Rangers booted out of top-flight after club vote

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

The photo shows a general exterior view of Ibrox Park, the stadium of Rangers. EPA photo

Rangers were dramatically kicked out of next season’s Scottish Premier League after rival clubs voted overwhelmingly to exclude the ailing Glasgow giants, it was confirmed yesterday.

The soon-to-be-liquidated Ibrox club had applied to rejoin the league after reforming as a new company (newco) but their request was turned down following a vote of the other clubs which make up the Scottish top-flight.

“At today’s General Meeting, SPL clubs today voted overwhelmingly to reject the application from Rangers newco to join the SPL,” an SPL statement said.

The statement came after more than five hours of talks at Hampden as Rangers’ new management clung on to the hope of staving off exclusion.

Fall from grace
It caps a humiliating fall from grace for the most successful club in Scottish football, who were plunged into crisis earlier this year after entering administration following a tax dispute.

It was not immediately clear where Rangers’ new incarnation will begin life next season. One option under consideration is to start in the First Division, the league below the SPL.

The SPL, Scottish Football League (SFL) and Scottish Football Association (SFA) are all pushing for the First Division option, which would also include significant league reform and £1 million payment for the second tier’s television rights.

Safeguarding the multi-million pound commercial deals on which all of Scotland’s professional clubs rely so heavily is central to the issue, with a new TV deal worth £80 million over five seasons reputedly dependent on the screening of four Rangers v Celtic Old Firm derbies a season.

Broadcasters are said to be prepared to go no more than one year without these showcase matches.
Already clubs in the lower leagues are speaking out against the prospect of Rangers going straight into the First Division, despite being told by the SFL that their own existence would be at risk if Rangers are forced to start in the Third Division.

The view of many lower league clubs is that Rangers should be forced to start from the bottom of the league ladder, as has happened in the past when clubs have been punished for financial mismanagement.

In 2008, Gretna were relegated from the SPL to the Third Divison -- and then went bust -- after being unable to guarantee that they would fulfil their fixtures, while a year later Livingston were relegated from the First Division to the Third Division after breaching league rules on insolvency.