Shamed former First Minister Henry McLeish wants to see Sevco shoe-horned into the First Division tomorrow.
Against the wishes of Ally McCoist and at least 80% of fans/customers the former Labour First Minister wants to see any notion of sporting integrity banished in a bid to retain some tarnished commercial contracts.
McLeish was forced out of office in November 2001 after failing to declare rental income from an office that he claimed full parliamentary expenses on.
The former East Fife defender was commissioned by the SFA to publish a wide ranging report on the state of Scottish football in 2010 and is now being used as a cheer leader for those that want to see Sevco by-pass the Third and Second Divisions as Charlie Green attempts to find a place for his new club.
Green has failed to tell Sevco fans who his backers are and has a number of supporter groups warning fans not to buy season tickets.
Former Rangers defender John Brown has urged supporters to starve Green out of Ibrox while the SFA seem determined to treat Sevco as a membership transfer rather than a new application.
Rangers SFA licence was rejected by the SFA with the clubs’ last audited accounts appearing in June 2010.
Despite that mountain of problems McLeish wants to see everything resolved at tomorrow’s SFL meeting with Sevco presented with a First Division place.
“We can’t afford not to be able to move on after Friday,” McLeish claimed. “Unless or until we put our house in order, a lot of people will be looking at us and saying we are not fit for purpose.
“The game is bigger than the SPL, SFL and SFA. There is so much good work going on in the game.
“God forbid that anyone, after Friday, should think we can’t go forward. It needs confidence and it needs people to have trust and respect in each other. The game currently lacks that in a way which, even in 30 years in a rough trade like politics, I’ve never seen before.”
With Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan abdicating leadership and coming up with fresh solutions and interpretions on an almost daily basis it’s not just SFL clubs that have lost trust and respect for the dynamic duo.
McLeish added: “The clubs are taking a big decision for Rangers on Friday but an even bigger decision for Scottish football. They have to see the wider implications.
“If you looked at the SPL option [for Rangers], that would have ticked the box about keeping finances to the fore but would have done nothing as a fit and proper punishment.
“If you look at Rangers playing in SFL3, that ticks the box in terms of a fit and proper punishment but it raises concerns about finance and the future for Scottish football.
“If you look at Rangers playing in SFL1, then to me it can tick both boxes. It brings to a conclusion, I would like to think, the range of punishments that have been meted out.
“But it also satisfies the fact that a huge punishment has been delivered to the club in terms of their integrity and credibility.”
“It is a balance and the fans may want to extract the maximum punishment, which is the Third Division. If you lived in an ideal world, a purist’s world, that would be fine. But we don’t have the luxury of that. In the position we are in, we can’t afford to take those lofty and philosophical decisions.
Patronisingly the shamed former First Minister added: “I congratulate supporters for putting integrity and good governance of the game to the top of the agenda. The fans have done a good job, but it’s now time for them to join us in addressing the other issues in Scottish football.”
Hopefully McLeish will have as little to do with Scottish football as Doncaster and Regan when the dust finally settles on this disturbing period.
CLICK HERE for Clyde call for Regan and Doncaster to walk away
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this hole country is f—-d SFA.SPL.SFL.SNP &SCOTTISH LABOUR.SCOTTISH FOOTBALL AMEN
SAY NO TO D1 SEVCO FC!!!
This “Old Rangers”club has disgraced Scottish Football like no other club in history, Why should they want to try and put this New form of the same club into a higher league than they deserve? But to offer the poorer clubs Money to vote them in, is CORRUPT! no matter how they try to justify this,W
god help us stuck in a protestant country with the foot balling authorties and politicians doing passable impersionation of dimwits
If this goes ahead, fraud, cheating, and corruption will be the winners, not Scottish football. If Sevco are put into Division One, tens of thousands of decent fans will turn their backs on Scottish football forever, me included. There will be no credibility left. Sevco do not even rightly own Ibrox and Murray Park. The sale of assets on the cheap from Duff and Phelps to Green was fraudulent and illegal. Green is a con artist, and the courts will show Duff & Phelps in no way acted in the interest of the creditors as they were supposed to do. I haven’t heard one murmur of sympathy for the creditors who have been left out of pocket in this sordid affair. Sevco don’t even deserve a place in the Third Division never mind the first.
Good post Thai Tim. But I’ve said all along that sooner or later the SFA would work out how to polish a Jobby.
Utterly shameful!
No audited accounts for 2 years, no SFA or UEFA licence, because they are not a football club, and should be kicked out of Scottish professional league football! SFL3 is even too good for them! Let them start again in the Juniors!
HH!!
well said tallybhoy
A lot of people will be looking at us and sayiing we are not fit for purpose.
Correct you are not fit for purpose !,
It needs confidence and it needs people to have trust and respect in each other.
Exactly the reasons why this newco should not be allowed in anywhere.
They keep referring to Rangers, but they are no more, however it is obvious the newco are just the same wolf in sheeps clothing .
Ban them altogether !
Sack these bampots who are supposed to be in charge, and let’s really start again, for the good of Scttish football of course!
What an embarrassment. What a disgrace. What sheer corruption. What a bloody cheek. The very man that is supposed to be impartial and who was entrusted to do an in depth report on the state of Scottish football has now trashed the whole concept of Sporting Integrity and has the nerve to give condescending praise to the supporters for their wee naive ‘ideals’.
If the Sporting Integrity ideal is not the platform of his report then what the hell is he playing at? Who the hell does he think he is? Not one ounce of criticism aimed towards the Cheats. Not one sentence of constructive analysis anywhere.
Not one bit of sympathy for all those victims who suffered directly and indirectly because of their cheating and tax evasion/frauds. Not one bit of sympathy for those people who have lost their jobs as a result of their corruption.
This is the same man that, when caught with his hand in the financial ‘cookie jar’ said: ”…it wasn’t a fiddle…it was a fuddle!” Well Mr McLeish it seems you’re still fuddling.
No matter what money Scottish football has it will be honestly achieved and we will cut our cloth accordingly. What we don’t need is another ‘has-been’ reigning fire and brimstone on our heads if we don’t fall on our knees at the very mention of the word ‘Rangers’.
I have news for you Mr McLeish Rangers are dead and so is your influence. Just stick to doing your silly little talks in America and feathering your own nest as you do so well and leave football to those who support it . . .the SUPPORTERS!
We always knew oor fitba was corrupt know we will see WE WERE BANG ON .HUGE KEEVINS,JABBA TRAYNOR,CHICK YUCK,KEEF JACKIT,DAROLL KANT,DEEK JONNOHOME,GODONO DALZHELP,BILLY DIDDYDODDS,BOMBER BROONE,FANNY JARDINE,HUGGY DALLALAS,SNIDE,ESPFTP,RADIO SNIDE,RADIO UNREAL,RADIO SHORTCUT,TALK SHI//,UNREFS,DODGY LINESMEN,SPL,SFA,ETC,ETC,ETC,AS FRANK WOULD SING TO FEW TO MENTION AND ANOTHER GREAT U.S. CHANTER SAID WE DIDNT START THE FIRE.BUT WE WILL FINISH IT.UNITE IN TRUTH JUSTICE AND THE…………?WAY……………HAHA.
what with no license being granted how can they treat this selfserve co as a membership transfer of the old rangers if theres no license in the first place to transfer