There was a time when the Fitba Fourth Estate only concerned themselves with football clubs.
Well, only one football club if truth be told.
Then in 2012, they had to learn to say terms like “Holding Company Vehicle” and “Engine Room Subsidiary” with a straight face.
It was bad enough that they missed the biggest story of their professional career; the impending financial collapse of Rangers in 2011-2012.
However, they compounded that journalistic failure by indulging in Liquidation Denial to sooth The People.
The day that the CVA was rejected the cameras were outside of Ibrox.
One of the fans said that “it’s like a death in the family”, he was correct.
Death had indeed occurred.
Then only recently the new chap on the RIFC board Alastair Johnson stated on camera that Mr Craig Whyte should have been charged with “…the murder of an institution…” he was rather emotional when he said it.
Over the last few days, the stenographers have been in a rather unseemly lather about “Rangers back in Europe”.
Every time this Orwellian lie is told it is a gob of spit propelled into the eyeball of a creditor.
There are 276 of them to be precise, including family-run businesses and the Ambulance service.
If you buy into the “same club” myth then you have to admit that “Rangers” just did walking away from what they owed those businesses and the British taxpayer.
Classy.
Once Liquidation Denial is extant, then it is a sine qua non that there must be a genuflection in the direction of the Sevco simulacrum.
The lie has been told, and therefore they must stick to that lie.
Stating that Sevco is the original Rangers appears to be an essential requirement for employment at a sports desk in Fair Caledonia.
Of course, there is no denying that it will be the same fan base that cheers on Sevco tonight.
I trust that the UEFA match delegate has been briefed on the specifics of the Ibrox discriminatory song sheet.
They have previous.
However, don’t expect the stenographers to hear anything.
Tonight Sevco play their inaugural competitive match in Europe.
However, you will not read that sentence in the mainstream.
By collectively signing up to Liquidation Denial after the death of Rangers they agreed to consign themselves to journalistic irrelevance.
In the pre-digital age, this would have been an unopposed lie imposed upon the public.
Now, there is an alternative to the PR generated spin.
The impending collapse of Rangers (1872) was charted in serious detail here.
Events utterly vindicated the journalism that was produced on this site.
Moreover, the calamitous early years of Sevco have also been laid out here.
Some important folk would rather that you trusted the mainstream on these matters.
That’s the mainstream that told you that Craig Whyte was a billionaire.
By reading this, you’re part of the alternative to paid-for spin that suits the agendas of the powerful.
Tonight Sevco play their first competitive match in Europe.
Any journalist who can’t agree to that basic statement is part of the problem.
Excellent blog Phil. Chapeau to Pat Nevin’s Barnet . Summarised it to a “T”. I don’t think that Edmund Burke meant the famous quote on evil in this context but it’s not far off.
Cowards then, cowards now, cowards for ever.
‘Ex Man City coach appointed Rangers’ DoF.’
See, I told you months ago that Mr King was waiting for a man of double vision and blue chip credentials and here he is
‘Allen, who begins his new role next month, started his career as a youth player with Swindon Town before moving to San Diego to take up a football scholarship and business and accounting degree.
After returning to the UK, he attained the position of managing director of MTV’s broadcast division in London during a 13-year spell with the global music corporation.’
Football, business, accounting, music …
This is a man of quadruple vision and you don’t get any bluer than going from Man City to Rangers.
But wait a minute, what’s that sound I hear?
Oh, it’s just more bottles crashing out of Timmy’s tightening trumpet.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear
Yes, what is it, dear ..?
Or can I call you ‘Chasm’ ..?
Casaandra’s cat, why on earth would a Church of Scotland Minister’s view have any relevance in this?
Is it the case that UEFA have used the RFC badge on their website because the SFA refused to accept the Aye Ready badge as an acceptable one for Sevco !
#Justasking
UEFA used the football and lion badge for the old club and cannot use it for the new entity.
UEFA use the RFC three letter cypher logo for the new club to differentiate.
The SFA, trying to pass off the new club as the old club, continues to dupe by using the same old ball and lion badge. It is used domestically in the SPFL, TV, newspapers, etc….
Officially, although someone can own these corporate logos, the national governing body is supposed to stop them being used in the game following a liquidation of a club.
Ah, there’s nothing like a bit of ‘R & R’ to refresh your senses.
Cheers, dude!
Great piece phill., why have rangers been granted a european licience when the sfa know that there are no finances being shown and they are in breach of the very rules that have to be met in order to play in europe. They have been granted a licience when strict rules are in place for clubs in debt and in danger in meeting clear rules cannot get a licience unless there is no debt… uefa know this and have already rejected some clubs licience due to debt… so eufa. And the sfa need to be sued for cheating and foulplay
Sevco in Europe indeed.
They face a club from a town of 2,000 people.
The whole town could fit into the crumbledome 25 times.
My big dissapointment is UEFA listing them online as the same club despite court cases stating they are not. Despite the UEFA letter. Despite the three year new club ban. Despite not using the old club badge but the three letter cypher.
Let’s not forget an important major fact on wether rangers are a new club or a new club
Tupe rules most of the players left because rules say if a company folds employees can leave at no cost to them most if not all players bailed out of the sinking ship
What still gets me is if its the “same” club and only the “holding company” went under. Did those that extended credit to only the “holding company” know that they were doing so? Was this disclosed? Or were lines of credit gained fraudulently? You would think that a good lawyer would be able to make a case of this. And staying with the “same” club narrative, why couldn’t one still pursue the “club” for compensation if they had never been made aware that the “club” wasn’t doing business with them but in fact a “holding company” was.
Phil,
“Sevco” doesn’t mean anything. Sevco is part of a generic term used in the setting up of new companies.
Sevco Scotland Ltd is now a company called The Rangers Football Club Ltd.
When you say Sevco it’s a bit like saying “Company Ltd”, it makes the same amount of sense.
So are Sevco 5095 now Jackson Osbourne Ltd part of Rangers?
Are Sevco 5055 now Chin-Wag Ltd part of Rangers?
Sevco 5076? Sevco 5041? All valid companies. Hundreds of companies that used or still include Sevco are all Rangers?
It’s very silly and very very immature!
All well & good but when you mention the word ‘Sevco’ everyone knows exactly who you mean:
Sevco Scotland, underhandedly name changed by Chuckles Green in his ‘old switcheroo’ from Craig Whyte’s Sevco 5088.
So, for all that, there’s only one ‘Sevco’, and Sevco Scotland is its name.
And it’s beyond hilarious watching it trying to be Rangers, however silly & immature its antics may be 😉
I wonder if the do fall foul of the UEFA delegate….what punishment? and will it be linked to previous offences? surely not if new club?
Sevco are an affront to all that is good and fair. The SFA ,SPFL, UEFA and the SMSM are as guilty as Sevco. As you say, Phil, they can hope and wish even. We will not go away. Great piece as usual, keep at them, Phil. HH
Why are all these big games played at home for Rangers first games
Celtic
Aberdeen
Hibs
Hearts
Them’s the rules!!!
Take a wild guess …
The only creditor that could afford to expose the lie would be HMRC, by suing the existing company that claims to be the Rangers that won all the previous titles prior to liquidation. But they won’t because it would only cost them even more money just to prove their point and receive no compensation. A smaller creditor that would be prepared to be crowdfunded to prove the same point would be the way to do it, although there is no guarantee it would be successful using the allegedly corrupt Scottish legal system.
Any creditor out there willing to be persecuted for the rest of their lives and putting their family and friends at risk? I would very much doubt it.
No one will do it because everyone knows the truth. The myth continues in the magical separation of club and company. Thus, in the eyes of the believers, the “club” was never really liquidated and simply “transferred” to a different legal / commercial entity. Complete rubbish, but that’s what you find when you dig deep enough – they all say “club”.
No one was stupid enough to claim it was the same “Company”, therefore there is no action possible.
The fact that the footballing authorities have allowed the (in reality) new club to claim all the past titles and cups remains a staggering event which would not happen elsewhere. Other liquidated and re-born football clubs normally pay service to past entities but are clear that these were a different club.
They could have saved everyone a load of grief by calling themselves New Rangers or expressly stating in PR releases etc that “this new version of Rangers is seeking to emulate the Rangers of old” or some such wording, but they wouldn’t take the chance that the supporters would transfer in the same way and hence didn’t do it.
I think they seriously underestimated the ability of football supporters to take on that concept, so we are where we are, in continuous limbo land and taunts that it’s Sevco, there is no history, Rangers are not “back” because this version has never been there before etc etc.
When will a Scottish First Minister say that tax evasion is bad and there is no place for it in Scotland?
When will a Church of Scotland leader say that lying and cheating is bad and there is no place for it in Scotland?
Rangers* is not the problem, Rangers* in merely a symptom of a deeply corrupt and cowardly society.
In Italy, every year, courageous judges are threatened, shot and bombed for opposing the Mafia.
Where are the courageous public figures in Scotland opposing blatant corruption?
CoS has little reason to support Sevco, many have indicated their unchristian failings.
I don’t think I’ll ever lose my love for Celtic Football Club… but my love of football has been draining away for some time now. The fact that this match is going ahead just about dries up the last little remnants of my need to have ‘the game’ in my life in any form.
The whole game is corrupt from ‘top to bottom’ (to paraphrase Mr Super-Caixino).
The very topmost governors of the game being proven to be corrupt to the core and then trying their best to bury any report exposing this. Payoffs, bungs, bribes and god-knows-what that we haven’t even heard about (yet) to influence World Cup hosting. Perks, bonuses, ghosts and cat apartments. JK Rowling would struggle to describe a more bizarre world.
UEFA compliant in its older relatives wrongdoings and failing to question when questions should be asked.
Tax evasion seems to be rife especially amongst the very highest earners in the game who throw the toys out of the pram and threaten to ‘go elsewhere’ if harshly dealt with. Employers who then promise to pay the outstanding revenue to keep their ’employee’ happy.
A game which has become ALL about money. The orchestrators will tell you that football is ‘showbiz’ so needs showbiz rewards. I find the whole thing quite disgusting – while the EPL pats itself on the back for its obscene TV deal it talks of the first ‘million a week’ player not being too far away. 50 million a year to kick a ball about a park! Thats what it is. There will be some players earning that a year and more between the wages, sponsorships and tax dodging. Even mediocre English Championship players on 5 figure salaries per week.
I heard a figure of 40 million mentioned to fit sprinkler systems to every residential tower block in Britain lacking one… Just too much said the government advisor being interviewed.
Not even a top footballers annual wage!
Then we come to oor Sevco. ‘The Peepul’s Club’. From Liquidation to Eternity in 140 + 5 years. Everybody looking at Scottish football from the fans (Sevco fans included) officials, SFA (especially) the denialist media , uncle Tom Cobbley and all know that this offspring club should NOT be competing in European Competition. Most importantly the SFA know exactly why they shouldn’t. They are blatantly ignoring their own rules and by allowing them to UEFA are equally as guilty.
It beggars belief why not one other club in Scotland has questioned why this has been allowed.
Maybe they are all perfectly happy about it?!
That thought in itself tends to explain everything.
Brilliant couldn’t have said it better myself my son now plays rugby union in Wales as he says it’s a mans game. He’s twelve and he sees the way football has gone with diving, cheating and all else. Celtic will always be in my blood but my love of football has gone, it’s grotesque what’s going on in Scotland and further afield
The words “LIQUIDATION” and “SEVCO” were banned totally on all newspapers on the radio or on tv.
All the sports journo creatures and their editors/producers fawned and complied. Less than men, with no integrity.
Fantastic piece again Phil see the people are upset UEFA not put there 5* on there tainted title UEFA RFC web page …my main concern raining all day and expected full house tonight hope that roof holds up …
Hi Phil. Are Sheffield Wednesday a new club?
does anybody care ?
No idea.
Sevco are
John Moss, (surely not the drummer from Culture Club and one-time gay lover of Boy George?) , I have a return question:
Are all your spoons made of Sheffield steel or do you not give a monkeys?
(Or a karma chameleon ..?)
No. Why would they be a new club? Their parent company sold the club to a new owner, and then afterwards the original parent company dissolved itself. Neither the club nor the parent company was ever liquidated, so it’s completely different from Sevco’s situation.
I don’t believe Sheffield Wednesday ever went into liquidation, and were started again as a new entity, in the bottom tier of English football. I could be wrong, but I see nothing of the sort when I google “Sheffield Wednesday liquidation”…
Phil
What are the implications of the Big Tax Case result next week that can be levied against old Rangers or The new entity? I understand that there are no monetary issues concerning TRFC but do you think in the fairness of sporting integrity that there should be a further investigation into league titles (I believe Juventus were stripped of titles and Lance Armstrong naturally springs to mind … ) Your thoughts Sir ?
The titles should have been stripped when the evidence of side letters as part of wages was a break in rules for the governing bodies. 3 point deduction for every game a registered player with an EBT or on DOS played in. Nothing was done then. Nothing will happen now. The Ibrokes hierarchy are hoping time will make these arguments fade and we will all move on and forget about it. But you never know. Back then the titles should have been taken away, then the club be punished. Title stripping is not a punishment. That is what happens when you cheat. The punishment comes after. Not the same club though. So no fines or restrictions. BTW no sporting advantage argument should not be given any sway.
I wish the new club all the best in they’r first venture in Europe, to the Oldco fans who have adopted them because they had no club to support, I hope they get soaked right through, the leaks will certainly streaming down tonight on the old dodgy stadium roofing, that’s for sure.
Whilst I agree with the history of events what troubles me is the silence of the 276 creditors or have I missed their comments on liquidation denial?
Great article and it amazes me how some clever people don’t understand the meaning of being liquidated
Excellent and entirely truthful piece once again Phil, I stopped buying newspapers years ago for the very reasons you skillfully highlight above. The SMSM are the laughing stock of Europe, in fact the world. Keep up the good work!