[soi 2]

Nice one, Old Crust.

Fuck Neil Lennon and his 'financial doping' nonsense. The Celtic minded SPL and their kangaroo courts.

Rangers did nothing wrong. HMRC practically destroyed Rangers for this. If only that crook Craig Whyte hadn't appeared...

[soi 2]

Front page news of every paper in Scotland today. Rangers won.


Triumphant Tuesday

“Where were you when you heard Rangers had won the Big tax Case?”

I am sure that will become a question that bears ask each other down through the years.

http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/201...phant-tuesday/

[soi 2]

Great article from Jim Traynor in the Daily Record.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/f...er-win-1447935

RANGERS have had many massive triumphs in their time, especially the 3-2 win over Moscow Dynamo in the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.

But yesterday’s result will surely go down as the most significant in their history. It wasn’t even played out on a pitch.

This victory came inside a stuffy office somewhere along Edinburgh’s George Street.

But even though no one kicked a ball, Rangers’ 2-1 win in the First Tier Tax Tribunal represents one of their greatest successes.

And it should bring an end to one of the longest and, given the behaviour of so many mean spirited and malicious individuals, certainly one of the most shameful tax cases in Scottish history.

Murray Group Holdings and Others were contesting a potential tax liability of £87million (made up mostly of penalties) and if there is to be a bill it will come to no more than £2m but probably even less.

This will be in combined penalties against individuals who may be guilty of minor breaches of technicalities.

But the point is Rangers were brought to their knees by a debt which was never real.

And they became victims of a case which should not have been allowed to run in the first place. Long and complex, it has cost something like £5m in legal fees. But at the end of it all there remains one unanswered question: Why?

What was the point and what were the real motives behind the zeal with which some in HMRC, and the media, tackled this case? This is not to say the Revenue shouldn’t try to reclaim money when they believe it’s due. It must be stressed they should but there are aspects of this case which deserve to be scrutinised closely and perhaps they will, if some of them people denigrated and wronged decide to take legal action.

This case has been about money but there has been a greater cost.

There has been a heavy human cost, too. Innocents, Rangers fans, for instance, have been damaged and so have former directors, especially Martin Bain.

And what was his crime? He inherited the EBT controversy but managed to hold his club together at a time when it seemed the entire country was pounding at the red facade of Ibrox. But there was no gratitude. Bain, and others, were wrongly accused of malpractice. They, Rangers, were all guilty. Fact.

Their persecutors, an alarming number of other clubs and their fans, should be hiding in shame this morning, or breaking cover only to apologise. Fat chance.

Blind hatred and poison has saturated this case which could actually have paid off for HMRC. They were offered £10m two years ago to settle but refused, probably because they wanted a trophy win to set a precedent which would allow them to pursue hundreds of other companies for untold millions.

But they failed. Yesterday two of the three judges ruled Rangers’ EBT system was a form of loans and not taxable after all.

And yet, because the tax man insisted Rangers owed them £50m, a catastrophic chain of events then unfolded.

No one wanted to touch a club with a potential bill of that size hanging over them and eventually Rangers fell into the wrong hands, the hands of a man who really didn’t pay tax and who then caused one of Europe’s biggest clubs to slide into liquidation.

But let’s be clear on this, the Revenue’s demand for payment, which it has now been declared invalid, started Rangers’ slide towards the precipice. Companies who sell cups of coffee and mobile phones can escape payments for hundreds of millions but Rangers?

No chance. They were chased and backed into a corner for piddling amounts by comparison. Amounts they didn’t even owe. Of course David Murray is responsible for selling but he was being pressed by a bank, who wanted rid of the club. They didn’t like the bad publicity their squeezing of Rangers attracted and Donald Muir, their man on the Ibrox board, wasn’t about to let Craig Whyte’s offer pass by.

The rest is history but it is a bitter and twisted chapter in a story which shines a light on a side of this country which should embarrass us. So many people wanted Rangers shut, or at least cut down and now they know there was nothing illegal in what was done with EBT payments they should take a good look at themselves.

Sadly, they just wanted to believe Rangers were guilty and it became popular belief that this lot really did owe almost £90m in tax. People spoke matter of factly about Rangers being tax cheats and there was such a groundswell against the club few were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The facts were trampled as the crowds rushed to dance on Rangers’ grave.

Even people who should have known better were swept along in the rush to accuse and condemn Rangers or anyone who dared say, ‘hold on, shouldn’t we wait until the real financial experts rule.’

But now we all know the truth, although we haven’t a clue as to the identities of those at the centre of this sorry saga.

Bizarrely an anonymised form of the tribunal’s ruling was published yesterday revealing that evidence had been delivered by Mr Red, Mr Purple, Mr Turquoise, Mr Yellow, Mrs Scarlet and other colourful people.

Neither Quentin Tarantino nor the makers of Cluedo could have done a better job of disguising characters yet the identities of those who had received loans in the form of EBT while at Rangers were leaked routinely to
journalists and bloggers.

But the Revenue didn’t want the names of any of their people out in there in the public domain. Why? Because we’d then know who had rejected the £10m? Or was it felt they had to be protected for other reasons?

But there are names on various emails and documents in circulation and maybe one day soon there will be greater transparency as a case which has brought so much strife to the game is finally put to rest.

We can argue until the end of time about whether the Rangers in question still exist or whether the history with all its glories, defeats, highs and lows remains intact. But one crucial truth cannot and should not be lost.

Rangers, we know, were stricken, taken down by a fantasy tax bill. They were declared guilty before trial.

Rangers, as a brand, was tarnished because HMRC said they owed tax on EBT payments which the club had always argued were loans. Yesterday two of the three judges agreed. So HMRC, who had insisted an initial tax and National Insurance bill of £37m, which climbed to £87m, be paid, were left with nothing. They say they’ll appeal but it could be argued they’ve caused more than enough damage.

Besides, even if they’d won their case yesterday they still wouldn’t have got anything out of the Rangers they had pursued. They were forced into liquidation, remember.

And the real bottom line in all of this? Rangers’ closure was all so unnecessary and the turmoil and upheaval caused could have been avoided. Despite accusations Rangers did nothing wrong. Pity the same can’t be said of all those self-proclaimed experts, bloggers and journalists.

Rangers will be clobbered they had said. The verdict will be damning. Rangers will be shown up as cheats, they squealed.

It’s clear now who the guilty parties are and Rangers are not among them.

Isn't there an appeal by the taxman going on so maybe a 2-1 win may yet be shafted in injury time ?

I think this is a saga that may go on and on for years.

[soi 2]

Thing is ROLAND, Rangers 'oldco' are finished. If the taxman was to appeal then they would get nothing.

In some ways this is a hollow victory. HMRC have already destroyed Rangers with the case making them unsellable and the threats of however many millions of fines. The only good thing is that as Rangers have done nothing illegal, the allegations of cheating have to stop.

If that crook Craig Whyte hadn't bought Rangers we could have been playing Champions League football this week.

That's true, maybe if they hadn't have panicked and sold up to the shyster then they wouldn't be in the mess now and neither would the SPL.

I suppose all they can do is look forwards now and not back.

[soi 2]

Originally Posted by ROLAND

That's true, maybe if they hadn't have panicked and sold up to the shyster then they wouldn't be in the mess now and neither would the SPL.

I suppose all they can do is look forwards now and not back.

It was Llyods Bank that forced David Murray to sell. I feel sorry for him to a degree in all of this. His reputation has taken a battering. While he was responsible for some of the spending excesses of the past. He had no choice but to sell and with the uncertainty of the outcome of the tax case hanging over Rangers, only Craig Whyte was prepared to make an offer. What an incredible mess !

[bigphill67]

good news even if the pill leaves a bitter taste upwards and onwards gers

[roamer]

Hi

Quite probably in the club or general news but happened to read this in a newsletter I receive ( AIM stands for Alternative Investment Market, a junior division of the London Stock Exchange)





"Rangers International Football Club (RFC) listed on AIM, raising 22.2 million pounds before expenses. The firm issued 65,096,056 shares at 70p, giving an initial market capitalisation of 45.6 million pounds. The proceeds of the placing will be used to upgrade the club's Ibrox Stadium and to fund the acquisition of land around the ground. It is hoped that the admission will act as a springboard for the club to return to its glory days of dominating Scottish football after being demoted to the third division following administration earlier in the year. The shares closed at 76p."


Some more chat here ( IPO stands for Initial Public Offering) :


"Fans of Rangers’ IPO trot out that old million pound chestnut: it is different. The fat has been cut out and what remains is pure protein. Rangers’ die-hard supporters regularly turn up to fill the Ibrox stadium close to its 51,000 capacity. There is no debt, the expensive players have gone, leaving a team still well able to beat its rivals. Imagine, say followers, what Rangers could earn in sales of tickets and football shirts when it takes its rightful place in Scotland’s top league in a year or so.



At this point, the group’s backers become all misty-eyed and talk about cup wins, playing in Europe’s lucrative Champions League, selling TV rights for millions and juicy sponsorship deals.



Charles Green, Rangers’ far from dewy-eyed chief executive and a veteran of Sheffield United, reckons he can raise Rangers up without borrowing or overpaying for new talent. He has promised to cap the payroll at a third of revenues. That will be easy for the next year while Rangers is banned by the Scottish Football Association from transferring players.



However, it will be hard to hold the wage bill back once Rangers starts playing top-tier football where pay averages two-thirds of revenues. Soccer’s governing bodies may be pushing for greater financial discipline and player fees may come down, but it will take time.


Mr Green can only be sure of keeping his promise if he makes more of Rangers’ brand and revenues soar. Fans should brace themselves for a rise in ticket prices. The new merchandising deal signed with Sports Direct – whose owner, Mike Ashley, owns 8 per cent of Rangers – could really spice up revenues."




Someone else, obviously a Rangers fan was very quick to point out that Rangers market capitalisation( one measure of value) was already higher than Celtic`s.

[soi 2]

Originally Posted by roamer

Someone else, obviously a Rangers fan was very quick to point out that Rangers market capitalisation( one measure of value) was already higher than Celtic`s.

Good trivia fact I will make sure and drop that into conversations with twisted up Celtic fans at the gym.

The club have put a good spin on events. Less fans bought shares than it was hoped. But more corporate investors bought in. So the logic follows - big business thinks Rangers are going to do well.