MA HEID'S burstin' wi awe this Rangers guff.
To paraphrase Churchill's 1939 quote about Russia: events surrounding Rangers are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Churchill then went on to say that the key to the whole thing was Russian national interest. So, extrapolating forward, what is the key to the Rangers case?
It is probably Rangers interest. But which Rangers? Is this the Continuity Rangers - owned and fronted by Charles Green? Or is it the Rangers tribute act - dubbed 'the Bootleg Rangers' by a poster on Rangers Tax Case, and fronted by Lord Walter of Cardigan? Quite honestly, it is long past time for the SFA to grow a pair and sort the whole thing out.
As I understand it, as of now: Rangers 1872 are still in administration, with Duff & Phelps as administrators. HOWEVER: their plan A, for the club's debts to be discharged via a Creditors Voluntary Agreement or CVA having failed, they have gone to Plan B - which involves liquidation, after the sale of the sellable assets to the Charles Green-led consortium for £5.5 million. This deal is being processed and on its completion, the Green Team will own Rangers.
HOWEVER: the question is: will Green own a club which is a continuation of Rangers 1872, keeping the ground, strip and history - or does he own "New" Rangers?
If he ends up owning Rangers 1872 - and he doesn't, as yet, since the paperwork hasn't been completed, then he can presumably (on completeion) take over Rangers's SFA licence, continue to run that club in the SPL, subject to the rules of football and represent that club in its dealings with the SFA. This means, since the accounts weren't in in time, no European football in season 2012-13.
It should also mean that any sanctions for breaches of football rules - the on-going investigation into the so-called "double contracts", the failure to post accounts in time, the verdict on the failures of Craig Whyte such as the Appeals Tribunal's new sanction, given the transfer ban was over-turned. It also means that, since Duff & Phelps breached SFA rules by taking that appeal to the Court of Session rather than UEFA/FIFA or the Court of Arbitration in Sport, then any SFA sanction following this breach, should fall on the Green-led Rangers. The Green-led Rangers should also carry the can should any of the other allegations against former managements of the club be proved.
There is also a moral case for - assuming the decision is that Green is running Continuity Rangers, forcing through proper reparation for the football debts of Rangers 1872 - the transfer monies owed to Hearts etc.
BUT - If Mr Green in fact owns "New" Rangers, then Rangers 1872 is dead. Duff & Phelps might be able to represent that club at any SFA or SPL meetings prior to the completion of the Green deal, but, if the club is dead, then surely they have to confirm this to the SFA and SPL, "New" Rangers cannot automatically replace Rangers 1872 in next season's competitions, but must apply for a new SFA licence and apply for the vacancy in SFL Division Three which has come about following Rangers 1872's demise and the promotion of other clubs to fill in the cascading vacancies which this has caused.
These points leave aside the serious issues of possible wrong-doing, which on hopes Strathclyde Police and the Crown Office will address.
BEFORE THAT, however, the SFA MUST for the good of Scottish football, start asking hard questions and keep going until they get answers. This will take time, as indeed will BDO's liquidation process and any criminal investigations.
To allow this to happen, I feel the SFA should, dependant on which of the two teams he represents, tell Mr Green, either:
1. If you represent Continuity Rangers, your club is suspended sine die until all the outstanding questions have been adequately answered.
2. If you represent "New" Rangers, you cannot apply for a club licence or membership of the SFA, SPL or SFL until all the outstanding questions have been adequately answered.
FINALLY, anent the (too) late arrival on the scene of the Seventh Cavalry, led by Lord Walter of Cardigan, pardon the cynicism but: I asked some days ago where all the well-heeled "Rangers Men" who could have put together a deal to match or gazump Green were. I was told by another journalist: "They're Rangers Men, they will come out of the woodwork once the club is liquidated and there is no danger of them having to put their hands in their pockets to pay for the maladministrations of Murray and Whyte".
Sure enough, right after liquidation was announced on Thursday, over the ridge they came. It would make you sick. As for Walter, pardon me, but, I have never bought-into the myth of "Sir" Walter. He is one of the men complicit in the fall of Rangers; he was a major player during David Murray's ill-fated spend, spend, spend regime.
If Walter gets back in charge, it will be same-old, same old for Rangers - buying gash non-Scots, ignoring the claims of promising young, home-grown talent and spending beyond the club and the game in Scotland's needs.
I look at everyone involved and all I can think about is the Burns line: "Sic a parcel o rogues in a nation".
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