Now that the smoke has cleared, and the prospect of a last minute “switcheroo” for Mr Green’s team into the SPL, or SPL2, has gone, we can start to think about football.
However, Mr McCoist is not happy regarding the number of players he has, and the fact that, until Sevco Scotland Ltd is successful in having SFA Membership transferred from Rangers Football Club PLC (in administration) he cannot register any new players.
This also ignores the outcome of the Appellate Tribunal under Lord Carloway, and the suggestions that Mr Green would be asked to accept as a sanction the registration ban declared ultra vires by Lord Glennie.
On a side note, should the SFA ask Sevco Scotland Ltd to accept such a condition and Sevco agrees, then that is fine. The problem would be if the SFA sought to impose it as a condition, and Sevco refused to accept it. Even though the SFA can set what conditions it likes on admitting a member, or transferring a membership, I think it would have trouble trying to impose a sanction already ruled, in the area of punishing bringing the game into disrepute, to be outwith its powers.
On 5th July Mr McCoist bemoaned his fate to the Rangers website:-
“We have a transfer embargo hanging over us but how can I operate with a transfer embargo when I only have six players? It’s impossible and it’s just madness.
“I have in the region of six first team players at pre-season training right now, two of whom were regulars last season in the SPL.
“We need to bring in the region of 10, 12 or even 14 players. I reckon since January we have lost close to 21 players.
“We have to start rebuilding and replacing.”
The Rangers FC official team photo from 1 year ago. Even with “close to 21 players” leaving, there are still a good number left, and good ones too!
With thanks to Rangerspics.com, from whom many other fine photos can be obtained
However, reluctant though I am to point out an error by Mr McCoist, I hope that he appreciates that what I have to tell him is good news.
When first team training started, Rangers.co.uk reported that 13 senior squad players turned up.
“RANGERS’ pre-season is underway and 13 senior squad members have reported for the first day of training this morning.”
Lee McCulloch was amongst the first to arrive at the club’s training ground at Auchenhowie at 9am and he was quickly joined by Kyle Hutton, Ross Perry, Kal Naismith and reserve goalkeeper Scott Gallacher.
Scotland defender Lee Wallace joined the group as well and goalie Neil Alexander also showed up along with Kirk Broadfoot and fit-again striker Kane Hemmings.
Darren Cole is in the squad which is currently going through fitness tests after his loan spell at Partick Thistle last season. Out-of-contract players Salim Kerkar, Chris Hegarty and Andy Mitchell are there too along with a selection of youths as they look to win new deals with the Light Blues.”
Looking at the players listed by Rangers on its website as first team players, together with players listed as reserves who played for the first team last year, I count 16 players. Of these, 6 are full internationals; 6 are under-21 internationals; 1 has played at under-19 level internationally; and finally one is capped at under-17 level.
In addition the Rangers website lists 29 reserve and under-19 players, excluding those I have counted above, and those known to have left the club. I have not included the Academy players. In addition, I am sure that some of the reserves and under-19 players will have international experience at some level, but I have not searched through each one.
Those figures suggest a squad of 45 players, at most, to choose from. I have not checked through the SFL clubs, but I would be surprised if many have six full internationals on their books, or a squad of 45 to pick from.
Mr McCoist also wants to bring in new players – “in the region of 10, 12 or even 14 players”.
For now I won’t comment on the financial implications of that, but I have more good news for Mr McCoist.
Rule 115.2 of the SFL Rules states:-
“115.2 A club shall be permitted to register, at any one time, up to a maximum of 22 players, who have reached the age of 21 years on 1st January of the appropriate year. The maximum number of 22 players includes players registered by means of a temporary transfer. Additional players may be registered by a club, however such players must be under 21 years of age on 1st January of the appropriate year.”
So Rangers FC are restricted to a maximum of 22 players of 21 years or over. This should save Mr McCoist scouring the free agents and transfer lists for too many players of that age, as his existing 45 man squad as referred to above will come close to filling the number of slots he has.
Of course, it seemed rather odd that Mr McCoist agreed to allow Mr Ortiz to leave by mutual consent last week. If there is a registration embargo, why agree to a player leaving, at least till the position about new players is clear?
Maybe the difference between the figures is that Mr McCoist only counts full internationals as first team players? Maybe he should speak to whoever runs the official website, as their figures do not agree with his.
Has Mr McCoist lost a lot of first choice players? Of course he has.
Does he have a squad which, without addition, could have competed or at worst survived in the SPL? It would definitely have survived.
Is he in position where he and the myriad of ex-players who form the back room staff might have to pull on jerseys to make up numbers? No.
Even after the departures, Mr McCoist won’t need to pull the jersey on again to make up the numbers
Is it realistic to expect a squad of players including 6 full internationals, at least 6 undr-21 caps, and a number of under-19 and under-17 internationals to compete in SFL3? Of course it is!
With the players Mr McCoist has at his disposal, if his team plays in the coming season, and fails to win SFL3 by at least 20 points, then he ought to have serious questions to answer. Indeed it is only the fact that, every so often we see a giant-killing in the Cup, or the big team held by the minnow to a first leg draw before succumbing by five goals in the replay, which prevents me suggesting they ought to go through next season with a 100% record in the league!
Even ignoring all of the financial, regulatory and disciplinary issues still extant, Rangers FC will face many unusual and for them unique challenges in the coming season. However player numbers ought not to be one.
Posted by Paul McConville
Random Thoughts Re Scots Law by Paul McConville 
mc c is deluded he still going on about buying players ,is this not the thing that killed his club in the first place ,he should be begging forgivness and wanting to give his youth players a start ,hes tripping out his tree ,he should resign hes a liability and twisted a hope his young players walk away hes a hasbeen and is left looking like a clown
In his off-field activities he has tended to be a clown.
he was a good striker and tv celb lol
Please do not be so hard on poor Ally. He is still in a state of shock and has not yet come to terms with the position he and Rangers are in. As such he is more to be pitied than laughed at.
it tough in div3 its full of real sportsmen people who do it for the love of the game and not to become premadonas a think sevco will be there for years its not as easy as every1 thinks the diddy teams are waiting on them to prove this ,fantastic article paul ,can he sign players allthou there is no licence ????
see that pic in the article ,who had that hair cut first him or macavennie lol
hes playing junior friendlys because he has no licence to play pros thats the bottom line hes not telling the fans the truth either its 50 50 weather they can pay the lecie for a season never mind buy players
this makes him as lazy as the sport pages in glasgow ,cant he nurture what hes got and make them great players you and i could sit with a wade of money and buyy a team that wins everything weres the fun in that
a feel like a dictator here no 1 to debate with just my views lol
You want debate, there’s a few worms dangling in Glasgow right now, some right maggots and please punctuate?
lol pmsl
ozymandias – ya bass! 🙂 🙂
“Does he have a squad which, without addition, could have competed or at worst survived in the SPL? It would definitely have survived”.
A subjective analaysis, and one that I’m not sure is true. A team comprising
mostly young players would struggle to compete in the SPL. I saw 3 of the Sevco squad last season when they were on loan to Thistle. Hutton is good, as is Cole. Kal Naismith wouldn’t cut it in the SPL at this point (if ever). Hutton put in a good shift with Dunfermline in the latter part of the season, but they still got relegated.
That said, Sevco should walk SFL3 if they can sign 3-4 decent pros. Livingston kept their SFL1 squad together and romped it when put down to the 3rd Division, winning the 2nd a year later. Wages need not be great as evidenced by Hutton who earned £25K pa as a Rangers player.
So long as they get to play, sign a few players and don’t get re-liquidated, Sevco will be in the top Division in fairly short order regardless of intervention by the SFA/SPL. Where’s the sad face smiley?
david get your head out the sand you will block your toilet up if you start shxting sand castles sevco will be lucky to last a month theres no licence and no money sevco is the mechinism for tickitus to get its money back and to stop whyte being liable ,rfc should have been liquidated in febuary its the biggest con sport has ever seen the finacial doping was a real thing they abused the ebt system and now its karma for it
Can’t be bothered………..they’re deid.
I think McCoist does need a lot of new players because the problem he has is that his current pool are on wages way too exotic for SFL3.
There is no way that the current sevco can afford the wage bill from SFL3 income so they will need to punt these existing players even if they only get washers for them – anything to get their ‘inflated’ wages off the books and that is what Green will I expect demand of his manager who will then have a serious decision to make.
We know that Green will turn to legal redress if necessary and I should point out that Tupe Regulations do not carry the inviolate wage protection that many people think they do.
Green can go to an Employment Tribunal and request permission to reduce the wages of players who have been transferred. It is a fairly complex area and difficult to predict outcome although it is beyond dispute that the new employer’ circumstances have radically altered SPL to SFL3.
My experience is that, in general, tribunals are very sympathetic towards ‘favouring’ an employer who states that his business will fail if he is not allowed to reorganise and cut wages of a section of his staff and that more staff would also lose their jobs if the move was rejected. There is the additional factor that an insolvency situation has already taken place which would tend to reinforce the new employer position.
However the reality is that as soon as Green went down that road the players concerned would immediately realise they had to get their boots on and secure a transfer to another club before the window closed and no doubt a gentleman’s agreement (if that is the correct term in the circumstances) would be struck so that they could walk away free with no redundancy/contractual payment from Sevco.
Effectively they would be in the same position as those who walked away earlier but were intermperately branded as traitors.
maybe the tube idea will finsh them is they cant pay the lechie who they going to pay exotic wages unless there m8s from the interpol list start bring ing in suit cases loads of money ,would that not put us all back were we were
‘lechie’ would that be the ‘leachie gecko’ or perhaps the exotic fruit ‘lychee’
Perhaps a tribunal would agree to reduce the players wages, but surely that would bring them up against football’s regulations (again?). The current contracts are registered with the SFA and don’t the rules entitle the players to apply for free transfers if the contracts registered with them are not complied with?
The SPL recently included penalties for clubs who fail to pay their players fully and on time in their financial fair play regulations. Of course it is SFL and not SPL regulations that apply to Sevco.
Also, will it be that easy to force players to leave if they don’t want to go? I would have thought that any player who wanted to jump ship had their chance to object to being TUPE’d. If they wanted to stay then, how many will really want to go now?
My ghoodness ❗ I did enjoy reading that team list, a plethora of talent is available.
It is a pity that Mr McCoist doesn’t do moaning
McCoist cannot get players in until SFA membership is granted. Green said in an interview with STV today that the SFA have asked for more details on his application. He said he is working on it. Some of the players have refused to play in Division 3, as was expected, so McCoist does not yet know his squad for the season.
I wonder if the ‘more details’ will include financial details? Maybe the SFA is startting to worry about egg on face if secvo ends up going down the tubes in a few months.
sevco could be in admin by august lol
What Green said was
“I don’t think there’s a time limit on it [the licence] but we definitely need it as soon as possible but there’s still a number of issues outstanding between Rangers and the SFA and we’re working on them now.”
There is a 2 week time limit on it from today. I think Green cannot give the SFA all they are asking for. He hopes that they will just give the ok even though the application is incomplete. The SFA do not have to release the details of Green’s application, so they can just say it is all in order.
Now at the end of all this, would it be funnier if the FTT came back and ruled in Ranger’s favour or not?
What FTT? Sorry but its getting hard to keep up!
what is ftt????
First Tier Tribunal (Tax)
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2012/
first tear tribunial
More like Flood Tear Tribunal
First Team Troubles?
Sorry best I can do!
Foisties Test Tubes
I was just musing if the BBC were to do a follow up to ”The Men who sold the jerseys” they could call it ”The Men who bought the jerseys” ! That aside my memory of UK anti Money Laundering requirements is a need to identify the owners of more than 10% in a limited company. If Metro bank followed the Money laundering rules bearing in mind that both Coutts and RBS have to name but two been fined for not following them recently then Metro bank should know who exactly is behind Sevco i.e. the ultimate beneficiaries of any of the trusts for example. Back to my musing but I was also thinking the lack of comment recently from any former Rangers players and staff on the EBT front would suggest their lawyers have imposed a blanket ”Nae comment” apart from the witness for the prosecution aka Billy Dodds.
Very good point – I had been musing about Money Laundering Regs but more on an individual director basis but forgot about limited company requirements. At the moment Blue Pitch Holdings owns 23 per cent of the company according to Green.
We know it isn’t registered in the UK and probably not anywhere else unless it is ‘offshore’ and therefore very difficult if not impossible to trace. I am unclear just how Money laundering regs impact on tax havens for British registered public companies.
Craig Whyte favoured the British Virgin Islands to house Liberty Capital an investment company which is the the majority shareholder of RFC Group Ltd which in turn was the majority shareholder in .The Rangers Football Club Plc.
To Ecojon
Going back to my previous life BVI companies tend to be the favoured acquisition vehicles which British business’s use. That said I’m pretty sure you can interrogate the Companies house registers in Jersey, Guernsey, IOM and gibraltar. I’ve seen companies from there used as well. the jersey one you can get at http://www.jerseyfsc.org/ . that probably tells you where i was !
just checked the Jersey one nothing coming up.
From memory if its a British plc they are fairly relaxed from memory 6 years since I did this. Anyone opening a bank account in Jersey has to go through a lot of hoops ( no pun intended). they are red hot on establishing beneficial ownership.
billy dodds “a payed my taxes walter said so “lol star witness
I really am quite sure it will be BVI – that’s the place the Top Tories hide their personal and family wealth so if it’s good enough for them then it will be good enough for Whyte’s latest vehicle whatever it is named.
Do you think he might have been having a joke and called it Blue Pitch Holdings 🙂
Just looked at BVI FSC but I dont think the search facility runs like the UK one. you know given what you posted previously I wonder if Singapore might be the one to look at ?
Correct me if I a wrong but I believe McCoist cannot play a friendly match until the SFA grant membership?
The first match will be against Brechin City, Challenge Cup, Saturday 28th July, assuming that the membership is granted by then.
thats right degough they cant play a pro side to that happens ,thats why there preseason frendliys are agianst junior teams karma for cheating or what .
McCoist will be in for a bigger shock; when Mr Green gets those 6 International players around the negotiating table and points out there is no feckin’ way he is fulfilling their SPL contracts, they will immediately jump ship (apart from Lee McCulloch). Sally will then quit, sell his ‘Ibrox hell’ story to the MSM and get a job with Jim and Chick.
Hopefully Traynor and Young will be shown the door by the BBC and by any other employer they may have.
They could make up the difference by paying them using EBTs????
They don’t need to pay them in EBTs – they probably get their pay put into a Ltd management company like just about everyone else does and you can manipulate all sorts of things quite legally and end up paying pennies in the £ in tax
ftt judges the legality of the ebt,s and has said there is case to answer this gives the taxman power to recover the money from the recipitints of it ,murry novo smith ect,
no it doesn’t…..
I wonder how many of the zombie club’s current players are >21? Maybe they will have to reduce their numbers to fit in the SFL if they have more than 22?? Mind you that would be playing to the rules…!!
its the story that doesnt end as one door close a other5 open up
online today novo was spouting anger bigitory remarks atR.Cs he knows the taxman will want 50%of the 1.2mil he took there all starting to spit the dummy ,correct me if am wrong is it 50%tax if your on millions
was there not 2million of ebts not mentioned as walter had a court order or was that rumours?
The final indignity
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/rangers-shunned-by-electronic-arts-fifa-13-game-7946687.html
and there out of subeutto the table top soccer game lol
ozymandias its the only word for it :-0
Christ – switch to TV news – SFA want 12 month transfer ban
Green more or less indicates Regan should resign and Dunfermline considers legal challenge because of secret meetings
am sure he will do the decent thing lol
This will never end!
I have a half written piece re Dunfermline appeal propects (started this morning when I saw Mr Yorkston was not happy). I have some notes re the SFA imposing conditions, such as the one rejected by the court. I have a more substantial piece about the Home Secretary and contempt of court that I can’t finish due to this…and I have been dispatched to the shops to buy some ice cream!
No jelly though…
There might be no jelly Paul but there’s sure plenty of wobbles 🙂
@Paul
I really wonder whether what the SFA are apparently demanding, according to Greene, viz the 12 month transfer ban could be viewed by the courts as an oppressive abuse of power by the SFA in view of the previous legal decision?
after viewing the stv sports report about the sevco a think tesco time is more and more likely
Shokaroony details at:
http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/111126-rangers-league-place-at-risk-as-scottish-fa-insist-signing-ban-must-stand/
Predictable – Regan is in danger of losing his job for cosying up to Rangers, so he is now acting the hard man with them, in an a belated attempt to repair some of the damage. Of course FIFA might also have had a word with the SFA.
its like we take one step forward then jump 2 steps back ,they arent getting anywere how can sevco be punished for rfc ,thats so when uefa step in they can say look we punished them, its all back fireing now its the infight between the sevco and sfa ,legal chalanges dunfermline do have a strong case rfc bought players and fielded a team they could not aford amounts to finiancial doping agian on a lesser scale than the ebt,s ,greens cuttting the squad to well in the stv bbc saying nothing
there all going mad at each other now
oldco newco sevco tesco
finito
uefa club licenceing clubs part 3 makes it all ilegal dunfermline have a strong case and sfa could be well in trouble via this rule its all a scam that went wrong lol pmsl haha
That’s interesting Mick – I posted the following further up:
I really wonder whether what the SFA are apparently demanding, according to Greene, viz the 12 month transfer ban could be viewed by the courts as an oppressive abuse of power by the SFA in view of the previous legal decision?
I am beginning to suspect Green of mixing it for his own agenda – he gives STV an exclusive TV interview – the BBC have nothing but that’s because of their original expose which Green won’t forgive them for.
So Green contacts STV and slips in the transfer ban line which, on reflection, even I don’t think the SFA would try and he also virtually calls for Regan to resign.
It all smells a bit to me – maybe Green is trying to put the SFA in a corner re further sanctions or his shareholders are in the process of disappearing with Tesco the only prospect on the horizon.
maybe the sfa are panicing about the uefa popping up and anylising it all a think its going to get messy now ,am just glad celtic are not involved ,greens backers might pull the plug
Remember the reaction to the players who legitimately left Gers against joining Newco. These were guys who took pay cuts and did put their money where there hearts lay. So Coisty knows what’s next …. a fire sale, with Newco pocketing the transfer fees as the working capital. Loyalty is a one way street with any employer and this one has already shown his hand (as I write Green is on Sky signalling the start of the exodus). And while you stand back and watch Coisty…… your salary will be the next saving. Wonder when the rates appeal will be put to Glasgow District Council since Ibrox is worth under €1m …… or was it €50m?
bomber will lead them for a carry out ,sally will just have to get a deal as the front man of greggs
@Gobsmacked
The rates actually payable on Ibrox as an SPL club is approx £1 million a year – but it’s amazing as it’s the one thing they don’t seem to be in arrears with and during the period of administration there’s no rates payment from the Administrators. Very curious – it looks as though they have paid yearly in advance and I just don’t believe that for a nano-second.
Btw there are discounts for lower league clubs applied to the rateable value although I don’t know off the top of my head what they are. Rangers RV for Ibrox is around £2 million. Most SFL clubs don’t have a Rateable Value anywhere near that so Business Rates are another huge millstone round Green’s neck. Even with a discount they will not be far short of £100K a month.
am hoping tesco then glasgow can progress without bigitory and move forward and take its place as 1 of the most cosmopolitian citys in the world ,also if its tesco in the future it could lead to a team as big as barcalona the city has the potential to full a 100,000 seater stadium ,all the msm hatred will disapear and scottish football will flourish this wont happen over night but in the future it could .
just when we thought it was over pmsl
Just been trolling the dark side and they are going mental as would be expected. But it’s interesting as there is a real feeling of defiance and getting behind Green to take on the SFA.
I’ve been detecting clever PR involvement in the Green campaign in recent times and this is perhaps a PR move and if so it’s clever although a bit high-risk to say the least. But at this stage of the game I don’t see that Green has anything to lose.
Even if the SFA come our and say there isn’t going to be any sanctions then Green will be seen to have been a hero for taking them on and forcing a U-turn even if the SFA never ever threatened what Green is claiming.
Green being a shark although not of the Sale variety – sorry just had to use that – can smell the blood surrounding the SFA and especially Regan’s and that’t why he came out on camera with the line that he was sure Regan ‘Would do the right thing’.
If it is a ploy by Green I reckon the suits will close ranks and actually destroy him – Regan might have to be a sacrificial lamb but Green will have a green apple stuffed in his mouth and be spit-roasted by the SFA coven.
there have only been a few decisions made since february which have actually moved the process forward to a satisfactory conclusion. ( and plenty that havent) and we still have a long way to go. the average time to reach a decision seems to be around one month so do the math on the outstanding issues and it could be mid- season before the dust settles. who and what could then be left standing is anyone’s guess.
The real problem rangers face is sheer lack of time to change out the players they have now on 10 to 15 k per week for players better than the normal div3 on prob 5k per month. Even with all home takings a few players staying who can’t find a club will rapidly run Sevco out of cash and that’s before Regan seems to have finally read the feeling and grown a pair and made them cough up for all”football” debts. Administration mark II on it’s way I think. It might take a month or three to see if crowds come in at over 20000, but it’s a different level of football entirely and difficult to watch when you’re used to winning titles. I assume if they haven’t got SFA membership by the time they play their first game they’ll get thrown out of the league so we wont have long to wait……
Even if there is an embargo can sevco bring in loan players and play them? I’m thinking of Kyle Bartley et al.
When Darlington were in administration in England last season and subject to a transfer ban, they had a paper thin squad. Most players were sacked by the administrators and the ones left weren’t being paid. They were only allowed to sign a youth goalkeeper on an emergency loan deal and they had to have special permission for that, even though they had no goalkeepers on their books at one point.
I appreciate things in Scotland might be different but the principles will be similar. If Sevco/”Rangers” have as many players on their books as it seems, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to sign anybody on loan. As far as the rules are concerned a player is a player – even if they’re an untried kid or playing out of position. The biggest hurdle here for Sevco/”Rangers” isn’t the transfer embargo, it’s the mindset needed to accept that the players in the first team squad this season (if they end up playing matches at all) may not have been considered at all last season. Without that fundamental change – and Ally seems a long way from making it – they won’t cut it in SFL3. They won’t have a clue.
I would not regard the statement Ally McCoist made on 5 July to be still valid post the decision on Friday 13 July that Rangers would be accepted as an associate member of The Scottish Football League and would be placed in the Third Division.
Very interesting – just watched late STV news and no re-run of the Green sanction story unless I nooded off 🙂 I’m certain STV were conned earlier and have pulled the story when someone with a bit of grey matter has spotted what was happening, When driven by the lure of an exclusive especially on the biggest story in town it’s east for perspectives to be warped. Round 1 to Green but still got a bit to play if it was a PR stunt.
well that articles shite the full internationals still in the squad just haven’t found a new club yet they wont be at rangers at the start of the season apart from wallace / mcculloch / Alexander who wont make a great deal of difference. As for reserves and youths they are just as good if not worse than the players in D3
Tbh people saying he has enough players young 1s etc to win sfl clearly show why this country is fcked up I’m a Gers fan and going in to div.3 with lads frightens the sh1t out of me 3rd div is full of ex pros who wouldn’t love more than to get 1 of range
rs week in week out so yes he is right with what he says we need older players who are willing to put a fight in not going guys that will get bullied week in week out
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