TWO members of the three-man Scottish Football Association panel which imposed a 12-month registration embargo on Rangers will play no further part in the case.
Lord Carloway and Craig Graham, the chairman of Spartans, will be replaced if or when the SFA's Appellate Tribunal reconvenes to consider the transfer ban again. The panel was ruled to have acted outwith its powers by Lord Glennie when Rangers challenged the SFA in the Court of Session.
Herald Sport understands that Lord Carloway was unhappy that his verdict was contradicted by another judge and wrote to the SFA to inform them he would no longer be available for any future cases. Graham cannot consider the case again because of the possibility that suspending or expelling the oldco Rangers' SFA membership (which the newco club seeks to take over) could create a vacant league place for which his own club, Spartans, could seek to apply. Graham removed himself rather than face a conflict of interest although he will remain available to the SFA for future cases.
Only former Partick Thistle chairman Allan Cowan remains of the original panel.
That means two new individuals from the dozens who comprise the SFA's Judicial Panel will have to be drafted in to study the entire case along with Cowan and deliver another verdict.
Glennie concluded that only the specific punishments laid down in the SFA's rulebook for the charges Rangers faced – namely a fine, expulsion from the Scottish Cup or suspension or termination of membership – could be applied to the club.
The extent of the SFA sanctions imposed on Rangers for charges of bringing the game into disrepute has become a central point in the ongoing talks regarding the transfer of the oldco club's licence and SFA membership.
During three days of talks this week the newco representatives have so far failed to accept the imposition of the 12-month registration ban – which could still be applied if the club accepted it, despite Glennie's ruling – as a condition of their SFA membership being ratified. The newco club runs the risk of the Appellate Tribunal reconvening and imposing an even tougher penalty, such as withholding their ability to play at all.
The SFA could still go ahead and grant Rangers newco a licence and membership – if the governing body receives the answers it has sought on the identity of those involved in chief executive Charles Green's consortium – which would allow the season to begin with the newco playing at Brechin City in the Ramsdens Cup next weekend. But unless the newco representatives change their attitude to accepting the 12-month embargo, and remove the need for the Appellate Tribunal to sit again at all, the season seems certain to start without a resolution to the issue of SFA sanctions still hanging over Ibrox.
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