The (Division) Three Bears
We’re deeply flattered to be described as both a “key website” and part of “a renaissance in Scottish media” by the Guardian today, and to be mentioned in the same breath as such esteemed and high-quality entities as the Orwell Prize-winning Rangers Tax Case blog, the vibrant all-club news site/forum Pie And Bovril, the forensic and authoritative Random Thoughts Re Scots Law and more.
So we hope you’ll bear with us as we embark on what should be one of the very last few posts on the Rangers Fiasco. Events may overtake us as we write this, with the SPL meeting going on as we speak, but for the record we’ve rubbished the idea of an SPL2 being in any way feasible before and we absolutely don’t expect anything to have changed in that regard by the time we get to the end of this feature.
As things stand, and as we expect them to continue to stand for at least the next 24 hours, a football club of some sort and some name, owned by Sevco Scotland Ltd, will play in Division 3 of the Scottish Football League this coming season. More than that, though, it’s really not possible to say.
That’s because five months since Rangers Football Club PLC went into administration, and less than two weeks before Charles Green’s new club is due to take to the field for its first ever competitive fixture, a dizzying number of complex and serious issues incredibly still remain to be resolved. The most astonishing of them is working out how on Earth it can be the case that Stewart Regan, Neil Doncaster and Campbell Ogilvie all remain in their jobs, but since that’s in large part a matter of opinion and interpretation we’ll stick to the known (unknown) facts for now.
1. What will the new member of SFL3 be called?
Here’s a tricky one straight off. Rangers Football Club PLC currently still exists. It’s in the process of being wound down by liquidators BDO, or it might still technically be in the hands of administrators Duff & Phelps, nobody seems entirely sure. But it’s hard to see how Charles Green’s newco can in that case be permitted to use the same trading name. Plainly, you can’t in any sane world have two entities in existence at the same time called “Rangers Football Club” and “The Rangers Football Club”, particularly if one of them is to all intents and purposes purporting to be the other one.
2. Will the SFA grant Sevco Scotland FC membership?
Amazingly, this appears to be in some doubt. Several SFL chairman have claimed that at the League’s meeting last Friday they were told that SFA chief executive Stewart Regan had unequivocally stated that the newco would NOT play in SFL3. Since the SFA over-ruling the SFL’s decision and imposing Sevco Rangers on SFL1 seems plainly inconceivable, the only logical conclusion (and we’re stretching the word “logical” to breaking point here) appears to be that Regan’s plan is to reject the transfer of the Old Rangers licence to Sevco and play an 11-team SPL this season.
The idea would presumably be that there would as a result be no vacancy in the SFL for Sevco FC to fill, and we could go through this entire pantomime again next year with the view to some form of “Rangers” entering the SPL directly. The problems with such a scheme are so numerous and so obvious that we’re not going to insult your intelligence by spelling them out, but it’s a symptom of how catastrophically badly the men at the top of Scottish football have handled the entire Rangers car crash that it’s even being spoken about.
3. Will Sevco Scotland FC be able to fulfil its fixtures?
This is the big one in our view. At present, so far as we’re aware, Sevco does not have enough registered players to field a team and a full substitutes bench. It also appears to still be operating under the transfer embargo imposed on Old Rangers by the SFA’s Appellate Tribunal, which is baffling on a number of levels.
Firstly, Sevco FC is an entirely different company which just happens to have bought some of the assets of Old Rangers in liquidation. Secondly, the transfer embargo was ruled illegal and struck out by the Court Of Session. The time period during which either party could contest that judgement has long passed, and therefore it must hold that the embargo is void, regardless of any other considerations. Yet Ally McCoist, manager of Sevco FC, appears convinced it is still in place, and time is running out for him to sign up any new players.
There’s also, of course, the matter of whether Sevco FC is financially viable. As we and many others have previously noted, the running costs of “Rangers” are vast, with a rates bill alone of over £1m a year on Ibrox Stadium and several players still on the books with five-figure weekly salaries. Earlier this month the newspapers reported season ticket sales below 300, compared to the usual 20,000. Fans are bitterly opposed to Green’s ownership of the club, and with no prospect of TV or European income for at least three years it’s very difficult to see how games against East Stirlingshire and Montrose are going to bring in enough cash to balance the books.
Presumably the remaining players of any value will have to be sold off for whatever they can fetch, both to provide working capital and reduce the club’s expenses, but that will in turn decrease the club’s chances of progressing up through the league structure and destroy its appeal to its investors, who will see no prospect of profit. A second insolvency looks a very significant possibility.
4. How long will the SFA take to reach some decisions?
The SFA has other matters to consider beyond Sevco Scotland’s membership of the Association. If membership is granted on condition that Sevco accepts the obligations of Old Rangers with regard to rule breaches and football debts, that opens at least two huge cans of worms.
If the SFA accepts the application on those terms, when will it reconvene the Appellate Tribunal, and what punishment will it hand down? Will Sevco be admitted to SFL3 only to be immediately banned for a year? Will the extra burden of paying off millions in football debts be the last straw for investors? (See point 3.) What will happen when the dual-contracts investigation is concluded?
But if the SFA admits Sevco without those conditions, treating it as the entirely new club it is and giving it a clean slate free of the stigmas attached to Old Rangers, how can it possibly allow the new club to play as “Rangers”, with Rangers’ badge and crest and history of honours? Clearly it can’t. Even by the ridiculous standards of the entire mess so far it would be too farcical to contemplate, and open to all manner of legal challenges.
5. How can Rangers ever die? We are the people! Our history remains!
Not least among the uncountable absurdities of this gargantuan ongoing clusterfudge is the fact that many delusional Rangers fans are insisting – on the tissue-thin grounds that the “club” and the “company” are separate entities and “Rangers Football Club PLC” wasn’t in fact a football club at all – that the new club will be “Rangers” no matter what.
(These same educationally-challenged individuals also assert that Celtic are a “newco” because they underwent a corporate restructure in 1994, somehow neglecting to notice that Celtic were never put into administration, were never liquidated and never stopped trading.)
But if the new club IS Rangers, what’s it doing in SFL3? Rangers were never relegated from the SPL either on the field or as punishment, and still, at time of writing, hold an SPL share. Companies don’t get relegated, football clubs do, so what happened to the holding company is irrelevant – if the newco is the same football club then the questions over it being admitted to either the SPL or the SFL were completely meaningless.
The decisions of this month’s two meetings are therefore invalid and must be revoked. “Rangers” must – indeed, can ONLY – play in the SPL. Quick, someone call Messrs Regan, Doncaster and Longmuir and let them know.
The SFA has to sort all this out in the next two weeks, or risk the chaos of a club being suspended or folding mid-season. How much are any of us willing to bet on that? Whatever happens today, we’re not quite done yet.
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Kudos/blame to WingsLand reader @bigbuachille for providing this feature’s headline.
If rangers are not in the SFA, then that’s presumably why they haven’t signed anyone. You can’t very well transfer players to your club when you aren’t even in an FA.
“You can’t very well transfer players to your club when you aren’t even in an FA.”
A valid point, but it’s not what McCoist said. He said “We have a transfer embargo hanging over us“, which suggests that what HE believes is that the penalty imposed on Old Rangers by the SFA is still in place. After all, if Sevco FC isn’t in the SFA at all, then strictly speaking it can’t even register any of the players it has now.
It’s official… Dundee to be in SPL next season
And, ‘rangers’ will play in SFL div 3.
Aye it’s an omnishambolic ‘clusterfudge’ right enough lol
Like you say if Sevco are Rangers then what on earth are they doing down in SFL3 ? I thought they came second in the SPL so shouldn’t have been relegated 3 divisions ?
But Sevco supporters will keep claiming it’s the same team. And if they keep their colours and badges etc then to all onlookers it will be assumed to be the same team. Badges and colours are supposed to be checked out before access to the SFL is granted to ensure that they don’t clash with any of the other teams. That probably hasn’t been done either.
Congratulations on getting a mention in The Guardian 🙂
I checked the Wee Red Book, incidentally, which is far as I know is the definitive authorised record of official Scottish football history, and Airdrie United are listed as being founded in 2002, with no honours before that date. Interestingly, not only are the trophies won by Airdrieonians FC not attributed to Airdrie United, but nor are those won by Clydebank.
@Rev Stuart Campbell,
The SFL site gives Airdrie United the previous Clydebank history – indeed, it says they were founded 1965.
The transfer of ‘history’ is one of the more confusing aspects of any administration/liquidation. There seems to be no set rule that covers cases such as Leeds, Middlesborough, Airdrie United and others. It would appear to be in the gift of the relevant Association.
“The SFL site gives Airdrie United the previous Clydebank history – indeed, it says they were founded 1965.”
That’s what seems to be the right thing to me – Clydebank are surely entitled to change their name and still be regarded as the same club. But in a contest of authoritativeness between the SFL website and the Wee Red Book, I’m with the Book. There’s only one Scottish football Bible 😀
I just rang the SFA, who weirdly put me through to the SPL, who said that as far as they know the position is that AUFC have Clydebank’s history, starting in 1965. So either way it seems that the clear precendent is that Sevco FC will NOT be able to lay claim to the Rangers honours roll.
Companies House also agrees that Airdrie United were incorporated in 1965 (as Clydebank) – effectively meaning that Airdrie aren’t a ‘NewCo’ under any description. It certainly appears that administration by itself doesn’t necessarily mean the history is lost. Solvent reconstruction/change of governance is another way a NewCo can retain history – which is a straightforward explanation of why Celtic plc was able to start where Celtic Ltd left off.
If i remember correctly, Livingston were put into Div 3 as they didn’t have enough players to guarantee they could fulfill their fixtures?……….mmmmmmm
“It certainly appears that administration by itself doesn’t necessarily mean the history is lost.”
Well, Clydebank didn’t go into administration. (At least, not since 1965.) They were bought as a going concern, albeit a struggling one, and then had their name changed.
Re: #1
“We have written to all shareholders of The Rangers Football Club plc (in administration) to provide notice of a general meeting of the Company to be held at Ibrox Stadium on July 31.
“The resolution to be put forward at that meeting is to change the name of the Company to RFC 2012 plc and there will be no other business on the day.
“This is a procedural measure in order for Sevco Scotland Limited – which acquired the business and assets of the Company from the administrators on June 14 – to change its name simultaneously to The Rangers Football Club Limited.”
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/rangers-football-club-plc-to-become-rfc-2012-plc-sevco-scotland-ltd-will-be-rangers-football-club-ltd/
I’d imagine the creditors (including HMRC) can take the opportunity to ram it right up them.
Interestingly, that date is three days AFTER Sevco Scotland’s first competitive fixture on July 28. What will they be called then?
I’ve always meant to look up Middlesbrough’s history – it always confused me when I was younger that their badge said 1986, even though it was clear they’d been around a lot longer. It’s interesting to note that they changed their badge a few years ago to ignore the small matter of being a different club to the old Boro. Still, if Aberdeen can put two stars on their badge to signify their two European trophy victories when one of them was only the Supercup…
The tragedy of Rangers fans is they’re going to insist their club never died, but everyone – themselves included, deep down – knows this is a lie. Every fan of every other club in the league has an instant put-down for any Rangers fan getting a bit too uppity. Quite simply, it comes down to this: do they want no history, or do they want no debts? Can’t have it both ways. If they’re the same club, then cough up. I’d hope Hearts, Dunfermline and any other club they owe money to would insist on being paid monies owed if whatever we call this club insists on being a continuation of the old one.
The Sky Sports book, previously the esteemed Rothmans, has Airdrie Utd’s history beginning in 2002 or whenever it was that they took Clydebank’s place. That seems fair to me. Any old Clydebank honours stay with the Bankies, I’m sure they, the junior club, keep all the promotions and the title they won in the mid 70s.
Congratulations on getting written up in the Guardian. You ask:
“It’s in the process of being wound down by liquidators BDO, or it might still technically be in the hands of administrators Duff & Phelps, nobody seems entirely sure.”
Well, I’m not entirely sure either, but I think they are still in administration as Lord Hodge wouldn’t let the administration end until Duff and Phelps had supplied a statement to his court, and presumeably to his satisfaction, showing that there was no conflict of interest. As far as I can see there has been no report released into the public domain on that topic.
See here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18549293
Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just not been reported yet.
First time writer here.
So what’s the group perception of Sevco’s requirement of 3 years of audited accounts?
“So what’s the group perception of Sevco’s requirement of 3 years of audited accounts?”
Well, the SFA’s rules explicitly allow it to waive that requirement at its discretion, so it’s unlikely to affect anything. The interesting bit is whether they’ll insist on treating Sevco FC as a continuation of Rangers (with liability for the EBT case, disrepute charge and football debts) as a condition of granting SFA membership.
On the Middlesbrough thing Doug….
Steve Gibson and Co had to pay all outstanding debts in full for the old Middlesbrough (formed in 1876 and at that point recently liquidated) before they could enter the new club into the Football League.
If the debts where not paid in full then Boro’s place in the league would have been given the the 4th placed team in Division 4 and a side would have been promoted from the Conference…..Gibson, ICI and Scottish & Newcastle settled all the outstanding debts in full with 20 minutes to spare.
@ The Great Baldo – cheers for that. I did wonder how the ‘continuity’ happened as Middlesbourough.
@JohnMac – the current Clydebank fans don’t, on the whole, claim the history of the Senior incarnation. They, more than most, are well aware that Airdrie United are a rebrand. (PS I didn’t mean to imply that Clydebank were in administration at the time of the name change to Airdrie United)
The recent STV article http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/111126-rangers-league-place-at-risk-as-scottish-fa-insist-signing-ban-must-stand/ suggests that the continuity of the NewCo depends entirely on the transfer of SFA membership. If the transfer goes ahead (with sanctions or no) then the history goes with it. The two alternatives seem to be: 1) no transfer but an entirely new membership accepted = no history but no sanctions, or 2) no transfer and no new membership = oblivion.
Perhaps the weirdest scenario to come out of this affair would be that the NewCo are given the OldCo membership but the name change to ‘The Rangers Football Club Limited’ is not allowed. It would be strange to see Govan Athletic, say, with 54 league titles, etc. under their belt