SPL threaten breakaway second tier if clubs do not agree to Rangers plans

The Scottish Premier League could invite First Division teams to form an SPL2.©SNS Group

The Scottish Premier League have warned they will form a breakaway second tier if plans to put Rangers in the First Division are not approved by clubs.

STV understands a number of sides in the Scottish Football League have been told they face being cut adrift from the top tier if they do not agree to proposals for league reconstruction.

Plans emerged on Thursday which would see the merger of both the SPL and SFL, the introduction of play-offs and a change to financial distribution between clubs in the top two tiers.

Central to the suggestions is that SFL clubs allow a newco Rangers to play in the First Division next season, instead of the accepted process of the club applying to the league for a place in the Third Division.

If they do not gain the approval of clubs, it is understood the long-mooted SPL2 could be created, with SFL First Division sides invited to join.

Rangers

Charles Green’s new company is attempting to have the SPL member share transferred from the old business. An 8-4 majority vote of the league’s 12 clubs is required and is due to be held on July 4.

However, seven top flight clubs have already said they will not give their approval, meaning Rangers’ share will be returned to the league.

It has been suggested then that a club from the second tier, either Dundee or Dunfermline Athletic, would gain the vacant SPL clubs.

The onus would then be on the remaining 29 clubs of the SFL to agree to a new financial and sporting package, which would see a newco Rangers play in the First Division in the 2012/13 season.

Plans include a £1m payment to the league for the SPL to broadcast matches involving the Ibrox club, as well as a redistribution of revenue to give more money to First Division clubs.

SPL sources also claim having Rangers in the second tier would add a combined £2m onto the gates of the other nine First Division clubs, a claim which has not been backed up with evidence.

A play-off would also be brought in between the top two leagues, with the side finishing 11th in the SPL taking on the sides placed second, third and fourth in the First Division.

Any Rangers newco would also be forced to accept any sporting sanctions relating to outstanding investigations into the oldco, as well as paying off all football debt.

The possibility of any newco participating in any competition hinges on the Scottish FA agreeing to transfer Rangers' membership of the governing body to Green.

SFL clubs will meet on Tuesday to discuss the plans, although a vote will not be taken at the meeting.

SPL2

Should the SFL clubs reject the plans, the SPL will push ahead with plans to form a second tier which would include the newco Rangers.

First Division clubs would be invited to join the new division, reducing the numbers in the SFL and cutting off the promotion and relegation link between the two bodies.

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There are 26 comments

Does the media partner of ex-Rangers have any shame? Not one quote in there, but plenty of innuendo of bribery & threats. It would seem that the disease of corruption didn't die along with Rangers; it's spreading to other parts of the Scottish football world. Quite simply, if one club cannot be allowed to fail just the same as every other club, we don't have a sport - we have an organised racket.

MacBloscaidh 28/06/2012 Report this place
Wee Declans head must be about to burst.

David 28/06/2012 Report this place
Blackmail, the clubs should not buckle under these threats

TROG 28/06/2012 Report this place
Hahaha wee Declan Murphy, single handedly trying to fight all things Rangers. Well Declan away and look up the SFL rule book. If SPL can finda a way to relegate Rangers then rule 15.1 states that if Rangers are relegated and not expelled from the SPL then they MUST play in Division 1.

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
David, away and look up the rule book regarding relegation. Rangers FC are being liquidated, not relegated. Newco have to apply to the SFL to join. The argument is whether or not they get into Div 1 or begin life at Div 3, as they should. The club trying to get entry to the SFL are currently named Sevco. What division did they play in last season in order to be relegated? Love the Declan remarks btw ....

MacBloscaidh 28/06/2012 Report this place
Scottish Football= corruption. Not the member clubs but the SFA,SPL and SFL

TROG 28/06/2012 Report this place
MacBloscaidh, you should perhaps read the proposals made by the SFA. Rangers would be relegated under a deal on the condition they accept the Oldco fines and investigations. In the eyes of the SFA their club status would continue from last year. Either way they realise they're fooked without us. Believe it or not we are too important to lose

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
@ MacBloscaidh

Rangers Football Club, The Rangers Football Club, Charles Green Football Club, Sevco Football Club,
makes no difference to me.

Same Ibrox, same Murray Park, same fans, same traditions - no debt.

Rangers exist, we will be back as The Rangers Football Club sooner than you think, that's what concerns you.

Just admit that.

Would you be so interested in this situation if any other team in Scotland were experiencing this? No, but your hatred of anything Rangers makes you obsessed.

David 28/06/2012 Report this place
Rangers are a non entity now, soon to be wound up and their history will die with it.The club Sevco has no history no strip no badge and as of today 3 playing staff.There will be no Sevco playing football in Scotland next season as it will never get up and running in time.

TROG 28/06/2012 Report this place
Wow! It looks like they're really brickin' it now. Sporting integrity? Sporting survival, more like. Much as the grassroots supporter wants it, you can't dump an old firm club without bringing the whole system down, not unless you'll settle for something like the League of Wales, which you won't.
Get used to it, deal with it, live with it, or stand up for your beliefs and downsize.

hawjim 28/06/2012 Report this place
If Rangers die Scottish football dies. FACT. Read it for yourself. Here's option 5 of the SPL proposal which amounts to the same as no newco getting off the ground.

5. RANGERS TERMINATED OR SUSPENDED

•Complete financial meltdown

•Settlement agreement is obliterated

•Fans are lost to the game forever

•The game survives but where?

Don't hate the player bhoys - hate the game :-)

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
@ David, you are right - I wouldn't be interested if it were any other team because if it WERE any other teams, they would have been long gone by now. But here we are still having this debate, not because we are obsessed as you like to claim, but because the Scottish football authorities don't have the guts to do the right thing. Perhaps they are afraid of being threatened. Well, not as if it's not happened before.

With regards to anything else, I am not concerned in the least, providing Sevco start at the bottom and work their way up like every other new club. But remember if you do begin in Div 1, you aren't there in merit. You know it, I know it.

The fact that you are happy to see your old club wipe away £130m of debt and yet continue as if nothing happened is the kind of arrogance we've come to expect from you lot - it's part of the reason your old club went bust. But you can't see it.

With regards to the assets bought by Sevco, I am wondering why John Brown got so upset last night if everything is as rosy as you say? Both of you can't be right.

Lastly, with regards to whether or not Rangers exist - I can only point to UEFA who say all new clubs must have 3 years accounts before before being permitted to play in European competition. That's the bottom line.

I am sure a kind of "Rangers" exist in your mind - pity it won't be The Rangers that were founded when 4 men had a dream. This one will be founded when one old man had a dream - and his name was Green. :-)

MacBloscaidh 28/06/2012 Report this place
@ David Thompson - posting the word FACT doesn't actually mean it's a fact. It means you want to believe it's a fact.

Where does the game go from here? The fans will decide that. The fans have decided that a new club must not begin life in the SPL.

Fans of the SFL will also play their part and it's up to the chairmen of each club whether they listen or not. The fact that this document has been leaked probably won't do your new club any favours as people can quite clearly see it is nothing more than scare tactics.

You say you are too big to lose - Not according to the fans of the SPL you are not. But hey, as big Marvin used to say ... "Keep Believing!!!"

MacBloscaidh 28/06/2012 Report this place
At least Jim Farry tried to hide it.

The Chief Executives of the SFA, the SPL, and the SFL must resign now.

You want 41 empty stadiums next year?

Fine, you got it.

Football supporters will not put up with being cheated.

The boycott of Scottish football starts now, and doesn't end until those responsible for proposing these plans are removed from their position of influence.

Declan Murphy 28/06/2012 Report this place
If this happens Scottish football is DEAD.
No fans other than Sevco 5088 "supporters" will attend matches.
Cheats should NOT prosper.
Doncaster should resign NOW and go full time with Sevco who he has been working for since February!

bigotbrothersbasher 28/06/2012 Report this place
What a joke this is getting! 1st the SPL looking like saying no (we only have the word of 7 chairmen that there voting no. No vote has taken place yet) 2nd The SFL clubs don't like the idea off Rangers going into 1st so now there talking about a SPL2 just so NEWCO don't suffer if it was up to me I go ahead with the new plans for the game but with NEWCO right at the bottom off this pyramid they talk about so that would be some Glasgow sunday league and work there way up this is a great chance to stump out the sectarian crap that comes with Rangers/NEWCO

madman willie 28/06/2012 Report this place
Hey like I said, don't hate the player - hate the game. 99.9% of Rangers (Sevco 5088 to Timmy) want Rangers to start from the 3rd Division. Firstly a) to earn our way back to the top with dignity and b) for the reasons in the SPL prosals that the SPL will implode financially. Don't give me all this crap that the SPL vote was in favour of "Sporting Integrity" because you don't believe that anymore than I do. It's an opportunity to kick the big boys when they're down. Hey, we'd do the same ourselves so I don't blame you. But like kicking a bully when
they're down just remember the bully will get back up and you'll have to face him again sometime. So yes, in summary Rangers fans are in favour of "sporting integrity". Good luck filling your £16 million black hole.

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
Hey like I said, don't hate the player - hate the game. 99.9% of Rangers (Sevco 5088 to Timmy) want Rangers to start from the 3rd Division. Firstly a) to earn our way back to the top with dignity and b) for the reasons in the SPL prosals that the SPL will implode financially. Don't give me all this crap that the SPL vote was in favour of "Sporting Integrity" because you don't believe that anymore than I do. It's an opportunity to kick the big boys when they're down. Hey, we'd do the same ourselves so I don't blame you. But like kicking a bully when
they're down just remember the bully will get back up and you'll have to face him again sometime. So yes, in summary Rangers fans are in favour of "sporting integrity". Good luck filling your £16 million black hole.

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
@ MacBloscaidh

The fact that you are happy to see your old club wipe away £130m of debt and yet continue as if nothing happened is the kind of arrogance we've come to expect from you lot - it's part of the reason your old club went bust. But you can't see it.

I am not proud of that fact, far from it, but what you seem to forget is as fans, we paid the VAT on all merchandise etc, the players paid their PAYE, other people failed to pay that on, other people who are no longer at the club.

I want to start in Div 3, as most Rangers fans do, but the SPL/SFL know that they need us and that is why they want to demote us to Div 1 only.

@Declan -

41 stadiums empty next year?

Wake up, its scottish football, they are empty every week anyway.

But of course, they were empty because of us before and they will be empty because of us again too eh?

David 28/06/2012 Report this place
@David - please, spare me the sop story about the poor players who paid their PAYE. Many of the same players had double contracts and never battered an eye-lid.

Your club has cheated the game in Scotland for years and we are an absolute shambles because of it.

People are absolutely sick of what your club has done. Go away, start again in the 3rd Division, show some remorse and maybe we'll claw the game back.

Receive any kind of preferential treatment and I think it will be the last straw as far as Scottish Football is concerned. If the stadiums are half empty now, because fans up and down the country knew they could never break the stranglehold of Celtic / Rangers; think what the stadiums will be like when they fans realise that even after a club cheats & goes bust, a newco still gets preferential treatment over all those who have played by the rules.

It's either a sport or an organised racket. Which is it?

MacBloscaidh 28/06/2012 Report this place
so it has come to this, blackmailing the teams in the lower leagues for one team, this is shamefull and im disgusted the sfa are not doing the right thing by putting rangers in the third div, let's face it they cheated and the teams in div 1, 2 & 3 shouldn't be treated like this, i am totally scunnered by this latest twist

tab 28/06/2012 Report this place
The SFA are corrupt and make up the rules as they go. For example issuing Rangers a punishment that was not even within their own rule book. Let's look at your other point MacBloscaidh. Cheating? The law in Scotland dictates that you are innocent until proven guilty and unless I'm mistaken, if you know the outcome of the HMRC case then you must be psychic as it still hasn't even been ruled on. Craig Whyte is also being chased by the police as they think he illegally conned his way into buying Rangers. Perhaps not good enough for the SPL/SPL to believe but good enough for the lawmakers of this land. If he is guilty then Rangers will be vindicated and all allegations will have to be dropped. Maybe you should take up your issues with the SPL as they're the ones who said they didn't want us but are now bending over backwards and holding guns to the heads of SFL clubs to accommodate us so they don't lose the income we attract.

David Thomson 28/06/2012 Report this place
Mr thomson take your head out of the ibrox turf and listen.The SPL have issued a statement stating that rangers were GUILTY of paying players out with their contracts and will be punished even to the point of having some of the trophies they cheated to win taken away.I have been a football supporter for over 50 years and if rangers are allowed to dictate where they will play I and an awful lot of supporters will not be back and Scottish football will die.

bigowen coatbridge 28/06/2012 Report this place
It's either a sport or an organised racket. Which is it?

MacBloscaidh

A bit of both - you have two club whose stadium is each bigger than the next two (Celtic next 3) which means they dominate in terms of fan numbers and potential audience. This domination means that when external deals are made, TV, league sponsorship, even stadium advertising (for all clubs), this audience is a factor that is considered.

Take away this audience for what ever reason and your value goes down. Why have we abandoned the 3pm kick off? 12:15 12:30 12:45 14:00, Mon Tues Wed Thurs Night Football - Why TV deal and Money.

There is no perfect solution, stop looking for one, all solutions are bad.

still water 28/06/2012 Report this place
Nice to know that the SPL are looking after just one team's problems this season again.I guess I must be mistaken I was under the impression that Scottish Football consisted of 40 teams, but it seems there is only one team the SPL are interested in and they have never played in any of the Scottish League's before. They have even threatened the the 39 members they have with expulsion if they don't allow the SPL to let this new team into their league.Why don't the 39 teams break away and form their on league.

bigowen coatbridge 28/06/2012 Report this place
The Cheats Charter.

I shall now name names.

These comments are not in breach of the STV rules against naming of private individuals, as these are public figure who must be held account for their statements and actions.

Neil Doncaster : Chief Executive of the SPL: Architect of plan Save Rangers. Claimed that RFC(In Liquidation) would not be liquidated. Stated that there was no perceivable difference between a club being liquidated, and one which agreed a CVA. Claimed that a share in the SPL could be 'transferred', despite there being no rule which permit such.

Stewart Regan: Cheif Executive of the SFA. The SFA have put their name to this proposal, and the chief executive must take the blame for it. He has put his name to a proposal which blatantly states that one club will not have to abide by the rules every other club does, one club will be given extra money, which no other club will, and that one club will openly be permitted to break every rule which is currently in place. Stewart Regan can no longer be viewed as being impartial. He is now part of the group which wishes to carve up Scottish football for the benefit of one club.

David Longmuir: Cheif Executive of the SFL. Has yet to come out and support fairness in football, and has hinted that he may be willing to shadt 20 clubs which he purports to represent, in order to save one club which is not even a member of his organisation.

Campbell Oglivie: President of the SFA. EBT recipient. General Secretary of Rangers FC (In Liquidation) at the time they were using EBTs. Head of the organisation charged with investigating EBTs.

Jim Ballantyne: SFL President. Chairman of Airdrie United. Most recently seen at the Linfield v Rangers FC (In Liquidation) game, wearing a Rangers Fighting Fund badge.

Donald Findlay: Chairman of Cowdenbeath FC. Resigned from Rangers FC after coming to public attention for singing songs which were allegedly sectarian in content.

Of course, there is no corruption in Scottish football, all of these people have the best of intentions.
Any suggestion that these people are working for the benefit of one, newly formed, two week old, club, at the expense of the other 41 clubs who are actually members of the SFA, SFL, and SPL, would be totally unfounded.

I am issuing a demand, that these people come forward, and explain to their customers why it is that they ignore the demands of those who pay their money to watch the game.

I won't pay to watch a tournament which is rigged,and neither will 99% of other supporters.

Declan Murphy 28/06/2012 Report this place

SPL threaten breakaway second tier if clubs do not agree to Rangers plans

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