Firstly, I hope that you are well and in good form wherever you are.
If you’re self-isolating, then hello from Dún na nGall!
At times like this, it is important to have a brief diversion from the appalling vista of the world of Coivid-19 and focus, however briefly, on the frivolous and ridiculous.
Consequently, Mr Keith Jackson has done the state some service today.
Mr Jackson’s claim that King leaves Sevco in a better state after five years at the helm is preposterous.
“The Rangers he leaves behind is unrecognisable in comparison to the basket case he took over.”
That sentence alone has irony on a Dyson ventilator.
If you really must you can read it all here.
This chap on Twitter rather nailed it.
Of course, any evidence-based journalism, as opposed to the Daily Radar variety would look at what had happened over the five years of King’s reign of error.
Indeed, even before the Off Licence Putsch of March 2015 his agitation to oust the previous board was dodgy.
Of course, that is the view taken by the Takeover Panel.
The inconvenient truth is that in March 2015 Sevco was within SIX months of breaking even.
In helping to oust that regime the Ibrox klanbase ushered in the Convict Chairman who would fund the operation with their money.
At the last conclave of the Sevco High Command, it was pointed out to the Convict Chairman that his self-inflicted litigations had cost the cash strapped club over £4m.
Let’s just say that there isn’t a lot of love for Dave in the Blue Room now.
It should be remembered that the final bill for the Sevco car boot sale has yet to drop and there is also the case of the Memorial Walls.
That’s yet another contractual own goal by the Conveyancing Consigliere.
It is worth noting that Sevco’s inhouse legal genius was King’s man here on Planet Fitba carrying out orders issued from his Johannesburg Laager.
This is potentially a very happy time for the Ibrox klanbase.
Firstly, there are no football matches to be played.
Therefore, there is nothing to prevent the Stenography Corps from getting fresh consignments of succulent hope through to the klan.
Therefore, I was not surprised to see Mr McColl and Mr Souness paraded on the back pages.
If you think that this represents genuine journalism, then just keep taking the tabloids.
Perhaps we should spare a thought for the Ibrox klanbase in these days of social distancing.
No football matches mean that they cannot congregate in enough numbers to indulge in their racist performance art.
Your humble correspondent is spending more time than usual in the study.
Over the weekend I resumed a beautiful friendship that has lasted over four decades.
There was a time when my email was Meursault@….
This one seems appropriately apposite at the moment.
However, the enigmatic Pied-Noir remains his greatest legacy.
Of course, the Ibrox klanbase have their own literature to comfort them in these existentially absurd times.
Out Cider.
The Taig.
I personally hope that Mr Jackson will now turn his hand to literary criticism.
We could all do with the hilarity.
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I vote for Park to post a video of himself doing the keepy uppy challenge with Sevco.
I’d love to see him doing keepy-uppy with sevco’s incoming Bill’s. 😄
Who will go into admin first, Rangers or Park’s empire ? No one is playing football, no one is buying cars, no-one is hiring buses, no-one is riding buses if they can avoid it.
Alex Rae’s desperate wishful thinking about Park’s turnover of “hundreds of millions a year” in the Sun is naive beyond words.Or is it ignorance beyond words ?
Turnover is vanity. Margin is sanity.
For example, Tesco turn over “millions of millions a year”, but their margin (profit to non-accountants) after costs and servicing debts is around 7%. Is Park’s any higher ?
It doesn’t take much of a slowdown to wipe 7% off the bottom line – any more and the banks are closing in for their interest payments and shares are nose-diving as shareholders bale out.
There’s a very good chance that Park’s empire is facing similar calculations to RIFC – just with a few more zeros.
Has Park just taken the biggest hospital pass in business history from King ?
I really don`t think anyone should be taking satisfaction from the possible demise of Park`s businesses.
There are many people depending on this company for a better living than Celtic give to their workers.
If hating or following a football team is more important than people`s livelihood to you then all I can say is… God help you!
You see no satisfaction from me sir – because there is none. Perhaps you need to re-calibrate your sensibilities in these changed times.
Hospital baw pure genius
Whenever McColl is rolled out you know it’s desperation time.
When they roll him out twice and double down you know it’s death in days.
McColl is the sum total of positive soundbites. In other words….. pish!
There is no medium term.
Phil, do interm financial results not have to be submitted by the end of March for European licences ?
The rangers international football club have not released theirs yet, does this mean they won’t get a licence for European football when the game starts back?
Paul
I expect UEFA will slip this date as they slip start/end of the season in these extraordinary times.
Also, there’s manna from heaven for zombie businesses (you know who you are) as rules on trading while insolvent are relaxed temporarily: https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/28/uk-relax-insolvency-rules-help-firms-weather-storm-coronavirus-12471353/
Of course – this is just flattening the curve of business failures – and many healthier than Ranger will soon be no more.
Football in Scotland stopped on the 13th of March, no games shouldn’t mean that they can’t submit paper work. 31 of march is the deadline, they should of submitted their paperwork before then surely incase of mistakes. The SFA can then give them the paperwork back to fix mistake before the deadline.
I posted a thread in follow follow asking about this but I got banned
Celtic have won nine titles in a row.
Season 20/21 will start late, in September at the earliest. Sevco cannot survive until September. I presume they’ve met march payroll but cash flow shows no funds for April payroll.
At Celtic, five months wages or £25m wipes out the Tierney transfer money. Celtic burn £5m a month or £60m a year on wages. A 50% wage cut keeps everyone in jobs at a cost of £12.5m through to Sept.
Jackson is going round in circles (as usual) to confuse his bloo readership and then cajoles King for money during covid19 to save his legacy.
That’s all.
Zero trophies in five years is his legacy plus delisting, no NOMAD and cold shoulder.
Then there’s share price crash, over sold shares, futile legal cases and indebtedness.
King knows any money now is just slightly putting off liquidation. Good after bad. He’s right!
Strange headlines re McColl considering what the DR quoted him as saying.
“And in fact we were approached recently to say if we were interested in looking at it again,
Not that I’ll ever do it but it’s nice to think about them being 22 points ahead of Celtic.”
Note the “Not that I’ll ever do it”. How does that sit with him thinking about investing?
Covid19 is man made,wether it is lab made,or by food markets.One things for sure the politician’s have f****d up the world.Numbers don’t add up,as the dead are included with the normal numbers that occur every day,but it is easy to blame everything on Covid19.Questions need to be asked by the press,not just follow the official line,remember the government did not follow the rest of the world in the early stage.Can we trust these people,as they are telling us that the NHS is receiving the proper PPE,yet when the nurses or doctors are interviewed it is a different story.
We are still not disinfecting large areas of the country,why not?
The situation at present suits the politicians,as people are still adjusting to the changes,but as time passes focus will change,and people will question why they took such actions.
The Daily Ranker is on its last legs already and Covid 19 may well just finish the job with people not buying papers any more due to self isolation and shut shops.
Oh dear what a pity never mind.
As they say round these parts………
It’s aw made up pish.
Millionaires/billionaires aren’t stupid,the clues in the aforementioned.
This story was shot doon in flames just yesterday by Chic Young,deejay extraordinaire and seemingly a close friend of ’sourness.‘
Although it is typical of that rag to have a exclusive ‘scoop’ only for it to be proven total BS,sometimes in the same day they’re publish.In fact,Phil,the sports journos at the dr have stolen your work and claimed it to be their own on a few occasions.
We Celtic fans know BS,mainly because it’s featured in the dr.Anything in that rag must be checked by the reader,although any normal person would assume that’d be done before printing.That’s just not their forte @dr,and that’s if they one at all.
This time last week it was a guy called Stuart Gibson who was due to invest millions into TRFC. This week it’s Jim McColl. I wonder who it will be next week. I know that this self isolating can get pretty tedious but there’s no need to make up these silly games.
So we had Jim McColl wheeled out the other day along with Souness to talk up the club and keep the Klan happy . Now tonight it’s the turn of one of their EBTs for a special guest star appearance in Barry Ferguson praising Mr Parks . Wha a shrewd businessman he said Mr Parks is and that sevco are in SAFE hands oh dear . Oh dear another Klan member with blinkers on and obviously someone that can’t add up . Unless it involves an EBT .
Oh dear…Mr J has been sniffing the old Evo Stik again, ah the wild days of my youth spring to mind up at Ruchill hospital with a half pinter and a golden wonder bag of cheese and onion.
Strange how some things trigger strange memories.
If Gibson has had a look at the latest interims, with a full year forecast likely to make last’s years figures appear healthy, he will up sticks and get out of Dodge before he’s sucked in to the Edmiston Drive black hole.
Bad enough that they continue to trade at a loss, following in the footsteps of SDM,but the total legal costs incurred must be astronomical and Sports Direct and Memorial Walls may not be the last to air their grievances in a court of law.
Close Bros and anyone else with a financial stake in the game will be closely monitoring the situation at Ibrox.
With mixed messages about future ‘investment’ and the next transfer window a few months away the timing of King’s departure is strange.
The gushing praise given to King by the Scottish media and how he has left the club stronger on and off the park may yet come back to bite them on the bum.
No doubt under Gerrard the playing squad has undeniably improved but at a financial cost, however off the park it’s been one court case after another, with the merchandising shambles still rumbling on with a huge bill expected soon.
Their fans delight in the financial woes of Hearts and Aberdeen seemingly unaware that their own club’s problems are off the scale compared to other SPFL teams and that was before the pandemic arrived.
Don,t think they,ve improved, the magic hat took them to a Scottish Cup Final. I know Gerards team [His expensive team] reached a league cup final but so has Inverness and Dundee Utd. Also Kilmarnock, St Mirren,and Ross County were winners! NO, I dont think they,ve improved unlike the broken record.
Rangers 2012, the bright house of the footballing world.
A business model (stop laughing) that was always doomed from the start
A complete public relations disaster
Screwing over customers for the benefit of the owners
Completely vulnerable and gullible customers
A product so damaged even Gerald ratners endorsements couldn’t harm it further
At a time when no companies are making money and the share index is falling there is not one single person ,no matter how much cash they have, willing to ” invest ” in a football club that has no income and no idea when any money will be made. Mc Coll will ” invest ” in “Rangers” only to purchase the assets when they are liquidated. However he had the chance before and refused so why would he do so now?
The one question is who have tendermeatballs the go ahead to attack the lying king? It would appear that when someone falls out of favour they wolfs circle.
So Chris Jack service’s are longer required at the Evening Rangers and he has received his P45 . Not to worry though Mathew Lindsay is still there to carry on his mantle by attempting to write and talk up Jim McColl and his investment in the wait for this 54 times champions of Scotland oh dear . How desperate are sevco and their supporters in the press when they are running with this DROSS Lol the quicker this so called newspaper goes out of circulation the better .
Pete Hamill of Rolling Stone Magazine wrote the sleeve notes for Dylan’s 1974 album Blood on the Tracks It begins:
“In the end, the plague touched us all, it was not confined to the Oran of Camus”
Strange how certain memories are triggered.
My mate’s daughter worked for McColl in East Kilbride… She’s got a Ph.D. in Engineering…she lasted 3 months…said the guy was a buffoon ( her words ) .
As for Graeme Peeness…who gives a flying feck??..he’s a twat…( my words ).
I would love both of them to rock up at Sevco…
But we all know they won’t.
When will this circus finally fold its tents and disappear ?
Bufoons DON’T achieve what he has in the business world.
The President of the most powerful Nation on Earth would seem to be a glaring contradiction to that theory.
That’s the bufoon who once said, “All my dad gave me to start off was a measly million dollars.”
Mind you, that $1m was the best part of fifty years ago.
They didn’t exactly start on an even footing.
Starting with that amount of money back then, it would have been more difficult NOT to succeed.
Indeed they do. 30 years of dealing with them leaves me with no doubt whatsoever. Johnstone is PM, Trump POTUS & Rita Ora has a ‘singing’ career. Nuff said
Firstly. Boris is NOT a businessman.
Secondly. See my reply to Cyan regarding Trump.
Thirdly. Who the FUCK is Rita Ora? I’ve NEVER heard of her.
You really have to ask/wonder why this form of journalism is allowed?
1/ To pander to the readership……..the idea being that the largest demographic of Radar readers are Sevco fans
2/ He’s been instructed to write such drivel
3/ He genuinely believes above drivel
4/ He’s trying to remain relevant by writing such obvious nonsense to get a reaction
5/ He’s worried about his windows
I personally stopped buying that paper once the Hibs fans were accused on their front page of assaulting ALL of the Sevco players after the cup final. The press were as much to blame for the death of the original Rangers as anyone else, the way its going all that there current moonbeams are doing is putting the Klan into a false sense of security. Again. Good!
Well, to be fair, by the Law of Averages the DR HAS to get it right at least once about the Ibrox club?
So, perhaps McColl is really going to swoop in as the TRFC saviour, with Souness as manager or Sporting Director, with a significant warchest for high profile signings?
Ok, McColl could have bought the whole shooting match at Ibrox for c.£5.5M back in 2012.
But, as a true blue, he won’t mind pumping in the extra £30M/£40M+ now to keep the lights on.
I can only see two slight drawbacks with the DR’s reporting though.
McColl is – relatively – skint.
Souness wouldn’t touch ANYTHING with a smelly stick unless there’s money in it for him, and preferably a lot of money for him.
Ibrox has been running on fumes for so long now, that it’s soon to be Parked up!
Nobody’s coming to help. 🙂
Camus’s La Peste is, indeed, a book for our times. Maybe others have suggestions for reading material during lockdown (Phil’s blog is already top of my list). You could also recommend something to educate the likes of the lesser read Keith Jackson… I’d suggest Keith Waterhouse’s study of a working-class lad’s funny but delusional flights of the imagination, as he pluckily fails to escape his dead-end job in a funeral home…Billy Liar (sounds like a job description for certain sports outlets). HH
Hermann Hesse’s “The Glass Bead game”.
As one billionaire does walking away, another pop up according to that rag… I read the article on the blower chap, apparently he donated 10,000 shares to a fan group. Would that be 10,000 shares in the TRIFC or the holding company???
The article he attempts to write is nothing short of embarrassing. But once again you have to call the editor into question here as well . This kind of dross has to get run by him first and then he approves it . P45s should be getting dished at the daily ranger like confetti. Waddell should not have been the only one to go over there . From what I can see they have 3 sevco bloggers writing for them and I mean so called bloggers not friendly journalists. On another matter someone needs to check in on wee Coco to see if he has sobered up yet . His chairman left his club by the back door on Friday night and wee Coco ain’t mentioned his departure in any if his articles since then . Maybe Bamber Gascoigne still thinks he is there .
Phil – your comment about the plan’s choice of literary material is somewhat wide of the mark. It’s more likely that their level of intellect stretches as far as:
MY BIG COLOURING-IN BOOK
SUDOKU FOR DUMMIES (you put the number 1 in each of the 9 squares)
Or for the more discerning and intellectual among them, there’s:
JANET AND JOHN
SPOT THE DOG (although you’d need to explain that Spot is not a dairy cow)
CHILDREN’S ALPHABET.
Any one of those times should see them safely through to the end of this lo down. They might even get as far as reading the preface of their second choice of reading material.
You are spot on with the Janet and John stuff . Maybe they could try and follow the bouncing ball on the screen .
I think a lot of people forget that rangers own their own ground ,they have agreed to honour the memorial walls which actually rangers asked to build the amount,in question is a million,ashleys bill is no more than a million and he was ordered to pay the cost at the last court date .Season ticket money was already paid for the remaining games this season, and rangers do not get any money for match day food as they dont own the food stalls although matchday hospitality will be a loss.Close bros I am not privy to how much outstanding the account cortails.The pitch is being relaid at no extra cost.Next seasons renewals are not sent out yet to the fan base.There is still a poor wifi system in place.This information is correct at time of writing.Stay safe phil and all and remember it’s only a game.
Oh dear…
You.MUST be at the wind up.
I name you Keith Jackass …and claim my £10 prize !
Stir crazy, keep sniffing the glue, don’t forget your donations to the cause keep paying.
Stay safe and healthy,
Hail Hail