The original aim of this blog was to detail my efforts to raise awareness regarding Rangers being stripped of titles by the SPL. My angle was that in by doing so they’d essentially be admitting liability of negligence and could in turn be held accountable.
I’ve spent countless hour researching, telephoning, emailing and letter writing and following every lead I can, and it has produced some interesting results. Non more so than a meeting with a current employee of Harper Macleod LLP in a well known bar in Glasgow’s West End.
I can’t reveal their identity for obvious reasons however I was convinced of their sincerity.
Rangers to be fined upwards of £10 million:
On the 14th of February 2012 Rangers Football Club went into administration, the fallout from which has been well documented. The Scottish Premier League (Limited) so far has been hit the hardest by Rangers exit coupled with the failure of one Stewart Regan SFA chief to ensure their passage into Scottish Footballs 2nd tier.
The Scottish Premier League (Limited) now themselves stand on the brink of insolvency. Reports persist that an agreement has been struck with SKY but as of yet no concrete details of the deal have yet to surface, Neil Doncaster only managing to reveal that the TV money is “down slightly”…hardly convincing. Media speculation estimate the renegotiated deal to have cost the SPL £17 million in lost revenue.
Recently the SPL have been unable to pay their own clubs and only today have managed to pay 50% of what is owed.
The recent rumblings over money owed to Dundee United Football Club, a relatively paltry sum of around £30,000 that the SPL agreed to pay only serves to further highlight how deep the financial crisis is.
How then, do you ask, does the current EBT investigation fit into all this?
On 12 June 2012 Rangers Football Club were unable to exit administration, a CVA having been rejected by HMRC. Not even a full week later do the SPL proclaim “Rangers have a case to answer” on the issue of duel contracts. Scottish football at the time is in complete disarray, with a controversial vote on Rangers being re-admitted to the SPL due to take place on the 4th of July you would think the SPL have bigger things to worry about than alleged wrong doings regarding undeclared payments?
The vote itself was a foregone conclusion, Stewart Regan saw to that by rallying support against Rangers and sensationally threatening to block any re-entry by refusing to grant a license.
Then came the shameless doom-mongering from both Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster with claims of “social unrest” and a “slow and lingering death” of Scottish football as pressure was put on SFL chairmen to vote Rangers straight into Division 1. This culminated in a leaked email sent by Stewart Regan on the 23rd of June to a small number of football officials and lawyers.
Ultimately though the SFL chairmen were not to be bullied and voted Rangers into Division 3 and warned of any attempt to circumvent the vote would be met with all out civil war.
This left the SPL is a sticky situation, Rangers were gone and with them any hope of maintaining the lucrative SKY tv deal. How then do the SPL claw this money back and pull themselves from certain bankruptcy?
Well you start by first blackmailing Rangers and the SFL into handing over their TV rights to be packaged up and sold on for greater profit to the SPL. This however doesn’t even begin to cover the lost millions from the SKY tv deal.
Enter Lord Nimmo
The SPL stand on the edge of a financial abyss yet one thing has remained at the top of their list of priorities, the investigation into Rangers use of EBT’s. With such pressing financial concerns you would think a long and costly probe into Rangers would be the last thing you would need. Thousands of pounds in fee’s for the services of Harper MacLeod and Lord Nimmo and co when you can’t afford to pay your own football clubs hardly seems like sound financial planning does it? Even should Rangers be found guilty and stripped of titles what gain the SPL?
Exclusive:
I can reveal that the SPL endgame is very simple and one we’ve all come accustomed to, blackmail and extortion. The SPL investigation into Rangers is a foregone conclusion that will ultimately lead to the club being fined upwards of £10 million.
My source from Harper MacLeod had this to say on the matter:
“…the investigation into Rangers is has already been decided but due process has to be seen to have taken place. In the position of the SPL you certainly don’t involve a heavyweight such as Lord Nimmo without being sure things are going your way…
…the SPL aren’t at all interested in Rangers titles, what they are interested in however is the potential to recoup 10 years worth of prize money…
…the SPL care of Lord Nimmo will announce Rangers guilt and a fine totaling between £10-20 million pounds will issued. The initial fine will be overinflated as Rangers will inevitably appeal.
This will cause a Mexican standoff between Rangers, the SPL, the SFA and FIFA. If Rangers take their case to CAS then there’s a strong chance of the fine just being reduced. If they take their appeal outside of football as they did with the transfer ban then they will incur the wrath of FIFA who have little enough patience as it is on this matter. If Rangers refuse to pay citing that the newco aren’t liable for the damages then the SPL will threaten to refuse entry on the grounds that Rangers newco agree’d to pay the debt of the oldco…
…one things for sure though this saga isn’t finished just yet…
Bullying, Blackmailing, and Extortion.
There you have it, the end game of the SPL revealed. To continue their existence they must plug a 10 million pound black hole. The Rangers EBT case that I maintain is at best a clerical error is a convenient excuse to extort yet more money from Rangers to fill the SPL coffers.
No doubt there will be many skeptics calling this fantasy but this is what I have found. Believe it or do not believe it.
rangersfightback 