Stuart Bathgate: Rangers’ tax case is the only game in town

POTENTIALLY the most important event of the season begins today. It won’t take place on a pitch, it won’t be screened live on Sky, but it could nonetheless decide the outcome of the championship and a whole lot more besides.

Yes, it’s the Rangers tax case, to be heard at a tribunal in Edinburgh over the next three days, although a decision may not be forthcoming for weeks or even months.

At stake is the small matter of £49 million – plus unpaid interest and penalties – which Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs argue the club is due to pay.

Rangers owner Craig Whyte, who inherited the potential liability from Sir David Murray, has proclaimed his confidence that the outcome will be favourable for the club. HMRC appear equally confident. This one doesn’t look like ending in a score draw.

If Rangers win outright or are ordered to pay a vastly reduced sum, the case will come to be regarded as the most illusory of threats: something that spooked the Ibrox club’s supporters and provoked an epidemic of Schadenfreude in others. Conversely, if the Revenue win the day, the face of Scottish football will be changed.

Whyte has accepted that his club risk going into administration if they lose the case. That would trigger a points-deduction penalty from the SPL, which would surely be decisive in the race for the championship.

What is more, given that Rangers could sell their entire first-team squad and still not come close to breaking even if they have a £49m debt hanging over them, it is likely to take far longer than this season before they are out of the woods. That would leave a clear run to the title for Celtic, and an extra place in Europe for the rest of the top six to chase. Somehow, if the case were to be screened live, you get the feeling it would command the biggest viewing figures seen in Scottish football for some time.