Members of the Rangers board will meet with SFA officials today to discuss their application for the club's membership to be transferred from the oldco holding company to Sevco, the company owned by Charles Green's consortium.
It is the last requirement of the process of Rangers moving on from the insolvency event suffered under Craig Whyte's ownership. Green describes it as "the final hurdle, in my mind", but it is not a straightforward procedure.
Green cannot apply for new membership of the SFA, because his newco does not meet the necessary financial requirements, and taking the oldco's membership means that he must also accept any sanctions attached to it. That has always been the case, but it is now a pressing issue.
It is also open to manipulation. As Green archly admitted in an interview with Sky Sports News yesterday, he might currently win a popularity contest with some other chief executives in Scottish football. The damning of Stewart Regan, in particular, has provided Green with an opportunity to win over the Rangers fans, who wrongly believe that the SFA chief executive is against them.
It has been portrayed that Rangers must accept the registration embargo imposed on the club by the SFA's original disciplinary tribunal, and then upheld by its Appellate Tribunal, in return for SFA membership, even although the Court of Session ruled the sanction unlawful. But in reality, Rangers simply have the choice of accepting the embargo, or accepting the court's judgment that the Appellate Tribunal, headed by Lord Carloway should be reconvened and impose another sanction. The tribunal can choose between expelling Rangers from the Scottish Cup, suspending the club's SFA membership, or expelling the club from the game.
"Most of the items have been talked about for weeks, those being the signing embargo, fines and payments to football clubs in terms of transfers," Green said. "The difficulty we have is we have been working for weeks on these issues and there is a point where, unless I as CEO accept these sanctions, we won't be granted permission to join the Scottish FA. It is a balance between what is fair and appropriate and what is required. The newco needs to take on the sins of the oldco. Without the SFA membership, we cannot play. There are huge issues to deal with."
Yet nothing has changed in that respect. When Regan and Neil Doncaster were drawing up a compromise plan to put Rangers into the first division, Herald Sport understands that Green was prepared to accept the registration embargo. If the Appellate Tribunal is reconvened, Lord Carloway will act independently, and Green then runs the risk of suspension or expulsion.
There should be room for negotiation, since the registration embargo was imposed when the club had a squad list of 40, but many of the high-profile players have left, and Dorin Goian, Maurice Edu, Carlos Bocanegra and perhaps even Lee Wallace – all of the remaining internationalists – are expected to follow. "We're going to lose more players," Green said. "We understood that, but it increases the pressure on Ally McCoist."
A suspended embargo would be more appropriate, but talks between the Rangers directors and the SFA are more complicated. As part of the application, Green's consortium are required to provide full disclosure on their financial backers, beneficial shareholders, working capital funds, business plans, whether or not Craig Whyte is involved, even a copy of the Share and Purchase Agreement signed with Duff and Phelps. Yet up until now, Green has refused to name who it is that owns the club, or provide any detail of the rest of the SFA's requirements to the public. He has admitted only that Blue Pitch Holdings owns 23%, but not who is involved in this fund. In effect, nobody knows who owns Rangers.
The SFA have asked Green to clarify certain points of the information provided in the application, which will be discussed today. The governing body is adamant that full and proper background checks must be carried out in the wake of Craig Whyte's ownership, and that vague information is not suitable. Green must also agree to pay all football debts, which is also required by UEFA and FIFA, and there is the further complication of the SPL's investigation into the allegation that Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts constituted a dual contract with players. The SPL board will discuss the matter at its next meeting on August 10, but it will delay Rangers' SFA membership – and potentially also Dundee's rise to the SPL – unless the club agrees to accept sanctions.
"That's an issue for the SFA," said Doncaster. "It's not a straightforward process of transferring the share over. There's a lot of work that needs to be done between the three governing bodies, Rangers oldco, and Rangers newco. We'll try to get it all done by agreement but if we can't get everything agreed for a smooth transition then there are avenues we can take to ensure the share is transferred to Dundee."
Green addressed a staff meeting at Ibrox yesterday and warned that there might be job losses now that the club is in the third division. Yet he has seen around £10m per annum come off the squad wage bill in the past three weeks, while he also consistently claimed during the run-up to his takeover that his consortium would raise £20m by the end of July, and that season ticket income was not important to immediate working capital arrangements. Many of Rangers' non-football operations were down-sized during the years that Lloyds Bank were paring down the debt, so there is no excess in any of the non-football departments.
There is a battle being played out for the hearts and minds of the Rangers fans. It is one that Regan is currently losing; and so in return Green is winning it.
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