toon_don

It was something like that. I think they owed the council rent and utilities on the stadium. It was around £300k or so, rather than the £150 million odd of Rangers potential liabilities.

It's worth pointing out Livingston were sent to the bottom division for much less.

But if they are an entirely new club then they have to start from the bottom.

If they had just let Rangers back in then it makes Scottish football no more of a sport than the WWE. 2 clubs must succeed at the expense of all others.

This isn't the case of one maverick taking over the club for a few years and running it into the ground. This is a result of how Rangers have been institutionally run for over a decade. It's the club that is guilty of illegally paying players it could not afford in tax-free bonuses, and the club that enjoyed the success and revenue that this brought with it. Rangers finished 2nd ahead of Motherwell this season (and pocketed the prize money rather than putting it in the creditors pot) by not getting rid of any of their players (why did they feel they had to keep a reserve keeper who was on £14k a week?) and still withholding tax. They deserve everything that's coming to them.

I agree with you that Rangers are too big to cease to exist entirely, but the fact is they will be sent down to the 3rd division. At the very beginning people said there was no way they would be put into administration. This changed to the idea of liquidation being laughable. Only a few weeks ago people were saying that the SPL clubs couldn't afford to vote them out. They've now reached a point where they're relying on the tiny lower league clubs to vote against their own sporting interests to give them a free pass. Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United are big enough to ride out the cuts that will happen because of this. And clubs like St Johnstone, Inverness and St Mirren will budget for relegation. Only Kilmarnock could be in real trouble.

They'd be throwing away millions of pounds if they let them back in. Also, the claims of potential losses appear to assume that every single sponsor will pull out, and there won't be any Scottish football on TV, which is laughable really.

Three 1st Division clubs have already pubicly said they won't accept Rangers in their league: Greenock Morton chairman- "I’ve made my mind up and I won’t be changing it. I know a few other chairmen who haven’t declared their position publicly yet but who have indicated privately they are going to vote against Rangers being admitted to the First Division. I think the SFA will be surprised at the strength of feeling among First Division clubs against Rangers going straight in at that level. They should be treated the same way as any other club. Rangers should have the same punishment as Livingston and be banished to the Third Division." Falkirk statement- "It would be totally unacceptable if a “Rangers Newco” were admitted to the First Division on the current rules. Even a weakened 'Rangers Newco' would have resources that far outstripped all other First Division clubs and this would pretty much guarantee them promotion before the season even starts. Fairness is a word not often quoted in the current situation. However, I think it is worth reminding everyone that when Falkirk FC were faced with provisional liquidation in 1998, the new consortium of owners paid every creditor (including the Inland Revenue) in full, i.e. 100 pence in the pound. If we had gone down the route taken by many clubs since then, paying only a fraction to their creditors, we would have had the resources to accelerate the development of our stadium and make an earlier return to the SPL.” Raith Rovers chairman- "This is the same Rangers whose supporters threatened to torch our stadium and whose manager demanded that one of our directors was named over his involvement with an SFA judicial panel, which resulted in TV cameras camping outside his door and threats being made by various outlandish factions. We also had Sandy Jardine publicly calling for repercussions for those clubs who have not supported Rangers. Given that, how could I, as an individual, be expected to roll over and have my tummy tickled by some inducement to allow Rangers to come into the First Division? I gave my opinion to the board on Monday night and the board had a position which was not in any way different from my own."

Yup. It's also staggering they haven't made any player redundancies (apart from those that left of their own accord). I can't see how the administrators can claim they were acting in the creditor's interests.

It's moot anyway, because they won't be let back in. There are still too many unresolved issues for it to be a viable option. They've got no players, we're waiting to hear what the SFA's revised punishment is, which could well be a suspension, and we're still waiting for the dual contract investigation to be resolved. And that's without taking into account their threats, arrogance and total lack of contrition. And they also still owe Hearts and Dundee United money, which they're never going to see. They're fucked.

From an Aberdeen perspective, I know several season ticket holders that say if Aberdeen are complicit in allowing Rangers back in, they deserve everything they get and they'd be done with the SPL. Obviously not everyone will follow through, but enough people simply don't buy season tickets for next season as a kneejerk reaction, that would make a huge hole in the club's budget.

But we did well last season. The other SPL clubs have less chance of doing anything with a new, debt-free Rangers in the league.

The Highland derby next season would more than compensate Inverness for Rangers not being there.

I'm not so sure. Fans of non-Old Firm clubs have suspected that the big two play by different rules, but this would be a tacit admission of it. Besides, ditching one of the Old Firm is the only way the other clubs can change anything in the SPL, as Celtic and Rangers together can veto and major changes to the league. Top of that list would be the frankly ludicrous distribution of TV revenue.

That was the one I meant. It seemed to me they were unwilling to set a precedent which could be used againt them in future. You can interperet it different ways though I guess.

They'll be even more fucked if their own fans desert them. I think the chances of Rangers being booted out of the league are about 80%.

I agree that almost all non-Rangers fans them booted out, but Hearts are one of the few clubs who have publicly released a statement that seemed sympathetic to Rangers. I definitely can't see them getting 7 clubs onside though, so I see virtually no chance of Rangers playing in the SPL next season. In fact, if they don't get their act together fast, they won't have a club ready to field in any league by August.

They need 7 of the other 11 clubs to support them to allow them back into the league. With the way they've bullied, threatened, and generally pissed everyone off, I can't see that many clubs willing to help them. Kilmarnock and Hearts are the only clubs virtually certain to support Rangers.

Izaguirre (sp) is the only player in the entire SPL that would get near a Newcastle starting XI. It's just not very good.

The Celtic fan might correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I think McCourt's problem is he has serious fitness issues that means he can't play week in week out.

To be fair, the Kenyan player is a class act. Citing Samaras, O'Dea and Majstorovic as quality international footballers is ridiculous though.

I'm studying in Aberdeen atm, and have a season ticket at Pittodrie, so I've seen a fair bit of Mulgrew both at Aberdeen and Celtic. He's very good on the ball, so stands out at Celtic when they're dominating teams, but in a poorer side I think his defensive weaknesses would show up. I reckon that's the reason that he hasn't got much of a look in with their national team. God knows they're not blessed with centre-backs.

Not entirely convinced by Mulgrew, I think he's helped by never having to do any real defending at Celtic. I rate Bangura as well, as a future Tiote replacement on a budget.

If Hooper played in the Premiership, he'd have an England cap by now. A very very good striker. Scott Brown could probably play the hatchet-man role for a lower mid-table team, and Ki would fit in somewhere like Swansea.