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E12Hammer 2:57 Wed Jun 13
Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

They're going into liquidation and forming a new company (I think to get around paying back debts?). However, the other 11 SPL teams are to vote on whether to allow the new company to stay in the SPL.

The SPL teams want to allow them in because an SPL without Rangers has less commercial value. But fans up and down Jockland are demanding fair play and that the new club formed has to start in Div III.

Absolutely amazing fall from grace and a warning to each and every club out there. You arent too big to be brought down to grass roots.

Eddie B 2:45 Fri Jul 13
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Stranraer?!!!

Steviedj 12:57 Fri Jul 13
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

They'll be back soon enough.

I'm pleased because Stranraer will get promoted because of it. Great little club.

DANNY66 11:55 Fri Jul 13
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

On the radio this morning they said that the SFL as a body could over-ride the vote taken by the SFL clubs so if the clubs vote for Division 3 for Rangers then SFL body can say,no Division 1.What kind of system is that?

Eddie B 11:41 Fri Jul 13
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

On Friday morning representatives of the Scottish Football League's clubs will descend on Hampden in order to save the national game from the people currently charged with running it.

Ostensibly, they will convene to decide whether to allow Charles Green's reanimated Rangers to join their organisation in the First Division or, which is looking increasingly likely, the bottom tier. There is much at stake.

At the last count 17 clubs had expressed their intention not to catapult the newco into the First Division.

That is not an outcome favoured by Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster, the chief executives of the Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Premier League respectively.

For weeks now they have attempted, with threats and bribes, to persuade the lower orders to comply with their opinion. Which is that, according to Regan, Scottish football will die “a slow, lingering death” (presumably opposed to a fast, lingering death) if Green's Sevco Scotland Ltd is forced to begin life in the Third Division.

One would have expected Regan, as the figurehead of the ultimate governing body, to have remained neutral on this issue.

Instead, following the SPL's decision to refuse to allow the oldco's membership share to be transferred to I-Can't Believe-It's Not-Rangers, he opined: "In the event there wasn't a Rangers, that's got dire consequences for the game and for Scottish society, generally.

"The economic impact and social unrest are all things that could result as an impact of having no Rangers. That matter will be considered next week by the Scottish Football League and, hopefully, there'll be an outcome whereby Rangers will be accepted into Division One of the SFL; which would allow some financial stability for clubs in the country."

It could be argued that the possibility of social unrest (a risible claim, at best) should be of little concern to a man who lives in Yorkshire. However, Regan's statement to the SFL clubs last week, that “we have to put the rule book aside” on the subject of the reborn Rangers was truly breathtaking.

For a man charged with maintaining the probity of the national game to disregard the Scottish League's constitution with such contempt was quite staggering.

His stance would also appear to remove two of the options remaining for the SFA's independent Appellate Panel. On May 29, at the Court of Session, Lord Glennie upheld Rangers' appeal against a 12-month transfer embargo, ruling it to be unlawful and returning the issue to the Tribunal.

Richard Keen, QC, acting for Rangers, argued successfully that the embargo was outwith the powers of the Tribunal, pointing out that a fine, suspension or expulsion from Scottish Football or a ban from entering the Scottish Cup were the sanctions open to them.

With Regan clearly of the belief that the fabric of society would collapse should Green's newco suffer suspension or expulsion from the game (and a fine having already been imposed), that would leave only a ban from the tournament Rangers have failed to win in each of their last three attempts.

Incidentally, the Judicial Panel handed out its punishment on April 23, the Appellate Tribunal upheld their decision on May 16.

Lord Glennie's decision came just 36 days after the Judicial Panel delivered their verdict. Since then 45 days have elapsed with no sign of the Appellate Tribunal meeting again.

Then again, it's now 25 days since Rod McKenzie, of Harper McLeod, the SPL's lawyers, deduced that there was “a prima facie case to answer” in respect of improper registration of players. That investigation, too, appears to have been kicked into the long grass.

Regan and Doncaster, meanwhile, have cobbled together a set of promises in order to persuade SFL clubs to do their bidding and install the club formerly known as Rangers directly into the First Division.

These incentives include a 16-team top tier with play-offs, a one-off payment of £1 million for First Division broadcasting rights and a merged, restructured body renamed the Scottish Professional Football League.

In a joint statement by the three ruling bodies on Wednesday announcing this brave new world, it was claimed that these discussions have been taking place for over two years.

However, only 12 months ago Doncaster and SFL chief executive David Longmuir were telling a Supporters Direct conference at the national stadium that there was no prospect of a 16-team SPL in the foreseeable future because it would cost the game £20 million.

On Friday, in what is likely to be a long and heated meeting, the choice facing the clubs is effectively between short-term financial pragmatism and that much-maligned concept, sporting integrity.

Sevco is not a football club. It is an off-the-shelf company which has never been a member of any league or association, cannot provide audited accounts or even details of their backers.

There also remains the possibility that Rangers' liquidators, BDO, may seek to annul the transaction which saw the Green party take control of the Light Blues.

Yet Doncaster, who faces the awkward task of renegotiating the TV deal with Sky after making it clear how woeful the SPL will be without Rangers, is keeping his fingers crossed that greed will prevail.

The SFL clubs must ensure that it does not. Should they admit Sevco into the First Division Scottish football will become a global laughing stock, its credibility extinguished.

Green's newco could cleanse itself of the sins of the fathers by beginning at the bottom. Rangers' demise also provides a valuable opportunity to restructure the Scottish game. In the happy event that justice is done on Friday, then Regan and Doncaster should have no part to play in that rebuilding.

Shin Chan 5:20 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

I can understand the other teams not letting them in, but that could have massive repercussions for them financially.

Leonard Hatred 4:50 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Will they still be playing at Ibrox?

norwaytips 4:27 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

If they had to go into div 3; and it seems a possibility, then surely those clubs would benefit, as would those in div 2 and 1, if Rangers had to play their way up from the bottom.

maverickx4 3:07 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Dreadful. Wouldn't be surprised if they end up buying out a lower league English club like Bury and jump the leagues a bit that way.

It's weird they haven't just been dropped one division like Marseille, Torino, etc.

If they do say stuff it to the Scottish leagues, and I wouldn't blame them, it will be the death knell for other Scottish clubs who would miss out on their gate money. Got to feel sorry for the fans whatever the outcome.

HammerinThailand 9:49 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

The new club need three years of accounts or they cant enter the league. The scots set that precedent with Gretna. They either break it and open themselves up for all manner of legal challenges or Rangers go in under div 3 as Gretna had to

norwaytips 4:30 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

The old club has gone. The new club hasn't broken any rules and, I assume, will have to apply to the league and be voted in, or not. I can't see them not accepting them.

HammerinThailand 4:06 Sat Jul 7
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

The question is why in Scotland is nobody talking about the 3 year account rule? Are they trying to conveniently overlook it? Will it end up in court? What will UEFA/FIFA do? This is potentially a lot bigger than what happens to the assets of a club that actually no longer exists if they allow a new club to break their own rules and enter any professional league.

dougles badder 10:38 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Like a pheonix they will rise from the ashes to the spl in 3 years and normal service will resume.
Its tribal up here and they wont be allowed to die in my humble opinion.

Texas Iron 10:12 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Wonder what the Ranger's fans will do...

Not only in Scotland...there's hundreds of Rangers Supporters clubs around the world...

;=0)))

Texas Iron 10:12 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Wonder what the Ranger's fans will do...

Not only in Scotland...there's hundreds of Rangers Supporters clubs around the world...

;=0)))

OverLandandSea 10:11 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

I feel sorry for the supporters in all this mess.

Oh hang on.

No I don't.

Texas Iron 10:09 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

Aberdeen Iron 8:15 Fri Jul 6

They can pay it off from future revenue streams...

Nose...Cut...Face...Spite...

percyd 10:05 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

I'm all for letting Rangers - and any other club for that matter - suffering the worst of fates for diddling HMRC. Inexcusable.

The SFL, now that the SPL clubs have voted to exclude Rangers, are bullying other league clubs into accepting Rangers into Div One on the basis that Scottish football will somehow face financial meltdown if they have to start at the bottom and spend three seasons regaining a place in the SPL.

If that is the case, i.e. it is about preserving Scottish football, the why not a caveat that requires Rangers, if allowed into Div 1 for 2012/2013, to forfeit, say, 80% of their gate takings for the first 2 seasons they are back in the SPL with those monies being distributed to clubs in Div 2 and 3 (and, maybe, Div 1).

Joke Whole 8:35 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

It amazes me really how people try to justify making "a special case" against punishment for a crime against society committed by a party to whom they have some allegiance, no matter how tenuous.

Society at large has rules to make life living in it easier for the majority, and the society that is Scottish Football has an enhanced subset of those rules.

Rangers, by their deliberate actions over the last (at least) 4 years gained an unfair advantage over others in the societies to which they belong; in pure footballing terms they were able to fund the purchases of better players, staff and facilities using money that should have already been on HRMC's account. This meant that they were better placed than they would otherwise have been to fend off any challenge to one of the top two spots they saw as their divine right to occupy.

HRMC, and by default every citizen in the UK suffered because that money was not available to fund government backed schemes & projects like refurbishing schools & hospitals.

Imagine being a parent who's just lost their new-born child due to the fact that an incubator couldn't be found, and the reason one couldn't be found is because the treasury didn't receive the money it was expecting from Rangers and so therefore had to trim their budget accordingly.

There IS a direct causal link between tax avoidance and money available for the government to spend. It doesn't help that Whitehall like to muddy the water in the way they first pool all the expected income (tax revenue) in a bid to mask their own inefficiencies, before sharing out what's left amongst the spending ministries. That, however is a separate issue.

There is a moral, if not legal, obligation for people and businesses to pay taxes according to the law of the land and there is an equal moral obligation for the government, or it's agents to collect those taxes in the most beneficial (for the country) way possible.

Pringle 8:31 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

ha Ha ...good riddance

Hermit Road 8:30 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

The majority of all fans in Scotland, including the ones who stole from Her Majesty The Queen, want this new company with absolutely no history to start life in the third division. That's what should happen.

stirlinghammer 8:26 Fri Jul 6
Re: Rangers really are fucked arent they!!

jack - stop pretending you are rangers..you're all over charlie nicholas and celtic like a cheap suit

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