SFA asks Fifa to rule on status of â??newcoâ?? players

[ian1964 10,462]

The Scottish Football Association on Wednesday night asked for Fifa to rule on the status of Rangersâ?? players if the team continues their existence within a newly formed company, as proposed by the consortium fronted by Charles Green, the former Sheffield United chief executive, whose scheme to bring the club out of administration was vetoed by HMRC on Monday.

 

The SFA intervened as a dispute intensified between, on the one hand, Green and the Ibrox administrators and, on the other, PFA Scotland, whose chief executive, Fraser Wishart last night warned that Rangers players were increasingly frustrated at a lack of information over their futures.

 

Wishart rejected Greenâ??s claim that players would be in â??breach of contractâ? if they chose to leave Ibrox amid a change of corporate structure. Green wants to proceed with a £5.5 million deal to buy the clubâ??s assets and form a new outfit which would have to apply for membership of the Scottish Premier League and be excluded from Europe for three years.

 

An SFA spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: â??At close of play today the SFA sent a letter to Fifa seeking urgent clarification of their interpretation of playersâ?? registrations in the event of a club going into liquidation.â?

 

Paul Clark, one of the Ibrox administrators, said that their lawyers had been in talks with their PFA counterparts and had different interpretations of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations. Wishart last night raised the prospect of legal action should any player be prevented from leaving Ibrox unhindered by the football authorities.

 

Wishart said: â??Should the players wish to transfer across to the â??newcoâ??, TUPE ensures that they do so on their existing contractual terms.

 

â??Equally TUPE affords every employee the statutory right to object to the transfer; employers cannot select which parts of TUPE they wish to apply.

 

â??If a player objects to being transferred his contract of employment would immediately end leaving him with no contract, no dismissal and no right to compensation from either â??oldcoâ?? or â??newcoâ??. Both the club and the player are then free from their contractual obligations.â?

 

One possibility is that any player exercising the right to leave could be subject to a test case involving Fifa and the Court of Arbitration for Sport given that they will still be registered to Rangers with the SPL.

 

But Wishart said: â??The European Court of Justice ruling in the case of Bosman is authority for the view that professional footballers are workers like anyone else and are entitled to exercise their right to freedom of movement when out of contract.

 

â??Our legal team considers that legal remedies are open to a player in the event of registration being withheld, including the right to petition the Court of Session for a fast track Judicial Review Hearing.

 

â??It may well be the case that all of the players wish to transfer across to the newco and, if so, then PFA Scotland will ensure that their rights are protected.

 

â??The players however are becoming increasingly unhappy at having to operate in an information vacuum whilst their futures are portrayed by others as being a fait accompli. The players are being asked to decide upon their future with so many uncertainties involved.

 

â??Which division the new club actually play in? Will there be any sporting sanctions against the club? Will the club be eligible to play in the Scottish Cup? Will there be a registration embargo?

 

â??One or more of these factors may have an influence on a professional footballerâ??s career â?? a career that is relatively short-lived.

 

â??TUPE also places a legal obligation on both the existing company and the newco to formally consult with the union and its members over a proposed transfer.

 

â??Accordingly, PFA Scotland now looks forward to hearing from Mr Green.â?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...o-players.html

[der Berliner 3,302]

The simplest thing here is for the players to simply switch companies and get this over and done with. They can still leave for next to nothing afterwards, but save us and Scottish football (not that I care at the moment) more embarrassment.

[Zappa 0]

Green talking rubbish again then.

 

His comment about players being in breach of contract if they don't transfer over to the newco will definitely have some of the players concerned or even angered because he should know the technical details of these things inside out before speaking about them in interviews. If he doesn't know what he's talking about then he has no place as a prospective CEO of Rangers and when the takeover is complete a competent CEO should be hired.

[der Berliner 3,302]

I would assume he's talking after some legal advise .. or how he understands the rules. As in, the pendulum swings in both directions. Could happen to any of us, it shouldn't though ...

[North Rd 0]

What a lot of bollocks, I should know, I am being TUPE across just now to another Company, and if i dont like it............... I can Leave

[andy steel 0]

SFA absolutely bloody useless...what's the point in having a governing body which has to ask someone else every time something difficult happens? And is frequently challenged, and defeated, in courts over their "rules''? We'd be as well asking FIFA or UEFA, those bastions of honour and decency, to run the game and save money on SFA costs.

[calscot 0]

What a lot of bollocks, I should know, I am being TUPE across just now to another Company, and if i dont like it............... I can Leave

 

I can't see how you can apply your situation to theirs. You can leave any time giving notice - or do your next employers have to pay compensation? Do you have to buy out your contract if you otherwise want to leave? Do your company hold your registration to work anywhere?

 

Football clubs are not normal companies. Plain and simple. However, details like these become highly complex as a result.