Trying to keep up with the desperate attempts of the Scottish media to excuse certainly one, and possibly over ten, years worth of financial doping by Rangers is nigh on impossible.
One headline in particular recently caught my attention. It was the headline “This will be the last Old Firm played on a level playing field”.
This is what is now considered ‘a level playing field’ by some of the Scottish press;
A club has had a large tax bill levied against it for issues going back over a decade and yet continues to buy players instead of setting money aside to pay it.
The same club has a small outstanding tax bill and agree to pay it, then not pay it.
The same club can agree to buy players from more than one club and not pay fully for them.
The same club can agree to sign players on loan and not pay the loan fee.
The same club can get goods and services from lots of small businesses in their local area and not pay for them leaving these businesses themselves in a perilous state.
The same club does not pay income tax to HMRC after it has deducted it from its employees’ salaries in order to keep the business going.
The same club does not pay National Insurance to HMRC after it has deducted it from its employees’ salaries in order to keep the business going.
The same club does not split the ticket revenue for a Scottish cup game with the opposition as per the rules of the competition.
The same club accepts tickets for away league games, sells the tickets, and does not forward the cash to the home team.
The same club has a business model which is dependent on entry to the group stages of the Champions League to balance the books but when this policy fails they continue to buy players knowing that this is going to create a bigger black hole in their balance sheet.
The same club enters administration and, unlike every other football club in this position, has no players made redundant. Indeed they attempt to sign one.
The same club, when in administration, virtually blackmails its own players into taking hefty wage cuts to allow the footballing side of the business to carry on untouched.
When the governing body investigates some of the above issues and delivers a judgement the team manager goes on television in a blatant attempt to instigate trouble demanding to know the names of the anonymous board members despite the fact that the names are known within the club itself.
The same club allows one of its ambassadors to threaten other clubs as well as the governing organisation using terms like ‘we will remember those who kicked us when we were down’ and ‘we will not forget or forgive’.
This is what now passes for ‘a level playing field’ in Scotland where adopting fiscal prudence along with a robust business model is for everyone else.
Ripping off your competitors by taking their players to make you stronger, them weaker, and not pay for them is a must.
Paying Tax and National Insurance is for saps.
Fleecing smaller businesses is standard practice.
Bully anyone who says you are wrong in what you are doing. Threaten them and make sure your friends in the media give it as wide an audience as possible to intimidate everyone.
Decisions over the next couple of weeks, whether it is the new penalties on insolvency or the appeal to the recent judgement, will determine whether there really is a level playing field for all or whether the sport we all love is finished in this country.
The media still don’t get it.
Lose one club or lose the sport entirely.
This is what is at stake here.
Excellent article Justshatered. You hit it on the nail. Did you include – breaking the rules by registering players and failing to specify hidden second contracts for tax evasion purposes?
I attempted to stick to known facts. If the second contracts do indeed prove to be correct then we can all discuss this at a later date.
The issues laid out above if, against any other club, would mean an immediate revoking of a licence to play football.
Don’t hold your breath on the two contracts issue as this will be convienently swept aside by the powers that be when Rangers are liquidated.
I have it on good authority that when questioned what he was up to as recently as four weeks ago Craig Whyte assured the questionner that ‘everything was going to plan’.
CW is not stupid. He may be a man with absolutely no morals but he does have a clear knowledge of business law.
Very, very nicely put. You’ll be too young to remember them but a fleet of steamrollers could not level the ‘killing fields’ of Govan.
H H
Yes good article, hope they get what is coming to them.
I’m beginning to get a very bad feeling that it is every other club that will be damaged in this affair.
One thing the media will not discuss is how many fans of other clubs will simply walk away from our sport if the newco is allowed back in.
It is different paying for a season ticket when you believe you are watching a sporting contest but I will not pay one penny more when I definetly know I’m not.
And I don’t think I will be the only one.
So every club will be poorer, Rangers will be back to triumphalist best…….. oh and with no debt unlike everyone else in the league.
Hope Ally ‘absolutely’ Mc coist and the rest of the rangers board , the sfa the spl, dumb and dumber read this, any other club would have been punished by now, level playing field my arse, hh