Rangers newco: Three more clubs join dissenters as D-day arrives

By Stephen Halliday
Published on 13/07/2012 00:00

THE concerted attempt by those in charge of Scottish football’s three governing bodies to parachute Rangers into the First Division for the new season reaches its most critical point at Hampden today.

All 30 Scottish Football League clubs will gather for a special general meeting to vote on resolutions which will determine whether the newco Ibrox club, expelled from the Scottish Premier League last week, are 
accepted as members and, if so, at what level of the organisation they will play. Despite the offer of overall league reconstruction and a revised financial distribution drawn up by SFA chief executive Stewart Regan, with the backing of his SPL and SFL counterparts Neil Doncaster 
and David Longmuir, there remains a significant depth of opposition to the prospect of Rangers being accommodated in the First Division.

Three more SFL clubs – 
Arbroath, Elgin City and Peterhead – all issued statements yesterday confirming their intention to vote against the proposal and instead call for Rangers to start their new incarnation in the Third Division. Added to previous public declarations made by other SFL clubs over the past few weeks, it appears to leave Longmuir with an uphill task to persuade his members to deliver the 16 votes necessary to pass the resolution which would empower the SFL board to place Rangers in the First Division in return for the reconstruction deal on offer.

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Clyde, one of the most vociferous opponents of Rangers being admitted to the second tier of the Scottish senior league set-up, have voiced fresh concerns over the capacity of Charles Green’s newco Ibrox club to complete their fixtures in the SFL next season. “We have received absolutely no information on the organisation Sevco Scotland Ltd, whom we are being asked, and encouraged, to vote straight into the top division of the SFL under resolution 2 and possibly into SFL 3 under Resolution 1,” said the Clyde statement.

“We have no business plan, list of directors, details of ownership, statement of capital adequacy or any proposals relating to the provision of any similar information in the near future.

“David Longmuir has clearly stated that he will distribute all the information he has got or is able to distribute. Whilst the 
notion that there is a leap of faith to be taken in terms of some of the matters, there can be no leap of faith with something as fundamental as knowing who is being admitted to the league.

“If a leap of faith is to be taken, then, in the current circumstances, it will be taken blindly and the only logical outcome of taking that kind of risk would be to enter them to SFL 3, where, should any subsequent issues arise they will be contained within the lowest league rather than disrupting the top flight of the SFL.”