In case you haven’t heard, Craig Whyte has taken to Twitter.
This is not a joke, although it certainly has the makings of great comedy.
I discussed the ingredients that make that up last week on this site, and this has a little something for everyone.
Whyte is obviously trawling already.
His profile describes him as an “Entrepreneur. Business Turnaround Specialist.” I am sure it’s not just a coincidence that this spells EBTS; he capitalised all those words and didn’t bother with the ones that came right after them. “Former owner Rangers football club.”
He knows who he’s taking a swing at.
For most of us, this is hilarious but it would take someone wilfully stupid not to see the obvious threat in this. He has yet to send an actual tweet in anger, but that shouts loudly at his critics and his enemies; he does not believe he is responsible for what happened at Ibrox. He is pointing the finger at those who came before, and whose ruinous policies placed the club in jeopardy well before he got there. This is Whyte saying if he falls he won’t fall alone.
The trial starts this week; Whyte is already raising Hell.
Anyone who has looked at the charges against him knows the prosecution case is pretty weak. I think they’ll be lucky to get any kind of conviction at all. Their charges are wholly unsupportable unless other people are in the dock alongside him.
As has already been pointed out, the charge which relates to fraudulent acquisition of Rangers could just as easily have been levelled at Charles Green over his asset grab, and King over the way he took over Sevco. The unanswered questions over how he came to know Ticketus – there is an obvious link-point, as I am one hundred percent certain he will point out – are plentiful and deadly and this is to say nothing of what he could do to the SFA.
The media is already frothing about what he might say; I am guessing it wouldn’t be anything that the Bampots didn’t already know and haven’t been writing about for years. The MSM will grab what they can, report it as if it’s all never been put in the public domain before and try to dress up their previous ignorance as wisdom.
I find them hilarious.
But, as I’ve said, this is not a joke.
The charges may look weak, but Whyte is playing for his freedom. As I’m writing this, I’m watching the US version of Beyond Scared Straight; prison does not look like a joke. It looks like the sort of experience you would burn the world to avoid.
Can you imagine it?
Whyte doesn’t have to burn the world. He only has to throw under the bus a few people he thinks deserve it more than he does, or at the very least those he’d enjoy seeing in the next cell. This is a guy playing for the highest stakes; this is his life here.
What would you do to save yours?
What would you do to protect yourself?
So amidst the sniggering, I advise that a lot of people be concerned. Gravely concerned.
If I was in his shoes, with his troubles, armed with his weapons, I would use them without hesitation. I would scorch the Earth. And as dangerous as he is right now, he’ll be even more lethal if he’s convicted. Imagine, Craig Whyte with absolutely nothing to lose.
In taking to Twitter, he could not be sending a clearer message if he tried.
He might well be the most demonised person in Scotland.
It’s clear he deserves a lot of what comes his way; what he did at Ibrox, he’d been doing for a long time. But he did not destroy Rangers alone. He simply had his hands on the controls when the ship ran aground. He is sick and tired of shouldering the blame for what happened there. That club was headed for the rocks before he arrived on the scene. He was used. He thought he was gaming Murray and others; he was the one being set up.
And he knows that.
And he’s not in the least bit happy about it.
He’s been quiet for a long time, but not because he had nothing to say. This process had to run its course. The preliminaries have been dealt with. Ironically, as he faces the loss of his freedom the shackles are finally off.
Whyte doesn’t simply see this as his trial; this is his moment to dispense a little bit of justice of his own.
His enemies should be afraid.
The silence is over.