In May 2011 followers of the late Harold Camping were preparing for the “Rapture” and judgement day.
Some of them were so convinced that this would happen that they spent all of their life savings and told the boss not to expect them back at work after the end of the world!
Harold Camping was a preacher and radio host and his end of times predictions reached as far as the highlands of Vietnam.
On Planet Fitba at the same time, The People were experiencing their own Rapture.
They cheered Craig Whyte down Edmiston Drive and believed that salvation was at hand.
It wasn’t.
Your humble correspondent was targeted with smears, sneers and threats for suggesting that Mr Whyte was a Poundland messiah.
It was clear that the People were not minded to sample what I was giving away for free; a valuable commodity called “the truth”.
As Whyte was trumpeted as the new sugar daddy to replace Sir David Murray I simply wasn’t convinced.
The evidence just didn’t stack up.
Colour me a sceptical rationalist.
Guilty as charged.
However, my fact based analysis was spurned by The People because they knew that Mr Whyte was a billionaire.
Indeed, his wealth was “off the radar”.
They had read that in a newspaper and the journalist who wrote it had won awards.
Of course, the reportage on Whyte in May 2011 was as evidence based as Harold Camping’s deluded shite about the Rapture in the very same month.
I sat back and awaited events to vindicate my analysis.
You know the rest.
The outpouring of joy yesterday from the People gave me a similar feeling.
I had known for some time that the sensible faction of the Sevco High Command had been trying to treat with General Ashley.
In once recent sit down the Serious Professional sketched out a scenario to one of Big Mike’s inner circle.
That was where Ashley won the impending court case and the good ship Sevco was sunk by a bill that they couldn’t pay.
That might have given General Ashley a satisfying victory, but there was a way he could make more money.
Last night a Shirebrook source was guarded, but said this:
“Mike has got a deal that suits Mike.”
When I pushed for more details he said:
“Mike has a deal that is infinitely better than what he had.”
Unlike The People, I won’t take such a statement at face value.
The devil is in the detail and I will endeavour to uncover that.
He did say that the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the new deal were tough.
However, should the Engine Room Subsidiary knock it out of the park the Holding Company Vehicle could pull down around £3m.
A word that he kept using during our conversation about the deal was “optics”.
He said that all of this looks good if you wanted to sell your shareholding in RIFC and get the hell outa dodge.
He reminded me that, someone might be in court soon for flouting the order of the Take Over Panel and the might want to sell up.
He’s such a cynic…
Meanwhile, the sight of The People buying Sevco merchandise from last season is a rather unedifying prospect.
I understand that Mormons have magic underwear, but at least they keep it out of sight.
However, like the followers of the late Harold Camping, The People are only too willing to believe what they are told and what to wear.
At least the media in the USA pointed out to those poor fools that they had been sold horse shit from a charlatan.
Sadly on Plant Fitba t those vital checks and balances in the system are missing.
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Is it true that the new Deal doesn’t start till 1/7/2017 then all their buying is going straight to Mike Ashley again and still only 7 p in the pound going to the club, the man is a genius.
If you listen really hard… Really concentrate… Hear that? That’s the sound of arses collapsing all over Scotland as Septic fans realise Rangers are becoming a force again.
Comment approved for the comedy content.
Sigh, Oh dear
Johnny B Goode to yourself and listen really hard as countless people tell you that King is a liar who’ll fleece you all again. Is there something different about how your heads are wired in comparison with other fans who see him for what he is?
It’s not the spoff that carries you off its the spoffin they carry you off in ,RIP
It can be a long few weeks without the fitba , but you have to hand too the Huns they do their best to plug the entertainment gap .
You could sell them warm pish and tell them it was champagne…….
Chapeau, sir! Once again some great insights into the current goings on, minus of course the succulent lamb.
Been thinking over what has been reported by you and totally agree that nothing can be taken at face value until details emerge. The devil as they say, is in the details!
My take is that Ashley agreed to defer payments due him now or in near future in return for a security against those monies (crests/logos?). King gets to trumpet that he has a new, more lucrative deal and got a deferment on payments. Coupled with the new signings and the whole media orchestrated feel-good pash this makes a good time for King to bow out on a high. This gets him out of the problems with the takeover panel and also lets him get out Dodge before the whole thing implodes and he would be the bad guy.
What you reported above on GASL trying to sell his shares just reinforces my take on this. the key question, though, is who will buy out his shares? I was initially skeptical that anyone would be stupid enough to do it, but it is the only scenario that makes sense of what has come out yesterday and today. So either the sensible faction of the Board are doing it or they have found someone else to do it and that will be announced shortly.
However, the wild card/joker in all of this could be what Craig Whyte decides to do fresh off his acquittal for fraud. Does he now go back to court regarding his ownership rights from the original acquisition? Must stock up on more popcorn……
James Joyce, or whatever his name is, reporting that they are Ashley’s next acquisition. After he dumps Newcastle.
I’m sorry, but I just don’t see why Ashley would dump a club playing in the EPL for a poisonous organisation based at Ibrokes. They have been tainted beyond reason in Sport and in business circles. Ashley’s initial outgoing for shares and the like just doesn’t add up. Even if Sevco ahem, win the league and get into Europe every season it would take years to get a return on his money invested. I still think the details in the retail deal. The usual frothing of the mouth from the usual suspects heralding a convicted fraudster a genius sorting this out and putting Ashley in his place. The gullibilies can’t see by their own noses to read more into this as quite clearly there is a lot more to it.
Agreed. This guy Joyce James clearly has no inkling as to what is going down.
Meanwhile King and the dandy directors are trusting on a load of unknown kafliks to deliver nirvana.
Is this some some game of corporate dare going on in the blue room?
“I bet I can get the mugs to rush o buy last year’s shirts!”
“Well I bet I can fill the place with kafliks and the mugs will still buy season books!”
“I bet we can do a pre-pack admin and the SFA will tell the mugs it’s good for Scottish football”
“I bet you I can sell the mugs £25m of shares because the Chinese are coming to make them all millionaires”
“I bet . . . . .
“We’ve got a Monorail !!”
“Yes you have !” says Lyle Lanley …..
Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
Were you sent here by the devil?
No good sir I’m on the Level (5)!
Is there a chance Big Mike could lend?
Not on your life my Sevco friend!
Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
Can anyone tell me why you all even respond to the shite.
Phil you told how it would unfold in 2011,if they didn’t listen then, then there is no chance now,let them go down that road again, they know not what they do,so why should you and others who are far more intelligent tell them. Fuck what they make in retail, What matters if it goes tits up again, fuck them.
Let them have it all,the so called great deals the plan,for they have no chance,Brendan will see to that,as will Dermot and Peter. Our talking will be done on the pitch.
If a deal has been done who cares,stop wasting your breath on the zombies,and enjoy another great season at Celtic park
Is it that you don’t like what you’re reading here, pal, or are you just trying wind us all up?
Either way, you know what you can do with it.
Did I read somewhere that Rangers will only have a new away kit this year, not a home one? If so, this makes sense as a deal that ‘helps both parties’. Although probably not in teh way that it has been portrayed. As I see it, this just means that Ashley gets to pocket profits from selling the unsold stock allowing him to exit stage left with some money for his troubles. Meanwhile, Sevco aren’t charged for unsold shirts. In a few weeks, both Ashley and King can sell their stock to the gullible, pumped up on a wave of empty hubris, with the latter able to leave the club/company/deity with something resembling messiah status amongst the unwashed. If this is the case, I’m not sure whether Puma are better off, having to miss out on the proceeds of a new home shirt (this may be mitigated by any monies due from additional sales of the current one, but I’m not sure). I also wonder whether Red32 are happy about missing out on a shirt launch – although this may be factored into the alleged enhanced megadeal that they agreed with Sevco agreed recently, which has been trumpeted so much of late.
“…pumped up on a wave of empty hubris…”
Excellently put.
Chapeau.
From the Wikipedia article on Harold Camping (and I’m not making this up):
” In 1942, Camping earned a B.S. degree”
Meanwhile back at the quintessential zombie club it’s…carry on Camping.
Guess that takes care of the old paying for the unsold jerseys then?
Ashley gets paid for unsold stock. The same stock that he can now sell to the punters. However how many will still boycott Sports direct? Does MA still get paid again for unsold stock thereby, getting the same money twice for the same shirts?
TBF sinking Sevco would have left MA with a shed load of shirts that are worthless,so this ( any ) deal, that allows sales, is a good one.
Remember that this is all peanuts to Ashley. Our equivalent to 50p each way on a nag we like the name of in the Gold Cup. It’s not worth over analysing Ashley’s motives and outcomes. In fact, he probably briefed his Oxbridge lawyers and left them get on with it. He never needed to meet or deal with the glib one.
As billionaire Warren Buffet says, “There are only two rules of busienss. Rule 1: Do not lose money. Rule 2: Do not forget Rule 1.”
People desperate to escape the brutal realities of everyday life are always vulnerable to deceitful Messiahs.
KIng and his dandy directors are experts at selling supernatural dreams to the willingly unskeptical.
How long before they realise that supernatural dreams don’t win titles and cups?
Unfortunately, it looks like they will stagger through another season.
Also, it doesn’t appear that anyone(Celtic FC included) is going to act upon the revelations from the Whyte trial.
Hopefully, Brendan and the boys will keep them subdued on the park.
“There’s none so blind as those who will not see”
Or ‘You can lead an arse to water but you cannae stop its stink.’