To strip Rangers of titles over EBTs would be ‘ridiculous’ - Steven Davis

FORMER Rangers captain Steven Davis has claimed no-one in the Ibrox squad knew anything about the alleged use of dual contracts, and insists the club should not be stripped of titles.

The Scottish Premier League have set up a commission to investigate claims that more than 80 employees were paid via the controversial Employee Benefits Trust scheme (EBTs) during the tenure of former owner Sir David Murray.

A BBC documentary earlier this year claimed Davis was among the players to have been paid via an EBT, but the Northern Irishman, who moved to Southampton in the summer, says he had no knowledge of the tax arrangement.

“I don’t think anybody in the dressing room was aware of anything about dual contracts,” he told the Sun newspaper.

“Nobody knew any of the issues until it came out.”

If the SPL probe rules that Rangers did break the rules by not declaring the player payments, the club could be stripped of as many as nine titles it won during the period in question.

Davis, however, is adamant that Rangers deserved the silverware they won during the EBT years.

“It’s totally ridiculous to even be talking about the scenario of stripping trophies from Rangers.

“Nothing has been proven in terms of dual contracts.

“But if you go out on the pitch, give everything to compete and manage to win things - then you fully deserve that.

“It’s just sad to see the club still getting dragged through all of this after what’s happened in the last six or seven months.

“The sanctions put on the club during the summer were a little bit extreme to say the least.”

The midfielder also expressed disappointment about how his Ibrox career ended, and revealed that he has not ruled out a return to Glasgow in the future.

He said: “I loved my time at the club. To play for Rangers and be made captain was a huge honour.

“I’m disappointed at how it all ended really. But you never know, maybe I’ll go back to Rangers one day.”