Sense of the surreal, but SFL message was emphatic

SHORTLY before the appointed hour of 11am yesterday, representatives of the 30 Scottish Football League clubs began to take their seats in the Bell and Baird suites on Hampden’s fifth floor.

The choice of rooms named after the great Scottish inventors of telephone and television proved apt, for around three hours later, the clearest message imaginable was transmitted by those who had been charged with the task of determining where Rangers would begin their new life in the forthcoming season.

Despite one final attempt by SFA chief executive Stewart Regan to convince the SFL clubs to accept his dire warnings of financial Armageddon for Scottish football if they did not agree to place Rangers directly into the First Division, the mood of the special general meeting remained firmly committed to the outcome which provides us with an extraordinary fixture list which could previously only have been drawn up in a computer game.

Rangers supporters, the majority of whom had supported the Third Division option following the Ibrox club’s expulsion from the Scottish Premier League the previous week, can now prepare themselves for a start to the 2012-13 campaign in which their first three road trips on league business will take them to Peterhead, Berwick and Annan.

It remains to be seen how Regan responds to the bloody nose administered to him yesterday but the SFL chairmen, chief executives and directors left Hampden with their heads high and content with sporting justice they had delivered. It was all in the starkest possible contrast to the SPL meetings at the national stadium in recent weeks when most of those in attendance have made their exits via the underground roadway in order to avoid media scrutiny.

SFL chief executive David Longmuir and president Jim Ballantyne made their way downstairs shortly after 2.15pm to announce a verdict which could hardly have been more emphatic.

The first resolution asking clubs if they would accept Rangers as associate members of the SFL was passed by 29 votes to one. The second resolution, which had been intended to provide a mechanism for the SFL’s board to place Rangers in the First Division in exchange for the reconstruction and financial sweeteners offered by the SFA and SPL, was booted out. Instead, a vote of 25-5 was passed in favour of Rangers playing in the Third Division.

According to Dundee chief executive Scott Gardiner, whose club will find out on Monday whether they or Dunfermline will replace Rangers in the SPL, there was a sense of the surreal in the room when the votes were tallied up. “Everyone sat quietly and looked around the tables at one another,” said Gardiner. “I think we’re all unsure of where Scottish football now sits. I’m not being vague, but no-one knows. A lot of people are surprised by this decision and the meeting ebbed and flowed. But it was a secret ballot and a decision was made.”

As well as being addressed by Regan, the SFL clubs also heard from Rangers chief executive Charles Green and manager Ally McCoist. It is believed McCoist’s contribution was especially well received and provided a sense of humility about the Ibrox club’s current predicament which has not always been evident since their descent into administration five months ago.

Gordon McDougall, the Livingston chairman and an SFL board member, said both Green and McCoist made no specific plea for admittance to either the First or Third Division.

“They both said they would respect our decision and Ally was thankful at the end, he just wants to get back playing football,” said McDougall. “We’ve made a decision and I sincerely hope that decision is respected and we can go forward with Rangers in the Third Division.

“Do I expect to see Rangers playing a Third Division game on the first day of the season? I honestly don’t know. We’ll have to let things take their course in the next few days. The SPL now have to decide on whether Dundee or Dunfermline join them and the SFA have to grant Rangers a membership.

“In normal circumstances, I would expect the SFA to rubber-stamp the decision we’ve made today. I don’t see any reason not to.

“Rangers didn’t ask to be placed in the First Division, they said they’d be happy to be in whatever league the SFL clubs saw fit. So it would be incredible if another body decided to put them in a higher league than they’ve accepted.”

Around 20 Rangers supporters had gathered outside Hampden, welcoming the conclusion which had been reached inside and which they feel will best allow them to regenerate the pride and credibility of their club which has been battered so ruinously.

Even Turnbull Hutton, the acting chairman of Raith Rovers who had previously complained of threats from Rangers fans after his co-director Eric Drysdale sat on the SFA Judicial Panel which imposed a 12 month signing embargo on the Ibrox club, was greeted warmly.

The most outspoken critic of Regan and the SPL in recent weeks, Hutton savoured what he saw as justice finally being done.

“We showed today that we were not going to be brow-beaten,” said Hutton. “I was proud of the SFL today. I felt they did remarkably well given all the pressure on the clubs. It has been unrelenting for weeks.

“Everyone has had their bellyful of threats and pressure, letter, emails and phone calls. It has been never-ending. But the clubs have stood up to that. They came along here today, weighed up all the considerations and came up with a decision. Good on them. The SFL have done everything people could have expected them to do. They have made a decision.”

Stranraer director Iain Dougan, whose club’s Third Division fixtures will be inherited by Rangers as they are moved up to the Second Division for the new campaign which begins on 11 August, articulated the view of many at the meeting.

“This is nothing against Rangers,” said Dougan. “It’s customary practice that a new club should start at the bottom and that’s why we voted the way we did. We wouldn’t have been having this meeting if it was Aberdeen or Motherwell in the same situation. It would have been done automatically. So the decision is right for football in general.

“Of course, I think there will be financial repercussions because of this but fans have to be listened to. This could be the start of a new dawn in Scottish football. I really hope so. Hopefully, it will bring a new openness and clarity to the game and we can move on in what we’re trying to do.

“Stranraer will benefit by going to Division 2, but some would say we’d have benefited from staying in the Third Division and having games against Rangers. That wasn’t why our decision was taken. It was purely about the integrity of the game.

“The SFL have sent out a message to the SFA, saying we’re our own body and we’ll decide what we think is right and proper. I don’t buy the talk of Armageddon for Scottish football. These statements have been over-elaborated.

“There will be new money that comes into Scottish football and obviously old money will go out. But I think the game will survive. In fact, I think it’s needed a fillip that this decision might just give it.”