Did Dave King Teach Craig Whyte His Tax Strategy? + Are There 2 Dave Kings?

It is funny how some things seem very simple, yet become very complicated. One such example is that of Dave King, or, with a tip of the hat to TH White, “the once and future Dave King”.

Other people, including Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and Andy Muirhead at Scotzine have written about the position of Mr King as regards the SFA “fit and proper person” test. For what it is worth I would not expect Mr King to have any problems from the SFA with being classed as “fit and proper”.

There is also more to be written about how his position would affect his chances of being appointed to the present PLC Board.

But for now I wanted to look at one of the issues which is fundamental to both of those matters – does Mr King actually have any criminal convictions from his dealings with the South African Revenue Service? You would have thought that was a simple question – either one has a conviction or one does not.

But the Scottish media, perhaps being “spun” by interested parties, have come up with a range of answers.

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If Dave King Returns to Rangers, Should the “Haters” Be Afraid?

Back in the ancient past (2010) when first stories started to appear about the tax issues faced by the Murray International –owned Rangers, and on into 2011 when the Rangers Tax Case blog first saw the light of day, stories about the financial, legal and regulatory aspects of Rangers Football Club appeared every couple of weeks.

RTC could post a blog explaining about the ongoing tax sage, and know that there might only be a need, and even material, for another two or three posts that month.

As time went on the pace of news and developments quickened.

Now we are at the stage where hardly an hour goes past without some new legal issue arising, or some further stage in the fight for control of the assets and business of the Rangers Football Club. All of that means that even professional news organisations sometimes either miss stories completely, or do not have the time for detailed analysis, as something new happens and the original report is overtaken by events. And if it is hard for a professional new operation, how much more difficult for a lone individual who does this as a hobby!

“Black Monday” For Rangers’ CEO Craig Mather

Fans of Billy Joel might be familiar with his song “Summer, Highland Falls”. It includes the lines:-

“For we are always what our situations hand us

It’s either sadness or euphoria”.

For some reason those words came to mind last night when I was thinking about Craig Mather, the Rangers International Football Club PLC CEO.

Why Might Mr Mather Have Been Euphoric?

A week ago he was in South Africa along with Brian Stockbridge to see Dave King.

Rangers Forced to Confirm Dave King is NOT Returning Now as PLC Chairman

One of the joys of being a professional adviser, whether in law, PR, Human Resources or the affairs of a publicly quoted company, is finding out what your client has decided to do without first asking for help. A friend of mine who worked for a major company delivering employment law advice to a wide range of employers, ranging from small firms to large PLCs, told me that 90% of her work involved clients phoning and the conversation going as follows:-

Client – Here is a situation we have. We have already done x. What should we do now?

Adviser – You should not have done x. As a result it will be far harder to resolve your problem. You have just made things worse.  For future reference, maybe you should ask your adviser before you decide to do something?

One wonders if a similar discussion has taken place between Rangers and their Nominated Adviser over the weekend?

The Return of the (Dave) King – Coming Back to Raise Money For Rangers

And so the white smoke comes from the Ibrox chimney.

Dave King is heading to Rangers to be Chairman of Rangers Intergalactic Football Club PLC.

He has issued a statement via the official Rangers website tonight confirming that this is the outcome of his discussions with Messrs Mather and Stockbridge in South Africa.

There is one gem hidden (well, not really hidden) in the statement.