JABBA THE AGNIVORE

NAME GAMES, BLAME GAMES AND SHAME GAMES

Does anybody else remember the old Cooper's supermarkets? They were bigger than the stores run by Galbraith's, Cochrane's and the Co-op and were the biggest grocery shops around before the arrival of Asda, Tesco etc. Some time in the 1970s the name was changed to 'Cooper's Fine Fare.' A minor change of name but the stores were exactly the same. The new name was eventually shortened to 'Fine Fare' but, again, the stores were exactly the same ones as they had been under the old names. Minor changes in name is something a lot of businesses do, either for convenience or to change their image. A case in point is Standard Oil, an American company that was involved in many scandals and had to be re-branded to deflect from its poor image. The company used the initials of its name to call itself 'Esso.' It was a new name but exactly the same company.

On the other hand, when a business goes into liquidation the assets are sold off to raise money for the creditors. Our local Woolworth store is now a B & M but it is entirely feasible that somebody could have bought the store, or the lease, with all the fixtures and fittings and merchandise intact. If that somebody just left the Woolworth sign up when they re-opened the store, could they then claim that they are the same business, with an unbroken history of trading as Woolworth on that site? 

The latter scenario is exactly what Charles Green has done. Rangers fans try to say that Celtic is a different club due to a minor name change in the 1990s. As I have shown in the above examples, this is a load of garbage! Amazingly, however, our media and footballing authorities have gone along with the myth that Green has built up. They still peddle the story that Green 'bought Rangers.'

Which leads me nicely to the latest big story: the reappearance of the Great Whyte Shark. With absolutely breathtaking gall, which you cannot help but admire, Craig Whyte has claimed that he still owns Rangers and that he is taking Green to court to get it back!

Now, I've said on quite a few occasions that I felt that the quick, under-the-counter sale of the assets to Green by Duff and Phelps was quite probably illegal under Companies Law. This new development convinces me even more that something underhand was going on.

The Daily Record has finally picked up on the story and, although terms like 'the Sevco takeover of Rangers' and 'relegated to the Third Division' show that our Fourth Estate is still toeing Green's party line, there are a few interesting nuggets of information in the article.

Whyte claims to have proof that he was behind Sevco 5088, which bought the assets. As it says in the DR, 'Whyte claims he was the man behind another newco company, Sevco 5088 Limited, who originally bought and held the assets of the club before they were switched by Green to Sevco Scotland.' Note, Sevco 5088 bought the ASSETS of the club NOT THE CLUB ITSELF! If Whyte is correct in his claims, then it puts a whole new slant on the sale of the assets.

Much has been made of the close links between Duff and Phelps and Craig Whyte and I would suggest that this explains the quick sale of the assets to Sevco 5088. Duff and Phelps should have been selling the assets to the highest bidder, since they should have been acting for the creditors. It looks to me as if liquidation was the plan all along, with Whyte picking up the assets for a song and either setting up the club again or selling them on for a massive profit. So the whole sorry deal has been a scam for Whyte to get his hands on Ibrox and Murray Park while not having to pay any of the creditors. Green, however, was working a double con and swindled Whyte out of his prize! 

The fact that Green has always been reluctant to disclose his backers lends some credence to Whyte's tale of woe but who was behind Sevco Scotland? Green has always been a front man for others and it looks as if he still is in this case. So who are his backers? He has made noises about 'Far-Eastern' investors. Maybe there's a missile silo underneath the Ibrox turf and North Korea isn't bluffing after all!

So what does that great font of knowledge, Loony Leggat, have to say about all these shenanigans? Nothing. All he's concerned about is that Neil Lennon gets absolutely hammered for saying a naughty word. It's good to see that he has got his priorities right!