Rangers set to be stripped of titles after secret document leaked

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A secret plan has been produced by football chiefs that will strip four Scottish Cups and five SPL titles from Rangers. The Daily Record saw the bombshell document after it was drafted following talks between the Scottish Football League, SFA, SPL and Sevco representatives.

A range of punishments are outlined in the plan for dodging Employment Benefit Trust tax, which the club did during Sir David Murray’s regime in order to pay players. If penalties are enforced they would be the harshest seen in football. They not only include stripping five league titles from the club and wiping out four Scottish Cup triumphs; but an a one-year transfer embargo will be upheld and Green’s newco will be forced to pay the clubs old football debts.

Clearly the plan has been drafted by the football authorities to force Rangers to drop to Division One in the SFL and protect the TV and marketing revenues of Scottish football. Chairmen from the SFL overwhelmingly voted to drop Rangers to Division Three last Friday, however it is understood that the punishments in the secret plan may be imposed at a later date.

On August 10 the SPL will decide whether or not Rangers broke rules by using ‘dual contracts’ and EBTs, the document simply shed light on what could be used as penalties for the club. An agreement on the document is yet to be reached, although it appears that Green’s firm would be willing to accept some of the draft

The list of penalties will horrify the club’s supporters, many believing that the document undermines the judicial process of the SFA. Possible the worst part in that the club could lose the status of Champion Club, which is defined in the rules of the Scottish Premier League.

Portsmouth’s future looking bleak after another points deduction is announced

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Portsmouth future in the npower League One for the new season isn’t looking too rosy after the Football League took ten points away from them. The club has been facing administration since last February, and they still do not have an owner to represent them. While the team will be allowed to continue to play with the League, they will have to accept a long list of conditions which include more points being deducted from them.

Last season the team was also docked ten points for entering administration a second time which is effectively what kept Portsmouth out of the Championship. The news of the points deduction is another tough blow for Michael Appleton, the Portsmouth manager, as he kicked off his pre-season training this Monday with eight senior players.

It is likely that the majority of these eight will not remain at the club by the time the season actually gets started next month. Hayden Mullins, for example, has already signed up with Birmingham while Luke Varney and David Norris are expected to be sold off to other teams in the next few days. Kanu and Aaron Mokoena are also said to be leaving.

According to rules set by the Football League, whoever purchases the Portsmouth club must agree that only a small portion of the secured debt from the previous club can be used as secured debt under the new company. All creditors must be paid off in full as well unless mutually agreed upon arrangements are put in place.

Pompey is also going to have to deal with a range of restrictions placed on budgets, loan repayments, and future borrowing that will last for at least the next five seasons before the Football League will allow the Pompey Supporters’ Trust to take over the club.

Vote looming to determine Rangers future in the SFL

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Scottish Football League clubs will soon vote on whether or not the ‘Newco Rangers’ deserve an official place in the Scottish Football League for next season. Charles Green will be waiting anxiously to hear the results of the vote that will take place Friday among reps from 28 of the member clubs. The vote will focus on whether Sevco Scotland Limited should be allowed to join the league and also whether the Ibrox side should be admitted into the First Division.

Several teams that play in the Scottish Football League have already publicly announced that they are against plans to allow Newco to play in the second tier league because they do not believe it is fair. Before the team can get into the SFL setup up a majority of clubs have to vote to allow the team to join. The Friday vote will determine if that majority is met or not.

The placement of Rangers next season could have serious repercussions for the SFL

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Following in the aftermath of Charlie Green’s application for top flight entry being rejected by the clubs in the Scottish Premier League, Regan, the chief executive of the SFL, has made a claim that social unrest would be the result of Rangers fans being deprived of their team.

Regan has said that the only viable solution now for Rangers was to come into the SFL in the first division, as if they played anywhere else it would result in the game as a whole losing around £15.7m in revenue.

He also made it clear that the Scottish Football League couldn’t allow Rangers to start right at the bottom, which effectively means that the SPL clubs are facing the prospect of a breakaway and an SPL2 if the plan for Rangers to join the first division is also rejected.

He added that for big clubs that were at the top of the league, that amount equated to half of their annual distribution, and for clubs at the bottom is would basically wipe out their entire distrbution, and for the even smaller clubs it was a large proportion of their annual turnovers.

Regan went onto say that even if the Ibrox club did go into the first division, there would still be a loss of income to other SPL clubs of £5m, and as the game isn’t self sustaining it would mean a slow and lingering death for football in Scotland. This would then trickle down through the SFL and he considered that from their perspective, being the governing body, they simply can’t allow this to happen.

Regan has also confirmed that a real threat as arisen pertaining to TV contracts and said that they had had conversations with broadcasters and understood what the stakeholders from Sky, Sport 5, ESPN and various other commercial partners of the SPL were likely to do if Ranger were not a part of the top two tiers of the SFL, and it wasn’t pretty.

 

Pearce’s decision to leave Beckham out of the Olympic squad shocks everyone

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Harry Redknapp, the recently sacked manager of Spurs, has said that Stuart Pearce’s decision to leave David Beckham out of his GB Olympic squad had effectively made him kiss goodbye to the possibility of ever getting a knighthood. He also praised Pearce, however, for being brave enough to go against the majority of football fans and chose the squad that he wanted.

Redknapp, speaking to The Sun, said that undoubtedly Pearce will have upset some in high places who would have loved to see Beckham in the squad, and he himself was sad and surprised he hadn’t been picked. Redknapp added that Pearce could kiss a knighthood goodbye, but credit had to be given for his bravery as he was the manager and should be free to choose who he wants.

Beckham had spoken of his hopes that he would be included in the squad as one of the 3 over-age players each team is allowed, and he was widely expected to be picked by those inside and outside of football. He made it as far as the extended list of possibles, but revealed yesterday that he had not made the final cut, and the 3 places are understood to have gone to Craig Bellamy, Micah Richards and Ryan Giggs.

Danny Mills, the former England defender who was a teammate of Beckham’s in the World Cup of 2002, has hit out at the decision of Pearce and claims that the former boss of Manchester City has, in the past, struggled with big players and while everyone around the world knows ‘Brand Beckham’ he is still one of the finest footballers and can still cut it.

Beckham was a key player in drumming up support for the bid London put in to stage the games back in 2005, and it looks likely that the chairman of London 2012, Sebastian Coe, will now offer him a role in the Olympics.