Today both Joe at VideoCelts, and the redoubtable Phil MacGiollabhain, have produced excellent pieces on the continuing Dave King fiasco.
I say continuing because although it seemed that the matter involving the South African tax fraudster and the Takeover Panel was coming to an end, as this site and others predicted the devil was in the details.
And today the details are emerging and they paint a far from flattering picture of King and his intentions.
To put it bluntly, this guy is at it.
According to Joe’s piece, King’s promise that the funds would be in place by today’s date looks like a nonsense; according to him, the funds will not now be available to King until the 23rd of this month … which frankly makes a mockery of the 30 day compliant deadline; it will be almost three weeks over the line.
And this is to say nothing for the fact that no prospectus has been put together yet, which as Phil, Joe, myself and others have pointed out is, itself, simply not on. King’s announcement on Friday was an “intention” to make an offer. As the document he published pointed out, that did not constitute the offer itself. Detailed information still has to be made available to the shareholders he’s proposing to buy the shares from, including a breakdown as to what they are actually worth.
No such document exists. There are costs – and, for King, dangers – associated with producing one. It is a timely process, one that should already be well underway. There is no sign that it is. This guy is wasting everyone’s time. He’s playing games, as he always has.
The media was very quick to state that King had put this matter to bed over the weekend; as we’ve all seen, nothing could be further from the truth. King is taking the piss, that’s all he’s doing. He is dragging this out, because he can and because he wants to see where the Takeover Panel and the judiciary draw the line.
But according to Phil, in his latest excellent piece, they may already have done so. According to people he’s spoken to in London, the City regulators aren’t buying his little charade for one minute and are already discussing appropriate sanctions.
I would not be at all surprised. In fact, I would be more shocked if they weren’t.
The dodgiest geezer in Scottish football history – which is saying something considering the rogue’s gallery that has trooped through Ibrox in recent years – is playing to the last card after all. I cannot even imagine how he thinks this story has a happy ending.
One other thing; how much longer is the SFA going to look at this fiasco without taking action? This guy is manifestly unfit to be anywhere near a Scottish Premier League football club. He has openly defied a City of London instruction and is now openly defying the courts.
Do we have people running this game or not?
You can read Joe and Phil’s articles by clicking on the links in the opening paragraph.
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