So Bewlay, Snake....

Fair enough Bewls. Prompted by your post I had a look at Clyde's statement and it is indeed extremely thoughtful and well balanced (http://www.clydefc.co.uk/news/2012/06/30/4134/). Obviously the author has no place in Scottish football and should be hounded out to a place of sanity immediately.

I have reason to believe Whyte is behind the scenes in the Green consortium and because of that alone I am astonished that the football authorities are trying to force through a Div1 / SPL2 scenario. It seems entirely possible that Newco will go into administration whichever league they enter next month.

I would hate to be a Rangers fan right now. I've no idea what I would do, but I'd be tempted to walk away and support my local team or whatever. The last few months' revelations have gone from bad to worse, much as some of us have enjoyed some of the fall-out (and you can't really blame us for doing so).

supermo wrote:I am astonished that the football authorities are trying to force through a Div1 / SPL2 scenario.

This, for me is the thing that lays it wide open.

What exactly is at stake here?

What on earth would prompt such an amateurish, shambolic statement from the game's governing body at a time when they are bound to know that they're under intense scrutiny not just at home, but abroad too?

Are they serious about implementing huge structural changes to the league set-up over the course of a few days?

Are they further aware that despite protestations to the contrary, (I heard Tam Cowan adopt the devil's adv position today by saying that restructure's been talked about for ages now) this indecent haste is going to make it look like all those paranoid Tims who claimed that the SFA/SPL and Rangers have been hand-in-glove for years were... well not that paranoid tbh.

As I said, what exactly is at stake?

I mean Rangers are/were a well-supported club - numbers-wise. And, if you take it at face value, the claim that there will be a financial hit to be endured, then I suppose you might get away with a panicked, desperate response to the crisis such as we saw yesterday. But to make those claims without any solid numbers.... 30%? Really? Let me see how you worked that out...

And if the economics are dodgy... or questionable at least... I ask again.

Why would highly paid professionals shy away from applying the rules in an appropriate and timeous fashion?

Why would they jeopardise their careers like that?





Ooops - sorry.

Forgot the clip.

The last thing they'll be thinking of are Rangers fans (or Celtic supporters for that matter) as these guys will carry on assuming that the "old firm" will carry on paying through the nose for away tickets and subsidising the rest.

A few years ago I saw a BSkyB statistic which demonstrated that more than 80 per cent of Sky Sports subscribers in Scotland are declared Celtic or Rangers supporters.

Just as Green (Whyte?) assumes that Rangers fans should all buy STs, our football authorities assume that sticking the club into some kind of TV deal will guarantee continued cash flow from Sky and they'll all live happily ever after.

Truth is Newco are quite likely to go bust, with Rangers fans left completely unconvinced by the regime. And with or without them in Div 1. SPL2, the TV deal will come unstuck anyway. Scottish football's crisis has only begun, none of the "options" are sustainable.

that's my tuppenceworth anyways....

TBH Mo, I think the whole financial thing is a bit of a red herring.

The loss of the OF fixtures will give Sky pause for thought certainly, but will the inevitable renegotiation of the rights package really deal a financial death-blow to the entire game in Scotland?

Will the loss of one (admittedly bigger than average) travelling support do that?

Will the loss of RFC transfer payments to other SPL clubs do that?

(Ignoring the fact that they're still in hock to the Jambos for Lee W of course )

For me, the laying bare of the SFA/SPL's complicity in covering-up (how exactly did they manage to obtain a licence to compete last season?) Rangers' parlous financial arrangements, their stubborn reluctance to deliver any kind of judgement/verdict regarding Rangers' many breaches of association rules and their cack-handed attempts to blur the lines between Newco and Oldco resulting in this latest farce, is the most interesting issue.

There were some pretty good stats doin the rounds in cyberspace recently (from a Dons board?) that seemed to suggest that the economic tsunami predicted by the MSM and the rest of em might, in actual fact, be more of a ripple.

I understand that these figures might not be entirely accurate... but they constitute a fuck-sight more than the SFA/SPL have managed to come up with over the piece.

They've underestimated the power of the the fans to share thoughts and organise through the new media channels.

They got bitten badly on the SPL-parachute adventure.

If Turnbull Hutton's contribution on Radio Scotland this avvy is indicative of the mood in the SFL, they're about to make a complete Gareth Hunt of themselves again by trying to bluster and bully their way to clearing a path for the Newco into SFL/SPL2.

Their performance during all of this is deeply suspect. Incompetent? Corrupt? Either way - there should be an independent public inquiry into this once the dust settles.

Thommo's latest blog sez it better.

http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/people-hampden-long-predicted-rangers-meltdown/2113

I am sure Scottish football would survive without Newco, Immo. But what we see here are football authorities (and no doubt a few club chairmen) who are re-arranging the deckchairs in the assumption that they can restore some kind of status quo.

You'd expect a few larger clubs to see Rangers' demise as an opportunity for success, but there's little evience that they do.

My main point is that in its current form, Newco is doomed. And, inevitably there will be big changes in TV deals. For example, if the Sky deal falls apart, I'd expect Celtic to pursue their own rights deal (as happens in Spain and other leagues). They'd be mad not to do so, imo.

I agree Mo.

The Newco is a shell.

Short on credible finance, short on players, currently being challenged by various factions, no audited accounts for the past three years... they haven't even played a game yet FFS!

If duffers like you and I have worked that out, then surely highly-paid professionals with nothing else to do all day but consider such things should have done likewise?

Why on earth wouldn't the game's governing body save themselves a lot of embarrassment by (a) Making a clear delineation between the dead club RFC 1873 - punishing them retrospectively for any wrongdoing that may be uncovered, and the newco; Then, (b) Applying the rules as they stand and inviting this newco to apply for a place in D3 - same way as they would entertain any Johnny-come-lately loonball that showed up with the kinda Heath-Robinson/back of a fag-packet/hingin by a thread financial set-up that Green is currently offering.

And there it is again.

They do know this - they must.

So why are they putting themselves through this cruel and unusual punishment?

They could make this very easy for themselves by applying the rules.

Big organisations depend on positive press and good PR.

What better than a load of stories in the press/media full of words and phrases like 'brave stance in a difficult situation' or '..with the integrity of the game in mind' or 'fairness' to consolidate Regan, Doncaster and Co's position as the 'new brooms' here to bring openness and accountability to the game?

They could make themselves heroes here - every single public-opinion indicator suggests that they could acheive this status by simply applying the rules.

I don't think I've ever met a holder of, or aspirer to public office that wasn't driven (at the root of it all) by ego.

People like that tend to bite yer hand off if given the opportunity to position themselves in the public eye as a righter of wrongs, a scourge of cheats, a protector of the 'punter on the street/terraces'.

Why aren't this particular bunch of venal, spineless, dissembling bastards doing similar?

What exactly is at stake?

Immo wrote:

Why aren't this particular bunch of venal, spineless, dissembling bastards doing similar?

What exactly is at stake?

I think they quite like money.

Also, I'd guess a few football boards (directors) around the country include supporters of the Old Firm amongst them. Certainly, at Stenhousemuir, a director is also a season ticket holder at Ibrox, while another has a son playing for Rangers youths.

What's at stake for the SPL/SFA/SFL?

1. A few well paid sinecures for the various chairmen, CEOs and hangers-on that "run" Scottish football.
2. The fear that they won't be able to carry on living off the big two clubs (or more accurately their fans) unless they lash together some far fetched "deal" that "saves" the TV deal and carries on milking supporters for money.

As Gladstone says, there are numerous Rangers fans in smaller clubs. the current chairman of Airdrie once told a businesswoman I know that he objected to her wearing a green suit at a meeting (yes this is the level of sad bigot to be found in the lower leagues).

Please don't think there is any sophisticated strategy or even any great conspiracy going on in Scottish football. It's the domain of grown men who behave like 12 year olds. When you look at it from that perspective it's easy to sniff out their motives...a petty, incompetent attempt to preserve the status quo and retain the number of parasite blazers slurping from the Hampden trough.

Remember the SFA is an organisation daft enough to appoint a half-wit like Gordon Smith as their CEO - whereas Rangers laughed when he applied for a similar job at Ibrox!

This Airdrie Chmn?

@alextomo
alex thomson
SFL Pres and Aidrie Chmn Jim Ballantyne says Aidrie won't vote on any Rangers Newco issue because of conflicts of interest
9 minutes ago

The very man.

After the shockingly blatant electioneering carried out by the game's governing bodies...


... on behalf of a bunch of spivs and cheats who've sucked the life-blood out of the game these last 10-20 years.


I'm seriously considering chuckin it next season.

If...

(a) The SFA/SPL mange to wangle a way to crowbar the fiscal/organisational shambles that is Sevco Scotland into SFL1 or some hastily-cobbled SPL2.

or...

(b) The season starts with Regan, Doncaster and Campbell Ogilvie still 'in-post'. (That's right... THAT Campbell Ogilvie! That patently-guilty, knuckle-crunchin, trouser-leg-rollin, swivel-eyed, lyin', arrogant ... well, cheat I s'pose. Astonishin - innit. )

...then I'll hafta leave yeez to it.

Mrs Greene never raised any kids dumb enough to take a seat at a rigged table.

Immo wrote:This Airdrie Chmn?

@alextomo
alex thomson
SFL Pres and Aidrie Chmn Jim Ballantyne says Aidrie won't vote on any Rangers Newco issue because of conflicts of interest
9 minutes ago

I'm not convinced he's an Airdrie fan



and how the fuck did we get a three pager in this day and age

and as for Reagan and Doncaster, they should be removed from power immediately. Their handling of this situation has been at best an embarrassment, Turnbull Hutton despite the dodgy sounding name is the man for the job

and what about Stenhousemuir's statement? Short memories, it seems they've bought the lies peddled by the gruesome twosome and forgotten Rangers trying to get them sent into the annals of history

JimmyMcGrory wrote:

Immo wrote:This Airdrie Chmn?

@alextomo
alex thomson
SFL Pres and Aidrie Chmn Jim Ballantyne says Aidrie won't vote on any Rangers Newco issue because of conflicts of interest
9 minutes ago

I'm not convinced he's an Airdrie fan



and how the fuck did we get a three pager in this day and age

I think it's been argued that is NOT Ballantyne on his way to a Rangers game.


In fact, he's travelling to an Orange Walk.

JimmyMcGrory wrote:and what about Stenhousemuir's statement? Short memories, it seems they've bought the lies peddled by the gruesome twosome and forgotten Rangers trying to get them sent into the annals of history

It appears to be an embarrassment. 3 clubs who Rangers tried to bin in the sixties are presently (could still change) backing Sevco for Division One.

Gladstone wrote:I think it's been argued that is NOT Ballantyne on his way to a Rangers game.


In fact, he's travelling to an Orange Walk.

Really, I find that astonishing .............. I thought he was on his way to a Gay Pride march

Gladstone wrote:

JimmyMcGrory wrote:and what about Stenhousemuir's statement? Short memories, it seems they've bought the lies peddled by the gruesome twosome and forgotten Rangers trying to get them sent into the annals of history

It appears to be an embarrassment. 3 clubs who Rangers tried to bin in the sixties are presently (could still change) backing Sevco for Division One.

now that some of the lies have been dispelled maybe Stenny will do the right thing Glad?

Stenny's position has brought shame on the whole SFL. Tsk..

I don't think you can blame any individual clubs for coming to their decision - it's a lot of pressure to deal with.

You can disagree with the decision taken, but the real scandal is the fact that the clubs were put in the position of having to make that decision due to the corrupt, hopelessly compromised nature of the governing bodies.

The desperate scrabbling of the (supposedly) entirely impartial SFA/SPL leadership over the last few days has been embarrassing.

And they aint done yet.

supermo wrote:Stenny's position has brought shame on the whole SFL. Tsk..

Why is that? The Warriors voted 'no' to NuWATP in Div1.

Get with the programme, supermo, thought you had journalistic experience. You're Jim Traynor, aren't you?

Oh you know where to hurt G

So the Warriors changed their vote then? In that case, good for them.

I am ready to irrevocably withdraw my slanders, based as they were on your original allegation about them voting for Div1 (unreliable cunt ).

supermo wrote:Oh you know where to hurt G

So the Warriors changed their vote then? In that case, good for them.

I am ready to irrevocably withdraw my slanders, based as they were on your original allegation about them voting for Div1 (unreliable cunt ).

I know what information you were given, it was up to you what you did with it......

Official Statement

Mon The Warriors!!

Get him telt Gee.