I have several friends who at different times in their lives have lived under totalitarian regimes.
They have each told me separately that there is a form of collective madness that grips people because the state controlled media broadcasts utter drivel and people slowly start to believe it.
The objective of this propaganda is almost always to control the narrative, of how people perceive things that have happened.
I would imagine that the poor souls in Pyongyang would feel rather at home listening to the Big Brother output of the Scottish media in the last two months regarding the death of Rangers.
I had something of a North Korean moment this evening when I was listening to Clyde 1 Super Scoreboard.
The caller wanted hear that the history and honours of Rangers had not been lost when the original company had been liquidated.
He was not disappointed and Darrell King reassured this chap that the illustrious saga that is the mighty Rangers had not been broken.
Oh dear…
The folks that run Planet Fitba might be confused about this stuff, but UEFA is not.
The Jesuitical pirouettes of the hacks seem to be based on the fairy story that the club wasn’t liquidated, but only the company was.
So that’s all right then.
What does UEFA think of that?
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Tech/uefaorg/General/01/80/54/10/1805410_DOWNLOAD.pdf
I found that “Chapter 2: Licence Applicant and Licence” to be a rip roaring read.
Article 12 “Definition of a licence applicant” is probably germane to what the chap calling into Clyde about.
Specifically 12.1 is well worth a read.
“A licence applicant may only be a football club, i.e. a legal entity responsible for a football team participating in national and international competitions which either:
a) Is a registered member of a UEFA member association and/or its affiliated league (hereinafter : registered member); or
b) Has a contractual relationship with a registered member (hereinafter: football company).”
I called a leading international football lawyer. The Court of Arbitration in Sport is his chap’s natural habitat.
His highly expensive skills are regularly sought by top English Premiership clubs.
If anyone would know this stuff then he would.
I didn’t want the totalitarian double speak of Planet Fitba, I wanted the truth from someone qualified in this specialised field of law.
I relayed the import of the answer on Clyde given to the caller and my confusion after reading the regulations above.
After he had stopped chortling about the phone in answer he explained the reality of the Sevco situation to me.
His response was free of legalese and subsequently worth relaying because of its clarity:
“It’s an interesting idea. The logical extension is that history is a commodity that can be bought and sold. I’ll be sure to mention that to the powers that be at Manchester city who may well be interested in purchasing Nottingham Forest’s two European cups and maybe a league title or two from Arsenal perhaps?”
He reminded me that UEFA operate under FIFA regulations and the world governing body is quite clear on this.
FIFA consider liquidation to be the death of a football club.
I checked on the UEFA website and they have Rangers last game as being against St. Johnstone on May 13th 2012
http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=50121/profile/index.html
Just to make sure I checked on another club that plays in Scotland.
http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=50050/profile/index.html
That one appears to be much more up to date, or perhaps UEFA just considers the history of Rangers FC to have been concluded in June 2012 and that the 4-0 victor in Pert on the last day of the SPL season was their last ever match.
On Planet Football there is no distinction between the legal entity and the football club, they are indivisible.
If the entity is liquidated then so is the club.
They are one in the same.
However, in the Orwellian world of Planet fitba phone ins black can by white if that is what is needed to sooth a fretting bear.
