Dibbles old paperboy

Strathclyde Police are seeking guarantees of being paid in full by RFC and the administrators for policing at all games at Ibrox and if no guarantee is given Saturday's game is off!

Even Craig Whyte is now putting r*ngers total tax liability at up to £75m, almost exactly the same amount as followers of the rangerstaxcase blog are familiar with... wee tax case (£4.2m including penalties prior to r*ngers 11th hour appeal), big tax case £49m with up to £15m penalties to be added, £5m in VAT for the £24m Ticketus deal, £2m arrears for NI and PAYE since CW took over.

Something for reborn to consider also: if you think HMRC will go easy on RFC and reach a deal with them because they already receive a lot of revenue from them from VAT on ticket sales for matches and in NI & PAYE from club salaries, VAT on merchandise etc, surely if CW attempts to give HMRC virtually nothing as an unsecured creditor under a CVA when r*ngers go into administration, HMRC would have to write off 90% or more of the £75m tax liability they are owed, and if r*ngers relaunch under a new name and continue to sell tickets for football matches and pay salaries the newco RFC would be liable for those tax payments anyway?

I have a pal who is an Accies fan and he claims Accies are still owed money from cup games with r*ngers. SMFC are probably owed ticket money from them too!

Would that be Sir David Murray, owner of MIH who owe HBOS £800-900m? Alasdair Johnson the ex-chairman has suggested that there were clauses in the takeover document which would allow Murray to buy the club back for £1 if CW failed to fulfill his contractual obligation to RFC... today's blog at rangerstaxcase questions if things are as straightforward as the rumours are making out and Johnson also said yesterday that he doubted whether Murray wanted a third spell as chairman or would be financially able to bail r*ngers out of the tax case mess.

Mad Vlad wants £50m to sell Hearts, equivalent to 66% of the expected tax ball RFC owe to HMRC.

The SPL rules state that if a club goes into liquidation then they become the club which is automatically relegated from the league (eg Gretna) and the team finishing 12th (currently Dunfermline) would remain in the SPL next season and the winners of SFL 1 (currently Ross County) gain promotion. If Whyte plans to liquidate RFC as we know it and start a new club with a similar name playing in the same strip from the same stadium then it would require a change of SPL rules to admit a newco r*ngers into the SPL. Would mad Vlad vote to keep RFC in the SPL if r*ngers only offer Hearts 10p in the £ for the outstanding debt on the Lee Wallace transfer (£800k owed)? Would Dunfermline vote to let r*ngers in the SPL at their expense? Whyte would need 10 of the other 11 clubs to vote with him to change the rules at the last minute in RFC's favour. The two things which might keep RFC in the SPL post-liquidation would be if the SPL decide Ross County's ground won't meet SPL criteria by the end of March, or if the SPL suddenly decide to expand to a 14 team league meaning that there is room for Dunfermline, Ross County, newco RFC, and 1 other. If r*ngers finish in the top half post-split Sky would still get their 4 SPL OF games a season too under the 14 team scenario.

More shadyness concerning CW here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-17021584

The creditors have to agree to what is offered... HMRC would have to agree to accept £8m instead of £80m in a case that is going to set a precedent for EPL clubs who have also used the EBT scheme in a similar way to r*ngers. IF r*ngers lose the tax cases the amount they are asked to pay by HMRC becomes payable with immediate effect. If HMRC refuse to accept 10p in the £ r*ngers will be liquidated unless CW or any rich fan offers to pay the £65m (including penalties) they are likely to be hit with later this month or in March. The only secured creditor at the minute is CW with his £18m floating charge over the club.

or because Cowdenbeath almost went out of business last year? http://www.s1cowdenb...threatened.html ETA: http://www.cowdenbeathrotary.org/news.asp?intent=viewstory&newsid=41533

There are some horrific quotes from Scottish politicians emerging including Scottish Sports Minister hoping that HMRC and RFC can reach a deal which protects jobs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17015754 Can't believe you have a government minister basically urging HMRC not to pursue a football club over £80m unpaid tax!

r*ngers FC have cash flow issues this season after exiting european competitions and both domestic cup competitions as soon as it was humanly possible to do so. CW estimates that in a season without a Eueropean run there is normally a £10m deficit. r*ngers are in a season without a European run and without much prize money or TV money from domestic cup runs as well. This year after 'paying off' the debt to HBOS r*ngers have no line of credit with any bank and will be on course to run up a £10m+ deficit. Remember that Sone Aluko and his parents were the ones who paid up the compensation due to Aberdeen to make his move to r*ngers possible as RFC couldn't afford the sum in question! Even before the 4 impending tax cases with HMRC worth up to an estimated £80m they are struggling to stay afloat. Known creditors by the end of December 2011 were Rapid Vienna (missed installments in Jelavic tranfer) Hearts FC (Lee Wallace transfer - £800k remaining) Money is ringfenced towards a pay out to Martin Bain if he wins his court case (looking for £1.4m in damages?) Also a sizeable percentage of season ticket sales (£24m) for the next 4 seasons has already been mortgaged off to provide RFC with cashflow for this season / or fund CW's buyout of the club depending on who you believe! The £18m 'repaid' to HBOS was actually transferred to one of Whyte's companies who now hold a floating charge over r*ngers for that amount. If you total up r*ngers debts should the HMRC cases go against them for the expected amounts r*ngers debts will be in excess of £100m

The quotes attributed to CW in this article about the HMRC dispute suggest appointing administrators now is the last roll of the dice to try and force HMRC to strike a last minute deal for a percentage of the money they are owed and dropping hints that CW and the administrators would put RFC into liquidation if HMRC win their case and expect the immediate payment they are legally entitled to. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17015966 Quite clearly a ploy by CW to try and get away with offering HMRC £5m or something of that order (in installments over x years) instead of the £49m plus penalties (circa £15m) from the big tax case, £4.2m from the wee tax case, £5m from the VAT due on the £24m from Ticketus in the summer, and the NI and PAYE since the summer which are overdue (more than £2m in arrears).

Hard to see Davies wanting the job in the current circumstances. When he has fallen out with boards / chairmen at previous clubs it has nearly always centred over the transfer budget he had to work with. Can't see him signing up for a 2 horse race with c*ltic (assuming RFC are still in the SPL) and having to overcome penalty points, no budget for transfers and having to offload big earners / star players as part of the deal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16975105

Out the Scottish Cup before the quarter finals = less TV money and less prize money than budgeted for again!

r*ngers accounts are late again... due in November for the AGM in December. In December CW said the accounts would be signed off around 31st January 2012. Still no accounts or AGM and he is still claiming the delay is down to the tax case ruling which may take until March or April to disclose its findings!

... have a feeling you mean Craig Whyte?

Ken McGeoch is also a director of the club and said to be interested in buying the club and has refused all interviews about his interest in the club and apparently didn't even show up for the AGM in December either. RA has at least done several interviews with the media and held a number of public meetings where he outlined his plans and took questions from the floor.

I missed out tax case 4... HMRC believe that they are owed up to £5m in VAT from the deal CW struck with Ticketus to mortgage some season ticket sales up until the 2014-15 season!

I agree with all your points but don't think any sense of fairness or what is morally right will come into the SPL's thinking on r*ngers staying in the SPL. The SPL board has supposedly agreed back in November on r*ngers staying in the SPL if they became insolvent. At the minute r*ngers known liabilities are: £4.2m "wee tax case" - which they appealed after they had agreed to pay up (was part of CW's contract to buy them)... assuming they lose the appeal this will increase with additional interest and penalties to be added. £18m floating charge to CW's company (for the bank debt being 'repaid') £1.2m overdue to Rapid Vienna for Jelavic transfer to RFC they also owe Hearts money for the Lee Wallace transfer in the summer too The big tax case has HMRC saying they are £49m plus penalties on top of this Since CW took over it is thought that RFC have not been paying HMRC the NI and PAYE payments for staff salaries and are now over £2m in arrears for this year... a 3rd tax case! They could also have a hefty pay out to make to Martin Bain as well and some of this money has been ringfenced by the courts. And this is them after the next 4 season ticket sales have already been mortgaged! (£24m borrowed from Ticketus)

While I share your sentiments about the OF and their destructive influence on Scottish football, the SPL board have already secretly agreed back in November that if r*ngers go bust and leave a trail of debt (around £80m) behind them they'll still be in the SPL next season... the Sky TV deal for example hinges on their being 4 SPL OF derbies a season. If r*ngers were kicked out the SPL and SFL the TV deals and sponsorship deals for the SPL would become null and void. Plus you also have to factor in the long-standing bias towards the OF in Scottish football's decision making / powers that be... r*ngers will go bust but they will still be playing in the SPL after they do.

I doubt if CW has the £2m required to buy St Mirren! Daily Record are saying CW mortgaged 4 years season ticket sales at Ibrox to fund his buy out (£1 plus repaying the debt to Lloyds) and as rangerstaxcase claimed months ago HMRC are now investigating the non-payment of PAYE since CW took over. Rangerstaxcase is also suggesting that with the bidding war for Jelavic involving only cash-strapped Everton that any sale will be for a lot less than than £7-9m quoted in the Scottish papers, and apparently r*ngers still owe Rapid Vienna money from buying him and Vienna also have sell on clauses due as well. All of which means most of the Jelavic money could be eaten up by simply repaying HMRC what is due to them in PAYE payments since CW took over (the 3rd tax case - which hasn't reached court yet) and won't help provide any cash towards the 2 tax cases which have reached court. The Jelavic money may not even help with cash flow for wages until season tickets go on sale, one month early in April!

Enjoyed tonight's game and thought the team played well in conditions which meant mistakes were always going to be made... still great to see the midfield get the ball down and run at the opposition, and great to see an open game with lots of chances at both ends.