. Oh no wait, that will be the sound of a thousand emails cascading into my inbox. A deluge of dementedness. “Don’t call us the Old Firm. We don’t want anything to do with that other mob.” They may hate the living daylights out of one another but what they do share – in fact what binds them together – is the capacity for ferocious bampottery. Every comment passed in public about one side or the other is picked apart forensically by supporters of both. Often the throwing of these titbits results in an online feeding frenzy, where all reason and logic are the first to be devoured. It has been this way since the invention of the internet. But, just lately, the landscape around Glasgow’s uneasy neighbours has become noticeably darker and poisonous. Which is why Peter Lawwell, of all people, should have displayed better judgment than to poke a big stick into this hornet’s nest at Celtic’s agm on Friday. By gratuitously branding Rangers Rory Bremner FC, Lawwell sent this bitter little world into meltdown. Lawwell’s words were a nod and a wink to the most extremist element of his club’s support and, in a way, a green light for them to pursue their own dubious agendas. Sound familiar? It should do. Because it was not that long ago that a certain big-handed Yorkshireman was doing precisely the same thing to win over the masses at the other side of this never so deeply divided city. It’s called grandstanding and, at a time when emotions are so volatile and feelings so raw, it’s a dangerous road for either of these two clubs to be going down, never mind both of them at once. In opposite directions. The sooner this pair remember that their purpose in life is to play the game, not the galleries, then perhaps the rest of us might be able to get on with the business of helping Scottish football back towards a state of good health rather than constantly being forced to rubberneck by these ceaseless attention seekers. And yet no sooner had Lawwell pressed the button on Friday (successfully diverting attention away from an awkward internal debate about paying his employees a living wage in the process) than Rangers responded with a blast of their own. You could almost hear them inside their Ibrox bunker working out the strategy, above the clicking of a PR guru’s Cuban heels. “Right, where’s that statement slaughtering Celtic and Lawwell. That’s genius. Punters will love it.” Talk about stage-managed rabble rousing? It’s almost as if the current remnants of this Rangers board are being given PR advice from the very same strategical experts who presented Craig Whyte to the world as a billionaire and told him how to go about winning friends and influencing people. Oh, wait a minute. They are. Yes, the very same people who said the Daily Record was lying when it first revealed what Whyte was up to with the club’s season tickets – a full seven months before his ruinous business plan tipped the club into administration. Whoever said motivation doesn’t grow on trees clearly hasn’t gone for a stroll down Edmiston Drive since Whyte stuffed the taxman for £15million under the cover of dark arts. That’s the truth of the matter. Whyte plunged Rangers under and his scandalous behaviour has left a black mark on the very soul of this football club which continues to operate at Ibrox, in blue shirts with the same badges and crests. Whyte was a near-death experience all right but Rangers live on. The real nature of the problem facing Rangers today is not that they have ceased to exist (they are still here after all) but rather they have become unrecognisable from their former selves. And to that end, Lawwell had a point. Like Bremner’s Tony Blair, today’s Rangers are a flimsy impersonation of the real thing. But none of that is the business of Celtic’s chief executive, who would surely be better off concentrating on his own club’s continued dominance, especially now that BT Sport are doubling the value of a ticket into the Champions League. Lawwell was right when he said Celtic are now a stand-alone club. They have proved they do not need Rangers in order to survive and to prosper. The less of UEFA’s loot they have to share, the stronger they will become. Rangers, for their part, face a struggle just to keep HMS Ibrox from sinking for a second time. Let them both get on with it, preferably as far apart from one another as is possible in this twisted little world. In the meantime, just don’t mention the Old Firm.
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I suppose this is blogger’s equivalent of the Samurai tradition of Seppuku – their unique suicide rite. At journalism college one of my course tutor’s used to invariably preach about the successful narrator knowing, and writing to the very heart and soul of their audience. This article will do quite the opposite and some may find the content uncomfortable, however I feel it asks a question which needs to be asked. The boardroom battle for control of our club has seen a thorough examination of the character and integrity (or alleged lack thereof) of the various candidates vying for control. It would be fair to say the Rangers support is well versed in the personal character strengths and weaknesses of the Murrays, the Easdales etc. The apparent weaknesses of the “other sides” candidates have been given maximum exposure during the ensuing debate, with the morality factor at times appearing as important as the size of the wallet they, or their backers, bring to our club. All is fair in love and war. Waiting in the wings is a man many Rangers fans would view as our club’s “Messiah” – Dave King. Almost as important as his money appears to be his ability to unite the fragmented factions within our support for he appears to have the unanimous backing of all. Perhaps the eventual winner in our boardroom battle will determined by which side, if any, Dave King decides to ally with. Such unanimous support for King has spared him the moral examination so many others have been subjected to in our boardroom struggle. With the exception of course of the Scottish Press. Let me make one thing clear – the Scottish Press have long surrendered the right to exercise moral judgement with regard to our club. They surrendered such a right long ago with their silence over 5 way agreements, their silence over unlawful transfer embargo’s imposed on our club and their desire to join with the haters in labelling us “cheats”and thus trampling over our right to a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. This discussion is by invitation only, and those out with the Rangers support are not invited, cordially or otherwise. But it is nonetheless, a discussion which has to be had. Judge Southwoods assessment of Dave King in his tax battle with the South African authorities was damning. I’m sure most of you have read it, but to spare you the false morality of the Scottish press it can be found here : http://www.moneywebtax.co.za/moneywebtax/view/moneywebtax/en/page259?oid=56208&sn=Detail Are we satisfied as a support that the coat bearing glib and shameless will be discarded should Dave King return to Ibrox in any capacity ? Will an alleged disrespect for the truth be at odds with a support demanding transparency and clarity with regard to the governance of our club ? Or are the characteristics described by Judge Southwood exactly what are needed at our club in a battle where our enemies are not playing by the rules ? These are difficult questions but we will need to wrestle with them at some point. Failure to do so is just not an option.
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Hibernian forward Rowan Vine faces disciplinary action after remarks directed at Celtic boss Neil Lennon . Scottish FA compliance officer Vincent Lunny says Vine made "offensive comments on Twitter suggesting the use of violence". The incident took place following a 1-1 draw between Hibs and Celtic. Vine has until 15 November to respond to the notice of complaint and a principal hearing date has been set for 28 November. Lennon, who said he was "not surprised" that Vine had been cited for his comments, had criticised Hibs' defending as "shocking" and "reckless" in the draw at Easter Road. Responding on Twitter, Vine said: "I hardly touched the boy and there were no 'reckless' tackles in the game. "Might get me mate Alan Shearer to send him another size 9 Umbro Speciali in the dish if he don't pipe down." Vine went on to admit that he had never met the former England captain, nor Lennon, personally despite his reference to an incident during a Newcastle-Leicester match. Responding to a tweet from Lennon asking "did I read that right?", Vine replied: "Was light-hearted, just thought your comment was poor, thought it was a good physical game. "Apologies obviously if you've taken offence." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24870112
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24737531 Not to mention this is actually completely wrong (it was 2011), this article is yet another example of BBC Scotland blowing a raspberry to their Trust and editorial guidelines.
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Have just read in sunday express website that Neil Doncaster and a delegation from celtic ( lieswell ), are currently in China to promote the Scottish leagues. Is it just me being paranoid or is their some kind of friendship between the S.P. HELL and septic. Surely not. Question is why can the other teams in the so called big league not see that the sphell are only puppets put their to try and promote septic and F--K the rest. This makes me so angry i will need a beer to calm down.
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When the cracks open, the light gets in. NO one likes admitting they are lost. We’ve all took a punt at a crossroads and ploughed on, only to have that growing gnawing feeling we’re going further in the wrong direction. When you start seeing cows rather than buildings it finally dawns on you there’s nothing else for it, you’ll need to go back. Turning round is sore for the ego – but a far better option than charging on into the wilderness. Let’s face it, this new-but-really-the-same Scottish football set-up is heading in the wrong direction. We need to go back. I know the idea of going back to reconstruction talks is about as appetising as a roll ‘n’ cowpat but whether we like it or not we have to take another bite. It’s just isn’t working. The Premiership is all over before Halloween. Talk about scary. We might as well hold the end-of-season dance this weekend. The title race is over. Not that it ever really started. Same in League One. Relegation is pretty much a done deal in the top division as well. Even Hearts fans know they have more important battles to win. All that’s left is heavily-weighted relegation play-offs and the scrap to see what teams get to start pre-season the earliest to prepare for a European tie in deepest darkest Belarus. Not great is it? And we can’t say it hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Christmas decorations will be getting dug out soon and we still don’t have a title sponsor. Big companies won’t touch our game with a bargepole. They’re not interested and it won’t be long before everyone else feels the same. The one positive from those endless meetings in the last 18 months is we have one body in charge. It’s as easy to change the format of our leagues now as it is to change the curtains at Hampden, so let’s just do it. Fans have constantly been told we can’t afford a bigger top flight but wait and see, it won’t be long before we’re told we can’t afford not to have one. It doesn’t take the gift of second sight to see what’s around the corner. Scottish football is heading back down the rabbit hole. Next season we are likely to have a First Division – or Championship in new money – that includes Rangers and Hearts. Dunfermline could be in there too as well as St Mirren or Kilmarnock. Chuck in Falkirk, Hamilton, Dundee and others and it’s going to look like a mirror image of the division above. There will be weekends when attendances in the second tier outnumber the first, which would be bonkers. Scottish football will never have a better chance to have a bash at a bigger top flight again. So let’s just go for it. Ram the top two divisions together and do the same with the bottom two. Have a top 20 and bottom 22. Can’t hurt to have a go. I’d bet there would be a queue of sponsors who put down the bargepoles and get all touchy-feely. The Old Firm would be back. We’d have derbies in Edinburgh, Dundee, Fife and the Highlands. A 38-game campaign and freedom to play without constant fear of the drop, no split and a proper spread of money. Tempting, isn’t it? Ah, but... of course there’s a but. The undoubted howls of protest. It’s a leg-up for Rangers and a bailout for Hearts, they’ll say. Well, they’ll need to grow up. Rangers have had two years on the naughty step. It’s time to let them back in. If we need to wallop Hearts further to appease the rest then we can take more points off them next year too if need be. But what would be the point? There’s been enough self-harm in Scotland. There’s time to mend wounds and patch up the product. We’re all in this together. We need to turn round before it’s too late to find our way back. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/michael-gannon-scottish-football-never-2659293
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Ringing fugitive on Interpol wanted list not unusual in new world of Rangers KEITH tells how trying to make contact with a man on Interpol's most wanted list is hardly unusual in the weird world which Rangers now inhabit. IT’S not every week you speak to someone on Interpol’s most wanted list. In fact, after 20-odd years writing about football for a living, this was something of a first. Not that it was actually much of a conversation. “Hello, Mr Rizvi,” “Hello, who is this?” “Keith Jackson from the Daily Record newspaper in Glasgow, I want to speak to you about your involvement in Blue Pitch Holdings.” “I think you have the wrong number my friend, I would ahem (click)...” “Mr Rizvi? Rafat? Hello?” “BEEEEEEEEEEEP!” That was about the size of it. Hardly earth-shattering stuff. In fact, the only truly remarkable thing about this conversation is that it needed to take place at all. But this is the way of it at Rangers in 2013 – this club has long since disappeared through the looking glass. Vanished into a world which is as much about the fugitives as it is about the football. I phoned straight back but Rafat Rizvi, or whatever this plummy-voiced gentleman calls himself these days, didn’t answer. So I followed up with a text message, offering to speak on or off the record and pointing out that the identities of those anonymous investors behind Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings were likely to be made public soon. Again, no response. Perhaps he was just busy. Then again, perhaps men who are on the run from the authorities over a £600million bank fraud, facing a potential death penalty in Indonesia, don’t do protracted conversations. Not with press men at any rate. Which would be fair enough were it not for the fact the future of Rangers hangs in the balance all over again and that there are many thousands of supporters out there who are beside themselves with worry and who are asking for one simple thing from their club, the truth. Remember that? It’s not easy where Rangers are concerned. This is a club which currently employs more spin doctors than it does directors, a business which is engulfed in a cloud of its own toxicity. A company which attempts to confuse its own customers with an unrelenting barrage of spin and counter-spin. The truth? So many lies and so much misinformation has been spread in the name of Rangers that the truth has become a complete stranger. It has been twisted and distorted to such an extent that it has become almost unrecognisable. And it has to stop, for the sake of the fans and for the greater good of the Scottish game in general. It is time for Rangers to reconnect with the truth. Which is why it would have been nice had Rizvi stayed on the phone for a longer chat. He might have been able to clear up many of the issues which continue to distress these supporters and cause them sleepless nights. Just who are Blue Pitch for example? These mysterious offshore backers of Charles Green, who financed the Yorkshireman’s takeover, buying up Ibrox and Murray Park for a £5.5m snip thanks to the stupendous generosity of administrators Duff and Phelps. It would also have been of interest to ask Mr Rizvi, a long-standing associate of Green and shamed former commercial director Imran Ahmad, if he could shed any light on some of the names of those behind the equally mysterious Margarita. Between them, Blue Pitch and Margarita hold a 15 per cent stake in the club and their voting power – which has been handed over by proxy to the Easdale Brothers – could swing the balance whenever this club finally allows its shareholders to vote on the make-up of the boardroom at its long awaited agm. Could it be that Brian Stockbridge, for example, is to be found standing behind Margarita’s door? Just asking because if the financial director was to be among these penny-a-share investors then it’s no wonder they are attempting to block the changes that would ultimately lead to Stockbridge’s removal from power. Right? Here’s another thing. Did you know Stockbridge and James Easdale last week signed off on a robustly worded warning to the club’s entire workforce, making it clear that information leaks from inside Ibrox will not be tolerated? That’s right. Stockbridge, who infamously filmed former chairman Malcolm Murray worse for wear at the end of a long night out, and Easdale, who endorsed the return of a certain spin doctor to the club. The hypocrisy is mind boggling. In fact, it smacks of yet another hamfisted and ever so slightly sinister attempt to suppress the truth. The fact that their internal memo has already been leaked out on to the internet is a delicious irony. Much has gone on behind the scenes of this club in recent times which defies belief. Senior, trusted and hugely respected figures have been horribly intimidated. These people too have a story to tell. Just like Rizvi. It would do Rangers a world of good if one day the whole truth emerges from this distasteful debacle, no matter how unpleasant or even inconvenient that truth might be. The truth is all that can pull Rangers back from this world through the looking glass and allow it to look at itself in the mirror once again.
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RANGERS’ surviving directors were last night linked with a dramatic move to bring former Scottish Football League chief executive David Longmuir on board in a bid to stem the tide of support swelling behind Jim McColl and Paul Murray’s attempt to take charge at Ibrox. McColl, a millionaire businessman, and former Rangers director Murray last night hosted a meeting with representatives of three leading supporters’ groups where the plans they outlined were positively received. Now it is understood the current directors at the club – finance director Brian Stockbridge and non-executive James Easdale, along with the latter’s brother Sandy who sits on the separate football board – are considering Longmuir as a potential new chief executive. Longmuir has been out of work since July when he lost out to former Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster for the role in charge of the new Scottish Professional Football League. The 48-year-old had been at the helm of the SFL since 2007, having previously spent 20 years working for multinational drinks firm Diageo. During his final two years at the SFL, which saw the fallout from Rangers’ financial collapse land in his lap when the SPL refused the liquidated club a place in the top flight, Longmuir was perceived by Ibrox supporters as more sympathetic to their plight than either Doncaster or SFA chief executive Stewart Regan. However, it is unclear if Longmuir would be interested in discussing a move to Rangers in the current circumstances. Last night’s meeting, held at McColl’s Clyde Blowers offices in East Kilbride, took place on the day Rangers had been due to hold their first annual general meeting since the club plunged into administration and liquidation last year. But the agm had to be postponed when McColl and Murray won a Court of Session ruling last week which declared the current board had been wrong to prevent them requisitioning for the removal of existing directors and appointment of new ones at the meeting. That prompted the resignation of Craig Mather as chief executive and departure of non-executive director Bryan Smart. Last night’s meeting lasted around three hours with members of the Rangers Supporters Trust, Rangers Supporters Assembly and Rangers Supporters Association quizzing McColl and Murray. Full details of the meeting will be released today but Andy Kerr, president of the Assembly, made it clear there was backing for McColl and Murray. “I think the majority of fans are behind this,” said Kerr. “It was a very successful meeting. The main purpose was to gather information and we have done that and we will share that in a meaningful format with the fans. We were quite happy with what we heard from Jim McColl and Paul Murray and the key now is to communicate that information. We will put it together in a Q and A format. “The AGM is going to be the pivot for all of this. We heard that a board is ready to go in and that a CEO and financial director are lined up and that was good to hear because it was something that was causing us anxiety. We have some level of assurance and heard nothing that has given us any concerns.” No new date has yet been set for the agm. Dave King, the South African-based former Rangers director, is expected in Glasgow this weekend as he looks to return to the club. It remains to be seen whether he will do so with the existing board or lend his support to the McColl-Murray group. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/rangers-board-linked-with-bid-to-recruit-longmuir-1-3156598
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From Richard Wilson http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/opinion/rangers-future-has-been-complicated-by-conflict-but-peace-can-still-break-out.22479981? -
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CELTIC shareholders are demanding the club’s board lodge a formal complaint with UEFA over Rangers’ readmittance to the Scottish Football League following its financial collapse. A resolution set to be tabled at the club’s AGM on November 15 calls upon the board to demand a probe into how “an unqualified new club” formed after the Ibrox side’s liquidation was allowed entry into the league by the SFA. They claim Scotland’s footballing bosses contravened the UEFA code of conduct by granting a licence and put other clubs vying to enter the league at a disadvantage. The Celtic board has urged that the motion is rejected, saying that requesting a UEFA investigation would be “unnecessary”. But shareholders have promised a “fiery debate” over the resolution, which states sections of the Hoops’ shareholders have “no confidence in the SFA’s governance”. Rangers entered administration in February last year. Charles Green’s Sevco bought the club’s assets last June as it faced liquidation and later changed the name to The Rangers Football Club Plc. The Ibrox club was removed from the SPL but its membership of the SFA was transferred to the new owners, allowing it to start last season in Division Three. Celtic shareholders have raised questions about the SFA’s decision, claiming it displayed “a disregard for the rules and spirit of fair play” and “contradicted FIFA, UEFA and SFA mission statements”. The resolution also claims the SFA was involved in “secret cross governance agreements” to get Rangers back in the league, allowed the club to compete “without proper registration compliance” and that the SFA failed to initiate an “inquiry on improper player registration”. It is also stated “our concern is directed at the governance of the game in Scotland, the SFA, and its apparent disregard for the licensing designed to protect against such commercial impropriety and ensure sporting integrity”. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/436527/Celtic-shareholders-want-UEFA-to-probe-SFA-over-Rangers-punishment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-scotland+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+Scotland+Feed%29
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Toyed with the idea of writing a 'match' preview for this but we'll just go for the thread instead. Case opened at 10am but has been adjourned until 11 so lawyers for Rangers can read over a late submission from the Requisitioner who seek to have an open vote at the AGM on current and nominated board members.
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DAVE KING made the following statement tonight: "I confirm that I held talks with Rangers Chief Executive Craig Mather and Finance Director Brian Stockbridge in South Africa. I wished the discussions to remain confidential until something definite was agreed- one way or another. I have maintained that confidentiality. However, given my awareness of incorrect inferences being drawn in the media I would like to make a limited statement at this time. "The discussions were, to my mind, very positive and it was agreed that subject to the normal regulatory approval I would put my name forward to join the Board and to serve as Chairman. "Such an appointment is of course subject to the approval of the existing Board members and ultimately the shareholders of the company. There are also mandatory regulatory requirements that must be complied with and take time. I have already submitted all the necessary documentation. "News of the meeting has found its way into the public domain and this has unsurprisingly resulted in speculation as to the nature and the outcome of the meeting. In reaction to this speculation and to give some clarity to the club's fans I would like to address a couple of points at this time. "First, my willingness to become part of the future of the football club is based simply on my love for the club and my desire to support the club with a combination of my business expertise and my willingness to make a further investment. "In particular I see a present need to utilise the time we have over the next few seasons to be prepared, both financially and on the pitch, to compete with our Glasgow neighbours when we get back to the top League. "My involvement is not linked in any way to any other individual, albeit I have my private thoughts as to certain individuals that might add value to the club going forward. Ultimately it is for the shareholders to make such decisions. The recent settlement of my litigation in South Africa removes any impediment to my appointment to the board. "I want to make it clear that I agreed to join the Board only after intensive and detailed discussions with the existing executives and because I believe I can help them by playing a significant role in driving Rangers forward and finally putting the past behind us. "It is sad that every month of the continued disunity between the fans and other stakeholders is eroding our ability to be ready for the step up to the premier league. We do not have time to waste. "It was also made clear by Mr Mather and Mr Stockbridge that Rangers are not in need of an immediate financial injection but we agreed that now is the time to commence a new round of funding to ensure that it is available in an orderly and cost effective manner when required. I wish to lead that fund raising exercise and being on the Board will greatly assist me in that regard. "I believe that the timing is right for me to take this step and I look forward to the opportunity to work with the current directors albeit I would have preferred to have my appointment confirmed prior to communicating my further thoughts. Unfortunately the rumour mill necessitated this short statement. If matters proceed as I hope over the next few days then I will be present at the AGM." http://t.co/LgzX419pNl
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Posed by the RST on Facebook, if this is in the wrong place or it's already been started... feel free to move or delete. Minutes of meeting with C Mather and B Stockbridge Minute of meeting between the Rangers Supporters Association, Rangers Supporters Assembly and the Rangers Supporters Trust had a meeting with club Chief Executive Craig Mather, Finance Director Brian Stockbridge and Director of Communications James Traynor. Ibrox Stadium 10 October 2013. SEDERUNT C Mather, B Stockbridge, J Traynor and J Hannah (Rangers FC). Fans reps - D Roberton, J Kirk, T Green, M Dingwall, R Johnston, A Sheppard and G Letham. INTRODUCTIONS CM - Introduced himself, keen to be open with the fans. Brief introduction of fan groups and rationale. IPO ISSUES GL - Queried the excessive £5.6m costs from fundraising, can we get a breakdown. BS - pre-IPO fees are high. Large cost to secure the club - at time of acquisition there was no license to play football and it was risky private investment and that attracts high costs. GL - normally fees would be 5% - why are these as high as 25% BS - fees paid were commensurate with normal legal and professional fees but the other costs were high. I came in on 14th June by which time these costs were already fixed. Payments agreed by the club prior to my joining were only paid if I considered they were properly incurred and constituted proper commercial contracts. Intends putting together a more informative analysis of historic costs ref the IPO before the AGM - this sort of information is not normally in the public domain. Will have to liaise with investors and advisors that they are happy to have fees disclosed. Hope to be as transparent as I can be. You must remember there were Inherited costs - in terms of wages these were around the £30m mark for example and will not remain at that level. GL - £450,000 arrangement payment to Zeus - is this transaction included in the cost of the IPO? What about refunds to investors such as Laxey, Eurovestech and Alan Mackenzie? BS - Yes, it is included. But there were no illegal returns of capital. CM - as far as fees are concerned I'm happy to state a £50k - 5% commission was paid on my introduction regarding investing in the company. GL - why have the costs of finance raising been so high? Charles Green assured Rangers fans that fundraising would be easy. BS - can't be responsible for CG statements or contracts. Only invoices club pays out are those which are contractual, reasonable and binding. We have cut costs considerably going forward. STAFF REMUNERATION The staff costs appear massive and should not have been incurred for the level of football or the amount of work undertaken. CM - certain salaries are in the Annual Report and some scrutiny is valid. My own salary is £300k and the major institutional investors are aware of that and happy with it. The structure of my bonus has been discussed but it will not be linked just to winning the league. Lots of other factors will have to come into play, meeting player and financial budgets. Both McCoist and myself are content to work together to ensure that we reach a balance on incentives regarding the PLC budget for players and saving money so that one part of the club is not working against the other. We're looking at reducing the historic level of professional costs - for instance, we are considering an in-house legal department to cap the level of expenditure there. We need to restructure and define cost centres. We are looking at the efficiency for example of Murray Park and wish to make that measurable in setting remuneration/bonuses. BS - the terms of my contract are public - £200k bonus for each of the next three years. I voluntarily agreed to remove my bonus payment that had been agreed for those years. It's about delivering financial performance, I'm not taking an automatic bonus. Expect that post-AGM my remuneration and bonus will be announced. I joined the company on 14th June and wasn't salaried until September. Paid a £50k electric bill form my own resources. Banners and chants do not reflect the reality of the situation. I have no outside interest and I have no 1p shares. BS paid 70p per share at the IPO. TG - why give up bonuses now? BS - with hindsight I should have been rewarded for financial performance not football basis. CM - I want Brian looking over my shoulder as finance director controlling spending. BS - the club is financially secure. We have a completely clear audit from Deloittes. We have no debt. CM - McCoist package - we've almost got it signed off. An agreed reduced package will be put in place soon. GL - termination payments appear very generous - for example Charles Green. BS - Green's package was decided by the Remuneration Committee. I sacked Imran for gross misconduct, he received no compensation. DR - I thought Green had resigned? CM - it was a compromise agreement to protect the club. Employees have rights they can exercise. BS - The Remuneration Committee contains no executives - it contained Malcolm Murray, Phil Cartmell and Ian Hart. CLUB ACCOUNTS GL - We don't want to dwell too much on the historical numbers, we would rather focus on the future. We would however record that the accounts just released were an appalling set of figures. CM - We recognise the losses. These were predicted and investors knew there would be a substantial loss in the first year. GL - pre-IPO research note issued by the broker Cenkos predicted a £1m loss compared with a £14m actual loss. Half-year forecast predicted a £7m loss. BS - We've seen leaks of price-sensitive information from illegal leaks. It's difficult to form an accurate opinion on partial information. We've removed £2m costs off operational expenditure. GL - your December management accounts predicted a £6.8m loss but the loss was £14m. BS - we've had problems with the retail division - the JJB contract going and the Puma deal being late. A lot of one-off costs - £1m for the Pinsents investigation. Pay-off for Green, etc. GL - do you have a monthly phased plan for the current year and are actual results reviewed against this plan by the Board on a monthly basis? CM - yes, and regular Senior Management meetings. GL - can you tell us what the budget revenue and operating profit/loss figures are for the current year 2013/2014? BS - I can't give price-sensitive info and hence can't give profit forecast numbers. However, Daniel Stewart are working on a research note for insitutionals. We do things by the book - we'll note non-recurring items and will break them down. RJ - what about provision for similar costs for next year? BS - difficult to predict as we did have a lot of non-recurring fees this year. RJ - but we keep losing executive and non executive board members on an almost regular basis and incurring associated costs. CM - unusual year of change. For instance we had season ticket sales on course as of 1st August but then the requisition for the EGM came in and killed confidence. Sales went from 174 a day to 6. But that's based on perception not reality. We're ahead of budget in many areas. I want to sort the club - the Board have to be able to look at themselves and if I am not the right man I will go. If I haven't performed then I deserve to be voted off at the AGM. I have successfully bought businesses out of administration before - I know what I am doing. What happens if we are voted out at the AGM and there is no alternative? BS - the Stock Exchange will suspend the company from the market.
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Lifted from FF: ''Thats two younger lads now both under 19 had police come to their doors early morning to arrest them for singing said song. I was also told by a polis up in Ayr that FoCUS are watching out for people singing this now due to the YCV reference''. Just a heads up.
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Neil Doncaster has stressed that he remains comfortable with the situation where the Scottish Professional Football League is still to find a title sponsor as the season enters its first break for international matches. The new league set-up has been in operation for more than a month, and the reconstruction was formally completed at the end of June. The fact that the SPFL continues with no title sponsor has provoked concern in some circles. Doncaster again insisted that it is not a significant problem. He also played down yesterday the extent to which finance from a title sponsor impacts on clubs when compared to revenue brought in from broadcasting deals already in place. The chief executive pointed out that he is content to take his time “to find the right sponsor, rather than the first one that comes along”. The recent controversy surrounding Wonga’s sponsorship of Newcastle United, which led to striker Papiss Cisse briefly threatening to refuse to wear a shirt promoting a payday lender, highlighted how an association with certain brands can lead to problems. Doncaster wants a sponsor that enhances the image of professional football in Scotland. “It’s clearly important that we get the right sponsor rather than do something quickly,” said Doncaster, before adding that “we shouldn’t get carried away” with the notion that the financial guarantees from having a title sponsor in place would transform the Scottish game. The deal the Clydesdale Bank struck was worth £8 million a year to the Scottish Premier League when originally signed in 2007. No figure was publicised when the contract was extended in 2010. The association between the bank and Scotland’s top flight ended last season. Irn Bru’s sponsorship of the Scottish Football League – worth in excess of £3 million over the course of the last three years – also expired earlier this summer. “It’s certainly the current focus but we shouldn’t get carried away by the amount of money that it contributes to the game,” said Doncaster. “The vast majority of money that goes into the game through the SPFL comes through broadcast rights – something like 90-95 percent of the entire pot and all of that is secured already. “So you are talking about something that is important, of course, but it’s not fundamental to the finances of the game.” Doncaster added that the SPFL is “flexible” when it comes to the specific details of a sponsorship deal, and whether all four leagues would need to be sold as one sponsorship package or could be separated. “We’ll be led very much by what sponsors would want to do,” he said. “There is an attraction for sponsors in having all 42 clubs, in having one sponsorship which covers the whole of the country – but that would be led by their requirements when we talk to them.” Doncaster insisted that securing new sponsors is not the only consideration at present. “I think it’s important that we continue to work hard on a number of different fronts, whilst remembering that we have two key roles at the SPFL,” he said. “One is to run a fair competition and the other is to commercialise that competition. “That has been a successful commercialisation to date, largely based on broadcasting. Of course sponsorship is important and work on that will continue but it will be done when it’s done.“It must be a partner that’s fit for the game and fit for the SPFL in terms of the image that it projects. We’ve had a number of expressions of interest from a number of different parties, but it’s important that we have the right brand for the SPFL at such an important time in its development. That’s worth waiting for.” Doncaster was speaking at a Murrayfield Stadium event held to encourage safe driving on Scotland’s country roads. The SPFL and the Scottish Rugby Union have joined forces to help promote a campaign spearheaded by former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard. Doncaster has welcomed the new spirit of cooperation that now exists between the SPFL and the Scottish Football Association, following Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell’s appointment to the main board of the SFA. “The relationship between the SPFL and the SFA is a good one and I think a much better one since the reconstruction’s completion on the 27th June,” he said. “It’s important that the SPFL is properly represented at the Scottish FA main board. We have one representative from the Professional Game Board and now Peter has been elected unopposed by the seven members of that body. “So we are very pleased to have effective representation at the main board following [former chairman] Ralph Topping’s excellent contribution to date. “I think there’s a genuinely collegiate atmosphere at the moment between the Scottish FA and the SPFL and that certainly makes it easier for both bodies to do the best that they can in their different spheres.” http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/neil-doncaster-relaxed-over-lack-of-spfl-sponsor-1-3076595
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Posted by Roy Greenslade It will be interesting to see if any newspaper covers the fact that members of Britain's armed forces appeared to join in with Scottish football fans as they sang sectarian songs at a match yesterday. Initial reports suggest not. Some 400 uniformed soldiers, seamen and air force personnel attended an armed forces day at Ibrox, the Rangers ground. After a formal march and band music, a group of soldiers (they were in khaki) were filmed dancing, clapping and singing along with the crowd. Although it is difficult to make out the exact words on the video posted on YouTube, people have identified sectarian songs and chants celebrating the death of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Rival Celtic fans were quick to point to songs that are supposed to be banned from all Scottish football grounds under a new law passed by the Scottish parliament. One commenter to the YouTube site wrote of it being a "disgusting vile and tawdry spectacle". Another wrote: "Shocking stuff. I hope this vid is forwarded to the footballing and army authorities." Two media reports about the events that have been published - one here on the STV site and another here on the Daily Record site - make no reference to the soldiers' antics. The STV report mentioned that an army band "entertained fans" and quoted Major General Nick Eeles, general officer commanding Scotland, as saying it was hoped to make it into an annual event. The Record did write that "the match-day experience began in dramatic circumstances" but only because two marines "abseiled down the Govan stand ahead of kick-off, before delivering the match ball to the referee." How odd that both outlets missed the story? Or do their reporters think soldiers chanting jingoistic sectarian songs in unison with football fans is unworthy of comment? Incidentally, Saturday was not the official armed forces celebration day in Britain (that falls in the close season). The club, with the full approval of the military, decided to stage its own separate event. http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade
