Spiv Threatens To Sue As Sevco Scandal Boils Over
Another incredible day in the Sevco saga has ended with Sandy Easdale, the chairman of the football board, threatening to sue Dave King and the current board over the announcement that they will be de-listed from the AIM exchange when it re-opens on Tuesday.
This development comes hot on the heels of Paul Murray’s comments of earlier in the week, where he said the club would take seven years to catch Celtic, and on the failure by the new board to find a Nominated Advisor in time to avoid another series of runctions.
Already, the New Spivs are in full-on spin control mode as the latest scandal threatens to engulf the Stuart McCall “recovery”, which itself amounts to little more than a bad tactical decision by Alan Stubbs and some late goals against the club bottom of the Scottish second tier.
Sevco’s lengthy Stock Market statement today – one of the last they’ll make to the Exchange before silence descends completely – defended the ineptitude of the present board by finger pointing at the ineptitude of the previous one … an interesting strategy, and one similar to that being pursued by David Cameron and the Tories, who after five years in office are still trying to blame every ill in society on the last Labour government.
This kind of spin only goes so far.
Spin will have no effect on what happens next though.
The crisis can be “managed” but it’s no less of a crisis, and whether the fans swallow it or not – and, incredibly, both fan’s shareholders groups have already released statements in support of this calamity – the consequences of it are inescapable and the reputational damage it does is hard to quantify and impossible to ignore.
Blowing smoke will not alter things one iota.
Sandy Easdale, who represents shareholders with 20% of the club, and who can count on the support of Mike Ashley and his 9%, – and thus legally block any move to issue new shares come what may – is tonight, threatening to sue the new board as a consequence of today’s events, especially in light of the promises King and others made that de-listing would not happen.
A new tidal wave is rushing in, even as the board scrambles to repair the damage caused by the last tsunami.
It is hard to think of a bigger shambles in the history of sport.
The questions keep on piling up for the Sevco board.
The answers, if they come at all – the spinners are already telling the world that the need for transparency is gone, although it was one of the many (mostly broken) promises the King consortium made before the EGM – are likely to be a wakeup call to every person who expected “normal service” to be resumed at the Big Hoose.
As I said in my On Fields of Green article earlier, (read it here!) “normal service” was a club run on debt, financially doped to the gills and those days are gone … a fact acknowledged by everyone in Scottish football except those in the Sevco support and the newsrooms which feed them fantasy.
The more the King regime ties itself in knots, breaking promises they never intended to keep and trying to rebuild a club they have no plan to fix, the more clear it becomes that the fun Celtic fans have enjoyed in recent years is nothing compared to the entertainment to come.
Easter Weekend has started with a bang.
More to follow, without a doubt …
To read