“Like many within Scottish football, including supporters and other observers, we are surprised by the parallel conclusion that no competitive advantage was gained from these arrangements. “
(Celtic FC Statement)
You curse you’re luck. The dice were kind to you and you landed fair square on Park Lane having rolled the required eight, courtesy of a double 4. However at £350 this property is more than you can afford at present. Your next throw sees you roll an eleven where you safely pass go and collect £200 from the bank. You’re opponent meantime rolls a 7 and also lands on Park Lane. You can see from his finances across the table he is unable at present to afford the much coveted property.
But to your abject horror he pulls out a Community Chest Card – Glasgow City Council/Celtic FC – and acquires Park Lane for the knock-down price of £175. Furthermore as he passes Go he collects a favourable £600 as opposed to your £200, courtesy again of his “exclusive deal” with Co-op Bank.
“Competitive Advantage” ? “Sporting Integrity” ? “Financial Doping” ? “State Aid” ?
I await the social, and moral outrage that Celtic FC, courtesy of their exclusive and extremely favourable banking arrangements, have robbed small firms of credit facilities and overdraft extensions. I await Graham “Selective Amnesia” Spiers tweeting that he is quite comfortable that such arrangements were a form of “cheating” All it needs is for Donald Findlay to be appointed head of the SPFL Investigation into Celtic FC and their financial and land dealings. Whats that term…”what goes around comes around”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22037966
Of course, should any type of investigation be directed at Celtic it will cause a considerable conflict of interest for one member of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Board – Brian Quinn, former Celtic Chairman.
At least there will be a plethora of advice readily available for Mr Quinn with regard to dealing with potential conflicts of interest. His old friend, and Celtic Board member Eric Riley was a director at the SPL and the SFA for 10 and 13 years respectively. Furthermore Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell currently sits on the SFA’s Professional Game Board.
Did someone really say “Rangers are the establishment club” ?
Conservative MP Mark Garnier is not going to allow this to go away, as he smells blood. So too do a number of Tories. It has been suggested that the revelations surrounding the Co-op Bank will reach right up to the higher echelons of the Labour Party nationally.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/22/ed-balls-links-to-co-op-bank
Of course its perhaps purely co-incidence that the former Lennox Castle Hospital , with its 48 acres of prime real estate, was sold for £493,000 to Celtic Football Club, thus allowing the Scottish Minister to delegate responsibility for it’s sale to the CEO of Glasgow Greater Health Board, as it fell below the £500,000 benchmark.
Which leaves me 2 questions.
(1) Was the sale of Lennoxtown Castle offered or advertised in the public domain ?
(2) Does Neil Doncaster have Lord Nimmo Smith on Speed Dial ?
The Blue Blog 