Ally McCoist has backed Charles Green's refusal to attend the first meeting of the SPL's independent commission into Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts.

The Ibrox manager yesterday also reasserted his conviction that the titles the club won while using the tax avoidance scheme will not be taken away from them.

The SPL commission, headed by Lord Nimmo Smith, met last week. It is investigating whether or not the way Rangers administered the EBT scheme, which ran from 2001 to 2010, breached registration rules. Green said last week that the SPL has no legal jurisdiction over the club, which is now in the third division. Having taken advice from lawyers, Green said the club would not participate in the enquiry.

"I stand by what the club have said," McCoist asserted. "It's not a decision that's been taken lightly. We took advice and I was fortunate enough to attend the meetings. We have taken a stand. The majority of people I have spoken to, not just Rangers fans, believe it is fast becoming a witch-hunt. I can tell you now, they will never take the titles away.

"The titles were won out on the park and football players know that. That's where you win your trophies, your cups and your leagues. I don't see anyone chapping on doors and asking for medals back. That's the most important thing, being able to show your kids and your grandchildren the medals. Even in this era of high finance and big money, that's still the most important thing to the players. And you can't Tipp-Ex that out."

Celtic also used one EBT, for Juninho, but the SPL have ruled, without using a commission or conducting an investigation, that the Parkhead club have no case to answer. That decision might rest on the administration process, since the allegation against Rangers is that some players were issued with side letters that could then constitute contracts that should have been registered with the SPL.

The decision not to follow up on Celtic's EBT puzzles McCoist. "You would have to ask [the SPL] how it works," he said. "But it does baffle me ever so slightly. At the same time, that's another decision that doesn't surprise me. My reading of the situation is that the SPL have accepted that EBT because the money was paid to the player after he left the club. What has that got to do with his performances at the club? Nothing. That's a strange one."