It’s a bad day when the bears turn on the Park Ranger.
This sorry state of affairs has happened as senior management fight amongst themselves in an outbreak of bear baiting.
The reason: Jim Park at Ibrox Park.
Mr Park as I told you two days ago has a colourful business past, so colourful he makes Craig Whyte look like a veritable paragon of business excellence. At the last count the twice bankrupt Park had been a director of around seventy companies many dissolved, in administration and others in liquidation. When he was last declared personally bankrupt he had debt of over £11m.
Those who have worked with Ibrox Park, sorry Jim Park, say he is one of the most unpleasant, bullying, devious people it has been their misfortune meet. Wherever he has appeared and then disappeared he has left behind a trail of pestilence, rage and despair.
You may ask, with a CV like that, he seems ideal for the new Sevco team?
A legitimate question.
Had it not been for my revelation on Friday about Mr Park, Charles Green had great plans for the diminutive Ibrox loving reprobate. Some say Mr Park would have been co-opted onto the board the day after Sevco had been given the rubber stamp for Division Three.
Even the SFA’s limp rules regarding who is a fit and proper person to be involved in a football club would have seen through Park, so the delay was crucial.
Amongst those who had more that a passing worry about the Park Ranger was the greatest ever manager of Sevco, who knew of Park’s CV from his days as a senior executive on the Herald and later as a director of the Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd. and a shared interest in horseracing.
Both Park and McCoist like the fillies.
Some say the Park Ranger and racing trainer David Pipe parted in exceptionally fraught circumstances over the whereabouts of sum not far away from £100,000. Mrs Violet Zoe Park has an interest in a horse at the stables of Nigel Twiston Davis, an old mucker of Ally McCoist.
Even the former Cheeky Chappie turned chief rabble-rouser is not too happy at the thought of sharing the same stable as the Park Ranger.
So with a background like this and now the mainstream press have caught up with me can we expect Mr James Clement Park, to give him his full business title, to be shown the door of the Big Hoose?
I wonder?
Could it be that Mr Park has already helped Charles Green to raise some of the money that is just, and that’s is a big four-letter word…that is just keeping Sevco afloat.
Could it be that when Park and Green travelled to Brechin the other Sunday, the twice bankrupt Park Ranger was whispering into Green’s ear about the millions he could raise for Sevco in a matter of weeks?
One thing is for sure the financial authorities will be asking a few questions about the Park Ranger before they ever sanction any flotation of Sevco.
However, I would say that Mr Park is smarter than the average bear…
Hamish Sutherland
Quick question Phil. You’re blog states that you have been covering stories that are central to the Celtic family for the last 2 years but as far as I can see the majority of the threads/topics appear to be less about Celtic but more about their Glasgow rivals Rangers. Myabe you should change the header on your site? Just a suggestion
August 10, 2012 at 3:22 pm
James, Glasgow
Phil, when do you think someone is going to quiz them about then Blackburn manager Souness’ £30k EBT ?
August 8, 2012 at 10:55 am
GWG
here ya go guys … those that have not read it… (Photo comment is mine)
Craig Whyte’s pal hired by Charles Green to find investors for Rangers
TWICE-bankrupt Jim Park – who has been a director of a series of failed firms – has been hired as a consultant at Rangers.
Looks like something outta the Nuremberg Trails~~~~~
A CLOSE friend of shamed former Rangers owner Craig Whyte has been hired by the new Ibrox owners to find investors, we can reveal.
Twice-bankrupt Jim Park – who has been a director of a series of failed firms – has been hired as a consultant at Rangers.
And the 58-year-old has been helping to introduce potential investors to new owner Charles Green.
Park joined Green, 59, in the directors’ box for the club’s first match against Brechin City on Sunday. But last night a Rangers insider said that Green was now considering Park’s involvement after the Sunday Mail revealed his Whyte links.
Yesterday, a club source said: “Park has been working with Rangers as a consultant in the past few months since the new regime took over. He’s been talking to the top people at the club and introducing potential investors.”
Another source said: “The Whyte connection was not known to us until today.”
Park, who lives in Dumbarton, said: “I haven’t got a role yet with Rangers. I was speaking to investors on the board but I don’t have a role there.
“I have met with the investment team who own the club a couple of times but I don’t have any role and I don’t have any role going forward either.”
Park is a lifelong friend of Whyte’s dad Tom, 65, is close to his son, and was seen at the Glasgow office of the family-owned debt collection firm.
He also often travels on business to the Monaco tax haven where Whyte has a luxury home.
The Sunday Mail last month revealed that brazen Whyte – who plunged the stricken Ibrox club into liquidation with debts of up to £140million – was behind new debt collection firm Credit Control Services.
When he was asked about being an associate of Whyte and meeting him in Monaco, Park said:
“I have no business with Craig Whyte at all. Absolutely none. “
Craig Whyte leaving Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel with his father Tom Whyte Park was personally bankrupted last year (2011) following his earlier sequestration in 1992.
Park has held 74 directorships with firms throughout Scotland, including debt recovery and call centres – nearly all of which have been wound-up.
His Glasgow-based debt collection firm Murray White is in liquidation and his company PowWow Water Co Ltd, which supplied drinking fountains, is in administration.
Whyte bought debt-stricken Rangers by secretly using loans against future season ticket sales.
He the plunged the club into administration for failing to pay tax during his reign.
Following the club’s eventual liquidation by HM Revenue & Customs, the assets were sold to Green who has denied any Whyte involvement.
A Rangers spokesman said: “Mr Park is not an employee, director or investor in Rangers and we would not wish to comment further. Craig Whyte is not involved in Rangers in any way.”
August 6, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Nelson Mandela
Are they so blind that they cannot see ?
August 6, 2012 at 5:41 pm
gerard f reilly
great piece of work phil , hard to fathom how a horde of gullible sevco-newbie-bigots have tramped their size 12 wellies into the sewerage so soon after being so deep in the sewerage over the past year ! so instead of being contrite and holding up the proverbial arms to what has been the biggest tax evasion crime of the millenium , some cretins are kidding themselves that they can return from the wilderness as billionaires created by chaza green man , aye if business was that easy there would be a queue from here to eternity to sign up ?? – thats why i hold your writing in such high regard , and a lot of fellow bloggers have been very astute when sending replies to your page !! also noting that very little bad language is applied by your readers , please keep me updated as things can only get “worse” ?? —– for those who will not see ” ?
August 6, 2012 at 11:19 am
michael mccahill
Spot on the money again Phil, you really need to stop embarrassing MSM, its just too funny. Without a share issue I really don’t think THE rangers will last until Christmas never mind lasting the full season. Having a party when THE rangers die..jelly and ice cream when THE rangers die lol
August 6, 2012 at 10:49 am
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain
I can’t see how Sevco’s business plan is in any way sustainable.
More entertainment is on its way.
August 6, 2012 at 10:51 am
SReilly
Reading the article made me feel a little bit sick. I do enjoy to see the former supporters suffer so but the assorted gangsters, thugs and swindlers now associated with that vile growth/lanced boil are a stark remindern we are in Scotland/Britain/TheWord
August 6, 2012 at 1:57 am
Stevie Reid
A bookie probably wouldn’t take your bet for sevco to go into administration before the end of the season. Not even before christmas. They are only heading one way…oblivion !! The sooner, the better. What a joke of a club, a laughing stock, ha ! Scottish football and Scotland as a whole would be better off without them. Thank god for t’internet bampots, for telling it how it is. I for one, don’t read a daily paper now. No need, it’s all drivel and sevco propaganda. Keep up the good work phil.
August 5, 2012 at 11:02 pm
tambutnotbam
I read the bit in The Sun today that said that Parkie-boy was NOT friendly with Craigie boy but that he WAS friendly with Craigie-boys dad.
lol.
August 5, 2012 at 10:56 pm
dombhoy67
Absolutely brilliant as usual Phil. They would never admit it but your Blog must keep the m.s.m awake at nights. That’s probably their excuse for being asleep to facts most days. Seriously, this toxic club just keeps on finding new ways to shame itself and to give the rest of Scottish football a laugh. Now that they (sevco/bigoto) are deed we could probably play Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony for the next few seasons at most Scottish games. Iv’e noticed that the grass looks greener and the air smell sweeter . . .oh, happy days.
August 5, 2012 at 10:56 pm
tambutnotbam
This was a fantastic exclusive you had on the Park story a couple of days before anyone else Phil.
Brilliant stuff.
What will be worrying Charlie-boy is who is supplying you with your information that invariably proves to be wholly accurate.
I doubt very much the Jim Park story would have seen the light of day had you not told the public and the SFA and the SPL what Charlie-boy is busy getting up to in the Ibrox twilight zone.
Keep up your great work Phil.
August 5, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Ben mcginlay
What is it about this organisation that seems to attract the most unsavoury characters. But the MSM seem to herald them as saviours and white knights. Strange that eh
August 5, 2012 at 6:03 pm
yogibhoy
give yourself a laugh . try and read the sunday mail’s story about messers green and park . it’s on the website but just try and open it …go on , double dare ye !
August 5, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Dougie
It truly is the gift that keeps giving
Can see them heading down the same road as before – though hopefully quicker this time.
No one wants them in Scottish football and every other day we see why.
August 5, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Kenny McCaffrey
… should add it’s only SOME Bears. The comments on the piece are from so many fans who seem to have up sticks and moved to Egypt – they’re IN DE NILE!
August 5, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Chris G
It’s unbearable, waiting for the next twist or turn in this story.
btw, Phil — noted faux-journalist @GrahamSpiers comments on Twitter the other day. What would really be therapeutic for all of us is if he and his colleagues would do their jobs and report the facts.
August 5, 2012 at 4:47 pm
rhino
on the ball as always phil.
i see the sunday mail ran with the story but now seemed to have pulled it! whys that u think? hh
August 5, 2012 at 3:55 pm
James Killen
He makes Craig White look like Snow White
I can’t help wondering why so many players are choosing to sign contracts that could ultimately not be honoured.
August 5, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Craig Whyte's Liquid Eyes
They do seem to like their unsavoury characters in the old Greyskull boardroom eh, though they certainly seem to be averse to learning lessons….!!
August 5, 2012 at 3:32 pm
fast eddie
Birds of a feather flock together.
Only took the MSM about 48 hours to catch up with Phil as usual
August 5, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Charles
Phil
I’ve heard rumours for a few weeks now that newco, sevco or whatever they’re now called, are hanging on by their fingernails, you have alluded to that in this post, is there any verifiable truth to it?
August 5, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Andybhoy
No matter the sewer,,,you will find rats.
August 5, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Ian N
Like all striken vessels …any Park in a storm?
August 5, 2012 at 3:20 pm