SFA board backing for Stewart Regan

The Scottish Football Association board last night vowed to back the decisions by their senior clubs to put the Rangers newco in the Irn-Bru Third Division. And they gave their “full support” to under-pressure chief executive Stewart Regan, who had previously vowed to block such a scenario.

Regan said on 4 July, after SPL clubs rejected the newco application, that he could not allow the Scottish game to suffer the “slow, lingering death” that he felt would be prompted by putting the Ibrox club in the Irn-Bru Third Division.

But SPL clubs yesterday vowed to facilitate the decision by their Scottish Football League counterparts.

An SFA statement read: “Scottish football’s recovery process begins today. The board of the Scottish FA endorses the decisions made by the respective members of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League to accommodate Rangers FC Newco into the Irn-Bru Division Three.”

Regan’s central role in driving forward the unsuccessful plan to “relegate Rangers” into the First Division was laid bare in an email leaked at the weekend.

But the statement added: “The Scottish FA board are also wholly committed to Stewart Regan driving this process forward. Since being appointed chief executive, he has led us through an unprecedented modernisation of the Scottish FA. He has our full support to continue the excellent work undertaken so far in accomplishing the key objectives of our strategic plan, Scotland United: A 2020 Vision. This will remain the board’s priority as we move forward.”