Billy Dodds – “Witness for the Prosecution” and a “Smoking Gun”?

In which I comment on Mr Dodds and his piece in Sunday’s Herald. Mr Dodds, in one sentence, destroys the element which is, as described by Mike McGill, Murray Group Finance Director, as “key” to the defence of the HMRC case. Bizarrely his piece seems intended to be a defence of himself and of Rangers. In fact it proves quite the reverse.

Mr Dodds and the Sunday Herald had a scoop on their hands, and failed to notice it!

I was also unaware of Mr Dodds’ apparent keen interest in the movie industry, reflected in the headline to this piece.

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Billy Dodds was quoted at length in the Sunday Herald yesterday looking to clear his name and that of Rangers in connection with the EBT saga.

He is described by Wikipedia as follows:-

“William “Billy” Dodds (born 5 February 1969) is a former Scottish professional footballer. He was predominantly a striker and during a career spanning almost 20 years he played for, amongst others, Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United. He also won 26 caps for Scotland scoring 7 goals in those appearances. Along with his friend and colleague Gordon Chisholm, he has been involved with coaching and management at a number of clubs including Dundee United, Dundee and Queen of the South. He is currently working in the media, both as a commentator/summariser for BBC Scotland and as a columnist for the Sunday Herald newspaper.”

I think there are a few things worth saying about his comments so, in the words of Richard Gordon, “Billy?”

My observations are in bold beneath Mr Dodds’ comments.

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Be Careful What You Wish For – Alex Thomson of Channel 4 Breaks Big Rangers News

 

Alex Thomson is a distinguished war correspondent, and one of the UK’s top news broadcasters. Recently he has been looking into Scottish football, and especially the Rangers Tax Case.

Various pundits and fan sites have accused him of being deluded and following the hidden agendas of others. He has even been described as a dupe, and taken in by “Timmy” conspiracies.

When last week he fronted a Channel 4 news piece on the story there were various disparaging remarks about the lack of anything new.

As I say in the heading – be careful what you wish for!

Tonight he has a piece on the story on Channel 4 News, which definitely moves the saga on.

You can read his article here.

Some choice highlights:-

Mike McGill, former Rangers director – admitting that none of the EBT “loans” have ever been repaid.

Correspondence from Martin Bain, former Chief Executive, looking to have his pay rise put through the trust “obviously as a discretionary bonus it cannot be contractual”

Martin Bain referring to payment through the EBT to players coaches “and more recently John Greig”.

Martin Bain (again) writing to chairman John McClelland referring to having his contract letter “shredded”.

As Mr Thomson concludes his piece – “what they were doing could well be perfectly legitimate but it’s questions like these upon which the tax case may hinge”.

I had speculated about Mr Bain’s dropping of his court action yesterday. Today leads to national UK coverage which, at the very best, looks bad for him and for Rangers.

Those who criticised Mr Thomson for being “taken in” might have to look at their views again.