Rangers crisis forces SPL to finally amend its rulebook

SINCE its inception back in 1998, there has been an unavoidable perception that the Scottish Premier League is an organisation which makes up its rules as it goes along. Yesterday at Hampden, there was simply relief that any rules had been agreed upon at all.

After two aborted attempts within the past month, the 12 SPL clubs – including newly-promoted Ross County for the first time – felt able to consider eight financial fair play resolutions intended to improve the fiscal regulation of an organisation so badly tarnished by events off the field in the season just ended.

It is a sad indictment of the current state of Scottish football that the SPL needed to lay down in black and white the basic requirements that its members ensure they pay both their players and taxes on time.

But the ongoing crisis at Rangers, plunged into administration as a result of owner Craig Whyte’s failure to pay £9million due to HMRC since his takeover, and the repeated failure of Hearts to pay the first team squad salaries as scheduled, meant the SPL rulebook had to be amended once again.

Five of the resolutions, which each required an 8-4 majority in favour, were passed yesterday, dealing with sanctions for clubs going into administration and those who do not keep up to date with payments to players and HMRC.

The other three resolutions, relating to the transfer of a club’s SPL share to a “Newco” and which would have required an 11-1 majority to be passed, were withdrawn. It was agreed instead that any decision on such a share transfer, previously at the discretion of the SPL board, will be made by all 12 clubs who will also have the authority to impose any sanctions. The congratulations which SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster feels the clubs merit may not be widely forthcoming, with many in Scottish football still uneasy about the prospect of a “Newco” Rangers being allowed to maintain a seamless and unpunished presence in the top flight.

But Doncaster, given the thankless task as the SPL’s public face on these occasions, could be permitted at least a sense of satisfaction that some progress was achieved during a meeting which lasted just over two hours.

The first resolution, increasing the penalty on any club entering administration from 10 points to the greater of 10 points or one-third of their previous season’s points tally, would have seen Rangers docked 31 points if it had been in place this season. As it was, the 10 points deducted from the Ibrox club made no material difference to their finishing position in the table.

“You could argue that a 10-point penalty is less meaningful on Rangers this year than it might have been on other clubs if they had faced it this year,” said Doncaster. “So to have a proportionate points penalty has been deemed appropriate. That is taking account of individual circumstances.”

In addition, any club whose parent company goes into administration will now he regarded as in administration themselves. That would apply in a case such as Hearts, owned by Vladimir Romanov’s UBIG company.

“That would mirror the situation at Southampton where the parent company went into administration but the football club didn’t,” explained Doncaster. “The Football League at that point deemed the football club to be in administration, even though it was strictly the parent company. “Let’s assume there was a football club here which owned several different companies. If a very small company underneath it went into administration, then it wouldn’t be relevant to the football club. Or, indeed, if there was a huge group and the football club happened to be part of one of the individual owners who went into administration, then it wouldn’t be relevant.

“But where you have a situation where something is clearly a wholly owned or majority owned subsidiary of a group, then it would clearly be relevant to the football club.”

If a club fails to play its players on time, they will now be in immediate breach of SPL rules and liable to any sanction the organisation sees fit. The punishment for late payment of taxes will be an immediate transfer embargo.

“Any party can bring to us any suggestion that players haven’t been paid on time,” added Doncaster.” We may not have been alerted by the club and we can then investigate that. We have unlimited powers to go in and investigate clubs if we have suspicions that, for example, there has been a late payment which hasn’t been declared.

“Late payment of players is a disciplinary matter for the board. If players are due to be paid on the 25th of each month, for example, and we find out they were not paid on time we will impose a sanction.

“The transfer embargo only applies if there are late payments to the taxman. There will be an immediate embargo until the club brings the tax up to date. In relation to the non-payment of tax if a club fails to alert us then that would be an additional sanction.”