A Scottish Football Association tribunal considered throwing Rangers out of Scottish football as they faced charges of breaking the governing body’s rules. The Ibrox club were handed a 12-month signing embargo last month together with a £160,000 fine after being found guilty of breaching six SFA regulations with former owner and majority shareholder Craig Whyte handed a lifetime ban from Scottish football.
In the tribunal’s findings, published earlier today (Friday), the judicial panel concluded Rangers' actions meant that "only match fixing in its various forms might be a more serious breach” of the Scottish FA’s rules.
A 100-page document detailing the full reasoning behind the panel’s decisions stated: “Having regard to its view on the undoubted gravity of the breaches, the Tribunal considered whether it should terminate Rangers FC membership of the Scottish FA and concluded that punishment was too severe. It considered whether suspension of membership was a less serious but an appropriately severe punishment, but concluded that too was too severe.”
Justifying the decision to impose a season-long signing embargo, the tribunal felt that “the registration prohibition struck a balance which was relevant to the mischief and proportionate to the breach.”
“It appeared to the Tribunal that in a case such as this the punishment should relate in some meaningful way to the unpaid taxes arising from high wages and salaries amongst certain players. It appeared to the Tribunal that a temporary prohibition on registering any new players during a period of twelve months was a suitable, relevant and proportionate sanction.
"The Tribunal was of the view that whilst the sanction was severe it was not excessive and that the period covered only two signing windows."
The report was also severely critical of owner Craig Whyte and directors such as John McClelland and John Greig who failed to act on their concerns about the way the club was being run under Whyte between 2011-2012.
"The Tribunal took into account the extraordinary circumstances of the offences and the extent to which Rangers FC through its directors had been apparently misled and deceived by Mr Craig Whyte” it said. "Against that it took the view that whatever their position a number of individual directors and employees must have known that what was happening within Rangers FC was entirely wrong and illegitimate but they chose to do nothing to bring it to the attention of the public.
"That may be matter for their long term reflection but it does reduce the mitigatory impact of the suggestion that Rangers FC were innocent victims.
Rangers' appeal against the decisions will be heard by a three-man appellate tribunal next Wednesday, May 16. The panel will consist of Lord Carloway (chairman), Craig Graham and Allan Cowan. The SFA took police advice as to whether the names of the panel should be published in advance after Rangers manager Ally McCoist called for the names of the original tribunal to be made public.
An SFA statement said: "This decision has been taken with the approval of the individuals involved and after consultation with the relevant police authorities. It is essential that these panel members are allowed to conduct the appeal without fear of intimidation and we respectfully ask all involved in the process to do their utmost to observe our wishes and the wishes of the panel members."
The tribunal has the power to either increase, decrease or amend the original punishment, as well as uphold Rangers' appeal either in part or in full.
Meanwhile, a third bid by the Blue Knights consortium backed by businessman Brian Kennedy to buy Rangers has been rejected by the club’s administrators. Duff and Phelps claim there are two other bids on the table, one from a
Speaking at a joint press conference on Friday afternoon both Kennedy and former director Paul Murray admitted their chance of securing a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) has now gone.
"We see the only way forward for the club is to effect a CVA and unfortunately time has run out,” said
Mr Kennedy added: "The administrators better have somebody good, some good credible consortium who is fully funded. This is not about us owning Rangers Football Club. It's about Rangers Football Club surviving. I'd be delighted if Duff and Phelps are able to pull one out of the hat and come up with a fantastic bidder. I fear they may not be able to do that."