Rangers go bust?

[alberta white]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17826965

Ally McCoist is now talking of Rangers restarting at the bottom of the Scottish system. (Third Division.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17829739

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Rangers, Celtic and the "diddy 10" are basically in a Mexican standoff right now because of the SPL voting structure issue. Hope the SFL3 thing happens and the clubs that have made it difficult for Rangers to exit administration have to suffer the consequences financially. Things could get really poisonous at games next season if Rangers wind up having to field a U18 side in an SPL context because of the transfer embargo and that's probably best avoided now for all concerned.

[TheKottonmouthed]

I was gobsmacked when I saw this.....

They obviously aren't getting relegated. But, they won't be allowed to compete in European football until sorted. See Portsmouth as an example - they were denied UEFA Cup participation after playing in the FA Cup final the previous season for the same reason - administration.

Celtic will be jumping for joy at this I'm sure.

Do you think Celtic really thinks its a good thing? maybe on the outset, but really it sorta screws them out of any sort of compettion within there own league.

Without the Celtic Rangers derby what does SPL even have? If the Rangers get hit hard and lose a lot of talent, the league will be a one team league.

It will be bad for Celtic.

[alberta white]

What gets me are the draconian measures imposed on Craig Whyte.

As if he actually cares.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

One thing to bear in mind if you are an outsider to this is that although anybody thinking rationally can see that Rangers folding would be a disaster financially for Celtic and the top clubs in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen there are very strong visceral emotions related to identity politics involved in something not completely dissimilar to a Serb vs Croat sort of way in an Old Firm context that lead many people in Scottish society to want to see Rangers destroyed no matter the consequences for their club and to view anyone at their club who fails to act in a manner consistent with that as some kind of traitor. Looks like it will be clearer after an SPL meeting on Monday whether Rangers can easily get back into the SPL relatively unscathed after a liquidation and newco formation scenario. If not things could get really ugly on this over the next few months.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

There is now a "preferred bidder":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17921616

Bill Miller, the American, rather than the Scottish so called "Blue Knights". He appears to have an inventive solution to the administration process that could see Rangers emerge relatively unscathed but it remains to be seen what the SPL, SFA and creditors (including the UK's equivalent of Revenue Canada) can or will try to do about it.

[JamboAl]

I'd like to think of myself as a "rational" supporter of Hearts. I do not want Rangers destroyed, but most supporters do want them to hurt for a while for what has been done by David Murray and most recently, Craig Whyte. And frankly, three years in the SFL might do everyone in Scottish football, including Rangers, some good.

[alberta white]

.... Save for the boys wandering aimlessley around on what would have been Old Firm days.

Oh , and the local constabulary that have never had to handel that type of traveling support in the SFL before.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Scotland has eight police forces (soon to be merged into one) and only one of them would lack experience in that regard so I don't think that angle would be a huge issue given two of the clubs in that area (Queen of the South and Stranraer) are likely to be in SFL2 next season and the other (Annan) has a miniscule stadium which would limit the size of any travelling support.

The thing to watch now is the politics that surround the vote that will be required to transfer Rangers SPL share of membership over to Bill Miller's "newco". The thinking up to now has been that this was going to be handled by the SPL's executive rather than the broader SPL membership as long as it happened prior to the end of this season, but there are already media reports that this may not happen:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2012/05...6908-23848533/

The difference that would make is that any two clubs may be able to block the transfer under the SPL's voting structure. Given the supporters of many of the teams involved such as Celtic and Aberdeen have a hatred of Rangers that is off the scale that would make for a very difficult decision on the part of club directors. The thinking had been that the votes were already there on the board to make it happen.

[Cheeta]

Two important numbers since the arguments for justifying Rangers remaining in the SPL seem to be orbiting around them;

Zero;Not a good number for Rangers
This would be the number of friends the Auld Firm has in Scottish football. For a lot of reasons. Keep in mind the Glasgow Giants are only playing in the SPL because they have no where else to go. They've both as much as said it time and again over the past few years as they've wistfully mussed about their eventual admission into the coming European Super League (whenever that might be) forever leaving Scottish football and all it's constraints behind them.

And remember it wasn't that long ago that the rest of the SPL applied to UEFA for desertification, all over how TV revenue would be shared. Ten other clubs in the SPL wanted to break away and form their own league over TV revenue, leaving Celtic and Rangers to share a league with Q of S, Falkirk, Hamilton, Partick and so on. Faced with the prospect the Auld Firm blinked and a new, fairer, TV deal was cut. So don't think the SPL clubs don't have the stones to say goodbye. They do.

Three;A good number for Rangers
This would be the number of years UEFA sets as the minimum for a club to be a member of one of their association before entering continental tournaments. Bad news for Rangers, its hard enough as it is for the Glasgow clubs to recruit serious talent with the offer of UEFA leagues, but also good news for Rangers as it means they could ghost back into the SPL as a new entity (on paper) and still suffer serious sanctions. The other SPL clubs get at least three years at Europe whilst keeping the TV revenues associated with having Rangers still around.

Think on the balance of things, a newco Rangers effectively banned from Europe for three years is a good starting point for all the SPL clubs to start with when it comes to negotiations. But its just a start.

Convinced at this point we're going to see a sea-change in the governance of the SPL. One way or another Ranger will be back, next season, three years hence, whichever, but I also think everyone recognizes that they're going to find the Auld Firm a bit de-fanged because of all this and honestly, hard to imagine that being a bad thing.