Green issues fresh claim against SFA

Charles Green has accused the SFA and SPL of wrongly kicking Rangers out of the SPL.

The Sevco spokesman has refused to participate in Lord Nimmo Smith’s EBT inquiry but has latched onto one of Nimmo Smith’s weekend comments regarding the oldco/newco debate that the SFA have shied away from commenting on.

Having entered into talks to invite Sevco to replace Rangers in the SPL and applied for a transfer of membership through the SFA Green now wants to go back to July and re-instate the newco in the SPL.

“Lord Nimmo Smith, chairman of the Commission set up by the SPL, has highlighted an extremely important issue in his recent judgement regarding the Commission,” the Sevco mouthpiece noted.

“Lord Nimmo Smith has said that Rangers FC is a recognisable entity which continued in existence notwithstanding the change in ownership.

“He also stated that Rangers FC, the club, includes its owner and operator. The Commission has in effect ruled that Rangers and its history did not die on 14 June despite numerous reports to the contrary.

“This means that Rangers FC and its owner, i.e. me and my consortium, remained a member of the SPL even after the change of ownership.

“The bemusing part is that no-one at the SPL or SFA appeared to realise that. The SPL made the club (including its owner and operator) reapply to be a member of a league that the Commission says it was in already.

“If the Commission is right then the change of ownership was frankly irrelevant to SPL status. Nevertheless we duly applied and that application was rejected. ”

Green added: “If the Commission is correct about this recognisable entity then the SPL and SFA must be wrong in making that entity apply to join bodies it was already in.

“Maybe they should both appoint Lord Nimmo Smith to form a Commission to investigate and tell them who their member is.

“In our view the Commission chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith has been placed in an invidious position by the SPL.

“The establishment of the Commission is the most striking example of the chaotic way the fate of Rangers has been handled by the football authorities.

“As we stated previously, it is impossible for us as a club to participate in a process we firmly believe is fundamentally misconceived.

“We believe that most people would not think it right that a football authority that was willing to horse-trade league titles and cups for league status, should then embark on the course of action it has chosen in setting up a Commission. There is no clearer case of moving the goalposts.”