Gabby

Before we all get too high and mighty on sporting integrity. Let's at least acknowlege that ICT has also previously benefited from "newco" scenario. Remember the 2 million pound (I think that was the amount) of stadium debt that "just disappeared" as the asset transferred to a Trust. I think we have to be a little careful - pot, kettle, black

The Rebel 10 seem to have given up on that. They should have made better progress on voting rights and income splitting by now. But then again, they have had 2 meetings of over 5 hours to deal with Financial Fair Play rules and decided to postpone both times. I suspect that they are hoping that Rangers run out of money and time for the Miller takeover so they don't have to make a decision. What a way to run a league!

I'm not sure how realistic that is. We only get about 3 -4 TV games per season, so our fans are hardly not attending because the game is on TV. As a result I would have thought it would be very optimistic to attract an extra 2000 thousand fans per home match. I don't think any team in the SPL is capable of increasing attendance by that figure in the short term. Discounting ticket prices wouldn't necessarily work. Discounting would actually increase the attendance required making it even harder to achieve. A tipping point has to be calculated so the number of additional fans surpasses the income shortfall of the discounted tickets.

This is no surprise . They want the appearance of doing something to show the fans they are serious, but they are not prepared to risk the cash. Money wins over ethics everytime and twice on Sundays.

It is clear they are saying this because they are confident newco will be in the SPL, if this doesn't occur - expect some olympic class back peddling.

I ‘ve had a bit of a poke around that this Miller bloke. It seems he was CEO of an organisation called Team Sports Entertainment. Their subsidiary was called Team Racing Auto Circuit and they tried to establish a NASCAR type racing series – unsuccessfully. Another company he is associated with – HelathSports Inc has filed for bankruptcy in the bankruptcy friendly state of Delaware. Will newco be registered in Delaware?

The TV contract specifies at least 3 old firm games. there is no contract without these games. TV companies haven't said anything yet because they are waiting for the dust to clear. My understanding is the current TV deal expires this season and the new contract has not been signed. By stipulating the minimum amount of old firm games they are indicating that the significant value of the contract is in old firm games. it is a no-brainer for TV - no old firm games, no contract.

Best of luck to all marchers

I would guess that the likes of athletics and cycling are more prone to have drug cheats because success in those sports depends so heavily on individual physical performance. Dare I say it, there's not a huge amount of skill involved, it's all about stregth and stamina. In sports like football though, physical performance is only one of many aspects that are needed to succeed, so players are perhaps less likely to risk throwing away their careers for something that would only enhance one part of their game. I would be willing to bet there are more drug cheats in Golf. My understanding that use of "Blockers" to keep their nerves in check is rife. I find a few XXXX's on the course works for me.

It looks like it's a case of conceived in 1872, born in 1873. As long as it reads "died due to self inflicted wounds in 2012"

Yes they will, as I said on April 7. And also as I said - if the contest is between money and sporting integrity - money wins every time. I can't believe anyone would think the outcome was going to be different.

This is incorrect. No TV cash would result in at least 600 000 pounds lessfor ICT. I don't think there is 600 000 pounds in County (unless we are referring to weight)

Won't matter, as I keep on saying. All the petitions and fan fury will not stop the SPL from bending over backwards to ensure Rangers are in the SPL. These are money men, they aren't interested in ethics or intergrity. Doncaster et al will speak about the good of Scottish Football but they are only interest they have is self interest. Only UEFA can stop this.

Hopefully he will spice things up.

Good news Grant, I've been offered the County job!

I have a huge problem with football being an olympic sport. The olympics should be the pinacle of achievement in that sport. So for athletics, swimming, the 20km silly walk etc it is the pinacle. For football, the World Cup is the pinacle. For tennis, winning a Grand Slam is the pinacle. Adding Football and Tennis is only about selling tickets to make up for the lack of ticket sales at the Wrestling and sychranised swimming. Do not get me started on the complete futility of snychranised swimming.

Sure, here are some facts that I have already provided. The sky contract is worth 13 million pounds a season and stipulates a minimum of 3 old firm games per season. No Rangers (Glasgow or Govan) - no TV contract - Fact. Last set of ICT accounts I saw was turnover of 2.6 million pounds - 650 000 pounds of that was from TV. This represents 25% of turnover. Since then ICT has had a reduction in turnover from reduced crowds and sponorship so as a result TV would represent a higher rate of turnover. Fact. The TV contract and sponsors wthdrawal is more than likely due to the uncertainty of the situation. If Govan Rangers are admitted to the SPL, the TV contract and sponsors are more likely to return, but no guarantee I conceed. I don't want Govan Rangers to return to the SPL, however this WILL result in Part Time footballers at best. Every club will be in financial distress if the TV money and sponsors withdraw - every club with the possible exception of Celtic. Celtic would have to trim their budgets over time but they would become even less competitive in Europe because they wouldn't be able to attract the quality of players required. This is already the case and will only get worse. This whole larger split of a smaller pie just simply doesn't hold water because the pie would be significantly smaller. Your whole argument is based on your belief that Rangers should not be readmitted into the SPL. I agree with you - I am just trying to point out the cost. All the clubs in the SPL will be wearing out the buttons on their calculators and they will be accountable to their fans when they vote to admit Govan Rangers or accountable to the Accountants if they don't vote to admit Govan Rangers. This is not a "they all lived happily ever after" scenario. No Rangers will mean significant and possible catastrophic financial pain for all SPL clubs. Rangers Stay/Rangers Go - either way Scottish Football will have significant issues to deal with in the next 5 years - fan apathy, financial, sponorship, marketing, player recruitment just for starters. Independent SPL Directors would be a very good start.

You are totally missing my point...and it has nothing to do with emotion and I'm certainly not trying to change the situation. 1. SPL with Rangers (NewCo or OldCo) will appeal less to TV companies than it has up until now. 2. SPL without Rangers will appeal less to TV companies than it has up until now. Either of those scenarios is likely to mean a rethink of the offer that is/was on the table and less money coming in to the pot. I agree that 1 will likely provide a bigger deal than two, but to suggest TV will withdraw altogether from Scottish Football under scenario 2 is ridiculous. I don't know which half of the OF pulls the bigger TV crowds, but I imagine it's even enough for the sake of argument. The Celtic crowd is still worth something to TV companies so we're not looking at a 30% drop in league income....even if we were, you still have to look at whether a larger slice of a smaller pie is better than a smaller slice of a slightly larger pie. Even if worse off with the larger slice of the smaller pie, is that a price worth selling all morals and principles for??? You then have to look at league sponsorship. (Allegedly) 2 big potential sponsors have withdrawn their interest...and I don't for one minute believe Toppings spin that this is due to the "SPL 10" standing up to the OF. It's more likely because they don't want to be associated with the embarrassing shambles that is the SPL. Are any other sponsors going to be as keen to attach their name (especially a global brand) to a league that all but sanctions fraud? Is what might be lost from a potential sponsor by allowing a NewCo Rangers stay in the SPL more or less than the difference in TV Money? There's this huge assumption that we will be better off financially with a NewCo Rangers than we would be without...all I'm saying is that it's not the cut and dry case that many are trying to make it out to be and the "price" of losing Rangers isn't as likely to be anything like as big as what is being suggested. Of course, there is the 'Elephant in the Room' which...if you are morally bankrupt enough to accept it and make a case for it...would give the upper hand on the "better off financially with Rangers argument". Anyone want to take up that case? Like it or not, anyone putting forward an argument based on keeping Rangers because we need the Rangers v Celtic rivalry is skirting on the edge of saying "I'm happy to see the SPL profit from sectarianism & bigotry"...because that's one of the biggest driving factors behind those teams being as big and successful as they are today. I'm not saying get rid of Rangers for that reason, or keep them for that reason....I'm just saying that when you are setting aside your morals and your principles in accepting and/or arguing a case in their favour, you might just be selling out more than you thought. I'm not missing your point, I am saying that your point isn't supported by the facts.

Yes, that's correct. Once Glasgow Rangers go into liquidation all playing contracts become null and void. They would have to recruit from scratch. some will want to stay, some will want to leave and Govan Rangers just won't be able to afford some of them. It is also worthwhile mentioning that in exhange for accepting a cut in wages, Ranger players negotiated free releases if they are still in administration at the end of the season. There are some very busy player agents at the moment.

The whole TV thing is a Red Herring, IMO. TV are only interested in the OF games because they are the top two teams fighting it out for the title and because people pay to see that. Rangers after administration/liquidation and living within their means (remember no European money) are not going to be able to compete with Celtic and someone else (or maybe a couple of teams) are going to get the jump on them for a variety of reasons. People are kidding themselves if they think Rangers will maintain anything like the current fanbase when they aren't competing. Unless the TV companies are as naive as the Rangers fans who think they are going to be challengers for anything next season (and for a few seasons to come) then they are not going to honour the extended offer that was touted recently...contracts were already suppose to be signed, but these have not yet been returned. Bottom line....we're going to lose a chunk of the TV money anyway, so it's (IMO) a non argument. The alternative, booting Rangers out, opens up the way for an agreement on a more even revenue share. Yes that will be a small pot, but it's going to bring more than the smaller pot we're inevitably going to get under the current setup and by allowing Rangers (as a NewCo) to remain in the league. I know I have been the "voice of doom" in the past when it comes to talking about the risks of ICT going into Administration or whatever, but following a few conversations I have had with various people recently it kinda dawned on me that it's near impossible for ICT to go into Administration, and even if they did, the cost of any CVA/Rescue deal would be minimal. Why? Because we have no debt and no real means of getting any because nobody is lending. Even if we started missing Tax Payments, in the current climate the HMRC are going to clamp down before that gets to any huge amount and if they were to force administration then it would need little more than a whip round on a Saturday afternoon to dig us out of such a situation. As we would not be the only ones facing such a situation then a 10 point penalty is likely to effect more than one team in any given season over the next couple of years, so relegation due to point deduction is not such a huge risk...and even if we were relegated, we know we can survive as a Div 1 team. Relegation cost us £1 Million, but that was because we spent a bit more than we might have in a (successful) attempt to regain SPL status. With a different attitude we could easily trim our costs and survive, in whatever league, until things started to sort themselves out and find a new level. The real danger lies with those with debts hanging over their heads that they could not service without (current) SPL income (some struggling with SPL income)...and these will be the clubs taking a "Scottish Football needs Rangers" stance....and doing so for all the wrong reasons. In truth, regardless of whether Rangers are allowed to stay or were booted, income will drop and these clubs will struggle anyway, at best the status quo (in terms of Rangers in some form remaining) just prolongs the agony. Without the TV deal there would be mass redundencies with every club in the SPL. You cannot lose 30% of your income and continue in the same way. I think you need to take the football fan emotion out of your argument and look at the financial facts. Nobody likes the situation, but that doesn't change the situation.

It's a little more than a little financially worse off. It would mean a reduction in turnover of at least 25% - 30%. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you whole-heartedly, I am only suggesting that the price would be very high,.

The rules aren't to stop clubs going into admin/liquidation - it is providing clubs with the structure to walk away with debts and start fresh in the SPL 10 point slap on the wrist.

It's even worse than that. the new rules ensure a smooth transition from glasgow Rangers to Govan Rangers - inlcuding its history, trophies, records etc. it is an utter disgrace. This is what Resolution 2A says........ Resolution 2A proposes further sporting sanctions in the event than any club undergoes an Insolvency Transfer Event (ie transfers its share in the SPL to an new company where this occurs because of the insolvency of the transferor) of 10 points in each of two consecutive seasons from the Insolvency Transfer Event

There is no doubt about govan rangers having a place in the SPL. Even the tone of the news reports about the rule changes assume they will be there. See my blog for a big slice of opinion!

Good post CD. I'm not sure anyone was duped though. DM wanted to run away as fast as possible and CW just wanted to make a quick buck.