Tony - will you please get off the fence and say how you really feel! I ****ing hate this beating around the bush malarkey !
It may actually be the best thing for scottish football in the long term. Rangers will be back in one season if its the 1st div they go to - and the 1st div will benefit from the support the new rangers will bring with them. As there is one fewer cert result on the fixture list every weekend then the other spl clubs will be motivated even more to gub celtic.. remember hearts and kilmarnock won the cup competitions up here last year. I wont be visiting Glasgow when the next old firm game takes place - there will be some emotion then!
Rangers are cheats, and bigoted cheats at that. We don't want them anywhere near The Football League or any other English league for that matter. Let them apply for admission to league 3 in Scotland (they don't have a pyramid up there). As for the clubs voting against them, it seems like it's revenge time because Rangers could veto any vote under the SPL set-up if it did not suit them unlike the Premier League.
Don't see how you can tar their entire support as being bigoted mate. Some are yes, just as some of Celtic's are singing their IRA songs. Bigotry is alive & kicking in the west of Scotland & is very much a two way thing. There is a good documentary still on you tube called "Football, Faith & Flutes" & is well worth a watch. It's just about the only time I've seen Martin O'Neil stumped TBH. He eventually walked off as the reporter had him ****ed.
I never said the bigotry wasn't a two way thing. Two wrongs never made a right in my book. They cheated not just the rest of the league but me and you also by not paying the £75m (that's seventy five million pounds) owed to the tax man.
By the way Billy, I worked up there for a couple of years, and married a girl from the opposite faith to me, so I already knew the routine in that Youtube "Football, Faith & Flutes" video. Sure the fans are suffering but how else do you punish a club for blatant cheating? I'm old enough to remember our club being found guilty of paying players more than the maximum wage allowed and the resulting punishment contributed to our first ever relegation the following season. Something similar happened to Swindon Town. Commit the crime and pay the penalty.
I don't know Bob, I wish I had the answers although it seems to me that Murray & Whyte are the ones who should be punished.
Nice recommendation mate. Will give that a watch With regards to Rangers, they have committed the crime so should suffer the punishment. Get them to the bottom of the league system and they can work their inevitable way up.
That's the point though, it's the directors who broke the law. They are the ones who should be held to account. Not the club or the fans.
I agree with you however a precedent has been set in this country. How would Portsmouth etc feel if Rangers were not sanctioned. Personally, Murray and Whyte need stringing up big time. They are utter scum as it is they who were cheating us taxpayers all along. I may come from a family of Hoops (my mums side) but I do feel sorry for their fans and the new owners.
Rangers will begin pre-season training on Thursday with only three senior players having committed to Charles Green's newco and others advised not to accept this month's wages should they wish to leave Ibrox as free agents. The chaos surrounding the stricken club will be reflected at Murray Park, where PFA Scotland representatives will be present to ensure the newco company honours players' contracts. Lee McCulloch, Lee Wallace and Kyle Hutton are the only senior professionals to agree for their contracts to be transferred from the 'old' Rangers to Green's company, so far. Eight players have refused the switch and claim to be free agents, although that figure is likely to rise by the time the manager, Ally McCoist, conducts training. The eight – the captain Steven Davis, Allan McGregor, Kyle Lafferty, Jamie Ness, Steven Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Sone Aluko and Rhys McCabe – were accused of "opportunism" by Green on Wednesday. The Rangers legend Sandy Jardine, who remains involved with the club, claimed greed was the motivating factor and that players had reneged on last season's agreement to take a 75% wage cut in exchange for reduced transfer fees this summer. He said: "There was an agreement reached over wage cuts and they got a great deal because they could leave for rock bottom prices and now they have seen an opportunity. In many ways it's greed. If we don't have money from fees for players leaving – which we are completely entitled to – then what are we supposed to build on: fresh air?" PFA Scotland, however, maintains players are legally entitled to walk away under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations and will oppose any challenge from Green. The organisation's chief executive, Fraser Wishart, has cited newco Rangers' anticipated exclusion from the Scottish Premier League, "added to the three-year ban from European competitions, the uncertainty over which league they will play in and what further sanctions the football authorities may impose" as mitigating factors. Rangers' staff are due to receive their monthly salary on Thursday and players have been advised that to accept the money from Green's Sevco company would amount to an intention to transfer. The former Sheffield United chief executive, who has yet to provide the Scottish Football Association with full details of his consortium, has reiterated his intention to pursue players – and any clubs they join on a free transfer – for damages. "I'm very, very disappointed of course," said Green on the rush for the Ibrox exits. "Particularly so late in the proceedings. It is clear in the regulations, if someone has an objection they have to notify within 24 hours, this is nearly two weeks. I think this is just opportunism. We will definitely challenge it, yes."
BBC Scotland has learned of plans being put in place that would allow Rangers to move directly into Scottish Division One in the coming season. Rangers FC plc is soon to be liquidated and Charles Green's consortium are reforming the club. But Green's Rangers newco has not gained support to replace the old club in the Scottish Premier League. And senior Scottish football figures are proposing that Rangers start season 2012-13 in the second tier. There are also plans for the SPL and Scottish Football League bodies to be merged into a new organisation called 'The Scottish Professional Football League' in 12 months' time. The main points of the proposals are: Rangers are to be relegated with immediate effect and replaced in the SPL by Dundee. Television rights for Rangers matches in Scottish Football League Division One are to be bought by the SPL for £1m. The SPL and SFL will merge into one body at the start of season 2013-14. Play-offs between the top two divisions will be introduced in time for the coming season with one team from the top flight and three from the second tier competing for a place in the following season's SPL. There will be an increase in the parachute payments made to clubs relegated from the SPL. Changes will be made to the distribution model for clubs in the top two tiers with teams in the lower leagues earning a similar amount to the current set-up. A new pyramid system will become effective from season 2014-15 that will allow a potential place in the new league format for a team from either the Highland league or newly-created 'Lowland League'. Rangers newco's acceptance into the Scottish FA would only be approved if they accept responsibility for the football debts and fines incurred by the pervious club along with their waiving of rights to a legal challenge. Green's group bought Rangers FC plc's assets to relaunch the club It is understood Rangers chief executive Green has been "briefed" by Hibernian chairman Rod Petrie on the plans to gain their approval. All changes have to be approved by SPL and SFL clubs over the next few days. The plans require the support of eight SPL clubs and a majority of SFL clubs to be passed. Should the proposals not gain support, it remains possible that Rangers could begin next season in Scottish Division Three, the lowest league in the senior set-up. Division One clubs Falkirk, Raith Rovers and latterly Morton have voiced their opposition to any plans to place the Rangers newco in the second tier. With no Rangers currently in the SPL, 'Club 12' is listed on the league's fixtures for season 2012-13 and Dunfermline, who were relegated from the top flight last season, expect to be reinstated. Dundee, who finished second to promoted Division One champions Ross County last season, have not gone public with their view on who should take the place of Club 12.
The directors are the club. Take the directors out of football clubs and you don't have the same club. You have a club run by the fans, and unless they are collectively wealthy enough, there is no way that they would be able to compete. If it was something altogether less emotive, and something a large corporate multinational had done, would you like that company or whatever to get off scot-free (no pun intended) and the directors to take 100% of the blame? Unfortunately the fans are caught in the whole mess. This doesn't mean they shouldn't suffer though. Most support a team for better or for worse, you can't fully enjoy the good times if you aren't prepared to take the bad times.
