Aberdeen keeper Jason Brown wants Rangers to be treated the same as any other club.
This morning the SPL chairmen will meet at Hampden to vote on whether a newco can gain the share of a liquidated member.
The discussions and vote have put boardrooms at odds with supporters as sporting integrity is compromised for commercial greed.
Today’s vote isn’t specifically on Rangers but the Ibrox club will be the first to test the regulations if Bill Miller goes forward with his takeover and plans for an incubator company.
Brown has spent his career in the middle ranks of English football, including Leeds United, and doesn’t see why different rules should be applied if Rangers have fallen foul of the authorities.
“If rules have been broken, Rangers have to be dealt with in the same way as Gretna and Livingston,” the Dons keeper stated.
“If you don’t pay your taxes, what happens to you? I know what’s happened to me the taxman’s sent me enough letters!
“That’s life. So if they have broken the rules and haven’t paid, they should be punished. Who cares where they are?
“If Rangers come out of the SPL it will be disappointing but other clubs are partly to blame because they have put Celtic and Rangers on such a high pedestal in that they pull in much of the revenue.”
In contrast to the defeatist attitude of many in the SPL Brown sees Rangers problems as an opportunity for other clubs to step up to the mark.
He added: “If Rangers are out of the SPL it gives other teams an opportunity. Look at Motherwell they kicked on and congratulations to them.
“How much money will Motherwell make from possibly being in the Champions League? So it is an opportunity.
“A club of Aberdeen’s size needs to try and take this opportunity. It’s screaming out for it.
“My outlook is, if you get rid of the SPL split, make the league a bit bigger and then have second, third, fourth and fifth going for a play-off, someone else might get into Europe.
“That would mean more money for that club and it would start to get shared about. That’s what Scottish football really needs right now.”
CLICK HERE for Dunfermline to vote against Rangers newco
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
Hope he told the Chairman that….
As regards the financial difficulties, surely the very fact that all clubs would then have a major rival removed thus allowing them to step up a league placing / qualify for Europe would more than compensate for any minor loss of visting fan revenue…such as Dunfermline £ 80,000
The difference between 2nd & 3rd is £ 463,000 !!!
which would be wide open to a few clubs.
3rd & 4th is £ 84,000 which again would more than keep the wolf from the door and mean no fans’ backlash.
Even if the TV deal was reduced, clubs would gain more through appearances so balance out with little / no real loss.
Time to end this red herring and stand up & be counted. Do these clubs really want success, to be in Europe, major finals or just hang on the coat tails and lie down as / when required.
Somebody being honest and talking sense: He wont last long in Scottish football.
Probably firebombed and assaulted in front of twenty thousand witnesses,which none of them saw anything.
That’s Mr Brown screwed off a few Xmas card lists then.
Clubs who find themselves financial troubled could approach some guys in Asia and agree a “Commercially Benefiting” deal to throw games for a predetermined score.
If they are not going to sporting integrity then things like this shouldn’t be a problem to the teams in difficulty. After all it does provide very good “Commercial Benefits” does it not?
You looking for a season ticket for Parkhead, Mr. Brown? I’ll help pay for it and I am certain you will get a very warm welcome after these statements.
H H
How much will clubs actually lose from Rangers demotion?
6 – 10,000 travelling supporters twice per year provided they are in the same half of the split. Maximum 20,000 x £30 per ticket = £600,000.
The way I see it they will lose around about the same from Celtic fans as most of them will boycott in this scenario.
This could also be a double whammy because if Rangers young boys are struggling to climb the league I don’t think the Rangers travelling support will be that large.
They could lose the TV deal and no money comes in from that source.
I think this is unlikely. I don’t know how many Scottish fans pay for Sky and ESPN, I do, but there is a good chance they will cancel subscriptions to a broadcaster that doesn’t back their league due to fairness issues.
10000 Scottish subscribers cancelling Sky and ESPN for 3 months of English footballs close season would cost Sky £2.7 million. Sustaining this boycott for a year would cost Sky almost £10 million. It might not seem much but this hits Sky on revenue for advertising as they cannot meet their target audience numbers, hence no money from Belhaven etc.
I propose that Celtic fans pay to see their team at home only in league matches and cancel home and away applications for all cup competitions, except Europe.
Lobby Sky and ESPN, let them know that we will cancel subscriptions for selected periods.
The SPL should consider doing a deal with one tv provider, paying for ESPN and Sky has always been a rip off, even if it means less of a deal, £10m for two seasons with BBC Alba?
Let Celtic do their own deal for tv provided they do not take anything from proposed new tv deal.
Rangers don’t have a travelling support of 10,000. That’s a total myth.
St Mirren’s highest attendance this season was just over 6,000 for the visit of Rangers, against an average of over 4,000.
Their ground holds over 8,000 and Rangers didn’t come close to filling it. Even with about 4,000 St Mirren supporters in the ground.
Finally, someone who has no axe to grind and has no reason to suck up to the establishment team! Well said Mr. Brown!
sense at last,…Mr Brown,hail hail.
The big problem in Scottish football has been and continues to be that Rangers are always treated differently from other teams. Can you imagine if Celtic had been in this predicament!!! Get rid of them and we can begin to hold out heads up again in the world.