I spent yesterday afternoon with two very senior officials from HM Revenue & Customs.
This was a most fruitful discourse.
Aside from matters relating to the current spheres of reality, off the record we touched on two other matters, Rangers FC and the trial of Honest Harry Redknapp.
In the former, it is regarded as an absolute certainty that Rangers will go into administration.
Good.
This is because of the nature of the Employee Benefits Trust (EBTs) used by the club.
An EBT may be legal or not and in the case of the Hun it would appear most definitely that the latter is the truth.
Even the club themselves realise this is the case as the following clip from the 'Rangers Tax Case' website reveals [rangerstaxcase.com]
"The problems for Rangers started with the fact that footballers and their agents would never be so daft as to trust a ‘nod and a wink’ from a football club executive. Amounts for salaries, bonuses, appearance fees- are all the subject of written contracts. These contracts (which are routinely available during tax investigations) provide the Rosetta Stone for tax investigators. I cannot discuss some of the other evidence against Rangers FC, but I understand that at least some of Rangers FC executives were aware that what they were doing was illegal."
The result is, according to my friends at the HMR&C is that the club won't even get the option of taking a points hit and a relegation (or two) but will, in fact, have to reform as Rangers King Billy 1692 or something similar in the amateur leagues.
And as icing on the cake, Murray the Former Property Baron turned up at the club on Tuesday and two potential 'Gers signings were instantly sent packing...
... no money you see.
And Jelavic is only going through the motions as he wants out.
Meanwhile in Southwark, the view of my esteemed friends is that the Cockney Rebel is also going down.
Firstly, the HMR&C are directly and significantly targeting the football industry with agents/bungs/betting being the primary focuses.
The shared view is that Redknapp/Mandaric are scapegoats.
Secondly, the Southwark 2 exist in a world where they have no idea where the boundaries of legality lie.
Thirdly, the insider HMR&C opinion is that there are many good lines of legal defence but that the following statement from Redknapp is not one of them.
"A bung don't come into it — it's a payment. A bung, that's a f*cking sick word. It's a bonus. If it was dodgy I would have gone and brought the f*cking money back in a suitcase."
Mmmm...
... "I didn't murder him, your honour, but I would have done if necessary..."
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