Rangers lash out at SPL’s £500,000 EBT legal bill

RANGERS have branded the SPL “ridiculous” and have accused them of dragging out the EBT saga after the club were handed a £500,000 legal bill over the hearing conducted by Lord Nimmo Smith over undisclosed payments to players.

• Rangers accuse SPL of dragging out EBT saga after being landed with £500,000 legal bill

• Rangers were cleared of wrongdoing over EBTs but oldco was fined £250,000 by panel headed by Lord Nimmo Smith

Oldco Rangers were fined £250,000 in February for failing to register players that were paid the EBTs correctly.

But the hearing, an independent three-man panel sanctioned by the SPL, also ruled that Rangers gained no competitive advantage from the scheme and were allowed to keep titles won from 2000 to 2011 when the payments were made.

However, the SPL have now launched a bid to claw back legal costs from newco Rangers, arguing that the case brought against Rangers was part of a “routine application of costs successfully pursued by the SPL.”

But a Rangers spokesman said: “This matter has been dragged out long enough and we had thought Lord Nimmo Smith’s verdict would have been an end to it.

“Attempting to stretch it out even further does nothing to help the image of a game torn by dissension and engulfed in turmoil.

“It is important to remember that Lord Nimmo Smith apportioned no blame against Rangers FC and thus no sanctions were imposed on this club.

“It is inconceivable, therefore, as well as ridiculous that the SPL should even think about pursuing this club for costs against what was widely regarded as an ill-conceived and unwise course of action by them in the first place.”