On Monday, I wrote about the incredible media coverage of the Ibrox EGM. I don’t think I need to remind anyone what that meeting actually did. The changes to the Articles of Association are extraordinary.
The level of secrecy they’ll now assure is enormous. The power handed to the board of directors is virtually unchecked. And there is not a single dissenting voice in the mainstream press suggesting this might not be a good idea.
Let’s keep a couple of things in mind before we move on to the main topic of discussion—namely, that the Day Two coverage of the EGM was even worse than the reporting on the day itself.
Some of what was published was jaw-dropping, even to me. Marathe sat down and gave an extensive interview—“extensive” only in the sense that he was asked a lot of questions. He didn’t give a lot of answers. We’ll come back to that.
This is a second club from Ibrox. The first one went to the grave. It died from staggering financial mismanagement. The people who bought the assets were hailed as visionaries… until they weren’t. The people who took over from them were hailed as visionaries… until they weren’t. The people who came after them? Same story. Everyone at Ibrox gets a honeymoon. Let’s bear that in mind.
Projecting a positive image and presenting a veneer of professionalism is not difficult. You should not get credit for simply not being a bombastic clown making promises you can’t keep. But if you’re going to outline your goals and strategy in vague, unfocused terms, then you deserve proper scrutiny—scrutiny that our mainstream press simply refuses to apply.
Only in Scotland would the media treat a failure to articulate a plan as a sign of seriousness. But let me tell you, it’s not. It’s not serious. It’s amateur hour.
It’s easy to take over any organisation and speak in broad strokes about your intentions and ambitions without offering a single concrete method of achieving them. And even the few things they do outline are neither impressive nor original. A player trading model? As if no other club’s ever thought of that. Trying to get more by spending less? Revolutionary, that. Data-driven recruitment? So common now that the more shocking thing would be to find a club not using it.
Even so, Andy Newport’s article in The Record is one of the worst pieces of sycophantic guff I’ve ever read. John McGarry’s piece in The Mail is almost as bad. But let’s start with Newport’s headline.
“(Ibrox) and 49ers link goes beyond anything imagined and here is what it means for ‘a crown jewel of Europe’”
It’s preposterous. It sounds more like the breathless ravings of a gushing fanboy than the work of a serious journalist. And nothing about the article itself redeems it. Marathe’s comments aren’t serious. Here’s a taste of what he said:
“I think it is pretty objectively true that the San Francisco 49ers are one of the biggest sports brands in the world. And certainly one of the most recognisable.”
“Pretty objectively true”? That’s the kind of thing someone says when they don’t really know what they’re talking about. But Ben Shapiro syntax aside, let’s dig deeper.
“(The Ibrox club) is a gem of European football. What the 49ers can bring is a certain global gravitas and awareness… Take the States or other places where the 49ers are top of mind—now all of a sudden (Ibrox) are in that same sentence… It matters when we are out with commercial partners who care about how many times their name is mentioned. That has monetary value.”
Let’s break that down.
Yes, the 49ers are a big name in American football. And yes, Americans tend to think they’re at the centre of the universe. But let’s be honest—Real Madrid is a big name. Manchester United is a big name. Those are global brands. American football is a big deal in America. It’s not clear that anyone outside the U.S. pays much attention to it.
And even if America is a huge TV market, they already have their own soccer teams—and a borderline obsession with the Premier League. If the Ibrox club is truly “a gem of European football,” then why do they need to piggyback off an NFL team for legitimacy?
Think there’s a single American sports fan who doesn’t already know the names Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan? Those are the true “gems” of the European game. You don’t hear them begging for exposure via a hook-up with the Houston Texans.
Also—“top of mind”? What the hell does that even mean?
The kind of gravitas Marathe’s talking about comes from winning things. And the 49ers haven’t won a Super Bowl since the York family took over decades ago. They’re hardly dripping in silverware.
Let me also assure him of this: a west of Scotland football club is not going to be the main focus of American sponsors. They aren’t interested in some notional link-up. They’re interested in Leeds. They’re interested in the Premier League, and the global exposure that it brings.
This isn’t a Celtic fan’s anti-Ibrox rant. This is just a hard, horrible fact of life.
We’ve got a much better shot at the U.S. market because of the Irish diaspora. And even we haven’t cracked it. No partnership with any U.S. sports franchise—not even the Boston Celtics, and they’d be the most natural one—has ever come close. It’s a total non-starter.
As for his point about commercial partners caring about how many times their name is mentioned? That’s just corporate waffle. It means nothing. It doesn’t matter how many times they try to jam the name of the Ibrox club into conversations with commercial partners; those people know the marketplace. It’s a joke.
Now here’s my favourite bit:
“Football is borderless. It is the world’s great game. It’s one of the reasons we wanted to be involved—it doesn’t have a border. And we are one of the biggest clubs in the world, with 600 supporters clubs and millions of fans globally.”
One of the biggest clubs in the world? Based on what? Trophies won? They aren’t even the biggest club in Scotland. Sure, football is global. But it’s not the SPFL that’s beamed into every corner of the world. The big five leagues dominate—not just the big tournaments but also the TV contracts and the global reach.
Nobody with access to La Liga is choosing to watch Ibrox vs Dundee instead.
All of this has been studied, in detail, by Celtic. The idea of a global audience for SPFL games has been tried, tested—and debunked.
As has the great Ibrox diaspora myth.
Every board over the last 40 years has tried to tap into it. Every single one. Hugh Adam was the first. His findings—still basically unchallenged—were brutal. He discovered that not only was the so-called Scottish diaspora largely uninterested in the club, many of them actively loathed it.
Millions of fans across the world? This ridiculous claim has been disproven repeatedly—and not by us, but by them, through their own feasibility studies and outreach efforts. Celtic, with a truly global diaspora behind it, hasn’t managed to pull off what these people claim they can.
The media is drooling over this—and for what? These guys gave them nothing yesterday. It was like watching a business seminar delivered by a middle manager. If I were a neutral observer, I’d be gobsmacked by the audacity of it.
But I’m not neutral. I’m watching this as someone who cannot believe that Ibrox fans are swallowing this without question. They don’t know who’s running their club. They don’t know what the objectives are. They’re operating in the dark.
And once again, the media is failing in its job. It is supposed to interrogate, not idolise. It’s supposed to examine the bona fides of new owners and scrutinise what they say, not fall over themselves because these guys have mastered the oldest trick in the book—appearing to promise more than they actually have.
It’s not even a modern skill. But the press still falls for it. And the more you’ve seen, the easier it is to spot.
article in the herald donohoe brands new articles of association not fit for purpose oh dear you can imagine lindsay having to print this.
As you say James the lack of any due diligence by the media is astonishing .
The art of the con is all about identifying the mark ..knowing their desperate needs and wants and sucking them in until they are bled dry …Marathe & Co look to be playing perfectly to their 50000 marks and the associated supportive media….Millions of fans ,Crown Jewel of European football a very simple conman play to the craven,supremacist greatest club in the world mindset BS
They know exactly what they are doing .
A simple seconds only look at the Leeds structure ..”Marathe and York own over 10% in the 49ers Enterprises PartnersLLC ( the only entity that holds voting rights in the owner 49ers Enterprises Global Football LLC )
So . Are Marathe and York effectively the 49ers or only York?..and do they own 10% each or in total ?..and the other 80 or 90% is the cast of 90 others inc Spieth ,Thomas and all the famous investors no doubt in for the tax breaks .
IF we assume ( big assumption) that either The Partners LLC OR the Global Football LLC are the biggest investor at say 50% of the NEWCO Delaware company that owns 51% of TRFC ..that would give the actual 49ers with the 20% 0f 50 % 0f 50% at the very BEST which even our media could calculate at only 5% of TRFC
Obviously if these 49ers partners are in at only 10 or 20% of the delaware company and Yorks holding etc only 10% in the Partners LLC then the 49ers ownership could be even less than 1%
The Easdale boys own much more than this .
49ers name used to suck the season tickets money out of the marks ..and now being used to try to con players into coming to the Clown Jewels
I haven’t seen the new Articles but if the new Consortium shares are the only voting shares as is the case with Leeds ..then these characters effectively have 100%
Martin will definitely need to perform alchemy with that squad ..and very quickly or this could turn ugly very soon
Great comment ‘Charlie’. Minimal ownership but outright control. A license to print money going forwards or stripping the assets from the Club and leasing them back at on or above market rate for a perpetual kill.
Selling off Murray Park to themselves at a knockdown price then selling it off again on the open market to the Housebuilding Sector for a mega gain.
I think King has told the Consortium where the value lies and has sold them some of his own shares to help them get over the 51% line and used the Money to invest in the new ‘hidden’ consortium. He still wants his £20 million that he lost when OldCo snuffed it. I think the ‘new kids in town’ are going to strip the club bare and then Eff Off back Stateside behind the anonymity of the Delaware registered newco once Ibrox’s carcass has been stripped clean.
Here’s hoping.
S,
Really interesting your angle on King.
Some clowns in the media are quoting big nos £70/£100m already invested to secure the 51% ( and pay off loans?? )
For god’s sake CFC with huge repeatable revenues and profits over 10 years had a Market cap of £142m on the day thee consortium allegedly bought the 51% …
Surely there is no way these guys paid any more than £30 or £40m ..for 50% of a loss making basket case ?…or even less ….and if so .?
You could be right ..King et all to get their original TRFC investments back come back in way down inside some corporate veil inside the consortiums lovely opaque ‘Russian Dolls’ set up ….and join in the party in 1 of 2 ways ..
.If Martin is an Alchemist and CFC board wet the bed, screw up with Rodgers and fall apart and CL funds and profits start to flow to Ibrox ..they suck out dividends ..OR if it all goes tits up they sell the clown jewels….OR do bits of BOTH
Were this happening to CFC the bampots would be all over the articles and demanding transparency on this opaque Corporate stuff…and would never have been exposed to a potential con…
These consortium folks may all be ‘Mother Theresa’s ‘ and all will be good …but if as you as suggesting they are still in bed with King ? Dearie me
Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making mistakes.
Sit back, relax, watch the shit show unfold and laugh the laugh of the righteous I told you so.
Works for me.
BTW. ” Top of mind ” ? More like bottom of arse.
And we know, the gushin fan boy stuff, is only goin tae get more extreme as the weeks go by. Especially in the DR, where they’re fallin over theirselves tae push the ibrox ‘feel good’ factor from any angle they can fantasise over. One article of over excited, imaginary pish, after another. Let’s wait and see how their ‘feel good’ factor, pans out further down the road. Their new saviours, will find out just exactly how impatient that lot are.
@ CATH. Personally don’t buy their rag, tho dae have a look at their latest tripe on the Internet. And just because my address may be c/o Leverndale funny farm, doesnae mean any of the both of me are mental, or unstable. Quite a nice place. They gave me a lovely jacket when ah came in, which ah really like, tho the sleeves are far too long.
Very good and witty reply Kevcelt59 !!!!
Any Celtic supporter that contributes towards these Scummy Bastards truly needs to be sectioned to Dybebar or Leverndale mental health hospitals…
Or their modern equivalent if the above two are closed !!!
Clach, in the interests of getting a balanced view of Scottish Football, I’m wondering which newspapers I can read that would meet with your approval. Can you recommend a couple?
@ DannyGal. Actually ah agree with him. It’s just a curiosity more than anythin else, where ahm concerned.Theyre the specialists of anti-Celtic, pro-ibrox bullshit. And they never disappoint.
I used to buy The Dumbarton & Vale reporter when I was goin with my then girlfriend there…
But that was 29 years ago DannyGal and there wasn’t too much in it about Celtic…
Honestly from what is highlighted here and on Video Celts I couldn’t recommend not one for a balanced view of Scottish Football…
I simply don’t buy them…
If they mix football and politics then perhaps The Scottish National might try to appeal to those of a Scottish Celtic demographic…
A fella I knew in ma time in North Belfast (Micky Crawford) used to write good reports about Celtic but wasn’t in all the time – His paper was called The North Belfast News !
i dont know much about american football but a quick check tells me the 49ers have not won the superbowl for 31 years, surely that is how success should be measured and not a balance sheet.
Pistol Pete Says Balance Sheet !!!
I think the best they’ll do this season is 3rd place, as I see Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs all raising they’re sights higher than just a 3rd place finish, plus their transfer business so far is far better than Sevco’s efforts.