The SFA have hit Rangers with a £160,000 fine and 12 month transfer ban while banning Craig Whyte from football for life.
How effective the sanctions are remains to be seen with the SFA powerless to do anything about Whyte’s 85% shareholding in the club.
Whyte has also been fined £200,000 by the SFA but like most bills over the last 12 months that one is likely to go unpaid.
Rangers were found guilty on three different charges resulting in fines of £10,000, £50,000 and £100,000 which must be paid within 12 months. One charge resulted in a not proven verdict.
The sanctions come at the end of another day of incredible mis-management from Duff and Phelps, the clubs administrators.
Expectations that an announcement would be made about a preferred bidder proved misplaced with a statement claiming that the Blue Knights and Bill Miller had both requested extra time to put together their bid.
Miller quickly contradicted that statement reiterating his claim on Friday that the other bidders should put up or shut up.
Duff and Phelps confirmed that they were unable to declare a preferred bidder since both bids are conditional.
Next week the SPL will vote on proposals to make life easier for a newco to be accepted with a transferred share from a liquidated club.
If this ruling is approved it will make liquidation much more appealing to those clubs struggling to pay off historic debt.
Should Rangers be liquidated without a rule change there will be no relegation from the SPL with Ross County effectively taking their place in next season’s top division.
With half a dozen legal wrangles, questions over the ownership of Ibrox and Murray Park and the status of the Ticketus deal it looks increasingly unlikely that there will be a Rangers playing football next season.
Suffer ,you bastards.
How can this be?…Are ‘ra peepul’ finally being recognised for what they really are? Have the SFA FINALLY stopped kow-towing to the Ipox crooks who will do ANYTHING to deny other teams a level playing field?
Guilty on FIVE counts and Not Proven on ONE!!! Wait and see…’ra peepul’ will shortly be claiming that their so-called dignity remains intact and untarnished because ONE charge was found Not Proven. You couldn’t give them a red neck with a blowtorch.
I can’t believe this has happened! I have to go and lie down….
Dunfermline just hit the jackpot!
Cheats never prosper. An enquiry into cheating refs should be next.
This punishment is still nowhere near enough!
I bet the not proven part is player registration and dual contacts. This will undoubtably be ignored after the ftt as they have already considered it and will not revisit!
Burn in hell scum!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with Johnny. Nowhere near enough! Their titles need to be stripped. The dual contracts is the big issue.
something very dodgey goin on here, I just wonder , what the SFA are up to here.
If they can find them guilty on various seperate charges then surely they SHOULD also do likewise on the 300+ dual contracts.
Punishment should START at -10 points for the minimum 12 years they have been cheating. Obviously this means relegation to the 3rd division which is where they belong.
None of this Newco rubbish, if they want to play at Piebox,have RFC in their name, same strips etc….they accept the same fines / punishment or walk away
First off what’s the point of fining a club 160,000 pounds when they canny even pay the local newsagent?
Secondly, if a Newco Incubator Fc Rovers were to be formed, then this new club should be treated appropriately – like any new club should be treated. That means you can not fine a new club for the deeds of another club, and you can not impose sanctions against a new club as the new club have done no wrong. However, you must treat any new club as you would any other new club and consider their application into the bottom division based on their business model. I honestly can’t see how a new club could be formed, new players signed, a football ground found and a balanced budget created within the timescales needed to be ready for the start of the new season 2012/13. The only appropriate solution is to allow Rangers to die, give any new club a year to organise themselves and Dunfermline should not be relegated.
If the Scottish Football Authorities treat any New Club as if it were the Old Rangers liquidated club, then EUFA would need to get involved as this would be gross bending and cheating of the rules.
So to summarise, fining a club about to be liquidated is a complete waste of time, and imposing signing sanctions on a club about to be liquidated is a complete waste of time also. If the Scottish authorities really wanted to punish Rangers, then the appropriate action would be to find out all the games where Rangers played with illegally registered players and change all of the scores in these games to 0-3 defeats, changing the outcome of the league and cups appropriately.
The creditors want the money they are owed. Duff and Phelps are just adding to the huge accumulated bill. When are the MSM going to take pity on those who have not been paid their money instead of sympathising with the cheats and crooks. When will they focus their attention on the one man who caused all this cheating and money laundering giggery pokery – (Sir?) David Murray!
Question to Joe McHugh regarding the above article:
You wrote: “increasingly unlikely that there will be no Rangers playing football next season.”
Should that be “increasingly likely that there will be no Rangers playing football next season.”
Don’t think this punishment has anything to do with dual contracts just the takeover by the Whyte knight. Further investigation required concerning dual contracts, believe it or not UEFA is watching very closely so no underhand dealings permitted.