Jackson on EBTs
What is Celtic’s end game?
THERE may well be a thousand unanswered questions regarding the events which led to the liquidation of Rangers.
But now Scottish football is back on the brink of all out thermonuclear warfare, two in particular stand out from the rest. They may even be inextricably linked.
What exactly is Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell hoping to achieve by pointing his missiles at Hampden’s sixth floor?
And what are the SFA so doggedly determined to keep hidden in their bunker?
If the answer to the first question is – as some of Celtic’s hard core dearly wish it to be – the stripping of titles from the Ibrox trophy cabinet then Lawwell is playing with fire.
If that is his end game and if he is successful then one day he will be deemed worthy of his very own statue on the Celtic Way. But at what price to the rest of the Scottish game?
Because, in doing so, he will open up wounds which will never heal and also force his club’s relationship with Rangers into a whole new world of bitterness and hostility.
Yes, the next door neighbours deserved to be punished for the financial meltdown that was a result of their own reckless hubris and which cast a huge shadow over the entire Scottish game. But the Ibrox club will argue, with some justification, they have already paid an enormous price for the crimes which were carried out in their name.
Craig Whyte, administration, Duff and Phelps, liquidation, Charles Green, League Two, Bilel Mohsni. There is a strong argument here that Rangers and their supporters have had to suffer indignity like few others in the history of the sport since Sir David Murray took them to the brink.
Throughout all of it, Celtic’s superiority has soared to uncharted levels. Six successive top-flight titles have already been banked along with millions upon millions of Champions League pounds.
Today Lawwell presides over a club which has never been so powerful or so much more mighty than the rest. Assuming he wishes to stay for the long haul it is entirely possible he will be in charge when his club is celebrating 10-in-a-row and cementing the second greatest era of its history behind the legend which was written in Lisbon.
Tomorrow he’ll rub shoulders in the Parkhead boardroom with PSG counterpart Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who just might be the single most powerful mover and shaker anywhere in world football right now, while watching his side compete against Neymar, the most expensive player of all time.
And yet, in the middle of this period of unsurpassed empire building, are we really to believe Lawwell is still spitefully lusting for the blood and the titles of his long since vanquished rivals? I’m sorry but that just doesn’t seem logical especially given the circumstances of the Rangers demise.
The misuse of EBTs is what brought this club to its knees. A tax avoidance scheme which was ultimately exposed as a vulgar scam. For the normal working man on the street, of course, such blatant attempts at stiffening the tax man and robbing the public purse are morally reprehensible.
But this is how big business works. And football is big business.
Without question some of the big names lured to Scotland by Rangers during that period were attracted by the financial inducements the club was ultimately unable to afford.
So yes, it follows Rangers almost certainly did gain sporting advantage by the use of these EBTs. But they’ve more than paid the price for this recklessness. To strip them of titles won on the pitch because of financial jiggery pokery which was going on off it, wouldn’t just seem needlessly heavy handed. It would also be hypocritical given the lengths so many others in Scottish football go to in the name of running rings around Hector.
And spare me too this notion it’s all somehow in the interests of learning lessons for the future. How many more lessons need to be learned over and above the obvious? It’s simple really. Don’t spend what you don’t have and make damn sure HMRC gets what its due.
No there has to be another, greater aim for Lawwell and it can’t just be a public pandering to the element of his own support who are hellbent on squeezing Rangers until their pips
squeak either. Which brings us back to the second question. If the SFA really has nothing to hide then why are they behaving in such a curious, highly suspicious manner? Could it be Lawwell has reason to believe certain individuals are being protected by this stonewalling of his demands for a full review into this never ending shambles? Because if that is his real motivation, then Lawwell could be attempting to do the entire game in this country a monumental turn. If there are people still clinging on to lofty positions of power despite being reputationally tarnished by their parts in this fiasco, it serves the interests of the game for their wrongdoing to be exposed. For example, I’ve been writing for long enough Stewart Regan is unfit for purpose as the SFA’s chief executive and if an investigation into Rangers can offer conclusive proof of his incompetence all well and good. While it would be a surprise if Regan was Lawwell’s target given the previously close relationship between the pair, it would be a welcome plot twist none the less. But there could be others whose actions need explored including those of Rangers head of administration Andrew Dickson whose involvement in the notorious side letters hasn’t prevented him climbing the SFA’s own ladder. Better still, if it is Celtic’s belief there has been some sort of institutionalised cover-up, all propped up and endorsed by the SFA, then Lawwell is justified in demanding accountability and action. Perhaps that way, something good and important might come out of the Rangers farrago. Let’s hope this is the sort of positive closure Celtic are seeking. The alternative, a closure which does nothing more than open up old wounds, can only end badly.
If the SFA has nothing to hide then why are they behaving in such a suspicious manner