Rangers face exclusion from top flight
Reuters - Monday 25 June 2012, 17:20
Former champions Rangers face
exclusion from the Scottish Premier League (SPL) after rival
teams indicated they would block the Glasgow side's readmission
following the club's financial crisis.
Relegation to a lower league would be a huge blow for one of
the biggest names in British football who have won the title in
Scotland a record 54 times.
Their rivalry with fellow Glasgow club Celtic has been the
central element in the Scottish game for decades.
Rangers' parent company is being liquidated, meaning the new
owners need to win the approval of seven other clubs in the
12-team SPL if they are to maintain their status.
Their fate appeared to be sealed on Monday when Aberdeen
became the fifth club to say they would vote "No" in a meeting
scheduled for July 4.
"I can confirm it is our intention to oppose readmission to
the SPL for any Rangers NewCo," Aberdeen Chairman Stewart Milne
said in a statement on the club's website .
Four clubs had already come out against the readmission of
Rangers - Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee United and Inverness
Caledonian Thistle.
It is not clear if Rangers would have to start life in the
lowly third division or be relegated one notch to Scotland's
first division.
In its statement, Hibernian said it would be hard hit
commercially if Rangers dropped out of the SPL but that sporting
integrity was more important.
"The board is also acutely aware that in making this
decision, Hibernian - like other clubs in the SPL - will
suffer collateral financial damage at a time of severe economic
hardship and uncertainty," it said.
POLICE INQUIRY
A consortium led by English businessman Charles Green has
taken over the club but tax authorities failed to agree a
settlement, meaning liquidation and a relaunch for the
140-year-old club.
Rangers' name was replaced by an anonymous "Club 12" when
the Scottish fixtures were published last week.
Police have begun an investigation into the takeover of
Rangers by businessman Craig Whyte who was in charge when the
Glasgow club went into administration.
Whyte, who bought an 85 percent stake in the debt-laden club
for a nominal one pound from David Murray last year, had
to call in the administrators in February over unpaid taxes.
"The Crown Office has today instructed Strathclyde Police to
conduct a criminal investigation into the acquisition of Rangers
Football Club in May 2011 and the subsequent financial
management of the club," Scottish prosecutors said in a
statement on Monday.
"The investigation into alleged criminality follows a
preliminary police examination of information passed to them in
February this year by club administrators."