Are the SFA now effectively guilty of match fixing?

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Observations on Sporting Integrity - Season 2011/12

Let us consider some aspects of sporting integrity in the season just completed.

Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's cash injected Man City beat the Glazer's "more than half a billion of debt" Man Utd to the English Premier League Title.

Debt loaded, government supported Real Madrid beat debt loaded, government supported Barcelona to La Liga. They can now buy another worthless piece of land to sell to their government for several millions.

Debt loaded, triple HMRC winding-up order Hearts beat Hibs with five loan players to the Scottish Cup.

Russian oligarch, Abramovic's plaything, Chelsea, beat Bayern Munich, AKA FC Hollywood, to the Champions' League.

The SPL clubs prepare to vote on exactly how many points and how much cash they will take from a fellow club, and therefore how much they themselves will benefit.

The SFA decide to hit a club with potentially no players with a transfer embargo. For the appeal they choose Lord Carloway who famously recommended that evidence need not be corroborated in criminal trials.

Ironic, given our case and the clear lack of proof as evidenced by statements such as "must have known" in the absence of any real smoking gun.

Hmm. Why would Regan appoint such a fellow? Sporting integrity? (Pause here to let the chuckling pass.)

A manager and club who have bullied referees and officials whilst consciously and strategically stoking up the flames of sectarian bigotry takes the title as the main rival is removed from the race. That same club also used EBTs and knowingly employed dubious and sinister characters.

And the media take on all of this?

Rangers must be punished more and more heavily. Well, that's the media for you. They pander to the lowest common denominator whilst using hyperbole and sensationalism. We should be familiar with their modus operandi by now.

However, to me, the governing body should be protecting the game in general and the member clubs. Even if they thought that this decision, which their 60 pages of so-called justification signally failed to prove as verified by the factthat they had no proof of their allegations, they should have held back on confirmation of any penalty since we could potentially be losing all our players.

Their ruling, which has merely compounded their ill considered action and its effects, means that we could possibly be playing a team of under 18s next season. This is a ludicrous, cruel and unusual punishment that restricts a professional football club- one that has to consider moving players to restructure and rebalance finances- negatively, and irrevocably. It devastatingly impacts upon a member club in both core aspects of a modern football club's well being- the playing staff and the balance sheet.

This assessment is not contingent upon the club in question being Rangers. It is a universally applicable standard that should be a given in such circumstances. It would apply to Hearts, Hibs, East Fife, Dumbarton or Celtic. Any club whose finances have brought it to its knees, especially under the auspices of now absent former owners, deserves the right to fight for its very existence. We are being denied that key right at araguable the most crucial point in our existence.

The ability to trade in the major asset of the relevant business sector is key to the well-being of any business. To be unable to do that, even for one year, is a serious penalty. To add that at a financially troubled period is immensely harmful, perhaps fatal. For a governing body to consciously choose to do that, seems contrary to the purpose of a business sector's watchdog.

The knock on effects for the game in general needn't be considered. The governing body has abrogated its responsibilities. Far from being a benevolent supervisor, the SFA are now clearly acting like a malicious bully.

Is it a coincidence that this happens under the reign of Peter Lawwell approved Stuart Regan? Does the record of Vincent Lunny, the new SFA Compliance Officer- or "Lawwell's Compliant Officer" as he has become known- also display some interesting inconsistencies?

Perhaps they did the right thing. The media insisted, daily and nightly, that "Rangers must be punished!" The SFA merely bowed to public opinion, as it was presented, in the modern day Scottish media. Hugh Keevins rightly labelled it a "blood lust". Even Graham Spiers said it was "unseemly" and revealed genuine hatred a gloating. Sadly such rare and honest commentaries were short lived as the two old hacks got back into the blood lust, with the latter pointing out that Juventus were relegated for match fixing. The false analogy between Craig Whyte's secrecy over his fitness and suitability as an office bearer and actually rigging results was made. It didn't die on the airwaves. It had its intended effect.

Let's point out one of the very many things, inconvenient things, that the media have omitted during all these days and weeks of intense wall to wall coverage. With such a feeding frenzy, how could they miss anything in this maelstrom, you might ask? Don't bother. Some things don't fit the narrative.

The elephant in the living room, if it hasn't transformed into circus due to the sheer number of elephants it appears to hold, is that Rangers have been punished repeatedly and may be further punished by various relevant bodies as appropriate to their jurisdiction and judgement. The "Wee Tax Case" was for £2.8m with £1.4m of a penalty. The withholding of PAYE, VAT and NIC brought about administration. Even if Whyte started the process, it was merely due to HMRC's impending decision to do so themselves. Administration brought a 10 point penalty and its own transfer embargo. There is also the one year exclusion from Europe for not submitting audited accounts by the deadline.

The SFA have now added a fine and a further transfer embargo. Add them up. That's six punishments. There are also potential penalties for the "Big Tax Case" and in relation to the SPL, there are cases investigating irregularities in the payment of salaries and the possible admission of a newco. These constitute another three avenues for punishment, in some cases, possibly in multiple forms such as financial restrictions, points deductions and an additional European exclusion, potentially making a total of more than ten punishments. Yet this shows no sign of satisfying the blood lust.

However, the SFA transfer embargo is the cruel and unusual one that seems strange and malicious, especially coming from the supposed governing body. They justify their decision with claiming, "only match fixing was worse". Match fixing? Where did that come from? Oh I remember. Look back a few paragraphs.

It's almost transparent, isn't it? A transparent SFA? Who wanted that? Oh yes! It was Peter. Good for him. He has his shiny new transparent and compliant SFA. It's a master stroke. Made to measure. Peter's agenda has made it to where it matters and he's kept everybody onside. Strachan's three in a row wasn't "Celtic minded" enough for the fans. He had to go. Cue the fighting Irish, Catholic, Republican and very, very angry Neil Lennon. His first title vicotry in three attempts, assisted by the removal of the opposition, will be enough to ensure that this most Celtic-minded of fellows, ever pandering to the accusational victim mentality, remains at Celtic for a while. It allows them to play the fuax identity to their advantage, whilst pandering to the bigoted agenda of their support- a support who have targeted Rangers for years going way back before recent hasty and clumsy UEFA interventions.

Have Celtic as a club genuinely pandered to this sectarian agenda? Let me remind you of two remarks made by the anti-establishment Baron Reid of Cardowan, formerly Lord Reid and former Defence and Home Secretary at two recent Celtic AGMs. One year he alluded to Rangers as "Holy Willies across the city" in a clear reference to Burns' seering critique of "The Kirk". Another year he was stating in relation to refereeing decisions that his "people will no longer accept being treated as second class citizens" which implied that universally erratic refereeing decisions indicated a social, political and cultural segregation or even apartheid when the decisions went against Celtic. He was also keen stoke up the partisan nature of the Old Firm offensive song debate, whilst unsurprisingly turning a deaf ear to the Parkhead bigots. Martin O'Neill would be exhibit B in the evidence here, which would also lengthen the time-scale. He too stoked the flames of sectarianism in that particularly one-sided way that Celtic specialise in. I think I'll let you be the judge of whether Celtic, as a club, have consciously pandered to their bigoted elements.

So that leads us to the point of all this campaigning and propagandising. The goal was simple- to eliminate the rival by all means, and it wasn't just for rivalry. It smacks of cultural ethnic cleansing. The airwaves have willingly carried bitter and twisted voices of the zealots. Guilt has already been apportioned, before any judgement has been offered. You can hear genuine hatred in each voice that demands the utmost in punishment. It's almost a competition with its bizarre contributions being too preposterous to repeat.

Well, even if they have been using Lawwell's strange and contradictory concept of "sporting integrity", at least nobody has dared to use Baron Reid's propagandising slogan of "without fear or favour". Damn it, I've just read an article on the words of SPL chief, Neil Doncaster and he's now peddling that particular Reid line. Perhaps this is just another insignificant coincidence.

Nonetheless, the very same agenda has made its way to the top table of our game. Never has the SFA been less fit for purpose, unless your name is Peter Lawwell, of course. The purpose of harming Rangers' ability to compete is quite close to your heart in that case. The agenda is undeniably sectarian to some extent, so we may have to accept that sectarianism is alive and kicking in Scotland, even if it plays no part in most of our daily lives and thoughts. The strange and telling irony is that the latest and most public victim of sectarianism isn't a person, it's a club, a culture, an identity, a history and an idea. The knives may be drawn and the vultures may be circling, but we will not yield. You cannot kill an idea and you cannot erase a history.

[Thommo 708]

This for the homepage, mate?

If so, I'll put it in the writer's section incase DarcheVinny doesn't see this thread.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

This for the homepage, mate?

If so, I'll put it in the writer's section incase DarcheVinny doesn't see this thread.

It wasn't necessarily. It was more a rant that got going. Leave it for the moment. See what people think and I may edit it. Others may make valid contributions that I could add, so at the least I'd need to proof read it and perhaps rephrase certain pieces that are more awkward than intended.

[Thommo 708]

It wasn't necessarily. It was more a rant that got going. Leave it for the moment. See what people think and I may edit it. Others may make valid contributions that I could add, so at the least I'd need to proof read it and perhaps rephrase certain pieces that are more awkward than intended.

No problem mate, just send DarcheVinny a PM if/when you want it to go up.

[nachothelegend 1,932]

Absolutely brilliant Oleg .

Reading that was like living what we have been through since 2008.

They couldnt stop is on the Park ,and they had to do all of the above to stop us.

Excellent post.

No Association should be afraid to help any Club in distress ,for fear of Contradiction or accusasions of Bias.

We get stronger, they get stronger, we get weaker they get weeaker .

They cant grasp that because of their Hatred and Bigotry.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

No problem mate, just send DarcheVinny a PM if/when you want it to go up.

I'm developing a habit of starting a rant post that turns into a longer and more diverse commentary.

[thebooler 4,509]

I'm developing a habit of starting a rant post that turns into a longer and more diverse commentary.

Be careful. Ye might end up wae a job at the fuckin Record.

[WVB 2,560]

Top drawer mate.I'm passing this onto a few bluenoses, if thats ok with you (I'm sure it is!).

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Be careful. Ye might end up wae a job at the fuckin Record.

Careful now!

I'm not sufficiently compliant.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Top drawer mate.I'm passing this onto a few bluenoses, if thats ok with you (I'm sure it is!).

Aye of course, but it'll need an edit to be complete. It was written hastily and could be phrased much better in places.

That said, the points will be largely similar.

P.S. The paragraph on Reid was a useful late edition to the wider argument, for example.

[thebooler 4,509]

Aye of course, but it'll need an edit to be complete. It was written hastily and could be phrase much better in places.

That said, the points will be largely similar.

Could ye PM me after you tidy it up please.

I like to put this kinda stuff on ma Facebook.

[Camelonblue 0]

No you are talking pish

[MosesMcNeil 1,664]

Could ye PM me after you tidy it up please.

Meoww!

[Essandoh 21,351]

Great post!

What is happening in Scotland this year is wrong. Rangers Football Club should not escape any punishment; but Rangers Football Club should NOT be subject to discriminatory, biased, draconian sanctions imposed by an unfit and improper footballing body who couldn't run a tap nevermind a football association. As you have stated above, Rangers Football Club has more than received its punishment. It's a disgrace. People have tried, and are continuing to try, to kill my football Club and I'm not going to stand by and do nothing. That kangaroo court up at Hampden will have blood on its hands - and it won't be the blood of RFC, it will be the blood of Scottish Football.

[Turnberry18 3,204]

Meoww!

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Great post!

What is happening in Scotland this year is wrong. Rangers Football Club should not escape any punishment; but Rangers Football Club should NOT be subject to discriminatory, biased, draconian sanctions imposed by an unfit and improper footballing body who couldn't run a tap nevermind a football association. As you have stated above, Rangers Football Club has more than received its punishment. It's a disgrace. People have tried, and are continuing to try, to kill my football Club and I'm not going to stand by and do nothing. That kangaroo court up at Hampden will have blood on its hands - and it won't be the blood of RFC, it will be the blood of Scottish Football.

You are correct, but we have more than one kangaroo court.

[Non_Sucumbi 876]

Man City website is talking about UEFA already having considered a transfer ban and subsequently shelving the idea.

Seems they took some legal advice that it would contravene the European Community’s Restraint of Trade regulations.

If UEFA cannot enforce a transfer ban, due to existing European laws, why is the SFA allowed to get away with this shite!!!

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Man City website is talking about UEFA already having considered a transfer ban and subsequently shelving the idea.

Seems they took some legal advice that it would contravene the European Community’s Restraint of Trade regulations.

If UEFA cannot enforce a transfer ban, due to existing European laws, why is the SFA allowed to get away with this shite!!!

Very interesting. Can you post some links, mate? Cheers.

[grainger 10]

Man City website is talking about UEFA already having considered a transfer ban and subsequently shelving the idea.

Seems they took some legal advice that it would contravene the European Community’s Restraint of Trade regulations.

If UEFA cannot enforce a transfer ban, due to existing European laws, why is the SFA allowed to get away with this shite

Anyone over 18yrs that has a desire to play for RANGERS, Should appeal to the court of HUMAN RIGHTS in STRASBURG, as the SFA

are DENYING them the RIGHT TO PLAY due to there pathetic ban.As stated above UEFA cant how come SFA can.

[Zulu 981]

Man City website is talking about UEFA already having considered a transfer ban and subsequently shelving the idea.

Seems they took some legal advice that it would contravene the European Community’s Restraint of Trade regulations.

If UEFA cannot enforce a transfer ban, due to existing European laws, why is the SFA allowed to get away with this shite!!!

Iposted this at the start of the week is there no way EU law could be brought into this.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Iposted this at the start of the week is there no way EU law could be brought into this.

Cheers for sharing that. I was hoping for some clarification on the matter.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Careful now!

I'm not sufficiently compliant.

Could ye PM me after you tidy it up please.

I like to put this kinda stuff on ma Facebook.

Almost for got to PM you two, now that it's finished.

Sorry.

[wombatdropping 182]

It shouldnt really come as a surprise that the SFA/SPL are dancing to Lawwells tune. One thing however that concerns me. Why does nobody in the media seem to have questioned the fact that the ONLY club who could possibly benefit from the embargo is septic. All this talk of sporting integrity is utter shite. Smaller clubs will be hit in the pocket through Rangers fans deserting the away matches. Given our current financial state it seems reasonable that our next player acquisitions would come from other Scottish clubs. Oh wait, thats the smaller clubs hit again !!

Surely we can see that the decision to place a transfer embargo was very carefully chosen, as its one of the few penalties that will mostly benefit that mob,whilst having little positive impact on smaller clubs. Make no mistake, the SFA is a corrupt organisation with its strings being well and truly pulled by slit eyes.

Sporting integrity indeed, these clownshoes are heading up a dictatorship which, no matter how we progress in the future, will be very difficult to unseat.

[Duff-man 0]

Observations on Sporting Integrity - Season 2011/12

Let us consider some aspects of sporting integrity in the season just completed.

Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's cash injected Man City beat the Glazer's "more than half a billion of debt" Man Utd to the English Premier League Title.

Debt loaded, government supported Real Madrid beat debt loaded, government supported Barcelona to La Liga. They can now buy another worthless piece of land to sell to their government for several millions.

Debt loaded, triple HMRC winding-up order Hearts beat Hibs with five loan players to the Scottish Cup.

Russian oligarch, Abramovic's plaything, Chelsea, beat Bayern Munich, AKA FC Hollywood, to the Champions' League.

The SPL clubs prepare to vote on exactly how many points and how much cash they will take from a fellow club, and therefore how much they themselves will benefit.

The SFA decide to hit a club with potentially no players with a transfer embargo. For the appeal they choose Lord Carloway who famously recommended that evidence need not be corroborated in criminal trials.

Ironic, given our case and the clear lack of proof as evidenced by statements such as "must have known" in the absence of any real smoking gun.

Hmm. Why would Regan appoint such a fellow? Sporting integrity? (Pause here to let the chuckling pass.)

A manager and club who have bullied referees and officials whilst consciously and strategically stoking up the flames of sectarian bigotry takes the title as the main rival is removed from the race. That same club also used EBTs and knowingly employed dubious and sinister characters.

And the media take on all of this?

Rangers must be punished more and more heavily. Well, that's the media for you. They pander to the lowest common denominator whilst using hyperbole and sensationalism.

To me, the governing body should be protecting the game in general and the member clubs. Even if they thought that this decision, which their 60 pages of so-called justification signally failed to prove as verified by the factthat they had no proof of their allegations, they should have held back on confirmation of any penalty since we could potentially be losing all our players.

Their ruling, which has merely compounded their ill considered action and its effects, means that we could possibly be playing a team of under 18s next season. This is a ludicrous, cruel and unusual punishment that restricts a professional football club- one that has to consider moving players to restructure and rebalance finances- negatively, and irrevocably. It devastatingly impacts upon a member club in both core aspects of a modern football club's well being- the playing staff and the balance sheet.

This assessment is not contingent upon the club in question being Rangers. It is a universally applicable standard that should be a given in such circumstances. It would apply to Hearts, Hibs, East Fife, Dumbarton or Celtic. Any club whose finances have brought it to its knees, especially under the auspices of now absent former owners, deserves the right to fight for its very existence. We are being denied that key right at araguable the most crucial point in our existence.

The ability to trade in the major asset of the relevant business sector is key to the well-being of any business. To be unable to do that, even for one year, is a serious penalty. To add that at a financially troubled period is immensely harmful, perhaps fatal. For a governing body to consciously choose to do that, seems contrary to the purpose of a business sector's watchdog.

The knock on effects for the game in general needn't be considered. The governing body has abrogated its responsibilities. Far from being a benevolent supervisor, the SFA are now clearly acting like a malicious bully.

Is it a coincidence that this happens under the reign of Peter Lawwell approved Stuart Regan? Does the record of Vincent Lunny, the new SFA Compliance Officer- or "Lawwell's Compliant Officer" as he has become known- also display some interesting inconsistencies?

Perhaps they did the right thing. The media insisted, daily and nightly, that "Rangers must be punished!" The SFA merely bowed to public opinion, as it was presented, in the modern day Scottish media. Hugh Keevins rightly labelled it a "blood lust". Even Graham Spiers said it was "unseemly" and revealed genuine hatred a gloating. Sadly such rare and honest commentaries were short lived as the two old hacks got back into the blood lust, with the latter pointing out that Juventus were relegated for match fixing. The false analogy between Craig Whyte's secrecy over his fitness and suitability as an office bearer and actually rigging results was made. It didn't die on the airwaves. It had its intended effect.

Let's point out one of the very many things, inconvenient things, that the media have omitted during all these days and weeks of intense wall to wall coverage. With such a feeding frenzy, how could they miss anything in this maelstrom, you might ask? Don't bother. Some things don't fit the narrative.

The elephant in the living room, if it hasn't transformed into circus due to the sheer number of elephants it appears to hold, is that Rangers have been punished repeatedly and may be further punished by various relevant bodies as appropriate to their jurisdiction and judgement. The "Wee Tax Case" was for £2.8m with £1.4m of a penalty. The withholding of PAYE, VAT and NIC brought about administration. Even if Whyte started the process, it was merely due to HMRC's impending decision to do so themselves. Administration brought a 10 point penalty and its own transfer embargo. There is also the one year exclusion from Europe for not submitting audited accounts by the deadline.

The SFA have now added a fine and a further transfer embargo. Add them up. That's six punishments. There are also potential penalties for the "Big Tax Case" and in relation to the SPL, there are cases investigating irregularities in the payment of salaries and the possible admission of a newco. These constitute another three avenues for punishment, in some cases, possibly in multiple forms such as financial restrictions, points deductions and an additional European exclusion, potentially making a total of more than ten punishments. Yet this shows no sign of satisfying the blood lust.

However, the SFA transfer embargo is the cruel and unusual one that seems strange and malicious, especially coming from the supposed governing body. They justify their decision with claiming, "only match fixing was worse". Match fixing? Where did that come from? Oh I remember. Look back a few paragraphs.

It's almost transparent, isn't it? A transparent SFA? Who wanted that? Oh yes! It was Peter. Good for him. He has his shiny new transparent and compliant SFA. It's a master stroke. Made to measure. Peter's agenda has made it to where it matters and he's kept everybody onside. Strachan's three in a row wasn't "Celtic minded" enough for the fans. He had to go. Cue the fighting Irish, Catholic, Republican and very, very angry Neil Lennon. His first title vicotry in three attempts, assisted by the removal of the opposition, will be enough to ensure that this most Celtic-minded of fellows, ever pandering to the accusational victim mentality, remains at Celtic for a while. It allows them to play the fuax identity to their advantage, whilst pandering to the bigoted agenda of their support- a support who have targeted Rangers for years going way back before recent hasty and clumsy UEFA interventions.

Have Celtic as a club genuinely pandered to this sectarian agenda? Let me remind you of two remarks made by the anti-establishment Baron Reid of Cardowan, formerly Lord Reid and former Defence and Home Secretary at two recent Celtic AGMs. One year he alluded to Rangers as "Holy Willies across the city" in a clear reference to Burns' seering critique of "The Kirk". Another year he was stating in relation to refereeing decisions that his "people will no longer accept being treated as second class citizens" which implied that universally erratic refereeing decisions indicated a social, political and cultural segregation or even apartheid when the decisions went against Celtic. He was also keen stoke up the partisan nature of the Old Firm offensive song debate, whilst unsurprisingly turning a deaf ear to the Parkhead bigots. Martin O'Neill would be exhibit B in the evidence here, which would also lengthen the time-scale. He too stoked the flames of sectarianism in that particularly one-sided way that Celtic specialise in. I think I'll let you be the judge of whether Celtic, as a club, have consciously pandered to their bigoted elements.

So that leads us to the point of all this campaigning and propagandising. The goal was simple- to eliminate the rival by all means, and it wasn't just for rivalry. It smacks of cultural ethnic cleansing. The airwaves have willingly carried bitter and twisted voices of the zealots. Guilt has already been apportioned, before any judgement has been offered. You can hear genuine hatred in each voice that demands the utmost in punishment. It's almost a competition with its bizarre contributions being too preposterous to repeat.

Well, even if they have been using Lawwell's strange and contradictory concept of "sporting integrity", at least nobody has dared to use Baron Reid's propagandising slogan of "without fear or favour". Damn it, I've just read an article on the words of SPL chief, Neil Doncaster and he's now peddling that particular Reid line. Perhaps this is just another insignificant coincidence.

Nonetheless, the very same agenda has made its way to the top table of our game. Never has the SFA been less fit for purpose, unless your name is Peter Lawwell, of course. The purpose of harming Rangers' ability to compete is quite close to your heart in that case. The agenda is undeniably sectarian to some extent, so we may have to accept that sectarianism is alive and kicking in Scotland, even if it plays no part in most of our daily lives and thoughts. The strange and telling irony is that the latest and most public victim of sectarianism isn't a person, it's a club, a culture, an identity, a history and an idea. The knives may be drawn and the vultures may be circling, but we will not yield. You cannot kill an idea and you cannot erase a history.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

On the homepage just now. Another great article Oleg

Cheers, mate.

It's always good to get it into the (more) public domain.