Halloween today, and Joe Hart, the England and Manchester City goalkeeper will not be out guising as a ghost tonight, as he doesn’t have enough clean sheets.<\/p>\n
Aye, its all about creepy , horrible nasty things today.<\/p>\n
SFA chief \u00a0Campbell Ogilvie has announced \u00a0the venues for this seasons Scottish Cup semi finals and finals. With Hampden out of action due to the upcoming commonwealth Games, he released a statement:<\/p>\n
“We are fortunate in\u00a0Scotland\u00a0to have three world-class football stadia and, with\u00a0Hampden Park\u00a0due to undergo redevelopment work ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it is natural that we would seek to utilise both\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0and\u00a0Ibrox Stadium\u00a0as venues for Scottish football’s premier cup competition.”<\/p>\n
When Hampden was previously out of action, back in the late 1990s, the decision on where to hold the semi finals was delayed until the teams contesting them was known. Now, some cynics might argue, the decision has been made purely to help crisis club second Rangers-who probably don’t even own their ground- get a bit of money in towards the end of the season.<\/p>\n
Both semi finals will be at Ibrox, and the final will be at Celtic Park. No surprises there, then. Peter Lawwell, the Celtic CEO, is also on the board of the SFA. He said;<\/p>\n
“A decision like that, where Celtic or\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0are competing against other stadia for the final, I would excuse myself because I’m conflicted clearly, and a decision was made by other board members,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of planning that goes into it. The sponsors need to know where they are. It’s the road to\u00a0Celtic Park rather than the road to Hampden.<\/p>\n
“There is a lot of preparation. There will be many permutations in there that will make sure\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0is full and rather than taking the risk of delaying it, it gives us time to prepare. I guess there is no right answer, you just make the best answer with the facts available.<\/p>\n
“I guess it’s a question of choices. Hampden is unavailable and the SFA have a choice where to take it.<\/p>\n
“When you compare\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0to other stadia around Scotland, it’s certainly the biggest. We cater for the Champions League, these are huge events, and we have every confidence of delivering a great cup final for them.<\/p>\n
“It’s a great honour and it will be a fantastic occasion. We believe\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0is the biggest and best. You can see on Champions League nights, the atmosphere that is created. No matter who comes from around\u00a0Europe, whether it’s AC Milan or Barcelona, they say\u00a0Celtic Park\u00a0is the best.<\/p>\n
“So we are delighted to have it and it will be a real thrill.<\/p>\n
“There’s incentive to get to the Scottish Cup final and win it every year but this might give us a wee bit of an additional incentive for us to get there and play the cup final at our own stadium.”<\/p>\n
No problem with any of that, its the showpiece game of the season, and its only right we should know where its going to be. Although I would have been equally in favour of Murrayfield. Which, after all, is in the capital, and completely neutral.<\/p>\n
Second Rangers director Brian Stockbridge added his thoughts;<\/p>\n
“The Scottish FA’s decision to play these ties at the home of Scotland’s most successful club underlines the fact that Ibrox remains one of European football’s elite arenas.<\/p>\n
“Of course we hope to travel far in this competition ourselves but no matter who plays at Ibrox they can be certain of the warmest of welcomes.”<\/p>\n
Can’t help themselves , can they ? Scotlands most successful club ? Good, that means that HMRC will have heard him claim that Second Rangers are in fact exactly the same as First Rangers, who are in a bit of trouble over their tax affairs.<\/p>\n
Simon Bain, in the Herald, explained..<\/p>\n
” HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued a thinly veiled warning to Rangers ahead of the taxman’s appeal against the oldco company’s ‘big tax case’ win after a Scottish firm settled a \u00a37 million bill for tax avoidance.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen Asset Management has lost a lengthy court battle over a scheme used a decade ago which paid \u00a331m of bonuses to seven senior employees, including its founder and chief executive Martin Gilbert. In a statement, HMRC said: “This decision will be a big help when we come to argue other cases that are currently in the courts.”<\/p>\n
The oldco Rangers, which was liquidated last year, won a \u00a336m avoidance case on a 2-1 majority verdict in the first tier tax tribunal in November last year. The appeal is due to go to an upper tax tribunal in the new year.<\/p>\n
However, Aberdeen Asset Management has had to settle a bill for tax avoidance in a case with similarities to the oldco Rangers’ legal battle. A tax expert said: “It can be inferred from the judges’ comments they strongly concur with the dissenting opinion in the Rangers case. I think they have half an eye on the Rangers case.”<\/p>\n
The Herald revealed in 2011 that the lower tax tribunal had ruled against Aberdeen’s “discounted options scheme”, a variant of the employee benefits trust used by Rangers and other employers until new legislation forced their closure. Aberdeen had avoided \u00a37m of tax and national insurance due on bonuses, including \u00a31.2m in respect of Mr Gilbert, by setting up what the judges called “money-box companies.”<\/p>\n
HMRC has now proved that bonuses should be treated as cash payments liable for PAYE and National Insurance paid by the company.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Aberdeen Asset Management said: “We are disappointed the court’s decision has gone against us, but we welcome the fact that we can now draw a line under this issue. All amounts assessed by HMRC have previously been paid and the decision has no further financial impact on the group.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to make an announcement today on tax dodging, saying that a register of the true owners of shadowy shell companies will be made public as part of the fight against tax avoidance. ”<\/p>\n
Halloween. A time for all the nasty wee things in life. Even got Cameron in there.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to Campbell Ogilvie. The SFA twitter feed swung into action to defend the decision to play both semi finals at Ibrox;<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/2913095957\/b71c7f84fb0c56923c3c1649eda42d46_normal.png\")
Scottish FA<\/strong>\u00a0\u200f@ScottishFA<\/a>