Mr Green, in the Boardroom with the Truth

Craig-Whyte-Rangers-FC-Glasgow-AirportA routine costs hearing at the Court of Session turned into a highly significant debate about the status of Rangers and Scottish football today.

Advocates for the former CEO of the Ibrox team, Charles Green, who did not appear in court, demanded that Rangers honour a contractual commitment to pay his legal fees for his forthcoming criminal trial for allegedly defrauding investors during the £20M initial public offering (IPO) made by the company.

However Counsel for Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) James Wolffe QC, opposed the motion on the grounds that Green’s alleged offence occured before he took over Rangers football club and therefore, he argued “It all falls.” Wolffe also contended that there was a distinction to be drawn between the “club” and the “company” saying that “an association football club continues whatever company happens to own it.”

This sparked a furious response from Green’s advocate, Jonathan Brown who told the court that his client had signed a severance agreement when he resigned from the board of directors: ” He was prepared to depart the scene without fuss,” but if he was “dragged back in” the agreement was “you pay the lawyers.” He also challenged the idea that a Rangers was the same club noting: “A club can not sign contracts” and that “a club is an undertaking” of its owners and as it “has neither capacity of personality” no-one can be CEO of it.

In one of the most striking scenes of the day Brown said, referring to the company, Sevco Scotland that Green used to purchase the assets of Rangers: “The team are paid by Sevco, play at a ground owned by Sevco, are trained by a manager who is employed by Sevco and fans buy tickets from Sevco. That is the business that is being carried on.” Rangers, he argued were “a collection of assets,” noting “What is the players were sold to one person and Ibrox to another, where is the “club” then?”

When court adjourned late in the afternoon, the presiding judge, Lord Doherty, thanked Counsel “for their “submissions in this interesting case.” He told the parties he would consider the matter and then produce his findings in writing as soon as he could.

Possibly stung by today’s legal arguments, which were widely reported on social media. The current chairman of Rangers Dave King rushed out a statement just as court adjourned saying: “It is disappointing that a debate has re-emerged around the subject of Rangers’ history in Scottish football.” The South African based chairman of the club added “If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football.”

With the legal argument over the case of former Rangers Chiefs Charles Green and Craig Whyte due to resume in December, and King himself set to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice on the 9th of that month to answer contempt of court charges laid by Sports Direct magnate Mike Ashley, performances on the pitch seem to be the least of the club’s worries.

Comments (24)

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  1. Mike says:

    Fantastic story. Well written act factual. A rare when the team formerly known as Ran*ers are in town

  2. Alasdair says:

    Can anyone provide an exegesis of the distinction between the Rangers Football Club company and Rangers Football Club as these/it existed at the time of the liquidation?

  3. john young says:

    Alasdair cheating has become acceptable,all involved will have a whole raft of reasons/excuses right from the very top all the way down,as a society we condone it,ask anyone connected/supporting Rangers to explain and why they condone it,blank look.

  4. Derek Thomson says:

    This banging on about Rangers is demeaning one of the most important sites in Scottish politics and the independence movement. Gie it a rest.

  5. john young says:

    So what do you think Derek ? don,t address it or any other cheating just give up,weren,t we “cheated out of independence.I don,t give a toss if they strip titles or whatever from Rangers the big issue for me is that we accept it,be it in sports or any other area,they are banging the drum about cheating by Russia and the rest,how can any one/body claim to be the best if they have gained unfair advantage.Cheats are cheats and though it might be unpalatable for some you cannot get away from it,the stigma remains.

    1. Derek Thomson says:

      No John, just stop banging on about Rangers – there are agendas at work here and as an anti-monarchy, anti-militarism, in fact, if I’m honest, anti-British, fanatically pro-independence Rangers fan (yeah, strange, isn’t it?) it’s getting wearing. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Rangers gained a sporting advantage through their morally abhorrent creative accounting. Have a go at the tax avoidance, by all means, I’m even at the stage where I’m worrying about taking out an ISA in case it could be construed as tax avoidance. But just, enough already. Sheesh.

      1. Gallus Gatsby says:

        Yes, there is evidence a plenty. Starter for 10:

        Rule D1.13: A Club must, as a condition of Registration and for a Player to be eligible to Play in Official Matches, deliver the executed originals of all Contracts of Service and amendments and/or extensions to Contracts of Service and all other agreements providing for payment, other than for reimbursement of expenses actually incurred, between that Club and Player, to the Secretary, within fourteen days of such Contract of Service or other agreement being entered into, amended and/or, as the case may be, extended.

        1. Gallus Gatsby says:

          “You knew we were cheating” -Hugh Adam, 1872 (IL) Director
          “Enabled us to attract players others not able to” -Sir David Murray, 1872 (IL) Chairman

          Cheating both on and off the pitch. Those players whom 1872 (IL) were otherwise unable to afford were there to gain advantage on field of play.

          1. Gallus Gatsby says:

            *amendment “attract players otherwise not able to” same diffrerence haha but joost tae get it close :)))

      2. Derek Thomson says:

        Just to clarify, when I say anti-British, I mean I’m opposed to the idea of a single unitary state called Britain. I don’t identify myself as belonging to it, and wish for an independent Scotland. Nothing against people of any stripe.

  6. john young says:

    I think that it,s not so much about Rangers Derek more about the powers that be and the usual mess they make of things,as Scotlands premiere club and a flag bearer exc the pun they should be above anything like this,they obviously used something underhand to gain an advantage well just hold your hands up apologise then hopefully move on,I think if we ignore these issues if we don,t discuss them then we are failing in our duties.I would hope that when we do gain independence there will be little of these contentious issues.As a Celtic fan of very long standing too long I think I can,t get my head around why Rangers chose this path they were almost always a step ahead of us on and off the park.

  7. jimjetset says:

    Derek it’s clear you recognise that Rangers’ tax avoidance of many millions of pounds was wrong. End of story. But not quite. How can you then not fail to see that due to the fact Rangers had a huge fiscal advantage it clearly follows that they had a huge competitive advantage? Being able to pay and play players who most otherwise would have been elsewhere was the illegal advantage that gave your team many prizes. The club cheated. Just like Lance Armstrong cheated. And just like Lance Armstrong there SHOULD be consequences to that cheating. All titles/ prizes ‘won’ to be rescinded. Remember how a sex criminal called Rolf Harris was stripped of his CBE and a dishonest wealthy man named Fred Goodwin was stripped of his knighthood? It’s called consequences. Or sometimes it’s known as justice. It’s NOT about the money anymore. Everyone agrees the non- payment of taxes was cheating, but as surely as night follows day then it follows that the titles unfairly credited to Rangers through a massive sporting advantage must now be debited. Only THEN can the game move on. However this means the SFA will have to do the right thing. That’ll be interesting, eh? Yes I agree with you that many agendas are at work here- but surely the most salient one is justice?

    As a footnote I did want to add that, clearly we, the fans are the real losers here. The ordinary Rangers’ fans who pay their money and love their team (just like the majority of ordinary Celtic fans or any other clubs’ ordinary fans) have been cheated too because the stewards of the institution of Rangers FC have did the fans a deep, deep injustice. So really the tainted titles is STILL not the end of the story. Because just like Jimmy Saville should have been brought to justice men like David Murray who abused Rangers should also be brought to justice. There is still time. If Rangers are a continuation of the old club then the past needs to be dealt with. And some people need to explain themselves and say sorry. But sometimes, sorry is just not enough…

    1. Derek Thomson says:

      Lance Armstrong? Jimmy Saville? What planet are you on mate? If having a fiscal advantage is giving you a sporting advantage, then what about Celtic buying the three best players from Dundee United, weakening them to the point that they’re now bottom of the league? Just because you can afford it. By the same moral contortions that people are using regarding Rangers, can that not be construed as morally cheating?

  8. willie says:

    If Scotland went bust tomorrow would Scotland still be Scotland?

    I think it would.

    1. john mclean says:

      not if Scotland was liquidated

    2. billy says:

      What a stupid point to make, do you know anything about Company Law? You Fwit

  9. thedoc says:

    Money generally applied means success in Football. Rangers EBT scheme meant they attracted retained etc players the could not normally conceive of. A rigged game is a cheated game. If you believe that the DeBoers Prso’s Averladzes & the like only wanted to play for Rangers stick to the Vanguard Bears website. If like Derek you think theres agendas at work (which are what?) then your very much a part of the Ibrox syndrome of no-one likes us, we dont care. Aye they do! As a paying punter i would like to see any cheating punished.

    1. Don McKillop says:

      What cheating has occurred, and really who cares? Firstly let me state quite categorically that being a Jag’s man all my life I really don’t care about either Rangers or Celtic, both are just cartoons of football teams. It would not bother me one iota if both disappeared tomorrow, that said however, I think there is another agenda at work here, the holier than thou brigade is out in force. I love reading all the pro independence sites in the safety of my home in the Bellarine area of Victoria, that’s in Oz if you don’t know, but I am getting a little weary of all the banging on about that team on this site. tell me more about the fight for independence, tell me more about our Scottish Government, tell me more about how my homeland will conquer the Tories, but stop boring me with sectarian West of Scotland football. Apologies as this is my first post.

  10. Wullie says:

    If that is the standard of education under a UK government then we must hasten independence, to try to compare the financial rules that control sovereign states to those that govern businesses is straw clutching of the highest degree and totally mind boggling

  11. john young says:

    So Don we should just ignore cheating because you can,t be bothered with the “sectarian” side of it,what do you not understand about the ethos? do you think that if cheating is seen to be successful or at least condoned it will encourage others in all different areas of life.There are major cheats in all walks of life but we should ignore this not discuss it definitely the way to go.

  12. Alex Holmes says:

    As an older guy who played a bit of junior football in the early 1960s there was always suspicion and speculation about the legality of ‘any good new players’. Losing clubs were always on the lookout for a player who had once signed for a senior football and had not been properly re-instated back into Junior football. Indeed it was common to have a committee man or two mix with the crowd (and the crowds were good back then) to gather ‘intelligence’. Many a Junior Cup game was won off the park by way of protest following a defeat. The former senior player was still only senior in a strictly technical term but that was the rule for all to follow. I see the Rangers EBTs situation in the same light.

  13. chris says:

    Act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage.To act dishonestly I would presume the powers in control or anyone acting dishonestly would be prepared to take risks , it happens everywhere from poor people in the street to presidents or prime ministers and everything else in between . When found out then every excuse imaginable will be used to tarnish the truth .
    The first sentence I wrote defines cheating .
    Get caught and punishment should be dealt . Whoever you are .

  14. TocTic says:

    No bloody wonder Our Football Association is a total and Complete laughing stock.Oldco Rangers (iL)are Definitely not Sevco Rangers.Oldco were not not punished and relegated to the 3rd Division.An absolute load of Utter BS.Sevco Scotland 5088 who changed there name Eventually to The Rangers International Football Club started there existance in 3rd Division.So it matters not what Verbal Diahorrea Sevconians or the SMSM pump out.Oldco and Liquidated = Dead Gone Rotten Away in Hell.And this Club thats all of 6 yrs old Wonders Why they are So Despised.Attempting to Brassneck There Way by taking up the Mantle of a Dead Liquidated Club and maintaing Oldco is very much Alive.The sooner the Tainted Titles and every other success that was gained during the Cheating EBT years are Stripped,The sooner Every other Decent Honest Club can start to MOVE ON!!!!Coincedence that its the very same Liars and Cheats at Sevco that were at Oldco.Dave King let Oldco Liquidate.Knowing Sevco was a Brassnecking Continuation of a Liquidated Club.How Embarrassingly Humiliating for any supporter to Follow Follow the Logic that Somehow Sevco are Oldco.Sevco can Thank Every Other Club that they Even Exist but Saying GoinFor55 ETC Is and Always Will Be Nothing short of DELUSIONAL!!!!!

  15. WholeOfScotland says:

    Sevco Rangers.An Utter Embarrassment Since 2012.

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