Rangers’ ‘bullying’ dossier delayed until Thursday

Allegations against Neil Doncaster and SPFL will be share with clubs

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster says he has nothing to hide. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Rangers are now poised to circulate their “dossier of evidence” against SPFL executives to the league’s other 41 member clubs on Thursday.

Stewart Robertson, the Ibrox club’s managing director, told his Premiership counterparts during a conference call hosted by Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack last Friday that the material would be shared with them this week ahead of the EGM on 12 May seeking an independent inquiry into last month’s contentious vote on ending the 2019-20 season amid the Covid-19 crisis.

It was initially expected that Rangers’ evidence would be released today but it’s understood that the timeline has been pushed back 48 hours.

Rangers’ legal advisors have been finalising the documentation of evidence, which they claim to have received from a whistleblower.

The Ibrox club has described it as “alarming” and firmly believe it provides proof of a “lack of fair play” relating to how the ballot on the season-ending resolution was 
conducted.

The SPFL have denied accusations of “bullying and coercion” in the lead-up to the vote, which saw the resolution passed only after Dundee retracted an initial No vote and later submitted a decisive Yes return.

Rangers called for the suspension of SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster, pictured, and legal counsel Rod McKenzie while an independent investigation took place. But Doncaster last week conducted a series of media interviews in which he robustly defended the behaviour of himself and his staff at the SPFL and insisted they would have “nothing to fear” from an independent investigation.

The SPFL board have urged clubs to vote against it, claiming it will be costly and time-consuming. They commissioned an internal probe by auditors Deloitte into the chronology of Dundee’s vote, finding no evidence of misconduct. But Rangers slammed the “narrow scope” of that inquiry and, backed by Hearts and Stranraer, succeeded in calling next week’s EGM of all 42 clubs.

For the resolution to pass and an independent investigation to be ordered, it will require the support of 75 percent of Premiership clubs, 75 per cent of Championship clubs and 75 per cent of the League 1 and 2 clubs combined.

The SPFL board already have the authority to call time on this season’s Premiership, as they have done in the lower three divisions, and decide the final placings on a points-per-game basis when football was suspended in March. In those circumstances, Celtic would be awarded a ninth consecutive league title and Hearts would be relegated.

But while the prospect of completing the top flight campaign on the pitch appears increasingly remote, they are unlikely to make that decision until the full extent and nature of Rangers’ allegations come to light.

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