Green: Rangers could use sex discrimination laws to sue UEFA

Friday 11 January 2013

Rangers chief executive Charles Green claims he could use sex discrimination laws to sue UEFA if they try to block the club's moves to join a cross-border league.

Charles Green

Green has vowed to look into ways of taking Rangers out of Scottish football following the announcement of a new 12-18-18 league set-up - drawn up by the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League in conjunction with the Scottish Football Association - that would keep the Light Blues in Scotland's basement tier, even if they go on to win this season's Third Division title.

And the Ibrox chief believes he has precedent on his side when he claims the club should be granted access to leagues in other countries. He told TalkSport: "As the structures stand now, there are not many options. But I'm not one for hiding my light behind a bushel. "People say you can't go into England because you are not allowed cross-borders (leagues). "Well there is now a cross-border (league). You have a UEFA-sanctioned professional women's league in Belgium and Holland, so we have a precedent there. "If there was an opportunity to join a cross-border league and that was challenged by UEFA, I would go to Strasbourg and challenge the sexual equality." Green also claimed that Rangers could apply to join the English Conference set-up before attempting to rise up the leagues. And he insisted he would do so with the blessing of the club's supporters. "I could join the Conference and I would be in a higher league than I'm in. It doesn't matter to me (which league Rangers are in)," he added. "I can tell you this, if the only option is to go into England and start at the lowest level, I believe Rangers fans would support that. "Nobody can question Rangers fans once they see the attendances. I got figures through yesterday and it's only Man United, Arsenal and Newcastle (that have) higher average attendances than Rangers." Green also insisted that if Rangers were denied entry south of the border, Premiership side Swansea and npower Championship side Cardiff should then be booted out of England. He said: "People say you are not allowed in the English league - well let's then kick Cardiff and Swansea out, because they are playing in a different country. "People are saying Wales is fine but Scotland is not. We cannot have a situation where one of the Union is annexed by the football bodies but Wales can join. It's rubbish." SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has suggested the proposed new league structure could lead to a brighter future for the Scottish game, but Green insists the wishes of supporters across the country have been misread. Green, whose club were not consulted on the proposals as they do not yet posses full membership of the SFA, said: "This is not just Rangers fans, but every fan in Scotland is against this proposal, by 90 per cent I'm told. "Clearly no-one is listening to the fans. Let's put a paper in Hampden and see how many fans sign up to it. I don't think there will be very many." Rangers manager Ally McCoist says his ideal scenario would be to see his club back at the top level of Scottish football. But he can fully understand Green's objections to the league reconstruction plans. He said: "Ideally the top league in this country would perfect. "There has been a lot of information coming out in the last week or so but all we want to do is get back to the top league in this country. "I know Rangers and Celtic have explored avenues to play in different leagues and I would think they would continue to do that. But where I'm sitting at the moment, I'd settle for the top league in Scotland." He added: "Charles is doing his job in the respect that he's exploring avenues for other leagues. "I can totally understand his dislike for the potential new set-up. If it goes ahead, I would imagine the biggest sufferers again, in my opinion, would be the Rangers supporters."

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Green: Rangers could use sex discrimination laws to sue UEFA

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