casper's fan club

Interesting link on scotslawthoughts about Green and McCoist's views on players leaving / being in breach of contract... http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/can-someone-offer-training-on-tupe-to-sevco-mccoist-and-green/#more-1328

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/sport/football/sfls-longmuir-doubtful-about-merger-timescale.17896545 The prospect of the Rangers newco being allowed to begin life in the second tier does not sit well with some first division clubs, most notably Livingston who were demoted to the third division from the first three years ago for breaching league rules on insolvency. "We're monitoring the situation closely as rules are rules," said Ged Nixon, the chief executive of the West Lothian club. "The SFA were complicit in upholding the SFL's decision against Livingston and I would expect them to treat Rangers in exactly the same way. "Everything I've read on the matter seems to centre around what Sky TV want and that in itself isn't healthy. This is a great opportunity to shake up our game from top to bottom so it should have nothing to do with them whatsoever. "Why should Rangers get straight into the first division? Just to appease the sponsor of another division? That just doesn't stack up for me. I'm fully in agreement that changes are needed but we need to go about it the right way and for the right reasons." Hopefully that counts as the one you're looking for!

I agree and that's one of the points I was trying to get across (evidently badly!). If Rangers had "only" failed to pay HMRC and some random creditors, gone into admin and then had these penalties applied by the SFA and SPL then they should have had no trouble finding someone to take over. I mean £160,000 for a club the size of Rangers should be nothing. But because of the levels of their shenanigans in the past, people aren't now coming forward - the amount of debt and outstanding uncertainty are what's killing them.

I wanted to post this on the Daily Record site to counter the conspiracy theories that abound, but you need to register your Facebook account and I can't be bothered with that nonsense, so you fine people will have to put up with my ramblings. As those with sense know, the transfer embargo and fine is from the SFA not the SPL - with that in mind, the timings point is pretty much in line with their recent decisions... Dundee November 2010 - deducted 25 points mid season and banned from signing players until they came out of administration. That decision was taken while they were still trying to find someone to replace Melville. It put Dundee on minus 10 points and 20 points behind Morton yet they still found someone to take over. Livingston August 2009 - relegated to Division 3, decision taken while negotiations were ongoing with the prospective new board but who had at that point, based their takeover on First Division football. That could have driven them away but they still decided to get involved and take over the club. I am not denying that the timing of all 3 decisions was tough on the teams, but the Rangers fans dribbling about the timing being an intentional nail in the coffin just doesn't stand up when you consider the above examples. It's the past mismanagement of finances and outstanding questions (EBT and HMRC in particular) that are the main things preventing a swift takeover. Dundee and Livingston had debts and creditors but they were transparent to their administrators and the interested parties. It's the mire Rangers find themselves in and the stuff that's been coming out of the woodwork that's the issue. It's also worth noting that if Craig Whyte hadn't delayed the original hearing from the 6th April then this would have come out a couple of weeks ago! The timing is down to him demanding a delay in the first place. Regarding the punishment, the SFA have their hands tied by the SPL in terms of what they can do to penalise Rangers competition wise, so to punish them with the transfer embargo and financial penalties is pretty much all they can do, other than prevent them entering the cup competitions. This really is the only way they can show they're not tolerating such financial mismanagement in Scottish Football any longer and with that in mind I think that the SFA is for once being relatively consistent and should be commended.

Tremendous

To be honest he could rock up to the stadium, turn the strip red, open up a sweat shop, erect a sign saying "David Bingham likes it doggy-doggy", build a missile silo in the Aldi car park and boil all the babies in the town but he'd still be more popular at Livi than Angelo Massone.

I see. So basically this whole holocaust was unavoidable given the timings. It's clear that we are now surely going to be the undisputed owners of the "most hated clubs" title in Scotland (OF aside of course). I heard that we're now so badly thought of that Gary Glitter and George Bush refused to renew their season tickets. However Michael Jackson was still going to get his (in the family section)

General Livi fan just wanting to say that I, along with a few other fans are of the opinion that while the decision is unfortunately fair given the handling of the Gretna situation (the SFL for once being consistent!) it's the handling of it that's been a shambles and is infuriating us. The moment we went into administration or made the initial lay-off of non playing staff at the club (the start of the liquidation process as I understand it) the SFL should have been on the phone saying "lads, it's Division 3 for you" - there is no reason why this wasn't done at that point. That way we'd have known the score and the other teams who're now going to be messed about - Cowdenbeath etc - wouldn't be wondering when there season starts and having to worry about a week or two of lost revenue if Livi appeal (which will no doubt "endear" us to yet more fans / clubs!) However (and not defending the SFL but trying to see it from both sides) there is always the possibility that the Livi consortium turned up yesterday and contested the bond, or the value of it, and the SFL went "stuff you then, division 3 for you." That's the only way that I can see the SFL can rationally have made this decision but if it is the case then why haven't they made that clear? It's all a mess. It's like Club Earth on a Sunday morning.