Auldheid on The Gall of 55

I think what is most galling about the claims this is their 55th title is that 5 of them should have been struck off the record under the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission.

If (the)Rangers want their history they and the football authorities should at least ensure that the record reflects with complete accuracy all the evidence that shows Rangers failed to act in good faith to fellow member clubs from 2000 when they started to use ebts and side letters.

Those titles were not removed because Lord Nimmo Smith legitimised them for reasons that can no longer be justified, but here is the salt in the wound.

Celtic had every opportunity to have the LNS Decision overturned in 2014 and 2018 using HMRC correspondence kept from the LNS Commission that was provided in 2014 to then Celtic Director Eric Riley as SPL Board Member and 2018 to CEO Peter Lawwell after Stewart Regan, in turning down the SPFL request to revisit LNS, suggested they take the testimony of Sir David Murray re the wage advantage of ebts at the Craig Whyte trial to Lord Nimmo Smith himself to see if that might might have an impact on his findings.

Regan could suggest doing that knowing the LNS Commission was an SPL exercise and they were unlikely to have any appetite to follow up and as it subsequently has proved ,neither did Celtic.

In 2014 the package of HMRC correspondence that showed Rangers had used unlawful (DOs) ebts in a manner that was either fraudulent or negligent because of the denial of side letters to HMRC in 2005 when specifically asked if they existed . This package blows away two of the pillars on which the LNS Decision stands:

“While there is no question of dishonesty, individual or corporate, we nevertheless take the view that the nondisclosure must be regarded as deliberate” because thee bloody well was but it was not supplied to the SPL by Duff and Phelps

and

“Nor is it a breach of SPL or SFA Rules for a club to arrange its affairs – within the law-
– so as to minimise its tax liabilities.”

His argument of no sporting advantage was based on the failure to correctly register players, which was his brief, conferred no advantage which is all he could do because the ultimate motivation for using ebts was not to reduce Rangers tax bill, but to sign better quality players.

This was never addressed nor was evidence of that motivation considered, motivation that came out from Sir David Murray not just at the Craig Whyte trial in 2017 but at the FTT on 25th October 2010, 3 years before the LNS Commission took place!

Ok so what did Celtic know and when?

The narrative surrounding 2014 can be read from this index

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6uWzxhblAt9dnVHSl9OU3RoWm8/view

but in summary Eric Riley received the documents that were sent to the SPL Board in February 2014 pointing out the significance of the enclosed HMRC correspondence not provided to the SPL in 2013 for the LNS Commission . The SPL lawyers could not come up with a persuasive response to the correspondence accessible from the above link and passed the matter to the SFA who did sfa and buried LNS when the Supreme Court ruled ebts with side letters should have had tax paid on them at source and found for HMRC.

The second time Celtic had the opportunity to blow LNS out of the water came after the Craig Whyte trial. What happened then is documented at

https://res12.uk/timeline-two-part-three-continued-after-the-trial-was-over-june-2017-to-date/ .

Celtic and SPFL gave the appearance of wanting both the UEFA Licence 2011 revisited as well as the LNS Commission. The SFA undertook to revisit the licence matter but 3 years later abandoned the case because of a clause in the 5 Way Agreement that we know Celtic accepted.

Revisiting LNS was resisted but on spotting Regan’s suggestion to take Sir David Murray’s testimony to CW trial to Lord Nimmo Smith re competitive advantage this e mail of 9 Jan 2018 was sent to Peter Lawwell

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTX1Fp1yg5TQx7DnFV6l2ABfuOK31BjU/view

that suggested the correspondence ignored by SPL/Riley in 2014, Sir David Murrays testimony to the CW trial AND to the FTT in 2010 also be provided. It was never answered.

Celtic OWE it to the Celtic support to either challenge the 55 myth OR if Rangers want to keep their history let them know what history they are holding on to, minus 5 titles.

Failure to do so will leave a grievance that will haunt the Celtic Board forever which just cannot possibly be in the Company’s interest.

Auldheid