The Celtic AGM tomorrow will be a glossy and stage-managed affair.
Well, it always is these days…
Most of the folk in the room will be shareholder supporters.
However, when it comes to voting on anything important there is a chap behind the top table getting a phone call from Dermot Desmond’s people.
If everyone in the room voted for “A” the guy at the end of the line can swing it for “B” with a few million votes to spare.
In 2014 I watched as the chaps at the top table were hugely embarrassed when the Celtic Trust brought forward a resolution about the Living Wage.
You can read my report here.
If there are any questions tomorrow that make the men in the suits squirm then it will probably be about a resolution that was never voted on but hasn’t gone away you know.
Resolution 12 in the 2013 AGM was about the decision of the SFA to process the UEFA licence application for Rangers (1872-2012) for season 2011-2012.
As a result of the Discounted Options Scheme (Wee Tax Case) Rangers were owing to a taxing authority at the key point in early 2011.
It is the result of a legacy issue from the last year that Rangers (1872) existed before that club was put down by CVA.
I was part of the conversations that led to the creation of that resolution.
From Day One I told the Requisitioners that the club, their club, wanted this one to go away.
I still believe that to be true and I have been heartened by the fact that Resolution 12 and the issues around it are still very much extant.
My take on this is that the people in power at Celtic simply did not factor in the forensic determination of the Requisitioners.
Faced with that reality all that the board could do was play for time.
Now, five years on I believe that the Celtic board has run out of road on this one.
Consequently, they have to call out the SFA on their past actions and inactions surrounding the UEFA licence of Rangers in 2011.
For the avoidance of doubt, there is a substantial weight of forensic evidence to underpin the Requisitioners’ contention that Rangers (1872) should not have been awarded a UEFA licence for season 2011-2012.
Last September, before the 2017 AGM, Celtic entrusted the SFA to mount a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the UEFA Licence granted to Rangers FC in 2011.
The Compliance Officer referred the case in May 2018 to the Judicial Panel Disciplinary Tribunal. (JPDT) and the process has stalled.
That appears to have happened because the current entity at Ibrox claimed in July 2018 that the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) should be the proper authority to investigate.
Like many elements of the Rangers story, I believe that it starts and ends at a failure of oversight at Hampden.
The Celtic board now have serious questions to answer apropos their stance on the SFA’s apparent inaction on this matter.
I know that the board’s preferred outcome was for Resolution 12 to wither on the vine.
However, because of the Requisitioners’ determination, it is still very much on the agenda for the Celtic support and all who want the game in Scotland to be straight.
So tomorrow, just like with the Living Wage debate in 2014, the moral authority will be on the floor of the AGM.
The time for the chaps at the top table to deal with this issue has arrived.
They should know that the Resolution 12 Requisitioners are not going to Do Walking Away on this.
Not a chance.
The logical destination for this sorry saga is Nyon in Switzerland.
Resolution 12 is a matter for UEFA and that is what the Requisitioners always wanted.
Be great if Celtic refuse any tickets for the Dec game at Ibrox.
First and foremost they have a duty to protect their fans.
Can someone at Police Scotland put their hands on their hearta and guarantee the safety of the Celtic fans to and from the stadium?
Of course they can’t.
Win, lose or draw no Celtic fan should be given the option of running the gauntlet. That decision has to be taken out of their hands.
Not only would a favourable res12 result be some justice for the clubs and fans (of those clubs) who were systematically cheated for years…
… it would open a Pandora’s Box of ocean-going proportions regarding two rather important issues as I see it.
1- the corrupt and subservient SFA would be exposed for their part in the whole swindle. Hopefully enough to bring their house down completely.
2- the old iBrokes and Rainjuurz schism would be brought to the fore – hopefully on an international scale.
‘The Green Doncaster Regan Paradox’ will need to be thoroughly and honestly addressed. Not least by the co-conspirators in the Scottish media.
I can hear the arguments now…
“We arra peepul! The mighty Rainjuurz. Worlds most successful club… 54 league titles …blah blah!”
Ok then – so you’ll be taking your punishment both financially and in retrospective with compensation to the clubs affected?
“But but but…. we are a new club – that wasn’t our wrongdoings…. you can’t punish us for what another club did!”
Ok then – so you aren’t the Worlds most successful club with 54 titles, 5 stars on the shirt etc. Blah blah?!?
“Eeeer. At but .. no but aye .. but that wiz the company .. no ra club !
It’s going to be fun !
Rainjuurz 1872/3
Or
Sevco 2012
Which will I be?
Res 12. Sounds like a story that should interest the scottish press.
It is not just Celtic supporters who are asking questions on Res.12 – the pressure group Fans Without Scarves have written an open letter to the Celtic Board asking them to push this matter with the SFA . For once we are not alone in fighting the corruption at the heart of Scottish football .
I really hope that this is raised tomorrow and that the shareholders force the club to do what they should have done years ago. This is long overdue being taken seriously by Celtic and action is needing to be taken to remedy what was basically fraud.
Your sadly deluded if you think Celtic PLC will do anything other than pay the smallest amount of lip service to the Res12 team.
As I have pointed out on numerous occasions Celtic are first and foremost a business and the untaxed hordes of Greyskull are good for business.
They have had ample opportunity to put down the Frankenstein creation from Govan but chose not to.
SEVCO supporters really need to show the Celtic board a whole lot more respect than they do,they are after all some of their biggest fans.
UEFA, in all probability, really don’t give a fiddler’s fuck about what happens, in what they clearly consider, a football backwater like Scotland. IF they ever can be persuaded to look into it just remember that the funny handshake club has a powerful and worldwide membership. I’d love to be wrong on this but in my heart of hearts I can’t see the SFA ever being held to account on this.
The SFA can be held to account.
This can be done by boycotting any of their games.
The power in Football has always been in the hands of the Supporter all it takes is for them to unite and take these barstewards to task.
Boycott the Cups.
Send a clear message and hit them in the SKY rocket as they have just signed a new deal with Murdochs Propaganda Platform.
Fair enough,Yes,they can be held to account,but what Chargers saying is CFC have no appetite for that scenario,sadly I concur with him on this.
It is a complete scandal that it is permitted,but,We have to be honest here,for it looks like nothing will be done.There’s always hope for the right action to be taken,but the reach of the shake hands brigade is far,wide and sadly effective.
I hope I’m so wrong with this,We shall see what transpires @ the AGM.
Scotland’s clubs must take charge and elect a new governing body,for if it is set up by the present incumbants it will almost certainly be as corrupt as the last,and for that matter,every sfa that preceded it.
It’s time now that this was dealt with. The Directors can’t fudge on this any longer. Also how come Sevco can make wild statements about referees? They have benefited for decades ftom dodgy / dubious decisions since I followed the game. I’m now 65 and nothing has changed. The game in Scotland has and always will be corrupt. It’s now time to stand up to this crap.
A new club Sevco, who still think they have the high ground like their predecessors. The sooner this aborition of club dies the better.
Yes this might be all true, but maybe the question should be is UEFA as corrupt as all the other entities in football seem to be?
The answer is simple. Yes! They are!