Rankine v Nixon: The fall Out.

So far we've got the Ged Nixon v Neil Rankine/Livi showdown over Nixon claiming he's owed money from Livi fc for what he's put it- No idea when that court case is now.

Rankine brought up as having shares in East Fife & Dumbarton, as well as Livi, failing to disclose this to the SFA and being called to an SFA hearing in Sept- potential fine or worse for the club, or Rankine walking away to save the club any penalties. He is owed a huge chunk in director loans though, our debt is thought to be 1.75M.

Nixon paying players bonuses in 2010-11 and not paying tax or NI on them, and not telling anyone.- immediate transfer embargo on Livi fc from signing new players.

That's it so far, the two of them are slinging the dirt on one another but the club is catching the flak.

Best thing would be for both of them to GTF. I get the feeling that Rankine is your typical dodgy dealer, trying to conduct business by cutting corners and doing it in a sly manner. I don't think he means the football club any harm though, and surely any punishment over his ownership would be directed to him alone and not the LFC. You've already said however, that he's owed a substantial sum of money in directors loans.

Nixon on the other hand is total vermin. A complete fucking crook, who's trying to run us into the ground, regardless of how you look at it.

2 completely separate incidents at hand here, but the pair of them are doing personal battle and we're caught in the middle of it. I'm not overly convinced that Nixon's lawsuit carries much weight, but I'd be interested to here more into the investigation which has been welcomed by the club today. Is it simply a case of Rankine and the board trying to frighten Nixon? I don't see what overall purpose this serves. We've already been handed an immediate transfer embargo, with further possible sanctions to come. I just get the feeling we've shot ourselves in the foot massively by alerting the authorities of our (Nixon's) dodgy dealings.

No surprise to see the usual band of throbbers from diddy teams like Ayr and Cowdenbeath tugging over this massively over on P&B. Any talk of liquidation/administration at this stage should be put to bed immediately.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the court case had been put back to May 2015. According to the quite lengthy piece on the OS, it's been put back to March 2015.

Rankine talking of walking away to save the club any hassle is just nonsense - as you say LF, he's due plenty from the club so there's no way he'd just walk away from that.

DRagged through courts again and again, debts of £1.75m after two administrations, shyster owner after shyster owner, ever dwindling crowds - it's neither wonder we're viewed with utter disdain.

mozam76 wrote:I'm sure I read somewhere that the court case had been put back to May 2015. According to the quite lengthy piece on the OS, it's been put back to March 2015.

Rankine talking of walking away to save the club any hassle is just nonsense - as you say LF, he's due plenty from the club so there's no way he'd just walk away from that.

DRagged through courts again and again, debts of £1.75m after two administrations, shyster owner after shyster owner, ever dwindling crowds - it's neither wonder we're viewed with utter disdain.

Only complete simpletons show anger and hatred towards Livingston.

Lexi Collector wrote:
Only complete simpletons show anger and hatred towards Livingston.

You talk some amount of shite Lexi.

mozam76 wrote:

Lexi Collector wrote:
Only complete simpletons show anger and hatred towards Livingston.

You talk some amount of shite Lexi.

Why? I've personally spoken to dozens of supporters of other Scottish clubs and none of them have 'hate' Livingston, or view us with disdain as you put it. Only people who are a raging mess with no life get so upset over Livi. The players, fans, management/staff have nothing to do with a few dodgy deals - yet they're the ones who take most abuse.

That's all well and good mate - like you, I've spoken to plenty fans who wish us no ill. And I find it ridiculous that fans of some clubs that have also been in soapy bubble give us all the stick.

I more than understand though when you see fans of clubs who have cut their cloth whenever needed, get a bit miffed at our almost incessant desire to sook the boaby of the first chancer that comes along.

Going by this statement on the OS it looks like the board have found discrepancies in accounts during Nixon's time after bringing in BTG, forensic accountants. http://www.livingstonfc.co.uk/news/news_20140812_1.php

Am I right in also assuming Nixon is being looked at for the 15% to an agent for our players being sold he signed before leaving and they think he's done a runner with the money?

It looks like his tenure at Livi is being investigated due to misappropriation of funds. May explain him putting the court date back, it was all going to come out in the court case and he's put it back to buy time, hoping to get himself out of this mess.

If all this is true then Nixon is in deep doo doo, not sure where it leaves the club though as we're knee deep in the brown stuff too witj the footballing authorities, and the tax man may want in on this too. He was representing the football club so it isn't just him that will be in it.

Doesn't matter if he was representing the club; if they left him to deal with certain things in good faith & he does things underhandedly to his own benefit then he has duped the club along with the tax man.

Hope so but it was Rangers they went after with the EBT's not David Murray. He may have been next had they succeeded but the club was still taking the hit to start with.

I would love to hear Nixon's version of events.

I sincerely hope that this is a criminal investigation and the shyster ends up care of her majesty. Just thinking of all the blatant lies he has fed us makes my blood boil. Surely he is not stupid enough to keep turning up at games, I would hate one of the fans to get themselves in bother tackling this crook.

Recent news on this from Rankine is he has no shares in East Fife and was investigated in 2004 by the SFA already so doesn't know what's changed. He sold Dumbarton for 1.7M in 2008 and is still owed 200K but again has no shares in them.

‘That complaint surprises me,’ he continued. ‘In 2000, East Fife were close to going out of business and I encouraged a family I did business with in the antiques trade to club together and pay the money off as a nice wee investment.

‘I was wrong about that because they put in £400,000 and now can’t give it away.

‘All I tried to do was help them to keep the club afloat. I have no shares, never have had and never will have any financial interest in East Fife FC.

‘With Dumbarton, I sold the club in 2008 for £1.7m and the owners still owe me £200,000.

‘Is that a conflict of interest? The SFA must think it is and if it is then I have the choice of either suing Dumbarton for the £200,000 or disposing of my shares in the holding company of Livingston which have a trading value at the moment of zero.


‘But I will be astonished if there is any case to answer, because I have no financial interest in East Fife.

‘The SFA investigated this is 2004 and found no case to answer then. I don’t know what’s changed now.’

Mozam, would we be able to believe his version?

I'm not sure I believe everything Rankine has to say either. Nothing is as cut and dried and neat as he puts it.

If Nixon is going to be hung out to dry, I'd like to hear his version of events. Check for creases first.

Yeah, would agree with that. Wouldn't it be great to be able to trust those at the helm.

I think Rankine is an incredibly shrewd guy and in this case, however dodgy he looks, he has my full support against Ged "I want to run the club like my other businesses" Nixon. I expect him to come out of both the hearing and court case in control.

There's no question of solvency issues at the present time with Rankine advising so that's an improvement on the shite we put up with under Nixon.

Am I right in saying Nixon still attends games just as a 'supporter' or is that David Stoker?

If there is a financial penalty coming to Livingston it should be based on the £250.000 fine given to Rangers for their £43m EBT. On that basis for a £30k infringement Livi should get a £174.42p fine.

I'll pay that for you, Neil. Keep up the good work

According to The Sun today, Rankine said he'll sell his shares and leave Livingston completely.

LiviCub wrote:According to The Sun today, Rankine said he'll sell his shares and leave Livingston completely.

He said that last week as a throw away comment if the SFA deemed him being owed 200K still from Dumbarton made him have a conflict of interest, he'd either sure them for the money or walk away from Livi to save the club from punishment. The Sun is prob taking that comment from last week and using it as a new story.

Changes going on at Livingston 5 Ltd.

APPOINTMENT TERMINATED, DIRECTOR ANDREW GEMMELL

APPOINTMENT TERMINATED, DIRECTOR GORDON MCDOUGALL

Ged Nixon still has shares but McDougall doesn't.

Bizarre that McDougall is leaving.

That's as worrying as it gets.