Scottish Premier League (SPL) clubs have voted overwhelmingly to exclude ‘newco’ Rangers from the competition. What remains unclear is where Rangers will compete next season or whether Dundee or Dunfermline Athletic will take the ‘Club 12’ slot.
Earlier in the day it looked as if the vote would be deferred. It was being argued that a decision cannot be taken until Scottish Football League clubs decide next Thursday whether to admit Rangers.
Scottish Premier League (SPL) clubs have voted overwhelmingly to exclude ‘newco’ Rangers from the competition. What remains unclear is where Rangers will compete next season or whether Dundee or Dunfermline Athletic will take the ‘Club 12’ slot.
Earlier in the day it looked as if the vote would be deferred. It was being argued that a decision cannot be taken until Scottish Football League clubs decide next Thursday whether to admit Rangers.
With eight clubs voicing their opposition, it was clear that Rangers were not going to succeed in staying in the top flight. SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster said that Rangers going into Division Three ‘would inflict massive damage on the whole of the game in Scotland and effectively punish 41 innocent clubs for the misdeeds of one.’
Figures of a loss of as much as £16m to the Scottish game have been bandied around. One side of the argument says that turkeys should never vote for an early Christmas, the other says that if Rangers are not punished the sporting integrity of Scottish football will suffer.
It is difficult to see what an acceptable compromise might be. Indeed, one poll suggests that Rangers fans would prefer going into the third division to the suggested solution of their being relegated to the first division.