Whole new ball game at newco

Football columnist

Sunday 6 May 2012

NO-one seems to know for sure whether the entire Rangers squad can leave for free if their contracts are transferred to a 'newco' Rangers under Bill Miller, but I can tell you right now that every single one of them will be consulting his agent, lawyer or PFA Scotland delegate to find out.

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Billy Dodds

Ally McCoist said at the weekend that even he wasn't sure about the legalities of the situation, but there are all manner of different scenarios with the players.

Some might have already made up their mind to move on, such as Sasa Papac, who basically said he had enjoyed his six years there, but it is too much of a mess and it is time to walk away. There might be some who think I am never going to get a bigger move, or ever get what I am currently on at Rangers, so I am happy to stay.

But I think most of the bigger names like Allan McGregor, Steven Naismith and Steven Davis will all be thinking 'anything can happen here' and 'can this club keep paying me'? The only way most of them were prepared to take the wage cut was on the proviso that their contract returned to its usual terms on June 1. Bill Miller has been talking about the club living within its means, and being more businesslike, so it might be that all these players on lucrative five-year contracts were going to be sold off anyway because Rangers couldn't afford to let their wage go back up to £25,000 a week. Bill Miller might make those decisions, but some of the players may make it easy for him.If PFA Scotland are right and it turns out they can leave for free, I think there will be a few of them who will be out of the door immediately.When I was at Dundee the CVA went through quite quickly, but what Bill Miller is planning is a whole new ball game and I just hope he is not going to do another Craig Whyte.Everybody is guessing so here is my guess – give him a chance. He has put the most cash down, has put his money where his mouth is, so we will have to see if he keeps to his word. Everybody is hoping this guy is going to do the right thing, but it does seem a bit too good to be true that he can take the best parts from the oldco and leave the debts behind and I have got a feeling that Ticketus and Craig Whyte are just watching it and will come along with a hammer blow down the line. They will be looking at every legal avenue to get to this and I don't think they have had their final say. The Blue Knights are still sitting there and my feeling is there could be more twists and turns to come.Maybe this one is just beyond a straightforward CVA. The administrators have been there since February 14 and they can't seem to get their head round it. You might try to explain that the rest of the world will regard this newco Rangers as a continuation of the old club, that your history is still there, but the staunchest Rangers fans just won't wear that. They might have to accept it if they want Rangers to continue trading. But my gut instinct – and that is all it is – is that if they move down this newco route with the old identity still sitting there, they will never move back.The SPL have some big decisions to make as they consider their response to it all. All 11 of the member clubs are now to be canvassed on the topic of transferring the league share from the oldco to the newco. They are likely to be voted back in because other clubs are hanging on to the cliff edge already and losing Rangers might just kick them off. They have to decide what is the best solution, hitting them heavy because it might be the right thing to do, or saving the game down the line. I don't believe it was Rangers as a group which did this, I think it was a one-man asset strip, but I warned a couple of years ago when it was Dundee that if you let them off with the 25-point penalty then every other club in the league could just go into administration, not pay their debts and start again.As much as the SFA and SPL have been given stick, they have got to get the new legislation in quick. I don't think the Rangers situation was planned in any wider sense but I think the SPL and SFA have to get rules in place which stop clubs from creating the conditions which force them to go into administration.

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Whole new ball game at newco

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