Ibrox club face being booted out of the game or the cup as SFA accept court ruling

[ian1964 10,440]

Jun 1 2012 By James Traynor

 

WITH Scottish footballâ??s rage against Rangers at boiling point, the SFA last night moved closer to booting the beleaguered club out of the game.

 

The governing body are under pressure from a growing number of clubs to deal with Rangers once and for all and must now impose one of two sanctions.

 

They can either terminate Rangersâ?? membership to play ANYWHERE in the world or throw them out the Scottish Cup. And that means would-be owner Charles Green will have no choice but to go cap in hand to SFA chief executive Stewart Regan in a bid to avoid the ultimate sanction.

 

Rangersâ?? Court of Session victory earlier this week backed the SFA into a corner and infuriated other clubs.

 

But the SFAâ??s task now is a simple one. They have only two options remaining.

 

The Independent Judicial Panel, which sat in judgment on Rangers in April, tried to hand down a punishment that reflected the severity of the clubâ??s mismanagement but deliberately stayed away from withdrawing membership.

 

But now that is what might happen. Rangers refused to accept a 12-month signing ban after they and owner Craig Whyte were found guilty of numerous breaches of football law.

 

The clubâ??s administrators Duff and Phelps lost an appeal to an SFA tribunal then went to court in

Edinburgh to have the transfer ban lifted.

 

Even though Lord Carloway had chaired the appeals body, Lord Glennie ruled on Tuesday the ban was beyond the SFAâ??s powers.

 

Last night they accepted his decision to send the matter back to the appeals tribunal.

 

But Rangers can expect no mercy now â?? and this time the sanction will stand.

 

With FIFA, who refuse to allow the law of any country to interfere with their game, watching closely, the SFA will have to come down hard on Rangers.

 

If they donâ??t the entire Scottish game will suffer. Rangers also know they have to be punished, although by winning in court they have left themselves wide open to more damaging reprisals.

 

During Whyteâ??s short but catastrophic reign PAYE on wages wasnâ??t handed over to the tax man, now due as much as £15million, apart from the many millions that could be due if Rangers lose the Big Tax Case.

 

The SFA believed a £100,000 fine and 12-month ban on signing players over 18 meant Rangers could still trade â?? but the clubâ??s future has now been thrown into doubt.

 

Green could be left with a club shunned by the entire game. The Yorkshireman, who said he wants to meet with SFA chief Reagan to sort things out, can now only hope for a Scottish Cup ban. Thatâ??s the least other SPL clubs and FIFA will expect.

 

An SFA statement read: â??Football must always operate within the law of the land. None the less, it is regrettable a member club has sought recourse for a football disciplinary matter through increasingly costly civil court action.

 

â??The right of appeal is now open to the Scottish FA through the Court of Session.

 

â??However, by so doing, the very principles on which the Scottish FA â?? and, for that matter, UEFA and FIFA â?? are founded, namely football disciplinary matters being dealt with within its own jurisdiction, would be fundamentally compromised.

 

â??Therefore, it is our intention to accede to Lord Glennieâ??s request and refer the matter back to the appellate tribunal, which will consider the remaining sanctions open to it.â?

 

The SFA have officially alerted FIFA to their legal rift with Rangers.

 

Hampden bosses wrote to the world governing body in Switzerland yesterday and a FIFA spokesman confirmed: â??The SFA have contacted FIFA with regards to the Rangers situation. We will provide further information in due course.â?

 

And Regan said via Twitter: â??We are in consultation with FIFA at present.â?

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2012/06/01/rangers-in-crisis-ibrox-club-face-being-booted-out-of-the-game-or-the-cup-as-sfa-accept-court-ruling-86908-23881439/

[Bears 0]

what about the fine they can give us?

[caseyjones 0]

what about the fine they can give us?

 

They have already given us the maximum fine.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

what about the fine they can give us?

 

they have already fined us the maximum.

 

but they can chose not to punish us further or for that matter to punish us less.

 

they do not need to punish us more.

[GovanAllan 0]

what about the fine they can give us?

 

Had that.

 

I say go ahead throw us out the game and see what happens in the corridors of power. It won't be the slap on the back and well done Mr Regan that everyone thinks.

 

Also what happens with us gone and the rest start to topple, the line will have been drawn, any club in Admin which going by the SFA brings the game into disrepute will be chucked out. Won't be many clubs left in a few years.

 

An utter f#^k up from start to finish and instead of trying to climb out the hole, the SFA seem to want to just keep on digging.

[Bluedell 5,353]

The SFA are meant to be neutral in this, which was surely the whole reason for an "independent" panel but they are showing that they are showing that they are anything but.

 

I predict a 2 year year Scottish Cup ban.

[bigy 0]

So people (media/tims) really think the SFA will hand out a punishment that would without doubt result in us going back to the civil court? The appeal panel already said suspension is too harsh, so we'd have them over a barrel. The alternative of course is it leaves us free to move to England!!

[the gunslinger 3,366]

the sfa by saying its going to pick a New sanction is pre determining our case.

[andy steel 0]

They're not considering the case. It is the punishment to be levied that is under review; I doubt if any of us think we ought to avoid punishment altogether!

 

I agree with GA. Chuck us out. We need a massive shakedown in football, Scottish and European, and it will take something seismic like this to make it happen. Revolution!!

[caseyjones 0]

So people (media/tims) really think the SFA will hand out a punishment that would without doubt result in us going back to the civil court? The appeal panel already said suspension is too harsh, so we'd have them over a barrel. The alternative of course is it leaves us free to move to England!!

 

Wasn't it the original panel who said that they considered termination too harsh?

 

Glennie sent it back to the Appellate Panel and listed the sanctions open to them.