SFA president Campbell Ogilvie was in the firing line when the story of the demise of Rangers broke and it did cross his mind to stand down amid criticism over his association with the liquidated club. However, the former Rangers director and secretary believed he had many other key roles to perform as the head of the governing body and felt it sufficient to keep out of any investigation or decisions relating to the Ibrox club. Ogilvie came under some public pressure to quit after admitting receiving £95,000 from the club's controversial Employee Benefits Trust (EBT) scheme, which was the subject of a tax tribunal over payments made to staff and players in the period 2001-10. Now that the oldco Rangers had won their appeal in principle against the potential £75million tax bill, Ogilvie felt the time was right to speak publicly on the issues. He said today: "I was compromised in the context I had worked with Rangers previously and, like any committee that operates within the SFA, if you have been with a club and there are issues coming up that are relative to that club, you have to stand out the room. Effectively on that one subject I stood out the room in the region of six months. But there were plenty of other things at the association that took my time up, a lot of the areas we don't often hear a lot about and a lot of these are building towards the future." When asked if he had considered stepping down from the post of president given he was compromised, Ogilvie said: "You say compromised, a lot of it is perception. I tried to put on the table what my involvement was at the time. If you are talking about association, I was at the club at the time up until 2005, albeit secretary until 2002. So by association I was pulled into it. When you say stand down, yes, I had thought about it but I obviously volunteered to stand aside in relation to the Rangers topic. I had to do that. But there are a lot more issues going on at the association, not just the Rangers case. That's why I thought it was important that I tried to carry on that work. I was fully employed in other areas." Oldco Rangers won their case as two of the three panel judges agreed with their assertion that most payments were loans rather than taxable income. When asked if he was expecting to have pay back his EBT loan, Ogilvie said: "That's a matter entirely between myself and the trust. That's purely a personal matter. I was open at the outset. Had it not been for the football background I wouldn't even have been answering these questions and I wouldn't expect to ask you a question about your personal financial arrangements." Ogilvie stressed he was keen to move on from the topic of Rangers' financial collapse and focus on talks aimed at league reconstruction. And he offered no opinion on the continuing SPL investigation into alleged undisclosed payments to Rangers players from 2000 to 2011, which will be heard by an independent commission. Rangers chief executive Charles Green has called for the probe to be scrapped in the wake of the tax tribunal verdict. Ogilvie said: "That's an SPL investigation. There are three very competent gentlemen sitting in that investigation who will look at all facts in front of them. They will go through the process they have to but that's an SPL matter."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
