It should be resisted.
Scottish football faces a turbulent pre-season after a Friday the 13th that was among the most dramatic in the domestic game's history. It may be the bloodiest, too.
There are some misconceptions that must be addressed before the future of Scottish football can be considered in the wake of the SFL vote.
First, Rangers were not "punished" by being allowed to play in the third division. This placement, rather, was a consequence of going into liquidation and thus having to apply for a league position as a newco.
Secondly, Scottish football will not die. As one celebrated SFA functionary would oft remark: "Football will find a way."
Thirdly, the national game now faces a demanding internal audit.
The route forward is twisting and challenging but the decision by the SFL clubs yesterday was surely morally correct. Rangers in all conscience could not have continued as an SPL club under any consideration of sporting integrity.
This phrase is troublesome and has been used to mischievous ends. However, a member club of the SPL descended into liquidation and avoided heavy debts. Any sudden reincarnation as a top-flight club would have been obscene to many of the paying public.
However, integrity comes at a price. The cost of the decision to place Rangers in the third division has been estimated at various sums at various times and calculated to suit various agendas, but it was enough to send club officials home to frantic work on their calculators last night.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle were exercised enough by yesterday's events to call a board meeting. There were whispers, too, last night of several chairmen bemoaning the fate of Rangers and, more precisely, the money that the club brings into the game.
This gave rise to speculation that the SPL meeting on Monday will seek to find another way out of the crisis, with such notions as SPL2 or, presumably, an agreement that everyone states it has been a bad dream, clears the air with a cheery whistle and goes about business as if nothing has happened.
But it has. The situation is difficult and could become worse, certainly in financial terms.
The television deal may be renegotiated and not to increase its value to clubs. There is still no sign of a new title sponsor for the top league. Clubs in the top division will miss one, perhaps two home games against Rangers.
There will be an immediate cutting of budgets. There were reports of bank officials urging individual leaders of SPL clubs to retain Rangers in the top league. These were unconfirmed and perhaps apocryphal but club accountants will now be taking a close look at the financial projections for next season.
If the implications for the rest of Scottish football have still to be measured precisely, times continue to be uncertain for Rangers. Many of the Ibrox support were consoled by the small degree of certainty that the SFL decision imparted. The message was that if they had to go to Annan, they would follow on.
Charles Green, the club's chief executive, was also humble and straightforward in dealing with the decision, but it surely impacts heavily on his plans for Rangers. Green now has control of a third division club with an SPL infrastructure. The maintenance of Ibrox and Murray Park requires a sizeable budget and projections for income can only be based on guesswork.
There has been no clarion call for fans to buy season tickets and there is no pressing necessity to do so as sell-outs are now consigned to the past. How many supporters will attend third division matches? It is impossible to know, but the answer may not bring a smile to the chief executive.
Green, too, has other issues to consider. The SPL inquiry on dual payments is ongoing. Any adverse judgment in that case is likely only to have an effect on the past, in terms of lost titles or cups.
He will be more interested in the deliberations of the appellate tribunal after the club appealed successfully to the Court of Session over the imposition of a transfer embargo. Punishments for bringing the game into disrepute include suspension of SFA membership. Now one enters into the arcane world of law, where Rangers will be applying for membership while facing the sanction of having that membership suspended or refused. This is the stuff that keeps the lawyers in shiny German cars.
The most likely scenario is that a deal will be brokered and Green will accept the transfer embargo that was initially imposed. Such a sanction would mean that Rangers would have to operate with a squad that is diminishing daily. Top-class players have left and others will follow and Ally McCoist may not be able to bring in replacements.
The march for Rangers up the leagues and back into the SPL may not be as smooth as many commentators predict.
The story is far from over. Green said somewhat ruefully last night: "I hope it will be [the end of the situation] but I'm not convinced."
This uncertainty is the only certainty as Scottish football warily peers at season 2012/2013.
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