Glenn Gibbons - Dig At Nacho

[ian1964 10,486]

NOBODY who watched the BBCâ??s compelling investigation into the Rangers scandal this week could have taken long to reach the conclusion that the Ibrox clubâ??s former owner, David Murray, had managed to take the concept of profligacy to a new level; that is, to an unprecedented depth.

 

The most striking aspect of the list of employees â?? these ranged from the owner/chairman himself through fellow executives to players â?? to have been beneficiaries of the disputed EBT scheme was the breathtakingly high number of blatantly undeserving recipients.

 

Even Murrayâ??s stoutest apologists, for example, would have difficulty in reconciling his ego-propelled charge towards financial devastation with the £6.3 million that is said to have been his reward.

 

As for the clubâ??s followers, their readiness to acclaim many of their so-called heroes will surely have been diluted by the revelation of the extraordinary amounts of money allocated to distinctly ordinary â??talentsâ??.

 

Chief among these is the perennial reserve, Nacho Novo, a â??playerâ?? whose almost constant omission from Walter Smithâ??s starting line-up amounted to a declaration of the managerâ??s contempt for his abilities. Smithâ??s low opinion was undoubtedly vindicated when the fans turned Novo into what is commonly known as â??a cult heroâ??, one of footballâ??s great euphemisms for a player of seriously limited capabilities. Perhaps the adulation for the little Spanish â??strikerâ?? sprang from the style with which he kissed the badge. The staggering, tax-free £1.2 million he is reported to have received in addition to his declared salary certainly could not be justified by his rather paltry 47 goals in six years.

 

Novo, of course, does not have a monopoly on obtaining an obscene return for a moderate contribution. Michael Ball, the full-back signed from Everton, was said to have secured a â??loanâ?? amounting to £1.4 million, but, in his four years, he did not play often enough to determine whether or not he was any good.

 

Ball, in fact, should have been recognised as a fairly early marker for the potentially deadly course on which Rangers were set. One of the reasons he could have been named after a Damon Runyon character (the Seldom Seen Kid) was that a certain number of appearances would trigger payments to Everton which Rangers â?? this was back around 2004 â?? were already having difficulty in affording.

 

But, apart from Novo and Ball, it requires merely a quick scan of the list to reveal at least 20 non-entities in receipt of around an aggregate £10 million. For Rangers supporters, of course, the most distressing element of the entire affair is the possibility that the haemorrhaging, even now, has not yet been staunched (q.v. Tax Case, Big).

 

A NUMBER of strands emerged from Mark Dalyâ??s documentary on Wednesday, not least of which was the unmistakable, malodorous whiff of suspicion surrounding the â??performanceâ?? of the court-appointed administrators of the stricken Rangers, Duff and Phelps.

 

Various allegations were made against the competence â?? and, more seriously, even the professional conduct â?? of the companyâ??s representatives at Ibrox, which may yet become the subject of retaliatory legal action. For mere observers, however, there is already sufficient material in the public domain to warrant bewilderment.

 

You could fire a scatter gun into a lift crammed with insolvency experts and not hit anyone who understands an administration process which, after three months, does not boast a single redundancy. There is also widespread bemusement over Duff and Phelpsâ?? achievement in sustaining losses of over £1 million a month, precisely the amount they themselves insisted that Rangers were obliged to save in order simply to fulfil their SPL fixture list.

 

There is also, of course, the lengthy series of â??deadlinesâ?? set for such imperatives as nominating a preferred bidder, for lodging offers from prospective buyers and an entire series of insistent pronouncements that were later retracted as the D & P representatives, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse, became experts in the verbal somersault.

 

All of this leads to the impression that you could take the administratorsâ?? utterances to the bank â?? but you would almost certainly be charged with attempting to pass counterfeit currency.

 

The Scottish FAâ??s so-called â??fit and properâ? test in relation to club executives has been made to look risible by their own president. Campbell Ogilvieâ??s alleged involvement in the EBT scheme during his time at Rangers may not make him culpable of an offence, but public figures have never needed guilt to remove them from office; credibility, or at least the loss of it, is usually quite sufficient.

 

Ogilvieâ??s association with the excesses of the Murray regime at Ibrox â?? as well as his rush into denial â?? has rendered him pathetic among the football public. Surely someone at Hampden HQ will advise him of the appropriateness of making a voluntary departure to avoid the embarrassment of an enforced eviction.

 

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spl/glenn-gibbons-unmerited-ebt-pay-outs-highlight-ibrox-profligacy-1-2319426

 

WE FEEL YOUR PAIN GLEN

[the gunslinger 3,366]

novo scored 73 goals. one took us to the European final in Manchester another to the cl group stages.

 

the winner v hibs in helicopter Sunday and in the Scottish cup final.

 

he also played over 150 times under Walter.

 

he was far from a cult hero.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

the best of it is gibon is right he just let's his hatred ruin his article.

 

plenty of real diddys got far to much cash.

[Cotter 0]

I've got some quotation marks for you glen : "credible journalist"

[Kenzie1 0]

Poor "Funky". He just can't keep his personal feelings separate from his professional duties. All of which, I suppose, diminishes his so-called professionalism.

[Gazza_8 233]

Does this reporter know anything about football and Novo inparticular? What a load of nonsense. I wonder how many Rangers fans have a bad word to say about the wee guy?!?

[GovanAllan 0]

:tlb:Written by a Rangers hater for Rangers haters. :tlb:

[metlika 0]

Seems sour, is it cause Novo said no?

 

Nacho was an impact player but he was a brilliant one at that, shame he couldn't keep up the form of his first season with us, but still love the guy, should never have been released and replaced by an older player.

[26th of foot 5,874]

Glenn Gibbons has spent 40 years spitting the same old, same old Rangers hating venom. Spiers regularly lionised 'the Great Gibbo' in his Sports Diary columns in both Scotland on Sunday and ra Herald.

 

If anyone cares to relate their objections to Glenn's bile, then Quins Bar at Bishopbriggs Cross is his republican slop house of choice.