Dick Dastardly

The speculate to accumulate could be a very good move. With what is going on on the other side of the Clyde, it is just possible that the whole SPL would become embroiled in legal cases and a court injuction saught to block the SPL fixtures starting. No SPL makes our league the top one in Scotland, so we could be playing Champions League football in the 2013/14 season ! Bring on Barca !

If would be very difficult to schedule. You couldn't have the vacant team at home on the same day as Celtic (incase it is Rangers) or Dundee Utd (incase it is Dundee)

Total bollocks. Unless the loanee has defaulted in some way, a lender registered with the FSA can't change the terms of the loan like that. From my knowledge of Lloyds Bank (and I have worked both for and as a supplier to them) they will not be getting involved.

I'm surprised by the decision, not because it isn't the right one, which it is, but more because the powers that be didn't do their utmost to spot the typo and turn it into a singing ban on anyone over 18.

I work in The Wirral and this sacking has managed to piss off both the red and the blue scousers where I work. The red ones think that it is a terrible way to treat a club hero and the blue are pissed off because he was doing such a bad job.

Stollen from someone else ...... Charles Green is an anagram of Rangers Leech

Having trawled through the various blogs and media coverage surrounding of Green’s bid, it is just possible that he might actually succeed in coming out via a CVA and therefore bypass any SPL penalties by not needing to transfer to a “NewCo”. For the CVA to be accepted, we need to look first at the assets that would be left for the creditors should they not succeed. It is widely accepted that Rangers own neither Ibrox nor Murray Park, both rumored to be owned by relatives of Craig Whyte. If the CVA is not accepted, ownership of Rangers reverts to Whyte and under the revised players contracts, if he is the owner after July 1st then the players can leave for bugger all. Without any star players, Ibrox or Murray Park, what’s left for the creditors is very little, probably less than what is being offered by the CVA. Next we need to look at the creditors. It will all come down to whether HMRC own more than 25% of the debt and can therefore block it. Duff & Phelps have included the amount owed if they loose the EBT case (but not the penalties as these are unknown). Also not included are moneys owed to Ticketus as that is subject to an unresolved legal case and again the amount is unknown. The rest is owned by small businesses, many of whom will be Rangers supporters and willing to take the hit in their wallet for the good of “The Peepul”. (There will be some who support other clubs and will reject the CVA on principal). Most will look at the pros and cons and weigh up the financial gamble of liquidation against the guarantee of the CVA. Without ticketus on the list, it must be touch and go whether HMRC will have the 25% they will need to block and again whether they will use it. Green may already have a deal with them, or alternatively it wouldn’t take a master accountant to create some debt that would take them under the 25%. So, Green and his consortium have put up a few million (the bulk of the £8.5m purchase was based on money owed by other clubs and proceeds expected from legal cases). Assuming that he does have these 20 members from around the globe backing him, then it would only need an Arab sheik or a big player in Asia to be in the group and he could easily have the 1 billion total wealth that he claims. In which case, the money put up front is peanuts and is a decent wager with the odds stacked in their favour. If the CVA is accepted then they get a debt free Rangers, including all it’s history, for a very small outlay. But what would they have ? With Green in charge, the current squad is left as intact as he wants it. You can bet that the ticketus claim will be dropped an they will become part of the consortium and likewise Ibrox and Murray Park will be bought back for peanuts with associates of Whyte again being part of the consortium. There will be the fines from the EBT if they loose the case, but that will be maybe £10 million which they could easily afford. The transfer embargo (if it stands) will be a hindrance for next season, but after that, they are back in Europe and able to spend, spend, spend. A bit of success, a public flotation and the consortium’s financial outlay will be returned many times over. Of course, all this could just be a conspiracy theory, but remember the claim that Green had been looking over the books for weeks. The timing of the administration, the day after the transfer window closed, and the timing of Green’s bid, the day before the end of the season I’m sure are not coincidences. Someone has I think played a very canny game here and while there are a few hurdles to cross, Rangers could end up virtually scot free. Whether Scottish football will survive if this all plays out is another question. If attendances drop, there could be a fair number of clubs forced to face the penalties that the SPL are drawing up for Rangers.

Do we not need a bit of width ? Lots of competition for central midfield

They may have to when the padlock goes on the Ibrox loos.

Great start to the close season. Welcome to Firhill Hugh.

Good shout. Big Owen may well be looking for a new job soon.

Model pro and genuine nice bloke. I just wonder (hope) that he might be coming to us as a coach and maybe he is the mystery man that Paul Paton "is looking forward to working with".

Can anyone explain what happens with the EBT ? Just suppose that the current creditors are daft enough to accept the 5p in the pound that Green is offering. Then, if the Tax tribunal goes against Rangers, that wouldn't have been agreed in the CVA and so Rangers will be straight back in trouble again. Alternatively, if the EBT decision comes before the creditors meeting then the 5p in the pound goes down to about 3p. There's something we are not being told here.

If Rangers cease to be before full time tomorrow, Dunfermline will not be relegated. If it is after full time then Dundee get promotted. (Full time is deamed to be the end of the league season and all fixtures fullfilled). For other leagues, it is both play off finalists who get promotted.

Lionel Messi ?

Can't be that. Most of our U19s are too old to sign for Rangers

And another bid gets added to the waste paper bin at Duff & Phelps http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18028910

You can add that it has not been decided who owns the season ticket income for the next 2 seasons !

In answer to the first part - Not that I have seen. The only statement that I have seen is "bringing the game into disrepute". What it certainly isn't is related to the dual contracts investigaion which has not released it's findings. I don't think that the reasoning behind the punishments handed out will be published until after the appeal and any further appeals. The liability for the EBT would land with the current Rangers FC and would have no impact on the Newco. It would just be added to the creditors that need to agree a CVA, however HMRC would hold all the power to agree and force liquidation. It may be a moot point, but liquidation would meen that Newco could not return to Rangers FC and then be able to claim all their honours. They would remain Newco forever. So, there is still a sporting punishment to outstanding for the dual contracts (assuming guilty) a punishment for transfering assets to a newco (which will apply to all SPL clubs) the result of the EBT case

I have to disagree. The rule is fine, it is just that referees and linesmen don't always get it right (they are human and have a split second to decide). My bug bear is when theystop for a throw or a goal kick when the centre of the ball crosses the outside of the line. Again it needs to be the whole of the ball. The absolute bloody worst thing that could happen is goal line technology. The best thing about football is the debate about close decisions. Some you win and some you loose, but you can talk about them for years. Would anyone even mention Les Mottram if a little buzzer had sounded that day ? The second best thing about football is feeling hard done by. These "bad decisions" generate so much emotion that would be completely lost. Infact lets get rid of posts and crossbars and everyone put ther jumpers into 2 piles. That will generate some debate about whether it was inside the post or over the bar. Pundits could have years of talking about that one.

I don't get it. What was wrong with that decision ?

Like the sound of Warrington. I can walk there from the outlaws

Not even close to the worst decision ever Les Mottram Feb 1993 Thistle v Dundee Utd beats anything that I have ever seen.

I'm not so sure that they would walk it. How many of their current first team would hang around for first division football ? That leaves them with what ever players remain (OK, the likes of Hutton is easily good enough) but would they have a full team and what U18s could they field ? We would loose Dundee who would get their place in the SPL, so I wouldn't hand them the title before we can see what they have to offer. That said, I am for the first time starting to think that they are a basket case. Who is going to plough money into a bankrupt football club that doesn't know what league they will be in, what penalties they may have to face and what squad will be left for them to take over. You would have to be as thick as a H*n supporter to put your money into that.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It is a story that when you tell your grand kids, they'll moan that you're making it all up again. Scottish football down south is becoming a laughing stock. We have authorities that can't make any decisions about a club that nobody wants to buy. No matter what happens it will take decades for ScottishFootbal to recover te paultry reputation that it had. As to whether to laugh or cry, I've made my mind up ......