The departure of Brendan Rodgers for the giddy heights of Leicester City FC has quite naturally been the lead story this week in Planet Fitba.
In another week though it should have been the financial machination of the Sevco High Command.
The hastily published interims have produced much sniggering in the Square Mile.
They are so at variance with the picture painted by the audited annual accounts put out last year as to be from a different financial universe.
Of course, this piece of creativity from south of the Limpopo was obediently regurgitated by the Stenography Corps.
Had there been proper journalistic scrutiny in play then these interim accounts would have produced scores of questions and pages of newsprint.
Then to give the story further legs Sevco had to go back to Close Brothers for another crisis loan.
I have tried to nail down the precise details of the arrangement.
What I have got so far is this:
More than £7.5m
The rates are worse than those last year and were described to me as “punitive”.
When I pressed my source further the only thing I would get out of him was “higher than credit card rates”.
A football club dealing with the distressed finance sector are usually looking to offload layers and realise equity in their squad.
I’m hearing that there was a fair and frank exchange of views at training this week between Señor Alfredo José Morelos Avilez and Mr Gerrard.
I’m told that the striker’s revelation to a Colombian radio station that he would likely leave Sevco in the summer came as something of a shock to his manager.
When challenged by his gaffer the response from the Colombian was that he was just repeating what he had been told by the chairman!
Awkward…
The fee that Sevco hope to get for the prolific striker would probably cover most, if not all, of the Close Brothers secured loan.
That’s the sort of story that the chaps on the sports desks should be chasing.
Of course, dear reader we both know that they will do no such thing.
Only good news stories are allowed about Ibrox.
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El Buffoon has 16 yellows and 4 reds in all games this season.
When does the totting up procedure kick in, if at all?
The Ibrox clubs fans are well aware that a booking for Morelos in the Dons replay will see him miss the semi final if they progress beyond Aberdeen.
I didn’t quite realise just how bad his disciplinary record was, it’s truly shocking.
Just as well Stevie G had a word with him asking the petted lip to calm down!
No one is going to pay north of £20m for someone who will be sitting in the stand seeing out his latest suspension.
Yet again on Sunday he had a petulant kick out at an opponent off the ball, not spotted by the officials, or under the new SFA laws a kick out is fine as long as it’s not too violent, so perhaps they did see it?
He just can’t help himself but there is always someone out there who thinks that they can turn him around and remove the idiocy from his game.
Best of luck with that one.
Can El Buffoon get through 90 minutes against the Dons, or more with extra time, without picking up a yellow or red card?
A yellow would be enough to see him suspended and miss the semi if they see off the Dons.
Lots of pressure on the match officials in this one as the Colombian can’t help himself no matter the urges of his manager.
BR says he hopes that time will be a healer and one day we will forgive him. I suggest he asks Maurice Johnston about that…I agree that some of the stuff levelled at him is unacceptable….but basically he shafted us….and he wouldn’t be welcome in our Local….ever.
I was of the understanding that transfer fees were paid in tranches, over time. So if that is indeed the case, then the most important detail of the Close Bros loan is when it has to be repaid by.
Even if Morelos were to realize the £8m in a fee, it removes the last player of any value in squad and thus places an even bigger burden on their finances next season. They are simply running out of cards in the house they building and it will all come crashing down.
I guess that those of a green and white persuasion, and who work in the Square Mile, would indeed be sniggering at those ‘interim numbers’.
But generally, RIFC/TRFC simply wouldn’t register in the City. At all.
An ex-plc, perennial financial basket case which regards corporate governance as optional.
And it only loses money. Every year.
RIFC/TRFC is immaterial and irrelevant within the Square Mile.
I am sure that with the compensation for BR. and wages saved on him and backroom staff, we could have offered a more competitive rate
Gerrard was quoted as saying that a couple of offers had been received for El Buffoon in the window but were quickly dismissed as the numbers didn’t quite hit the heights demanded.
Still the guts of 3 months to ST monies come in.
It was made quite clear from John Bennet recently that the days of the board writing cheques was over.
So it has come to pass and Close Bros are back on the scene with their dabs on everything at Ibrox that isn’t nailed down.
I’ve not seen or heard anything mentioned about this in the media or the Rangers blogs.
As per the recent interim good news P&L report you would expect on the back of a substantial profit that there was also a cash surplus. This is obviously not the case and calls into question the integrity of the interim numbers.
Given the continuing high cost base my money will be on yet another trading loss being reported in the full year audited accounts.
Funny if Morelos broke his leg and put an end to that one
As much as I dislike Morelos…
Along with those who have had the misfortune to suffer a broken leg playing football, I regard the above comment as out of order.
Much though I dislike El Duffalo and the club he plays for, a broken leg is no fun for anybody.
It would be absolutely disgraceful to wish harm on any human being; not sure Morelos qualifies. On another note, was it petty to cheer quite so enthusiastically today’s win by Watford?
NEVER funny when a player breaks his leg, even if he’s a wee shite-bag. Even wee shite-bags have to make a living.
Off topic, but just wanted to say how disgraceful some of the stuff that’s been said of Brendan since he left for pastures new. Sure the timing isn’t great, but he has been a massive success for us and we should be bloody grateful for him coming in when he did. Seven trophies and playing football that’s been a delight to watch. I for one wish him all the best for the future and will keep a keen eye on his efforts down south. Some of our fans have behaved appallingly over this and I never thought I would see fans of our club behave in such a disgraceful manner, more so after the success he has delivered. All the best to saint Lennie.
Agree about the style of football. The pressure for NL comes at CP with the 100% home record. The style we have seen in Edinburgh past two games might be better suited for away games in the SPL but it is yet to be tested at CP against 11 men behind the ball. We shall see
The threats to BR are not acceptable…
His achievements are noted…
But to myself and most Celtic fans he is a fraud who lied to the supporters and jumped ship at the worst time possible.
I personally hope he fails utterly at Leicester and regrets his ‘career move’ for the rest of his days.
When the 10 is being celebrated with a line up of invited guests and former managers I hope that BR is substituted with either a cardboard cut-out or a small pile of horse manure..
Either will get more respect than the man himself.
His arrogance and ‘me me me’ attitude only seems to get worse with his delusion about coming back to manage Celtic in the future.
He lied !
He’s been found out!
He continues to lie!
No sympathy!
No going back!
It wasn’t just a case of the timing not being great. The way that he went about his move seemed down right dirty.
He sneaked off in the night and took a major part of our coaching team with him. It’s clear now that he’s been looking for a big money move for months now.
During the summer, there was a WhatsApp message doing the rounds, I gave it little thought at the time and considered it as an example of the ‘pishful thinking’ among the Ibrox support that Phil has referred to, but it now seems that it wasn’t far off the mark.
No doubt some fans have gone too far but these will be the same fans that draw us into the media whataboutery who can then claim that one set of fans is the same as the other.
The timing is the crux of the matter and the fans are entitled to be angry and disappointed that he’s done the equivalent of a moonlight flit just as we round the last bend of the season.
Hero to zero in 24 hours.
He’s joined a club that sacked the manager that gave them a never to be repeated EPL title.
He’s gone for the money first and foremost to make himself a very rich man plus he will have access to the millions that TV monies bring to the EPL, though it won’t be top 6 millions, therefore Leicester will continue to float around mid table and think that’s exactly where they belong.
A cup win I heard a pundit put forward the other day would be a major success.
Really? Both the English cup competitions have no appeal for the big teams, in fact any of the EPL teams, as they all put out weakened teams right up to the semi final stages.
I for one will follow the Leicester results and like today, when they drop points, will wish Mr Rodgers the best of bad luck with the new club that he has pledged his life too.