Glasgow Rangers, one of Scotland’s most storied and followed soccer clubs, was kicked out of Scotland’s top league Wednesday because of its major financial troubles.
The exile of Rangers, a huge source of TV and sponsorship revenue, may put the country’s other clubs in peril. But some Scottish Premier League clubs claimed that they had little choice but to drop Rangers, saying they faced revolts by supporters if they let the Glasgow club stay after incurring large tax debts.
The lower Scottish Football League will now decide whether to accept Rangers for the 2012-13 season, and, if so, whether to start it in the First Division – one step below the SPL – or an even lower tier.
Rangers have been Scottish champions 54 times and are half of the famous "Old Firm" rivalry with city neighbors Celtic. No club other than Rangers or Celtic has won Scotland's first tier since 1985.
Rangers were liquidated and essentially became a new club this year after administrators seized the old version because of an unpaid tax bill of $14 million. The UK government also was seeking tens of millions of dollars more allegedly owed in back taxes.
British businessman Charles Green bought the old club’s assets and then applied to have the new company, or “newco,” admitted to the SPL, the highest division in Scotland’s four-division scheme. Rangers needed at least an 8-4 vote from the SPL’s 12 teams to stay in.
“At today’s general meeting, SPL clubs ... voted overwhelmingly to reject the application from Rangers newco to join the SPL,” the league said in a brief statement Wednesday.
Green said Wednesday that he hopes Rangers’ large fan base will support the club as it prepares for what it hopes will be a new life in the SFL. If it starts in the First Division and wins it this season, it would be promoted to the more lucrative SPL in 2013, assuming no immediate changes in the leagues’ rules and structure.
"If our application (to the SFL) were to be accepted, Rangers will play in whichever division the SFL sees fit and we will move forward from there,” Green said in a statement on Rangers’ website. "The club hopes that the supporters, who have been absolutely tremendous since the club went into administration on February 14, will continue to support the club and make Rangers a success once again."
The SPL’s decision could be financially dangerous. Not only may gate receipts suffer without one half of the Old Firm, sponsorships and TV deals may also dry up.
"The decision to not allow a newco in to the SPL is not without financial consequences for our member clubs,” SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster said Wednesday, according to Rangers’ website.
The Daily Record newspaper of Scotland reported Wednesday that sponsors might tear up their deals if Rangers are absent from the SPL for long. And the lower league’s clubs have been warned that many clubs could fail if the SFL forces Rangers to start in the Third Division rather than the First, the Daily Record and the Telegraph have reported.
The SPL did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the financial struggles that the clubs could face.
SPL clubs cited the integrity of the game and fans’ disgust when explaining their opposition to Rangers. Hibernian announced last month that it would vote against the Glasgow club.
“This re-affirms the view of the board that the sporting integrity of the SPL is of paramount importance,” Hibernian said on its website. “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.”
Kenny Cameron, chairman of SPL club Inverness Caledonian Thistle, said on his club’s website that “those who say that Rangers have been punished sufficiently are in an extremely small minority of all the representations received.”
On Wednesday, Cameron told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he couldn’t ignore supporters’ views.
“We have also been contacted by supporters of various other SPL clubs, saying they would not be back to Inverness if we did not accept that sporting integrity was what mattered,” Cameron told the BBC.
Rangers include three Americans who have played on the U.S. national team: Defender Carlos Bocanegra and midfielders Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya.
It’s not clear which club will replace Rangers in the SPL. One option is retaining the SPL’s last-place team of 2011-12, Dunfermline Athletic, which normally would drop to the First Division. Another option would be to promote the First Division’s second-place team of 2011-12, Dundee.
Ross County won promotion to the SPL as last season’s winners of the First Division.
Financial Times: Manchester United aims to raise $100 million in U.S. IPO
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This has f all to do with Scotland, soccer, or sports in general.
Want a story on Obama?
Go to the Political Ticker.
rangers are history. Their demise was wholly self inflicted. The new company rangers should apply to the SFL and seek entrance into the 3rd division ( per the rules). The scale of the fraud in which rangers engaged was huge. This story has legs.
what are the salary of the soccer players for the Rangers? Are they in the millions?? Maybe the can "volunteered" a cut in their salary like 80% to about one million dollars. I think they should be able to live off of that. I know i can.
I doubt we're done, lad. Plenty of loyal lads will still watch them play Div 3, and if we're done, then so is the SPL. Celtic fans will be happy for a year or two because they'll finally be the best at something. As a Rangers fan, I hope that we start in Division 3, better positioning for us to start fresh in. And a lot of you only hate Rangers because we dominated the league, streets and terraces for generations of Scottish football. WATP FTP
So happy, avid celtic fan here, lol rangers yer done wie
Hey as a Glasgow guy I know that Celtic needs Rangers. Nobody to hate in quite the same way as that 'Auld Firm"
troll on keyboard warrior, troll on
I'm not exactly sure what your little hissy fit has to do with soccer... Oh wait, I do know. Absolutely nothing.
Try the anger board.
Seriously man, are you high? You want to rail about Obama in a Scottish football article? Give your head a shake.
So the soon to be FORMER SPL is now going to be called the Celtic F.C. Football League, according to a report from SKY/ESPN.
Careful what ye wish fer....Nay Auld Firm match...nay rivalry....Lacking the Ger's in SPL, The Hoops revenues, and all others will be way off..... Maybe even resulting in tax delinquencies for those clubs as well, eh? Rangers as first or third division?...only means hopeless seasons for they teams....Cheers all....Enjoy the upcoming boring seasons of dominance by Celtic.
Aye...I think.
BOMBO:
I want to meet you in person one day...OMG, you kill me!
lol I'm not sure too many people would disagree with you.
I dont see the attraction of soccer......so boring. American football (as in NFL)now......thats real football!
No that's real handball – for people with short attention spans.
soccer = 90 minutes of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Never played, have you, rob0rah?
With all that body armour? The Foward passing? That's how a real sport got lazy. Not to say that Americian, or Canadian, Football players aren't athletes of often impressive caliber but Americian football is just lazy man's Rugby.
If you have to let go of the damn ball you should have to loss yardage for it. Passing to the side or back only. If you are that scared of injury go play badminton.
And yes, I played both in high school decades ago. Football first, then Rugby. Never liked Football afterwards.
forza MILAN
Its like wile e. coyote without the roadrunner.
A sports decision that wasn't solely based on immediate profit. Amazing!
I don't know who these guys are now, but in 1970 I stumbled onto them by accident at a little outdoor bistro in Barcelona Spain. Can't remember the month, but it was warm weather. I didn't follow soccer so I didn't know who these guys were but some spotted me and one of them shouted at me saying, "Hey yank! You navy, boy? Come on over here!" I was in civvies yet they spotted me! How!? Anyway, I went over and asked who they were. They all looked at me like I was crazy. "We're the Rangers! We're here to whop the Russians this weekend, ys know?" I made out like I just forgot and started the small talk. Their breaths wreaked of alcohol but they kept buying me drinks because they said I shouldn't be left out. I hung out with those guys for hours checking out other outdoor bistros along the birdcage strip as I called it. It was nuts! Here I was, a teenaged kid just out of high school bar hopping and partying in Barcelona with the Glasgow Rangers! I loved the way those guys talked. It was a strange and filthy gutteral language but I didn't care. They were nice to me and wanted to ask me questions about America. By dark, one of them, can't recall who, was good enough to put me in a cab and send me back to the wharf area where I could find my ship in my drunken state. I found out later that they whipped the Russians and that it was the World Championships. Haven't thought about that crazy memory for years until I just read about the Rangers troubles today. I hope things work out for them, it's a nostalgia thing with me.