Phil Mac Giolla Bhain has landed something of a bombshell tonight – yes another one and a big one at that at least if you’re a Scottish football fan not of a certain persuasion. Indeed, if you were, say Neil Doncaster or Peter Lawwell, you may well have felt a sense of unease this evening.
The constant journalistic thorn in the side of theRangers, Scottish football governance and of course those amongst our mainstream press corps masquerading as investigative journalists, has lifted his head from writing his new book for just long enough to ensure serious questions – the ones our own press corps wish to avoid – are being asked, in what you’d assume were the right places. Questions around the infamous and it would appear entirely without legality Five Way Agreement, and in particular UEFA’s knowledge of it, or lack of.
READ THIS…The Death of Rangers: Basket of Assets – Did Charles Green Purchase Those Titles as he Claimed?
You can read Phil’s article here but as explosive as it is to anyone with an interest in the smoke and mirrors of the agreement, the in-depth questions raised by Phil in his correspondence seem to have been given short shrift when it comes to the response from UEFA’s Media and Public Relations team.
UEFA were not told of the 5 Way Agreement https://t.co/U9qPEakDNJ
— Phil MacGiollaBhain (@Pmacgiollabhain) March 11, 2021
The response from UEFA appears, short, curt and rather dismissive and that is rather disappointing to say the least.
“Dear Sir, UEFA is not aware of any Five-way agreement or other information mentioned in your e-mail, therefore we cannot provide and comments on this matter”
That could well mean just what it says but given Phil asked a series of questions around UEFA’s views should they advise in return that they were not aware of the Five Way Agreement, and those questions have been ignored, it does make you question UEFA’s appetite for the subject matter. Are they keeping their thoughts in house for now, or do they simply have little interest? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
As the lie of 55 is being spouted from every mainstream media outlet in the wake of theRangers first ever title win, and no-one in the mainstream media is questioning a single utterance, UEFA had made it clear that they class the club operating out of Ibrox to be an entirely new creation, this so far has been conveniently ignored of course.
It should therefore be somewhat harder to deny all knowledge of this one, particularly as you’d assume UEFA would come knocking on the door of Scottish football’s governing bodies demanding answers, or at least some clarification as to the series of questions an inquisitive Irish Journalist has asked.
READ THIS…The Death of Rangers in 55 Quotes including: “We wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune,” Walter Smith
But the response seems to not indicate any of that. It could well be that UEFA think those few short words were enough and they’ll be on the blower first thing to Neil Doncaster tomorrow morning demanding answers, but to me such a muted response smacks of disinterest. Are we therefore to be left to our own rigged game?
Is the footballing backwater of Scotland of little interest to UEFA? If so that is a dangerous precedent to set. You’d imagine if La Liga or The Premier League were circumventing UEFA’s licensing and Financial Fair Play rules there would be hell to pay, so why is little Scotland apparently getting little scrutiny?
This Five Way Agreement has some serious consequences when you consider our own football authorities have taken it upon themselves to come up with a scheme, one it would appear is designed to bypass UEFA’s own Article 12 particularly “any change to the legal form of a club “ and of course the “transfer of football activities to another entity ”.
Therefore you’d assume a game being run by an arrangement not approved by UEFA and one at odds the UEFA’s stance on protecting the integrity of the flagship competitions UEFA covet so dearly would have the suits in Nyon asking what on earth is going on in Scotland. Indeed, the question of course we’re all asking is would UEFA have approved the Five Way Agreement had they been consulted on the matter, and will they now being made aware so eloquently do anything about it?
You know what a few days ago I may well have thought that yes, they would, but now I’m not so sure. UEFA have just this evening stated the club playing Slavia Prague in these evening’s Europa League Last 16 first leg were the winners of the 1972 European Cup Winners Cup, kind of at odds with the new club message they’ve fed us before.
As such you’d question if there is any appetite to rake over the coals of Scottish football governance, is it likely to be easier for them just to keep a lid on this, or deal with it as knuckles rapped behind closed doors?
Neither option is good when it comes to cleansing a corrupt competition.
To Celtic fans, as it should to every club bar one in Scottish football, this response to Phil’s questions should be a revelation, but it only matters if UEFA themselves is willing to ask the questions of those running this rigged game in Scotland.
Tonight, I’m getting the impression, as with so many facets of European football these days, that wee Scotland is seen as insignificant. Perhaps there is more to come from UEFA, perhaps Pandora’s box has been opened with Phil’s line of questioning, but given such a lukewarm response you get the impression we’re on our own here.
If that’s the case and if UEFA won’t ensure our game is clean, then it is up to football fans in Scotland to accept the status quo or move from within for much needed change. Do we as supporters have more appetite to challenge a game that seems shaped to suit a select few, where results are seemingly pre-determined and essentially a fix?
Because if the suits in Nyon don’t have the appetite for change it will need to be the paying customers who demand a fair game and that may take voting with our feet.
This evening, following his communication from UEFA, Phil Mac Giolla Bhainl has published some Questions for Celtic about the 5 Way Agreement.
It’s beginning to look like 30 June can’t come quickly enough for Peter Lawwell.
Niall J
