The Daily Record

As BDO were called in yesterday to liquidate the corporate entity RFC 2012 that used to own Rangers Football Club, the Daily Record today misinforms its readers that “140 years of history have died”.

Rangers have existed since 1872, yet their first controlling corporate entity was established in 1899.

What is in process of being liquidated is the corporate entity that was established in 1899, not the football club established in 1872.

That shouldn’t be too difficult to understand

Clearly the Record are either “at it”, or are hopelessly incompetent.

The Daily Record was founded in 1895, and, as a newspaper, have been owned by various corporate entities. Their current owners are Trinity Mirror PLC, who were formed in 1904. Does that mean that the Daily Record existed in a vacuum for 9 years and that period of it’s existence doesn’t count?

Do not buy the Record

Bill.

WP Archives: Mar 26 2012: Celtic FC: Always Cheated Never Defeated

Rarely do Old Firm games pass without incident. And yesterday’s was no different.

While the talking point should be that Rangers raced out of the blocks to dominate Celtic, with an inexperienced 19 year old dictating the play, and Sone Aluko giving the Celtic defence nightmares.

No, instead the main talking points are Neil Lennon being “sent off”, him apparently not being allowed to sit in the main stand at Ibrox (untrue), and Cha’s sending off being unjust as he wasn’t the last man.

Lennon is quoted as claiming at the media conference following the match that Rangers’ security people advised him not to sit in the stand, for his own safety.

“We’re at Ibrox to win the title and I’m told by Rangers’ security it wouldn’t be safe for me to sit in the stand. That sums this country up.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2012/03/26/celtic-boss-neil-lennon-insists-he-has-witnesses-to-prove-he-should-not-have-been-sent-to-stand-at-ibrox-86908-23801746/

Rangers safety people denied this.

It has come to light in the last hour that this statement is untrue.

In fact, it was Celtic’s security who advised Lennon not to sit in the stand.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/celtic/301643-celtic-move-to-clarify-neil-lennon-directors-box-advice/

So, either Lennon has been misquoted by the Daily Record (and many others), or he is now a proven liar who can’t be trusted by his own security people to behave himself. Why else would he have been advised to this effect?

He’s sat in the stand on other occasions without as much as a cross word.

He made other allegations about the Referee and his assistants during the same rant.

Are we to believe him? Can he be trusted to be telling the truth?

Cha’s sending off was not for being the last man when he wasn’t. He was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity.

Now Lennon is inferring that Callum Murray is in some way biased against Celtic, despite the same Referee sending off 3 Rangers players in Old Firm fixtures last season.

Somehow missing from the paranoid debate about the SFA today just days after Lennon himself was given special treatment by SFA Compliance officer Vincent Lunny, were any incidents whereby the decision making favoured Celtic.

So, the incident whereby Scott Brown raked his studs down the thigh of Sone Aluko, then booted him for good measure, with no punishment is not to be talked about.

http://gifninja.com/animatedgifs/723140/broonaldo-0-3.gif

Nor is Kris Commons Olympic diver impression that won a free kick that led to Celtic’s second goal. How someone so fat can display such athleticism is remarkable.

It will be interesting to see if the newspapers “clarify” their view of the security advice to Lennon, or if they backtrack.

My money is on the sweeping brush to be used by all concerned.

Bill.

WP Archives: Mar 22 2012: The SPL’s Kangaroo Court

There are various webs of intrigue in Scottish Football at the moment, with hidden networks of individuals actively trying to damage Rangers Football Club.

Their work is usually so secret, that it is conveniently far enough away from any individuals of interest to Rangers supporters for the eyebrows to be raised.

Now and again though, coincidences arise which are absolutely startling.

One of the current modes of attack on Rangers as they struggle in Administration and seek new buyers, is the investigation by the SPL in to Rangers alleged use of EBTs from 1998 until 2010.

During that period, Rangers have won 7 SPL titles.

The purpose of the investigation is allegedly to establish if Rangers did not comply with SPL regulations

 The intention of many Celtic supporters in asking for the investigation has been for the club to be stripped of all trophies won during this period.

Many Rangers fans are 100% sure that this will not happen.

I’m not so sure.

The club will have to be absolutely squeaky clean on this, and be able to prove through the courts that they have complied with all regulations.

If not, what awaits them is unthinkable.

First of all, lets look at the SPL Committee set up to act as Judge and jury.

SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and secretary Iain Blair, will compile a report for the SPL board. The board consists of Eric Riley (Celtic), Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), Derek Weir (Motherwell), Steven Brown (St Johnstone), SPL chairman Ralph Topping and Doncaster himself. A decision will then be taken on whether the information provides prima facie evidence of any breach of SPL rules.

Will Riley leave the room, or take no part in the investigations?

Is there no conflict of interests in him, or for that matter any of the other club representatives, in deciding any possible punishment for Rangers?

Thomson, of course has previous and is despised by the Rangers support in response to a number of comments about the club and the support, not to mention a dispute over rip off ticket prices for a Dundee Utd cup replay, contested by the Nithsdale RSC.

We Rangers fans cannot expect either of these two to be in any way objective.

Of course, these Directors of our rivals in Scotland are only the Judge and Jury, not the investigators.

So, what of the investigators?

The SPL board have appointed “Harper MacLeod” law practice to investigate.

“Harper MacLeod” also act for Celtic Football Club.

 On their website, on the “What our clients say”, there are two very interesting testimonials:

 “Lorne Crerar has shown the vision and management excellence to create a very dynamic and strong growth firm. Rod McKenzie clearly has had a role to play in this development and in addition, he is still “on the tools” and provides great support to our Club. They also have a very impressive Chief Executive in Martin Darroch.

The working environment, partnership and employee relationship appears to be first class and clearly the excellent pattern in staff retention reflects this.”

Peter Lawwell, Chief Executive, Celtic F.C. Limitedwww.celticfc.net

“Lloyds TSB Scotland has benefited from a close working relationship built up over a number of years. Their approach to managing Client relationships focuses on understanding the business need and developing interesting and innovative solutions. Harper Macleod really understands what they bring to a client relationship and it is clear that their success in recent years owes much to a clear implementation of a strategy built on strong personal and business relationship with the Bank.”

Manus Fullerton, Former Director Wholesale Banking Scotland, Lloyds TSB Scotlandwww.lloydstsb.com

Of course, Lawwell is a household name in Scotland due to his position of CEO at Celtic, but Fullerton is rather less known.

Fullerton was the top man at Lloyds Banking group during the period where Rangers were being strangled by the group. He is also a former Trustee of the Celtic Trust, which is a supporters Trust for Celtic FC, alongside arch Republican Jeanette Findlay of Glasgow University, and former Glasgow Lord Provost Alex Mosson.

The links that this firm have to those with interests at Celtic and an agenda against Rangers are clear.

Rangers should be raising an objection as to their suitability, but a rudderless club is being kicked when its attentions are elsewhere, and it seems the Administrators are unaware of this agenda.

Let’s hope that the club are clean on these allegations, as the investigators, and the Judge and Jury cannot be trusted to act with any integrity

Let’s just hope that Hugh Nielson isn’t assigned to the case

http://www.bentjudges.com/Harper_MacLeod.html

It may be that the top man Lorne Crerar who also works at Glasgow University (near Ms Findlay?) takes on the task.

More likely it will be Rod McKenzie, who is Celtic’s Lawyer, and has been for a number of years, as he also represents the SPL.

Fair’s fair, eh?

Bill.

WP Archives: Mar 22 2012: Dermot Desmond – Media Silence Deafening (Part 2)

During my research in to Dermot Desmond I have been stunned by some of the hyperbole and venom directed at him by ordinary Irish people.

You see the people of the Irish Republic are angry that the Republic of Ireland has lost any independence it once had to Europe

Like any economic collapse, ordinary people want scapegoats and want others punished for their excesses and contribution to the crisis, whether their reasoning is justified or not,

In the UK, we had Fred Goodwin. In the Republic they have a handful. One of them is Dermot Desmond.

One such example, from politics.ie states “if the likes of Dermot Desmond, Smurfit, Noel Smyth , Denis O’Brien and the rest had been dealt with properly when they were “supporting” the “lifestyles” of Haughey and Lowry etc we would have avoided the Banking and property crisis.”

There are countless others.

During my previous article I gave an overview of Desmond’s involvement in the Moriarty Tribunal, and the Glackin report. At the end of the article I referenced two other public tribunals, the Mahon Tribunal, and the Flood Report. Both reports are the same enquiry relating to the time in Office of Charles Haughey, and a number of allegations with regards to payments to Mr Haughey, and some of his staff.

The Final report of the Mahon Tribunal is not yet published, but is expected to be published today.

http://www.u.tv/News/Mahon-Tribunal-report-due-later/10ab78e3-95f3-437c-8b8a-ce6c195464cd

It is expected that Fianna Fail supporter Desmond will be referenced once again in the final report.

In the interim report, there are a number of allegations against Desmond in relation to demands for money, from loans. Interest is not expressly mentioned, nor is tax:

http://www.mahontribunal.com/index.php?title=Second_Interim_Report

http://www.mahontribunal.com/index.php?title=Second_Interim_Report#The_role_of_Mr_Dermot_Desmond_at_the_March_1990_meeting

http://www.mahontribunal.com/index.php?title=Second_Interim_Report#Mr_Stafford.27s_claim_that_Mr_Desmond_made_a_further_demand_for_.C2.A330.2C000_for_Mr_Mara_in_September_1990

 As it stands in the interim report, the conflict of statements between Mr Mara and Mr Desmond is unresolved.

That may change in the final report, but it is unlikely.

While this is an ongoing report which started many years ago, and references allegations circa 1990, the news of the tribunal itself has not reached the shores of Scotland. In this global age, where journalists can door step Craig Whyte in Monaco, it seems Scottish Editors don’t read newspapers far closer to home in Dublin.

Of course, I’m led to believe one of Whyte’s residencies in Belgravia has already been door stepped. While the hacks were in the area they could have dropped in on Dermot, who also has a palatial property in the area. If they have, it’s been a very well kept secret.

Perhaps one of the investigative reporters currently sniffing round a non existent side contracts issue at Rangers, will turn their attention to the man many in the Republic have disdain for.

http://www.soldiersofdestiny.org/dermotdesmond.htm

Now with a new clean Government in place, it seems Desmond’s thirst for influence is undiluted

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=6941

Given the influence of the man at Scotland’s second biggest football club, surely the harem of amateur hacks, and “credible” investigative journalists who have spent so much energy on Rangers in the last few years will be all over this, or Desmond’s questionable business relationship with Dr John Reid?

I won’t hold my breath

Bill.

WP Archives: Mar 19 2012 - Dermot Desmond – Scottish Media Silence Deafening (Part 1)

Many people in Scotland will be unaware that Celtic FC majority shareholder Dermot Desmond was in an Irish court again in the last month challenging public court tribunal findings critical of his business dealings.

His action was “halted”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0218/1224311978242.html

So we have a strange situation where Mr Desmond has felt aggrieved at an allegation that he has misinterpreted.

He clearly doesn’t like being criticised.

Now whether his legal advice was that the tribunal had implied he was complicit in fraud, or that he knew there was no such allegation, but simply wished to send out a message that he cannot be criticised is up for debate.

As it stands, criticism from the Moriarty Tribunal, and from another public review in to his affairs (The Glackin Report) will stand.

Not many in Scotland will have heard of any of this.

The Scottish Media, who were so quick to delve in to every transaction of Rangers owner Craig Whyte, have been curiously silent.

While Desmond is robust in defending himself in the Irish Press, with rare interviews re-iterating that he does pay tax in the Republic, the very fact there are allegations to the contrary in the Irish Press, and online media world at least points to a far more open media than Scotland is graced with.

Such questions are apparently not allowed in Scotland.

They also don’t seem to appear in any Independent News Media titles, such as the Irish Independent, or the Belfast Telegraph.

That could perhaps be explained by the fact that Desmond has a minor shareholding in the group.

Don’t bet on these papers running any of this stuff, at least not in BetDaq, as Desmond owns that too

So what exactly are all these public reviews and tribunals referencing Desmond?

The first of these reviews is the Glackin report., whish was subsequently used in the Moriarty Tribunal

http://thestory.ie/2012/01/17/the-glackin-report-complete/

There are a lot of references to Desmond here, and the whole report is worth reading.

Essentially, the report alleged that a company called United Property Holdings , whose majority shareholder was Desmond, acquired a site in Dublin for £4M , and hived it off to two offshore firms called Chestvale and Hoddle, who subsequently sold the site to telecom Eireinn for  a profit of £5.3M, with UPH profiting to the tune of £2.3M.

The public interest in this derived from the fact that it appeared a starting block to major riches for Desmond, and some of his fellow defendants. The major news came from an an alleged conflict of interests, whereby the chairman of Telecom Eireinn owned 10% of UPH.

The report suggested collusion of the UPH shareholders to line their own pockets at the expense of part state owned telecom Eireinn. Desmond strongly denies the findings, and has continued to challenge them to this day.

As of now, these findings have not been retracted.

No matter how this plays out, one thing is certain. It is very unlikely that the Scottish Media will cover this, or task any investigative reporters with delving in to every single bank account he has, every transaction any of his businesses undertake, or who all of his business associates are, and what their dealings are.

Nor will they query open boasts from sources close to Celtic Park that Desmond payed the salary of both Roy Keane and Robbie Keane during their times with Celtic.. Were there two contracts for the players? Were they declared?

The most famous of the public reviews referencing  Desmond was the Moriarty Tribunal, which can be found here:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0322/moriarty.html

The full report runs to almost 2,400 pages, but the specific references to Desmond include both the Glackin allegations, and newer revelations of several payments from Desmond to former Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The payments were defended as “loans” by Desmond, but the Tribunal disagreed.

Again, this has had NO coverage in the Scottish media at all. There have been no calls for investigations, no “neutral” bloggers tracking every move, and certainly no editors wanting to touch it with a bargepole.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0323/1224292846891.html

These public reports in to Desmond’s business affairs are not  isolated incidents either.

Two further reports cast a critical eye over Desmond’s business dealings, and they too have not featured on Scotland’s front pages

The Mahon and Flood reports also make interesting reading.

These will be covered in Part 2 of this Desmond overview

Bill

WP Archives: Mar 12 2012: Roy Greenslade – Not Just a Republican Sympathiser?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by williampoole

There was an extraordinary article written in the Independent by Stephen Glover today.

In it, he exposed Guardian media blogger Roy Greenslade, as not simply a Republican sympathiser, but as a man with long standing links to Sinn Fein.

The implication of the piece was that Greenslade’s denial of IRA involvement in a recent murder was too well informed, ie that Greenslade is actively involved in Sinn Fein, and therefore fully up to speed with the operations of the IRA.

Glover went on to detail Greenslade’s connections

“Few people are aware that The Guardian’s media sage has affiliations with Sinn Fein. During the late 1980s, when he was managing news editor of The Sunday Times, he secretly wrote for An Phoblacht, the Sinn Fein newspaper, which then served as a propaganda sheet for the Provisional IRA. His pseudonym was George King. We know this from Flat Earth News by Nick Davies, a Guardian colleague and instigator of the journalistic investigation into phone hacking. When Mr Greenslade reviewed Mr Davies’s book on his blog in 2008, he did not deny what some may regard as a pretty serious allegation. In a more recent blog, he described Mr Davies as his friend.

The connections endure. Last June, Mr Greenslade spoke at a Sinn Fein conference in London on the 30th anniversary of the hunger strikes, and he wrote an article on the same subject for An Phoblacht . He has had a house in County Donegal for many years. One friend is Pat Doherty, from 1988 until 2009 vice president of Sinn Fein, who has been named as a former member of the IRA Army Council.”

Greenslade, of course, is the “mainstream” journalist who promoted his friend and fellow Donegal resident Phil MacGiollabhain’s website after the Hugh Dallas affair.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/nov/30/investigative-journalism-scotland

Phil has mentioned Greenslade on no less than six occasions on his blog.

What are their connections? Is it simply a shared love of Celtic Football Club, or something far more sinister?

I think we should be told.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/stephen-glover/stephen-glover-the-troubles-are-still-raging-for-the-guardians-media-pundit-7561788.html

Bill

Surprise Surprise

The only surprise I have at last night's result is that any Rangers fans are surprised.

Our victory over Motherwell was deserved, but so was our defeat to Inverness, and it's a result that has been coming for a number of weeks.

Our home form has outshone our away form, and at times masked a side which is consistently underperforming. While some players have been excellent for us this season, some have been very disappointing.

A few fans are now turning on McCoist, and it's something I have been expecting. Frankly, his management off the park has been fantastic, and we may well have him to thank for the club still existing.

I have to say that the Rangers support can be a sentimental one, and it’s also noticeable that anyone who questions McCoist’s management of the team on the park are met with a majority who disagree.

I ask the question today. How long should we be sentimental for, and how long before McCoist’s position is untenable?

Afer a flying start last season, including one of the finest and most comprehensive victories over Celtic in recent times, the financial worries and turmoil off the park has in many eyes just been too much of a burden to McCoist, and 2012 will go down in history as not just an annus horribilus off the park, but also on it, and also for McCoist as a manager.

As we approach the IPO, and many things around the club are positive, it seems here that everything off the park points to a positive future.

Despite the attempted deliberate disruption of the IPO by several journalists and prominent Celtic supporters intent on damaging Rangers reputation to international investors, the interest is there in making it a success; Charles Green is engaging with the support, and the support itself is setting itself as a benchmark for football supporters worldwide.

As our team struggled and were unceremoniously bundled out of another competition last night, Rangers had twice the number of spectators that discredited SPL Champions Celtic had the previous night.

So, everyone connected to the club, is doing their bit to return us to the top, other than the team, and the manager.

Some have questioned Green’s strategy of going for this IPO so early, while the club are yet to return to the top. The thinking seems to be, that we WILL get there, and he will maximise return for his consortium’s initial investors from a stronger league.

I’m beginning to think it’s because he needs to return the investment value to the investors before the tidal wave of optimism around the club falters with poor results on the field.

Some critics of Green state that he didn’t invest enough money in the team, but we have quality SPL players in our side who are just not performing, including seemingly random foreigners with decent pedigree who are not fit to wear the Rangers jersey in any league.

While I still have some doubts about Green’s long term intentions, and also about his investor’s long term intentions, the reason for our side’s underwhelming performances this season can be attributed only to the manager and his management team.

Something has to give.

Either McCoist needs to freshen up his management team and make one last push to both save his job, and ensure Rangers return to consistent winning ways, or he should resign,

The status quo is unacceptable, and his £1M investment in the club should not be a factor.

--

I stated on Monday that Rangers fans should continue to keep calm in the face of extreme provocation, as various extremists and Rangers haters masquerading as journalists try to goad the support in to reacting to vile abuse, in order to try and substantiate the lies from Alex Toxic Thomson. I have confidence that we will do, as more and more “mainstream” hacks try their hardest to rile us.

The latest is Jim Delahunt of Radio Clyde, who tweeted the following last night:

@JimDelahunt: Woolworths, Rangers, RBS, Savile and now Comet. Childhood finally wiped out. Hang in there Scooby Doo

Now, if the boot was on the other foot, I’d expect that any journo who made such an offensive statement about Celtic would be hounded and threatened until their employer(s) had apologised and the person was out of a job and fearful to walk the streets. What did Delahunt get? One constructive critical tweet from the RST.

Now it would be easy to show that picture of Savile and former Celtic Chairman  and Torbett associate Kevin Kelly, but I don’t think that’s appropriate, do you?

Better still, if any Rangers fan is still stupid enough to listen to Clyde, switch off and tell them why.

Even better, maybe “Rangers man” Douglas Park, who sponsors said station, will withdraw his sponsorship and hit them in the pocket?

Acting with dignity and behaving impeccably can sit properly with taking our enemies on.

We do not need to sink to the levels our enemies across the city do, but also should not shy away from exposing and addressing those Rangers haters, and pressuring them in to behaving like normal human beings.

Keep on keeping calm and carrying on.

Bill.