Resolution 12: The Questions The SFA Don’t Want To Have To Answer (Or Ask).
Enough has been written about Resolution 12 that anyone in the English media who wanted to could find out the basics in a few minutes, with a mere internet search. The story has been rolling on for the last few years, and every layer reveals more worrying stuff.
The basics are simple; in 2011, Rangers was allowed to play Champions League football although there were serious doubts over their eligibility for a European competition license. The club that was later liquidated over the with-holding of tax had a “liability payable” with HMRC when the licensing process was underway. The SFA says they followed procedure; Celtic disagrees. The SFA says that the club was compliant; Celtic does not believe that.
People inside Celtic believe that either Rangers with-held crucial information from the governing body, and that the SFA did not do enough to chase that information, or that the SFA knew the club did not meet the criteria but looked the other way.
It is one of the key issues Celtic wanted investigated via the inquiry we called for.
Celtic Football Club has been pursuing this information for a while.
A group of fans called The Requisitioners has been chasing it just as long.
The story came to prominence when they raised it at a Celtic AGM – they are shareholders, and wanted to know if our club had been deprived of £20 million plus in revenues as a result of that decision.
At the time of writing, the SFA has bowed to pressure from Celtic and opened a disciplinary investigation over the issue. But the club who committed those offences no longer exists and our club believes this will be a whitewash. Inside Celtic Park there is a growing suspicion that the SFA are willing to go through the sham investigation to hide their own involvement in this.
Who knows where this one will end up, but Celtic is prepared to push it all the way, wherever that leads and whoever it implicates.
It is a massive scandal and well worth a journalist’s time.