todays leggoland...
WHY RANGERS CANNOT BE KICKED OUT OF SFA
THE Independent Appellate Tribunal can not decide to throw Rangers out of the Scottish Football Association.
For if they do, Rangers would be in a strong position to take the whole matter back to the Court of Session and lay it before Lord Glennie again.
And that could open a can of worms and lead to the complete meltdown of Scottish football, with Scottish Football Association’s increasingly bizarre chief executive, Stewart Regan in the dock.
Regan should be very careful. If he agrees to meet the erratic Charles Green to attempt to broker some sort of deal for both the SFA and Rangers to save face, the SFA chief executive could well find himself charged with contempt.
For what the eminent and learned judge, Lord Glennie, sitting amidst the Majesty of Edinburgh’s historic seat of Scots Law, the Court of Session, said was that the sentence had to be sent back to the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal.
Lord Glennie did not suggest or request that the sentence be sent back to the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal. Lord Glennie ordered that it be sent back to the INDEPENDENT Appelate Tribunal.
The one chaired by his colleague, another eminent and learned judge, Lord Carloway.
The difference of course between the Law Lords in this case is that one has the full weight of the Scots Law behind him. That is Lord Glennie. Lord Carloway does not.
But it is the wording of the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal’s findings, which we must assume came from Lord Carloway’s pen and which were posted as a statement on the official SFA website on 16th May 2012, which is interesting.
And which I believe leaves that INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal effectively snookered when it comes to considering any expulsion of Rangers from the Scottish Football Association.
The original INDEPENDENT Judicial Tribunal, chaired by the eminent Queen’s Counsel, Gary Allan said – and again we must assume the words are his - that such a sentence was viewed as being too harsh.
Something the Lord Carloway chaired INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal agreed with wholeheartedly.
Indeed, Lord Carloway’s statement said: “The Disciplinary Tribunal rejected the sentence of either expulsion from the game and termination or suspension of membership of the Scottish FA, which would have had a similar affect.
“The Disciplinary Tribunal rejected this as too severe and in this the Appellate Tribunal agreed.
“The Appellate Tribunal observed that serious consideration was given by the Disciplinary Tribunal to imposing one of the sanctions, which would have had obvious consequences for the survival of the club.”
So answer me this.
How can the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal now sentence Rangers to either expulsion from the game and termination or suspension of membership the Scottish FA?
How can the eminent and learned Lord Carloway now say that when he agreed that Rangers did not deserve to be sentenced to either expulsion or suspension of membership of the Scottish FA, he was wrong?
That is a tricky one for M’Lud.
And it is an even trickier one for the increasingly beleaguered looking Stewart Regan.
What to tell FIFA?
How about two words. The second of them….OFF!
The behind the scenes spin on this story would put Shane Warne to shame. But what is the most shameful thing is the lack of a grasp of the facts – or the complete disregard for them - by so many journalists.
In fact, I believe Lord Glennie has set a trap for Stewart Regan and the Scottish Football Association. It is this.
Lord Glennie has said that any punishment which the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal imposes on Rangers may prove to be harsher than the transfer ban which he overturned.
That may tempt some into going for the severe sentence of kicking Rangers out of the SFA and therefore out of world football.
Surely, however, Lord Carloway will offer wiser counsel? Surely he will see the trap?
For should the INDEPENDENT Appellate Tribunal, chaired by Lord Carloway, opt for that sentence, they may have to appear before Lord Glennie in the Court of Session to explain their change of mind.
For Rangers would seem to be perfectly within their rights under Scots Law, to take the matter straight back to the Court of Session.
What a spectacle that would be. An eminent and learned judge, Lord Carloway, appearing before another eminent and learned judge, Lord Glennie, amidst the Majesty of the Court of Session.
I imagine jurists, advocates, lawyers and law students would fill the court to witness such a spectacle.
It would also answer one of the questions FIFA, we are told, have been asking Stewart Regan. Which is, just what is the Court of Session?
Sepp Blatter and his gang of ne’r do well cronies may just find out.
This further, the concept of what constitutes a 'real' fan has changed many times over the years. for example, once it wasn't deemed essential to go to away matches to express ones fandom and teams in glasgow like partick thistle and clyde would be beneficiaries of getting people who were rangers or celtic to go to thistle or clyde games when celtic or rangers were playing away...