Rangers liquidation: Fans should have say on where newco club plays - MP

RANGERS fans should have “genuine input” into where their club plays its football, now it has been consigned to liquidation, the MP for the Ibrox area has suggested.

• Ian Davidson calls for supporters’ opinions to be heard

Rangers heading for liquidation after HMRC reject CVA

Labour MP concerned about impact to local economy

Ian Davidson spoke out the day after HM Revenue and Customs rejected a company voluntary arrangement deal that could have removed the club from administration, and leaves them heading for liquidation.

Mr Davidson, whose Glasgow South West constituency includes Ibrox, said fans should have a say on where the club ends up playing.

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The Labour MP said that “what has been happening at Rangers in terms of tax-dodging is completely reprehensible”.

HMRC took a decision “based on what is likely to bring about the best return possible for the taxpayer in general”.

He said it was “important to make sure that Rangers continues in some form” and that the fans should have a say in the club’s future.

“We need to make sure that fans, the ordinary people who keep the club going week in, week out with their supporters money, are actually involved in making decisions about the direction in which it goes.

“I think it’s important the voice of the fans is heard because the income from the fans is what makes the club either viable or not viable, and they will obviously want to have a view on whether or not voluntarily going down to the third division, striking compromises to stay in the Premier League, or indeed seeking to enter another division, a more prosperous division in England, is the sort of path they want to have followed.”

Mr Davidson said: “That’s something the fans ought to have a genuine input into. All of these things have to be discussed by those who have the greatest commitment to the club, and that’s the fans.”

He also voiced concerns about the “fate of the non-football employees who keep the club running”.

Rangers is “a substantial employer within the area” and the club “generates a substantial amount of money for local businesses, not only on match days but in other ways as well, in terms of the things they buy locally”.