Traynor Tells It Straight

[chilledbear 16]

http://t.co/hc4cE3ED

 

RANGERS have had many massive triumphs in their time, especially the 3-2 win over Moscow Dynamo in the 1972 European Cup Winnersâ?? Cup final.

 

But yesterdayâ??s result will surely go down as the most significant in their history. It wasnâ??t even played out on a pitch.

 

This victory came inside a stuffy office somewhere along Edinburghâ??s George Street.

 

But even though no one kicked a ball, Rangersâ?? 2-1 win in the First Tier Tax Tribunal represents one of their greatest successes.

 

And it should bring an end to one of the longest and, given the behaviour of so many mean spirited and malicious individuals, certainly one of the most shameful tax cases in Scottish history.

 

Murray Group Holdings and Others were contesting a potential tax liability of £87million (made up mostly of penalties) and if there is to be a bill it will come to no more than £2m but probably even less.

 

This will be in combined penalties against individuals who may be guilty of minor breaches of technicalities.

 

But the point is Rangers were brought to their knees by a debt which was never real.

 

And they became victims of a case which should not have been allowed to run in the first place. Long and complex, it has cost something like £5m in legal fees. But at the end of it all there remains one unanswered question: Why?

 

What was the point and what were the real motives behind the zeal with which some in HMRC, and the media, tackled this case? This is not to say the Revenue shouldnâ??t try to reclaim money when they believe itâ??s due. It must be stressed they should but there are aspects of this case which deserve to be scrutinised closely and perhaps they will, if some of them people denigrated and wronged decide to take legal action.

 

This case has been about money but there has been a greater cost.

 

There has been a heavy human cost, too. Innocents, Rangers fans, for instance, have been damaged and so have former directors, especially Martin Bain.

 

And what was his crime? He inherited the EBT controversy but managed to hold his club together at a time when it seemed the entire country was pounding at the red facade of Ibrox. But there was no gratitude. Bain, and others, were wrongly accused of malpractice. They, Rangers, were all guilty. Fact.

 

Their persecutors, an alarming number of other clubs and their fans, should be hiding in shame this morning, or breaking cover only to apologise. Fat chance.

 

Blind hatred and poison has saturated this case which could actually have paid off for HMRC. They were offered £10m two years ago to settle but refused, probably because they wanted a trophy win to set a precedent which would allow them to pursue hundreds of other companies for untold millions.

 

But they failed. Yesterday two of the three judges ruled Rangersâ?? EBT system was a form of loans and not taxable after all.

 

And yet, because the tax man insisted Rangers owed them £50m, a catastrophic chain of events then unfolded.

 

No one wanted to touch a club with a potential bill of that size hanging over them and eventually Rangers fell into the wrong hands, the hands of a man who really didnâ??t pay tax and who then caused one of Europeâ??s biggest clubs to slide into liquidation.

 

But letâ??s be clear on this, the Revenueâ??s demand for payment, which it has now been declared invalid, started Rangersâ?? slide towards the precipice. Companies who sell cups of coffee and mobile phones can escape payments for hundreds of millions but Rangers?

 

No chance. They were chased and backed into a corner for piddling amounts by comparison. Amounts they didnâ??t even owe. Of course David Murray is responsible for selling but he was being pressed by a bank, who wanted rid of the club. They didnâ??t like the bad publicity their squeezing of Rangers attracted and Donald Muir, their man on the Ibrox board, wasnâ??t about to let Craig Whyteâ??s offer pass by.

 

The rest is history but it is a bitter and twisted chapter in a story which shines a light on a side of this country which should embarrass us. So many people wanted Rangers shut, or at least cut down and now they know there was nothing illegal in what was done with EBT payments they should take a good look at themselves.

 

Sadly, they just wanted to believe Rangers were guilty and it became popular belief that this lot really did owe almost £90m in tax. People spoke matter of factly about Rangers being tax cheats and there was such a groundswell against the club few were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

The facts were trampled as the crowds rushed to dance on Rangersâ?? grave.

 

Even people who should have known better were swept along in the rush to accuse and condemn Rangers or anyone who dared say, â??hold on, shouldnâ??t we wait until the real financial experts rule.â??

 

But now we all know the truth, although we havenâ??t a clue as to the identities of those at the centre of this sorry saga.

 

Bizarrely an anonymised form of the tribunalâ??s ruling was published yesterday revealing that evidence had been delivered by Mr Red, Mr Purple, Mr Turquoise, Mr Yellow, Mrs Scarlet and other colourful people.

 

Neither Quentin Tarantino nor the makers of Cluedo could have done a better job of disguising characters yet the identities of those who had received loans in the form of EBT while at Rangers were leaked routinely to

journalists and bloggers.

 

But the Revenue didnâ??t want the names of any of their people out in there in the public domain. Why? Because weâ??d then know who had rejected the £10m? Or was it felt they had to be protected for other reasons?

 

But there are names on various emails and documents in circulation and maybe one day soon there will be greater transparency as a case which has brought so much strife to the game is finally put to rest.

 

We can argue until the end of time about whether the Rangers in question still exist or whether the history with all its glories, defeats, highs and lows remains intact. But one crucial truth cannot and should not be lost.

 

Rangers, we know, were stricken, taken down by a fantasy tax bill. They were declared guilty before trial.

 

Rangers, as a brand, was tarnished because HMRC said they owed tax on EBT payments which the club had always argued were loans. Yesterday two of the three judges agreed. So HMRC, who had insisted an initial tax and National Insurance bill of £37m, which climbed to £87m, be paid, were left with nothing. They say theyâ??ll appeal but it could be argued theyâ??ve caused more than enough damage.

 

Besides, even if theyâ??d won their case yesterday they still wouldnâ??t have got anything out of the Rangers they had pursued. They were forced into liquidation, remember.

 

And the real bottom line in all of this? Rangersâ?? closure was all so unnecessary and the turmoil and upheaval caused could have been avoided. Despite accusations Rangers did nothing wrong. Pity the same canâ??t be said of all those self-proclaimed experts, bloggers and journalists.

 

Rangers will be clobbered they had said. The verdict will be damning. Rangers will be shown up as cheats, they squealed.

 

Itâ??s clear now who the guilty parties are and Rangers are not among them.

[BlueMazza 0]

I just tweeted this. Well written from him.

[foggy dewhurst 0]

traynor and jackson have been on the ball since day one .

[Super_Ally 0]

Traynor is writing a lot of sense currently. A couple of unnecessary or bullshit comments in there (e.g. is it still the same club. But overall it's good to see that not all journos are just in a job for Rangers bashing.

[Frankie 8,182]

Traynor gets his info direct from SDM so he'd have always been aware of the likely outcome.

 

He was even talking about the Cluedo cast the other week so was clearly clued up.

 

I don't agree with everything he writes but he is probably the best football journalist out there (along with Richard Wilson) in terms of actually being able to find balance.

[Super_Ally 0]

Traynor gets his info direct from SDM so he'd have always been aware of the likely outcome.

 

The club and officials related to it had always maintained their confidence in a positive outcome. As, surely, did those involved from and HMRC perspective.

 

I guess in this situation it is largely posturing and you must show confidence of winning otherwise it demonstrates a lack of conviction in your own case being represented.

 

What I do not understand is why everyone else in Scottish football and our media (bar one or two journos) all took the HRMC side prior to the decision and assumed they were the ones who were rightly confident. Where was this persistent drip of information that led so many to believe we were going to hammered with a huge verdict.

[GovanAllan 0]

The club and officials related to it had always maintained their confidence in a positive outcome. As, surely, did those involved from and HMRC perspective.

 

I guess in this situation it is largely posturing and you must show confidence of winning otherwise it demonstrates a lack of conviction in your own case being represented.

 

What I do not understand is why everyone else in Scottish football and our media (bar one or two journos) all took the HRMC side prior to the decision and assumed they were the ones who were rightly confident. Where was this persistent drip of information that led so many to believe we were going to hammered with a huge verdict.

 

Simple SA, hatred and the chance to stick the knife in, they smelt blood in the water and got tore in without even looking to see the damage they were doing to themselves and Scottish Football in general. There should be a long list of people this morning handing in their resignation letters.

[26th of foot 5,857]

Traynor gets his info direct from SDM so he'd have always been aware of the likely outcome.

 

He was even talking about the Cluedo cast the other week so was clearly clued up.

 

I don't agree with everything he writes but he is probably the best football journalist out there (along with Richard Wilson) in terms of actually being able to find balance.

 

Agreed.

 

The Cluedo references are also utilised by Phil McStupidname today. I will not bore the forum with Phil's expected tiresome and tedious macinations; however, I will mention the title of his piece, 'The Body at the bottom of the Stairs'.

 

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice the frequency that Thomson, Phil, McNally, ........... etc utilise Ibrox Disaster references in their spiteful pieces? Thomson's latest terminology for Rangers supporters is 'Daleks'(cannot deal with stairs), as the group they appear to have all the compassion associated with Daleks.

[Scott7 5,236]

Hullaw! Hullaw!

We are Jim Traynor's boys!

[chilledbear 16]

Traynor just been on Radio Scotland.

 

"some people in my industry built themselves into a frenzy" and when it was suggested that nothing has been proven and that we need to wait they would say "no no, it's rangers, they're guilty, they're tax dodgers, they're cheats"

 

"at the time it seemed everyone in the media in scotland were competing to make the most scathing tweet, or write a more scathing article than the last one"

 

"One or two in BBC should be ashamed"

 

 

two foreign groups that wanted to buy Rangers before Whyte but 'were scared off by the fact that the £50m EBT debt was fast becoming fact' in the media and beyond.

Edited November 21, 2012 by chilledbear