Lord Nimmo Smith announces dual contract judgement day

Lord Nimmo Smith’s eagerly awaited judgement on dual contracts operated by Rangers for over a decade will be announced at noon tomorrow.

The issue, which is unrelated to the still contested big tax case, revolves around payments being made to Rangers players and staff that weren’t declared in the contracts lodged with the SFA and SPL.

Last month Lord Nimmo Smith headed a four day enquiry which looked into the evidence which could see results overturned to 3-0 defeats for any matches that Rangers fielded players whose full registration hadn’t been declared to the football authorities.

A statement issued today read: “The SPL revealed the commission appointed in relation to “RFC 2012 Plc (now in liquidation) and Rangers FC and chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith” would publish its written decision at noon on Thursday.

“The probe centres on payments made through the Employee Benefit Trusts set up by former Rangers chairman Sir David Murray.”

RFC 2012 Plc went into liquidation in the summer after failing to agree a CVA with their creditors including HMRC. Failure to qualify for the Champions League meant that the club was unable to meet it’s Income Tax and National Insurance contributions with administration announced on February 14.

Charles Green bought the assets of the club from administrators Duff and Phelps for a knockdown £5.5m fee and was given associate membership of the SFA and SFL despite having no audited accounts- a condition of entry for all recent membership applications.

Recent reports claimed that Green had been locked in a boardroom battle with chairman Malcolm Murray with little heard of from the former Sheffield United chief since that story surfaced with Murray remaining as club chairman.

SFA President Campbell Ogilvie was a Rangers director for six of the years covered by the Lord Nimmo Smith enquiry.