SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all. 

It didn’t take very long for those conniving basterts at the SFA to wipe the NINE IN A ROW smiles from the faces of the Celtic support. Roughly 24 hours,in fact. They have proudly announced that they will not be sending to the Court of Administration of Sport the matter of the awarding to Rangers of a European licence for 2011/12. 

The excuses that they have offered include such gems as being advised of costs to do so exceeding six figures while the punishments available are only of £5000 and £10,000. That the terms of the 5WA mean that they can’t deal with the problem themselves. That legal advice suggests little chance of victory. 

Etc,etc 

Well,excuse me butting in here. The questions raised by Resolution 12-the famous recollection of events as compiled by a group of shareholder-backed Celtic supporters-were specifically aimed at holding the SFA to account,not Rangers. It had nothing to do with Rangers as you cannot punish the dead. It was to find out how the SFA managed to facilitate the granting of a European licence to a club which was in breach of the entry conditions regarding tax liabilities,as stipulated by UEFA. 

UEFA’s regulations on this are NOT optional. They are mandatory. They MUST be adhered to,but the SFA Licencing Committee decided to ignore them,despite clear evidence of the breach. 

In fact,it had been reported in January 2011-over two months before the first cut off date-that Craig Whyte had discovered while doing due diligence on the Ibrox books that there was an undeclared tax liability,and the asking price for the club suddenly dropped from £6m to a quid. 

Clear evidence that there was not a disputed bill,but an outstanding one. Yet the licensing committee ignored it. TWICE. And subsequently since. And yesterday the SFA,whose current president is Rod Petrie,declined to investigate its own Licencing Committee’s fraud or failure,that Licencing Committee having been chaired at the time by-Rod Petrie! 

This is an obstruction of justice,disguised by the obfuscation and conflation of the Rangers angle and possible punishments. But what of Celtic’s role in all this,for I’m afraid that our club don’t come out of too well either?

Peter Lawwell was well aware that the Rangers application had been wrongly approved. That’s not to suggest that he knew at the time,and it would be wrong to assume without proof. But proof is what he wanted. Proof is what he demanded of the fans behind Res 12. He wanted a silver bullet,and he promised to fire it. The four lads worked diligently to provide him with this,every t crossed and every i dotted. 

It did not come cheap,neither in financial terms nor in time consumed. At almost every juncture,they were asked for more. That little higher level of proof,of culpability. That more costly legal opinion,lawyer’s letters,you name it. They were being send down blind alleys,cul de sacs and dead ends. But they stuck to their task,and finally PL had to thank them for their efforts,for the proof provided was irrefutable. The lads had long pleaded with him to send the evidence to UEFA,as such a claim could only be made by a member club or association,but our CEO insisted that it be dealt with by the SFA. Yes,you read that right. He wanted the organisation which had wrongly granted a licence-at the expense of Celtic FC-to investigate itself! And yesterday we saw why that was not the correct decision to make if you really wanted to see justice done. 

That is either naive or stupid. Because I wouldn’t like to think it was anything else. But for all my questioning of Peter Lawwell over the last fifteen years or so,I can’t ever remember thinking that he was stupid. So it’s a puzzle,innit? Either way,it is a silver bullet provided and wasted. It would be unbecoming to suggest that he deliberately sent the four lads off on a wild goose chase,at great cost to themselves as I said,knowing that they had no chance of success because he would simply refuse to hand the evidence to UEFA,and would simply allow the SFA to bin the matter. Unbecoming,because there surely can’t be any truth in such a suggestion. 

Perhaps our readers might help me out with some ideas,some suggestions for his motivations in all of this. Because the three I’ve mentioned can’t be right. Well,they can’t ALL be right. Actually,none of them can be right,and that is why I have already discounted them. Because that would be an appalling vista. And those words should send a wee shudder through the spines of anyone who knows their history about justice denied. 
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Above article by BMCUWP. remember folks,that we are always happy to receive your contributions for Article of the Day. Mail it to MAHE

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