Platinum licence joy at the Daily Record

The Daily Record is celebrating the award of a platinum licence to the Ibrox Tribute Act tonight as good news become harder and harder to find.

Even by their own low standards it is fairly limited how much you can polish up signing Chris Willock or Jack Butland as a free agent. A former coach or team-mate can always be found to recall some barely known moment of brilliance but even the Gullible & Deluded have limits.

The Record reports:

Rangers have returned to the status of having a platinum SFA club licence.

A silver award was handed to the Premiership side last year but they have been moved up to the top rung of the ladder for the first time since their return to the Scottish top flight in 2016. Rangers join Celtic in that tier with Aberdeen, Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Hearts, Ross County and Dundee United all getting silver awards. St Johnstone and Hibs have been awarded a gold award alongside St Mirren.

No comment or explanation is given over the change in the licence from silver to platinum or the fact that full licencing is now dealt with by UEFA rather than national associations.

Back in September UEFA announced that the Ibrox club were on a ‘watch list’ due to their finances. Crucially new Financial Sustainability Rules have been applied rather than Financial Fair Play, dealt with by independently by UEFA rather than the friendly national associations.

That sort of subtle move is beyond the understanding of the Record’s Sports staff who have described two recent emergency share issues as ‘cash boost opportunities’.

Ensuring that clubs run on a sustainable basis is the driving force of the new regulations, UEFA will decide whether the Ibrox club are putting their existence at risk in order to deny Aberdeen or Hearts a place in next season’s Champions League qualifiers.