Revealed: Football chiefs' secret plan to strip Rangers of nine trophies over EBT tax dodge
FOOTBALL chiefs produced a secret plan to strip Rangers of five SPL titles and four Scottish Cups.
The bombshell document, seen by the Daily Record, was drafted after talks involving the SFA, SPL, Scottish Football League and representatives of Charles Green’s Sevco.
It outlines a range of punishments for Rangers for the Employment Benefit Trust tax dodge used by Sir David Murray’s regime to pay players.
If enforced, the penalties listed would be the harshest ever seen in football. They include:
● STRIPPING the club of their league titles from 2002/3, 2004/5, 2008/9, 2009/10 and 2010/11;
● WIPING OUT Rangers’ Scottish Cup triumphs of 2001/2, 2002/3, 2007/8 and 2008/9;
● FORCING Rangers to accept the one-year transfer embargo imposed by the SFA and overturned by the Court of Session;
● ORDERING Green’s newco to pay Rangers’ old football debts to clubs in Scotland and Europe.
The draft plan was clearly designed by the football authorities to parachute Rangers into Division One of the SFL and protect Scottish football’s TV and marketing revenues.
SFL chairmen voted overwhelmingly last Friday to place Rangers in Division Three, but the Record understands that does NOT mean the punishments in the secret plan will never be imposed.
The SPL will decide on August 10 whether Rangers broke their rules by using EBTs and “dual contracts”, and the document sheds light on the football authorities’ thinking over possible penalties for the club.
It remains a draft, and no agreement has been reached between Sevco and the authorities.
But it appears Green’s firm were willing to accept some if not all of the draft – at least when the prospect of Division One football was on the table.
And the scale of the penalties listed – before Rangers have even been convicted over EBTs – will horrify fans of the club.
Many Rangers supporters will also believe the document undermines the SFA’s judicial process.
The killer section of the document states: “EBT Sanctions means (i) the withdrawal of Rangers FC, RFC and Sevco of the award and status of Champion Club (as defined in the SPL rules) of the Scottish Premier League for each and all of seasons 2002/3, 2004/5, 2008/9, 2009/10 and 2010/11:
“(ii)The withdrawal from Rangers FC, RFC and Sevco of the award and status of winner of the Scottish Cup for each and all of seasons 2001/2, 2002/3, 2007/8, and 2008/9.”
The document also contains an ultra-strict confidentiality agreement. It states: “Neither RFC nor Sevco may make any disclosure to a third party, press release or public announcement whatsoever about, concerning or relating to this agreement ... except with the express prior written consent of each of the SFA, the SPL and the SFL.”
The loss of five league titles would cut Rangers’ total from 54 to 49 and strip them of their status as the most prolific league winners in world football. Northern Irish club Linfield, with 50 titles, would take over.
Celtic finished second in all five of the SPL seasons listed. If the titles were stripped from Rangers and awarded to their Old Firm rivals, Celtic’s total number of championships would rise to 48.
The runners-up in the four Scottish Cups listed were Celtic, Dundee, Queen of the South and Falkirk. The document is silent on the issue of whether the clubs would be named as winners in place of Rangers.
The idea of stripping a club of nine trophies is unprecedented in modern football.
Italian giants Juventus were relegated and stripped of two titles for match-fixing in 2006. They continue to dispute the decision.
Another match-fixing scandal, in France, saw Marseille forfeit their 1993 league title. But they were allowed to keep the Champions League title they won in the same year.
The draft document also insists that Rangers must drop their legal challenge against the SFA transfer embargo, imposed largely as a punishment for the failure to pay tax under Craig Whyte.
The club went to the Court of Session and got the ban overturned. Judge Lord Glennie ruled that the association acted beyond their powers, and ordered them to reconsider.
The club enraged the SFA by going to law. The move also angered FIFA, who insist that clubs should not take their associations to court.
Experts warned that the world governing body could impose bans on Scottish clubs or even the national team unless Rangers backtracked.
The document says that as well as accepting the embargo, Rangers must pay the SFA’s £31,000 costs and the £160,000 fine imposed at the same time as the transfer ban.
The draft deal goes on to state that the Rangers newco will take responsibility for all the football debts run up by the “oldco” – a long list of unpaid bills owed to clubs in Scotland and on the continent.
The oldco went bust owing Hearts £800,000, Dunfermline £83,000, Dundee United £66,000, Celtic and Inverness Caley Thistle £40,000 each, and Aberdeen an undisclosed amount.
Another £1.8million is owed to clubs in England and Europe, including £1million to Austrian side Rapid Vienna for striker Nikica Jelavic.
Green has set off to meet officials from UEFA in a bid to settle the issue of the football debts.
He accepts that the problem must be resolved before newco Rangers can be accepted as members of the SFA. But he wants to strike a deal to make it easier for Sevco – and the club – to shoulder the burden.
He said: “There are certain old club debts to European clubs. It is about £3million, accumulated as part of the historical baggage.
“These are oldco debts newco has got to face up to.
“We want to be honourable. We are people who face up to responsibility. We don’t want them to be waived. We don’t expect them to be waived.
“But we want some help in meeting these because we do want to get Rangers back to the top of the pile.
“And when we do get back into Europe – whether it’s five or 10 years or 20 years – we want to walk back with our heads held high.
“I would like the clubs and UEFA to recognise these are not my debts, and for them to work with us where we can come to some amicably agreeable settlement and move forward together as friends.”
The SFA will consider Rangers’ application for membership next week.
As part of that process, the club’s new chairman, Malcolm Murray, met officials from the governing body yesterday to give more information on the identities of Sevco’s investors.
The SFA confirmed they had received information and requested more. They added that Rangers’ administrators, Duff & Phelps, had been carrying out “fit and proper person” checks on the proposed new directors of the club, alongside the SFA’s own investigations.
The SFA said they were “in dialogue” with Rangers over the transfer embargo row.
They added: “Now that the club’s status has been confirmed by the SPL and SFL, we will consider the award of transfer once Rangers FC satisfy the necessary criteria.”
If newco Rangers are accepted as SFA members, they will start their new season away to Brechin City in the Ramsdens Cup at Glebe Park on July 28.