Exposing The Rhats - Sevco'ers And Ebt's.

[Siam69 27,797]

https://exposingtherhats.wordpress.com/author/exposingtherhats/

Author: exposingtherhats

Mutually Assured Destruction

Posted on November 9, 2015

Hysterical is an understatement when describing the reaction from some Celtic fans(The Sevcoers) to last weeks news that HMRC have secured a victory in the latest round of the ongoing Big Tax Case.

The case is important as the final outcome will determine whether Oldcos creditors(many of whom are fans like myself) are left substantially out of pocket or will in fact be paid in full or close to it. The final outcome in this long running case will not be a Guilty or Not Guilty verdict, it will simply be an assessment of what HMRC are owed from the substantial creditors pot.

Of course our old friends The Sevcoers have a different take on events, their view for a variety of muddled reasons seems to be that this is a sporting scandal which could only be surpassed if it turned out Lance Armstrong murdered OJ Simpsons wife while she was mid-coitus with Tiger Woods.

Sadly the reality is somewhat less exciting. Rangers used an aggressive tax avoidance scheme for a period, the same scheme was legal and available to all other football clubs in the UK. Many other clubs including Celtic used the same aggressive tax avoidance for a period, some went down different routes of pointing their players and managers in the direction of another tax avoidance scheme in the form of Film investments. There are pros and cons to using aggressive tax avoidance measures like this, the obvious advantage for a football team is that you can get a bit of extra money in your players pockets with no extra cost to the club. I dont doubt or deny that the many clubs including both Old Firm sides who dabbled with such schemes made some short term cost savings through this and probably(but not definitely) there was some short term sporting advantage to using these schemes.

So if this was so beneficial why didnt everyone use them? The answer can clearly be seen in whats happened to Rangers since, for all the positives of the scheme there is one massive downside to it which our club fell foul of. It was high risk, make an error with the administration of it or if rules are retrospectively changed at the Governments whim and you could find yourself facing years of litigation from HMRC as has happened to Rangers. That latter outcome has played out, the BTC liability gave Craig Whyte his chance to take over the club, he stopped paying PAYE, we suffered insolvency then ended up in the hands of alleged fraudsters for the next 3 years. We won 3 titles in the short term but have been unable to compete for the last 5 due to it.

Clearly it wasnt cheating it was a choice, take a route which saves some money but leaves the club exposed to potentially massive future risks or dont save the money and dont have the risk hanging over you. Celtic also took the same gamble with EBTs but they relented at an early stage and made what I think has proven to be the correct choice of ditching the scheme soon after. Rangers wont be able to compete for the SPFL title again until next season after 5 years of being in the wilderness and to do so will take substantial investment from our fans and shareholders. Thats the answer as to why everyone didnt do it, it was a gamble and in this case a losing one. Personally although I understand the reasons why companies and individuals indulge in tax avoidance I find it distasteful and have resisted the temptation to indulge in it personally. For that reason I regret Rangers actions for more reasons than just the years of mediocrity its led to. Many other Rangers fans share the same view as me and perhaps those who are shouting loudest for more contrition for our errors would see that if they took a less hysterical approach.

One thing The Sevcoers are absolutely superb at is creating their own ridiculous narrative and talking about it so loudly and often that their ideas no matter how bizarre become part of the mainstream debate. They managed this in 2012 when Rangers were penalised more than any other club in world football history because of their insolvency, the hate-filled No to Newco campaign was one of the most shameful episodes our game has ever seen and led to the SPL treating Rangers as a new club who had to start in the bottom division. This was completely unprecedented and was later proven to be an error by the SPLs own LNS commission which confirmed Rangers as the same club as well as the various other governing bodies in world football.

The same tactic is being deployed now, of course a team should not be stripped of titles for making a mess of their tax affairs, insolvency was the punishment for that and all precedents again show that titles are only stripped in cases where the much more serious offence of match fixing is proven(in some cases not even then). The bizarre suggestion of stripping titles has been brought back to life by the lunatic fringe who hang around the boiler room donation hunting operation known as The Scottish Football Monitor where about half a dozen eloquent but hate driven individuals have created a narrative to be parroted by others on social media. The idea doesnt stand up to scrutiny and clearly Rangers backed by the £500k RFFF would comfortably defeat any attempt to strip titles but its been talked about enough that its made it onto the mainstream agenda again. Newspapers are seriously debating it and the SPFL have met to discuss it. We cant let this argument go unchallenged and become accepted as a normal thing to be discussed, it isnt, repeatedly trying to steal a teams titles in this way is without precedent and wouldnt be tolerated in any other country in the world.

The word cheating has been banded about far too lightly in recent days. Lets be completely clear, making an arse of tax avoidance with the consequence of 5 years without a top division title and nearly killing your club is not cheating. Bullying and pressuring the authorities constantly with the intention of damaging another club is.

So where do we go from here? Putting aside the daftness of the last few days from the Sporting Integrity cheats Rangers Football Club appear to have been let down over the last few years in various ways with illegal transfer bans, completely inadequate fit and proper tests allowing alleged fraudsters to badly damage the club and of course the ludicrous and now proven to be incorrect demotion to Division 3. Rangers fans want justice and unlike the ridiculous strip the titles campaign they appear to have legitimate grounds. Our board however have understandably made one of their goals to build bridges with the rest of Scottish football and increase our influence to a level befitting the countrys biggest club. A delicate balance needs to be achieved to ensure these two objectives are met.

My thoughts are that simply compromising that we keep our titles in return for dropping the various litigation options open to us is not acceptable. There is no legitimate basis for taking our titles so it is not an appealing or fair trade.

I do have to confess to a bit of hand-wringing in my preferred way forward, although the popular option of sue the SFA, sue the SPL and ruin them following any convictions in the criminal case sounds like fun it would take years and leave our game hamstrung at a time when it badly needs to attract sponsors. I think we should adopt the pragmatic but perhaps less satisfying approach of keeping litigation as a threat should the following conditions not be met:

The resignation of all who were on the board of the SFA and SPL when the onerous conditions of the 5 way agreement were forced on Rangers and alleged fraudsters were passed fit and proper.

A proper recruitment process to be followed for independent replacements for the two CEO roles.

Either SPL & SFA boards completely independent of the clubs with a clear remit to improve our game or if clubs are to retain representation then a seat for Rangers in both boardrooms.

Some integrity to be shown and the offensive and inflammatory campaigns to strip Rangers of their titles and other efforts to damage the club to be condemned.

An apology to our club and fans.

The alternative is mutually assured destruction and unlike some I love my club more than I hate anyone elses so thats a no thanks from me.

[Amato 3,094]

Thumbs up from me

[cushynumber 25,178]

you think those 5 demands are "pragmatic"?

[dummiesoot 16,234]

In the whole reads well, though broaching the sporting advantage phrase should not have been dine.

Also. An apology from the SFA and spfl? Never in a month of sundays

[ritchieshearercaldow 22,370]

Decent article but I'm getting fed up with all his shit, just ignore the smelly ones, until the Hampden junta make a move, it's a none story the tims want to keep alive.

[KingKirk 26,432]

Good read

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

There was a sporting advantage?

The LNS verdict said there wasn't. You even mention it in your article.

[writingranger 1,435]

Decent article but I'm getting fed up with all his shit, just ignore the smelly ones, until the Hampden junta make a move, it's a none story the tims want to keep alive.

Got to agree with you there.

I like what the op is saying though I don't think there's any point making demands of the sfa spfl.leave it all in the past where it belongs.

[Blue Avenger 22,569]

THIS, is fucking cringeworthy.........

By Sportsmail Reporter

Published: 23:14, 19 June 2012 | Updated: 23:14, 19 June 2012

Former Rangers director Dave King has said sorry to Scottish football for the EBT scandal which has plunged the game into civil war.

On a day when a Walter Smith-led takeover consortium pulled out of a £6million bid to buy the club, King expressed concern over a perceived lack of humility and acceptance of wrongdoing from the club’s powerbrokers.

A First Tier Tribunal into the ‘big tax case’ involving the old club’s use of Employee Benefit Trust schemes has yet to deliver a verdict. Speaking after the SPL ruled that Rangers had a case to answer over the alleged use of dual contracts, however, King offered the first concession from an Ibrox figurehead that the club may have gained a competitive advantage over their rivals

‘I think we should be sorry - and I certainly am sorry,’ King told Sportsmail. ‘We owe both the Rangers fans and the Scottish footballing public an apology.

‘Some of the representations made have betrayed more of a victim status. But I think somebody needs to apologise.

‘Clearly, that is not for Charles Green to do. But I am happy to say that I really believe we should be saying sorry and I think there is something to be sorry about.

‘And as a former director when these things were going on, I am minded to do so.

‘With regard to EBTs, I was on the board so I have to take some responsibility.

‘And I follow the logic of the argument that if we lose the tax case then we probably gained some competitive advantage.

‘I believe that, on behalf of myself and most of the board members who were with me and probably agree with me, that we should apologise for that.

‘I know that the Murray Group might not say that, because it might be tantamount to admitting it.

But I am happy to say it as a director of the football club. And, having been there for the last couple of days, and getting a sense of the anger and anxiety, that it is absolutely appropriate for the previous regime to be sorry.’

Club chairmen will decide on July 4 if an Ibrox newco should be allowed to play in the top tier next season.

Even if the chairmen vote yes, however, SPL sources have warned that the club could still face expulsion if dual contracts were operated by a board of directors on which King was a member for 12 years.

Insisting there was no attempt to gain a deliberate competitive advantage from the use of a Murray group EBT, King added: ‘No one on the board, when I was there, would have had any intention of gaining an advantage.

‘But the fact is that I can understand the perception out there now.

‘And the way that Rangers have treated the authorities - instead of having a conversation with them around reparation - has been regrettable.

‘One of the things I would have looked at as part of a consortium in terms of funding is to try and fund them so that they could make some sort of commercial reparation to the other clubs.

‘But let’s do it in a way whereby it is seen to have happened and we come out of it strongly.’

[Gooseman 889]

It would be interesting to know if the board have looked into taken the SFA and the spfl to court over the the treatment of the club.

[Siam69 27,797]

THIS, is fucking cringeworthy.........

By Sportsmail Reporter

Bravo!

You've hijacked 3 separate threads with this same thing in the space of a minute.

Well deflected to have a go at our Chairman.

[writingranger 1,435]

It would be interesting to know if the board have looked into taken the SFA and the spfl to court over the the treatment of the club.

It's possible they have but UEFA takes a dim view of member clubs using the courts

[B1872 21,903]

THIS, is fucking cringeworthy.........

By Sportsmail Reporter

Published: 23:14, 19 June 2012 | Updated: 23:14, 19 June 2012

Former Rangers director Dave King has said sorry to Scottish football for the EBT scandal which has plunged the game into civil war.

On a day when a Walter Smith-led takeover consortium pulled out of a £6million bid to buy the club, King expressed concern over a perceived lack of humility and acceptance of wrongdoing from the clubs powerbrokers.

A First Tier Tribunal into the big tax case involving the old clubs use of Employee Benefit Trust schemes has yet to deliver a verdict. Speaking after the SPL ruled that Rangers had a case to answer over the alleged use of dual contracts, however, King offered the first concession from an Ibrox figurehead that the club may have gained a competitive advantage over their rivals

I think we should be sorry - and I certainly am sorry, King told Sportsmail. We owe both the Rangers fans and the Scottish footballing public an apology.

Some of the representations made have betrayed more of a victim status. But I think somebody needs to apologise.

Clearly, that is not for Charles Green to do. But I am happy to say that I really believe we should be saying sorry and I think there is something to be sorry about.

And as a former director when these things were going on, I am minded to do so.

With regard to EBTs, I was on the board so I have to take some responsibility.

And I follow the logic of the argument that if we lose the tax case then we probably gained some competitive advantage.

I believe that, on behalf of myself and most of the board members who were with me and probably agree with me, that we should apologise for that.

I know that the Murray Group might not say that, because it might be tantamount to admitting it.

But I am happy to say it as a director of the football club. And, having been there for the last couple of days, and getting a sense of the anger and anxiety, that it is absolutely appropriate for the previous regime to be sorry.

Club chairmen will decide on July 4 if an Ibrox newco should be allowed to play in the top tier next season.

Even if the chairmen vote yes, however, SPL sources have warned that the club could still face expulsion if dual contracts were operated by a board of directors on which King was a member for 12 years.

Insisting there was no attempt to gain a deliberate competitive advantage from the use of a Murray group EBT, King added: No one on the board, when I was there, would have had any intention of gaining an advantage.

But the fact is that I can understand the perception out there now.

And the way that Rangers have treated the authorities - instead of having a conversation with them around reparation - has been regrettable.

One of the things I would have looked at as part of a consortium in terms of funding is to try and fund them so that they could make some sort of commercial reparation to the other clubs.

But lets do it in a way whereby it is seen to have happened and we come out of it strongly.

You're fucking cringeworthy FS!

[Blue Avenger 22,569]

No point in burying heads in sands. They could/will use it against us. Plan for it.

[Bad Robot 21,513]

No point in burying heads in sands. They could/will use it against us. Plan for it.

why do you keep posting the same info on different threads?

[Tiger Shaw 31,879]

No point in burying heads in sands. They could/will use it against us. Plan for it.

For sure, especially if some daft cunt keeps highlighting it and drawing more attention to it