Regrettably, we have to correct Ann Budge’s statement in the article by Tom English on the BBC Scotland website today, where she said: “I’ve sat on the SPFL board and I’ve approved a loan for another club."
Quite simply, she did not, (and neither did anyone else during Ann’s tenure on the SPFL board).
Her subsequent statement in the same BBC interview is far more accurate: “I genuinely can’t remember the club involved, but a club required an advance. We discussed it, it wasn’t contentious , everybody agreed and we moved on."
As Ann herself correctly states in the latter comment – it was an advance payment of fees due to clubs – and not a loan, which is a crucial distinction.
The confusion is unfortunate, but the facts are clear:
In 2016, the SPFL agreed to pay invoices from two clubs for fees they were due to receive in the 2016/17 season. This was to help them with cash flow problems caused when Rangers’ promotion into the Premiership meant some clubs would have only two Old Firm home games pre-split rather than three, which they had had prior to 2012.
To overcome this challenge, the Board, of which Ann was a director, approved £150k advance fee payments to two clubs.
• These advance payments were subject to VAT – Loans are not.
• These advance payments were invoiced – Loans are not.
• Loans, by their very definition, have to be repaid – these advance fee payments did not.
Moving forward, we are still being asked if we could have made loans to clubs of £9m in April, but there is no practical nor realistic way to have done so.
Before directors make loans, they must carry out due diligence into whether clubs have the ability to repay the loans.
That is a major exercise and to do so 42 times in a short timescale would have been impossible. And, being frank, given the financial crisis that the game is in, it is impossible to see how the Board could have satisfied itself that all 42 clubs would have been a good credit risk. Clubs defaulting on loan repayments would have left every other club liable for the loss - which is exactly what happened when Gretna were given a loan over a decade ago.
As to the question: could we not have made millions of pounds of further advance fee payments in April, to help clubs weather the financial storm caused by Covid-19? The answer is no. By the end of March, the SPFL had already made fee payments up to roughly the entitlement of the bottom club in the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League 1 and Ladbrokes League 2.
With fee payments being entirely dependent on final League placings, the Board’s resolution remains the only realistic way to have made substantial and quick payments to lower league clubs, as well as giving them the certainty and clarity they required to make the tough decisions necessary to get them through to the point that matches can be played once again.
SPFL Statement
posted on 2/5/20
budge is a f...ing goblin.
i think thats a fair statement tbh
posted on 2/5/20
Budge clearly after a promotion to Hearts big cousin at Ibrox
posted on 2/5/20
mental that doncaster had to spell out the difference between a loan and an advance to tom english.
posted on 2/5/20
I listened to most of Sportsound when Doncaster was on, and he came across fairly well. He’s getting more heat than Boris Johnston is!
He refuted any claims of bullying by him or his staff and had had no complaints about him or his staff. When the interview finished, English said he got a text from a chief exec saying that Doncaster had been told about bullying the day the vote was due from 2 clubs, one of which changed their vote from no to yes.
I think this is the claims about the guy from the Dunfermline board, and if it is, then that’s who the clubs should go after.
I think rangers have went in on the back of the WhatsApp messages, and possibly feel that there were other alternatives open to them apart from finishing the league-which still hasn’t happened. It sounds like the Dunfermline boy was working off his own back rather than under instruction. There’s possibly been a feeling at the start of this that he was doing it on behalf of the board.
As for other alternatives, it’s getting done to death now. For business people and alleged intelligent people to not know the difference between a loan and advance, and when your proposed resolution fails because it compels a board and doesn’t give them any discretion, then we’re really scraping the barrel looking for excuses.
I honestly believe you can pick holes in the process and most people would agree that there’s areas that absolutely could have been improved and done better, but that’s about it for me, unless something new comes up.
posted on 2/5/20
Listened to the Doncaster interview on the Beeb there, he doesn't seem to worried about what this smoking gun is, also explained the loan/advance issue very well. Will be interesting to see the right of reply from the accusers now.
posted on 2/5/20
Tbh Tom English needs to check his facts and verify his source before publishing an article that has been torn apart by Doncaster. Someone playing a lot of silly beggars atm
posted on 2/5/20
comment by GTB, I like big bouncing smack your face titties (U14017)
posted 1 hour, 29 minutes ago
Tbh Tom English needs to check his facts and verify his source before publishing an article that has been torn apart by Doncaster. Someone playing a lot of silly beggars atm
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I don’t mind English, but he’s taken a side in this and has really pushed it. He seems to have taken a shine to Anne Budge, and is backing her to the hilt.
He could end up being right, but just now, he’s not telling the full story deliberately.
posted on 2/5/20
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 2/5/20
comment by I got Braga Bragging Rights (U21917)
posted 10 minutes ago
wow so all these clubs voting were denied their loans but not one thought of scrubbing out the word loan and put in advance!
Geniuses that run our clubs eh!
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You should maybe aim that at your own club, as they did make that proposition in writing that loans be issued-and that’s with one of their own on the current SPFL board of directors! On top of that, they don’t understand that you can’t compel a company to make loans available to the clubs.
To then lead the charge over all this...
Geniuses.
posted on 2/5/20
comment by I got Braga Bragging Rights (U21917)
posted 23 minutes ago
wow so all these clubs voting were denied their loans but not one thought of scrubbing out the word loan and put in advance!
Geniuses that run our clubs eh!
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They weren’t denied. There simply wasn’t the time to manage the requirements and who on earth would loan to a business that says it’s about to likely go bust with the complete unknown of when to restart ahead of them or even if?
Advances? On the prize money at the lowest level they could have earned? The lower league clubs needed paying out in full. Have you looked at the paltry amounts they get?
The SPFL is a company with corporate responsibilities. It reports to all its members and asked them for any workable ideas. There were none.