I can fully understand why any football club in a parlous financial situation would want to lobby against close door matches.
However, public safety must be of paramount importance and this new strain of coronavirus doesn’t seem to be messing around.
As I wrote earlier today it is an unforeseen consequence of something totally unconnected to football.
However, we are where we are.
For the avoidance of doubt, I do not believe that Mr Gerrard is where he wants to be.
The Sevco dream job has become a nightmare and the Sevco High Command has picked up the vibe from the Ibrox klanbase.
My information is that the ex-Liverpool legend is being advised to stay put for the moment.
As I have previously reported he is essentially unsackable due to the terms of his contract.
Therefore, he has To Do Walking Away for free.
My information is that he has let it be known that if he DOES stay then he will want a greater spend next summer than he had last year.
Oh dear…
Now, I’m sure that Rugger Guy is eagerly awaiting the Sevco interim accounts.
Those are the ones that will be part of their application to UEFA for permission to play in European competitions next season.
I understand that unaudited interims may not suffice for the folks in Nyon and this has been communicated to Sevco by the SFA.
No biggie then…
Meanwhile, the Sevco High Command are not entirely united on their esteemed leader.
I’m told that a recent award-winning piece in the Daily Radar about the indecision of the Convict Chairman was prompted by several chaps in the Blue Room.
Quite simply, they want him totally gone or back and, as Mr Gerrard would have it, “all in”.
Somethings remain the same, which is a comfort in these worrying times.
I was encouraged to note that squirrel production at Sevco has not suffered because of that fekkin pangolin.
For example, the breathless exclusive that Chelsea wanted a Scottish feeder club on the back of the undoubted success of ex-Sevco starlet Billy Gilmour is a case in point.
What cannot be dismissed as an arboreal rodent is that any interruption of matchday revenues from the likes of corporate catering would hit Sevco’s cashflow situation very hard indeed.
Really, the Serious Professional and his colleagues don’t need this stuff.
It must be like a scene from Der Untergang there just now.
I just hope that Steiner can get through with supplies of Red Bull for the goalie!
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Last year, King magically produced year-end accounts (at December 2018) that claimed to show a 5.2M Pound profit for the period. When the actual full year accounts were produced, the ones that were audited, they showed a LOSS for the year of 11.3M Pounds. Never underestimate King’s ability to make up numbers, or for the ability of the SFA to make things work on their behalf!
The word on the street this pishing wet morning is that when infection levels reach a specific number the league will be stopped there and then. The standings at that point will determine the Title, European placces and relegation.
Play-off promotion/relegation? That seems unclear.
It would also probably screw up any chance of a Quadruple Treble as it’s not likely that the league would be halted and the Cup continued.
The word also is that clubs have been informed of this scenario (could that be why Celtic season tickets have been put on sale THREE WEEKS early)9 and TWO, not ONE, are not at all happy.
One of them needs cash desperately. One of them would go straight down.
Oh aye, Scotland shouldn’t get overly vexed about qualification for the Euro’s. Looks like they’re not going ahead either.
Dunno where that 9 after the brackets came from!!
The Rangers have had a disastrous five years under King.
He told them to chase out a billionaire with a global sports apparel distribution company. And back him. Because he is a real Rangers man. And everything would be better under him. Winning games and trophies would be won. Celtic would be allowed to win 40% but The Rangers 60%.
Celtic has won three trebles whilst TRIFC have been in the top tier under King. The League cup is in the Celtic trophy room and the SPFL all but done.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Ten in a row for Celtic with TRFC on ZERO.
Add the SPFL 🏆 and who knows about the Scottish cup? But we know TRFC are out of it.
Spiv patter merchant has lied to them and duped them for 5 years. When will they wise up?
Eeaassyy….I personally think they’ve had a brilliant five years under him. Long may he stay at the helm.
Germany is the 7th most severe Coronavirus country out of 109 countries with infections.
It has 1,224 cases.
Germans shouldn’t be allowed to come here.
50,000 Scottish people should not be gathering at the same venue. It’s madness.
“Wait and see” is a reckless strategy of allowing the virus to hit us like Italy. That’s what happens when you “wait and see”.
Thank god China didn’t “wait and see”. No lessons learned here innUK.
We must close down all large gatherings. IMMEDIATELY. The Scottish government is endangering all people over 60, the ill and the very young.
I suppose getting rid of 5% of the population over 60, the union voters, gets them closer to 50% and independence.
I’m over Sixty, considerably over, and I’m sure as fuck a unionist of ANY description!!
NOT A UNIONIST!!! That should have read.
I suppose after a bad year of coronavirus most clubs in Europe could be picked up on the cheap.
It won’t take a govt decision to close sports stadiums, fans will stop going for their own safety.
Correct! Why would young eejits congregate together and bring coronavirus back to their grannies and grandads or parents with heart, lung and other problems. High blood pressure, diabetes, angina, etc… or wives, girlfriends with young babies? Self isolation should be everyone’s mantra.
Only one new case reported in China last 24 hours. Only one death. At its peak it was 2,500 new cases per day and 140 deaths. Self isolation for everyone is the answer.
Young eejits congegrate because it’s what young eejits do. Always have and always will.
UEFA have always demanded audited accounts. Just because Rangers simultaneously publish some unaudited fairytale around this time of year does not mean that that’s the same piece of paper that gets sent to Nyon.
And it’s not just the matchday catering that Rangers will lose by playing games behind closed doors. Look again at page 52 of their accounts:
Of the total trade receivable balance of £19,037,000 … £9,832,000 relates to amounts due from merchant service providers. Such assets held by the merchant service provider are released to the Club over the course of the season.
Rangers’ credit card company is worried that they will go tits up this year. They don’t want to have to pay refunds to all the season ticket holders who paid by card. Therefore they have been holding on to all that season ticket money and releasing it game by game, roughly half a million for each home game. So if games go behind closed doors, who knows what happens to the outstanding balance. I’m betting that the bank will hold on to it until all arguments are resolved. It could be another court case, if Rangers stay solvent long enough. Can their cash flow cope with another £3 million pound hole.
Suddenly, having £40 million sitting in the bank looks like a very sensible policy.
£40 million in the bank with talk like that you will have the so called journalists and pundits like Keevins calling it a sporting advantage. Only last night he told a sevco fan who spoke way back when Souness was the manager aye but Souness was there when it was a level playing field . Wee Shug got away with it without being challenged on it as if it is not a level playing field now . The start of a new week and another one of Slippys auld pals talking him up this time Charlie Adam who quotes Slippy as another success at sevco . That’s 5 in a week let’s see who is wheeled out today or later in the week.
The King situation is a funny one indeed, you have a convicted chairman that is being cold shouldered you have on the board or stepping away from it! When you are spilling your guts begging whoever’s going to give you five minutes trying to get a sponsorship deal, what exactly are you going to tell them?
Blame all of the last sponsorship shambles on King and tell them he now has no influence on the board. On the other hand King is still the majority shareholder and made a very big deal about the last injecting of cash that went into Sevco before Christmas. No body is going to believe he has just walked away into the sunset. In fact how could they trust any director that they are talking to that they are not just fronting up for a tax avoiding conviction criminal working in the wings!
Add to that you now have the Klan after watching another season without a trophy and the league over by February wondering who is actually steering the ship as Celtic gear up for Ten In A Row!
Sports Direct look like odds on favourite to be Sevcos sponsors next season. Can just see another pound being flicked across the table 😄
I really hope not. I DON’T want a genuine billionaire anywhere near the place.
When it comes to trusting King I generally refer myself to a comment someone previously made about him. Possibly on this site. “If Dave King told you he was lying, you wouldn’t believe him!”
The whole SD/Sevco scenario is a bit of a conundrum to me. Big Mike undoubtedly has them by the short hairs. But WHAT does he actually WANT.
Normally my immediate thought would be he wants his cash. And normally when he smells blood, or money, he goes for the jugular. However, on this issue, he has, as Phil has put it many times, played the long game. AND been happy to do so. Why?
Undoubtedly he is so wealthy that anything SD get from Sevco would be pocket change to him. So is it personal? Between him and King? If so how could he best humiliate DK?
Take his toy away from him? Sevco? I can’t see King just giving up his shares as a pay out. And I simply can’t see MA letting King off that easily.
New Oasis, aka DK, own 25% give or take the odd decimal point, of Sevco shares.
Park, Taylor, Scott, Latham and Bennett between them own just shy of 36.5%.
How strong is their commitment to watching their investments dilute with every new DK scheme/scam? If they were offered a way out that gave them at least some of their money back would they take it?
If Ashley offered to buy them all out he would fall into takeover panel territory. He could though buy out the two major holders of the group along with any one other and have more voting power than King. A voting pact with the others or one of the corporate share blocs would see him with enough of a say to render any alliance between King and club18-30 impotent.
King would be stuck with worthless shares and virtually no say in the running of the club.
Ach, maybe I’m just too Machiavellian for my own good!
MA can’t buy above 9.9% unless he sells Newcastle first. It would require some sort of stalking horse to buy out the 5 bears.
They need 75% of votes to have more share issues to dilute DK’s influence. Him being on 25% may be how he intends blocking any attempt to remove him.
Why would he have to sell his stake in Newcastle? There’s plenty of precedent for dual club ownership in different leagues. Olympiacos and Notts Forrest have the same owner for instance. Red Bull own multiple clubs.
That would be an interesting business model for the Scottish market. Sevco fans don’t buy from Sports Direct because they hate Mike Ashley and Celtic fans don’t by from Sports Direct as Mike Ashley owns Sevco. What ever next…
I tried to find the story about Chelsea and the Scottish feeder club to send to a Klan “friend” and it has mysteriously disappeared….oh dear
Never saw the story. But surely the mighty Rangers could NOT settle for being a mere feeder club. ALTHOUGH they do like to blame Chelsea fans every time there’s a wee, or big, bit of trouble anywhere near them. Having Chelsea in any kins of close proximity could be handy.
Any kind.
Changed days from the David Murray glory years when RFC were going to buy Manchester City as a feeder club !
I guess if TRFC was to suffer from a seriously reduced income as a result of measures to contain coronavirus…
then we could all put it down to Karma.
The Ibrox club should really have accepted that £20M – or was it £30M – offer from that/those unnamed Chinese club(s).
🙂