How Do You Turbo-charge A Snail?

IT IS often said that laws passed in haste tend to be bad laws; then we have that old proverb about acting in haste and repenting at leisure. The snail's pace at which our legal system sometimes appears to work, might occasionally infuriate, but, given the length of time Scots and English Law has managed to keep our countries stable and civilised, it could be said that the slow pace works.

I mention the Law today, since, as I have said on here before, one of the certainties about Rangersgate is that some of M'learned friends will emerge with their already well-padded bank accounts further enhanced. And while I am at it, the wilder elements of the Celtic Family, and the other "families" who follow the other SPL member clubs, may yet find Rangers are not as-guilty as they think they are. This show will run and run.

In the past 24-hours we have learned that winding-up the administration process and handing-over responsibility for the liquidation of Rangers 1872 to BDO may take some weeks yet, in fact, when the new 2012-13 season kicks-off, it is jus possible that Rangers 1872 is still in administration, Charles Green's "The Rangers FC" is unable to start in football and we have a right-old shambles on our hands.

The public perception is that there will be no "Rangers" either "oldco" or "newco" in the SPL next season. Nods, winks, whispers and the occasional definite statement - such as what we think Mr Romanov said in his statement of Wednesday night - have produced a belief that the SPL meeting on 4 July will refuse to admit the "newco" Rangers. But, it seems some sort of deal is being cobbled-together to have "Rangers" flung-out but only as far as the SFL Division One, pending the formation of the all-new, shiny, all-singing, all-dancing, complete with bells and whistles 'Scottish Professional Football League'.

Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab - haud me back.

Sure, I would welcome, with open arms, a single professional league structure in Scotland, under-pinned by a pyramid. Trouble is, what they are looking at would appear to guarantee the survival of 42 "professional" teams in Scottish senior football.

Let's be honest, the only thing "senior" about half of the existing 42 clubs is the fact they play in a so-called "senior" league, In reality, they are no more "senior" than many of the top "junior" clubs. Scottish senior football has far-too-many clubs - always has had and unless the SFA grasps the nettle, always will have.

I could live with 20 senior clubs, in a single league. Of course, we are told the TV companies wouldn't wear this, they MUST HAVE four "Old Firm" games per season - and by the way Celtic fans, don't give me that: "The Old Firm is dead" pish - for so-long as there is a team in the Scottish Leagues, wearing light blue strips and either playing out of Ibrox or with even a remote but traceable link to Rangers 1872 - there will be an Old Firm.

However, getting an agreement on any new league will take time, something Scottish football doesn't have, because of the uncertainty over the status of "Rangers".

So, how does the game buy time? Well the SPL has given a lead, by sending-out their fixtures with "Team 12" listed - the thng is, we don't know what this is.

So here's the Socrates plan:

1.  The SFA should accept Charles Green's version of "Rangers" into membership, but suspend that membership for one year pending the settlement of some outstanding issues regarding the former Rangers 1872 and the Green version's right of succession.

2.  They should take the registrations of the former Rangers 1872's retained players into SFA care pending clarification of the players' status. Those whose contract agreements with Duff & Phelps - under the terms of the wage cuts which were negotiated in February - permit them to leave, may do so. Those who remain will be re-registered to "Team 12"; this team will be re-named "Sporting Integrity Glasgow" and will play out of Hampden Park, wearing an all-white strip, with an all-dark blue change strip. This team will be managed by the existing Rangers 1872 management team.

However, the transfer fees from those former Rangers 1872 players who choose to exercise their exit clauses will be distributed pro-rata to offset the football debts outstanding to Rangers 1872, after an agreed portion has been used to cover the set-up costs of SIG. The overall management of SIG will be delegated to independent officials acceptable to the SFA and the club will be run on a not-for-profit basis with any surplus used to pay-off Rangers 1872's football debts.

3.  The one-year's period of suspension of the Green "Rangers" will be used to negotiate and implement the new Scottish Professional Football League system, ideally this should be along North American lines, with two equal ten-tema "conferences" playing down to end-of-season play-offs. This SPFL will be under-pinned by regional league pyramids, working from the template used by the Scottish Junior FA, but taking congisance of the need to integrate these junior leagues with the three "senior" non-league organisations, the Highland, East of Scotland and South of Scotland leagues.

4. At the end of the year, ie, the end of season 2012-13, SIG and Mr Green's "Rangers" will be re-integrated, playing out of Ibrox.

This scenario will allow the now-departed men who got Rangers 1872 into trouble to be excluded from the game, it will allow due process of law and the liquidation of Rangers 1872 to proceed and will give clarity for the future.

It is not an ideal scenario, but, in this case, nothing would appear to be ideal - but I think it answers some of the problems Scottish football is currently facing.

I Come To Bury Rangers - Not To Praise Them

I RATHER hope the latest twist in Rangersgate - the Daily Mirror piece by the excellent Alan Nixon which suggests that Charles Green's version of "Rangers" (TRFC) are considering buying Bury FC, moving them from Gigg Lane to Ibrox and competing in the English League in future - pans out, for various reasons.

Bury Rangers: what Celtic fan, or given the way goodwill towards Rangers has evaporated elsewhere in Scotland, ANY Scottish fan, would not wish to do that?

Rangers out of Scottish football and potentially heading towards the riches of the EPL - what Rangers fan would not vote for that?

Rangers, walking away from - if the forums on various Scottish football-related websites and newspaper chat rooms are to be believed - the total hatred of everyone else: what Rangers fan wouldn't gladly walk away with a departing V sign?

Rangers heading to England - which Scottish police force wouldn't relish that - although perhaps missing the overtime?

Rangers heading to England - that might play well with SFA, SPL and SFL administrators, struggling with "sporting integrity" and "commercial considerations".

Rangers heading for England, playing every second game in the south. My, how "the A Team", that dedicated band of "top" Scottish sportswriters who only cover Rangers, Celtic and Scotland would relish the additional expenses to be garnered from trips to such football hot spots as: Swindon (Paolo de Cannio), Scunthorpe (a Tuesday night visit there is on the cards), Yeovil and Milton Keynes.

Of course, it might all be "paper talk", this is the "silly season" for football rumours after all, but, Nixon usually has his finger on the pulse on his patch. And Andy Goram did start his career at Gigg Lane.

Mind you, we will no doubt be told today: "It cannot happen - the SFA/SPL/SFL/FA/Football League/UEFA?FIFA/Scottish Government/Westminster Government/EU/United Nations will never allow it". PLEASE, in professional football today, money talks, and if enough cash speaks loudly enough - it will happen.

Of course, the directors of Bury were quick to issue a statement saying that while they welcomed investment, they saw their club moving forward as "Bury FC, playing in the town of Bury". Aye right - notice anything? The talk of investment came before any mention of the town of Bury.

Of course there are supposed to be rules about clubs not playing in "countries" other than those in which they are situated. But, Cardiff and Swansea play in the English League and last time I looked Cardiff and Swansea were in Wales, not England. Berwick Rangers play in Scotland, Berwick is in England and Derry City play in the League of Ireland, whilst their ground is in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom.

FIFA likes to pretend its laws - football's laws - are superior to the law of the land in whatever country any of its member FAs is situated - should they try to stop a  merger between TRFC and Bury, I imagine a quick visit to the law courts with a restraint of trade action would put them off. If, for instance, Charles Green was running a bakery in Bury making and selling a particular niche market product and he felt he could better run that bakery in Govan, nobody could, or would, stop him from moving. Bakery, football club - both commerical operations, where's the difference in moving?

The thing is - I WAS FIRST. I wrote months ago that moving Rangers to England made commercial sense. The vultures circling the dying corpse of Rangers, gravelly wounded by the mis-management of David Murray and the non-nursing of Craig Whyte have become the flies crawling over the corpse. No Lazarus-like revival can be achieved in the fetid swamp which is Scottish football.

To get Rangers back to where they were as a major force in European football will require access to the single quick-acting drug necessary - BIG MONEY - and that can only be accessed in the necessary quantities in English football.

Moving to England is the only way entrepreneurs such as Green can get the quick pay-back they want and the longer the SFA/SPL and SFL stall on sorting out the status of TRFC and where they will play in Scotland, the more-likely a merger with Bury or a similarly-destitute English club becomes.

For so-long as Mr Green has a major stadium and a major club not in membership of the SFA and either of the two Scottish senior leagues, he can look at the move to England. The moment the SFA and either the SPL or the SFL clasp TRFC to their bosum, that move dies.

Time for action and a definite decision from the men inside Hampden - something which has been sorely lacking since this whole Rangersgate nonsense kicked off.  

Status Quo? Down Down? or Rockin' All Over the World?

RANGERSGATE shows no sign of closing soon - there continues to be claim and counter-claim, opinion and differing opinion, with both sides (pro and anti-Rangers) digging-in, Western Front style, for a lengthy campaign.

One had hoped for a bit of clarity from yesterday's SPL board meeting at Hampden, but, what clarity did emerge seems to have become fuzzy in the haze of conjecture.

I thought the SPL board did at least indicate the nub of the problem facing them, through their point about the status of "Rangers". This is something of the moot point in all this - is The Rangers FC, as overseen by CEO Charles Green: the "successor" club to Rangers FC 1872 (in liquidation), or is it a brand-new club?

Until this issue is resolved, the SPL cannot move forward, once the SPL decides Rangers' status we cannot know if "Rangers" or some other club takes-on the fixtures delegated to "Club 12" in the season 2012-2013 SPL fixture list.

I wrote yesterday, that it might be no bad thing if Green's Rangers were admitted into membership of Scottish football, but had playing membership suspended pending the clearing-up of all the relevant issues. I stand by that, but, after 24 hours trawling through the various blogs dedicated to this matter, feel even this might not be the best solution.

For a start, there is this status issue. Peter McConville, who writes the 'Random Thoughts on Scottish Legal Matters' blog, posted yesterday to the effect that Green's group might indeed be able to claim they (The Rangers FC) was indeed Rangers 1872-continuing; another legal blog held the view they were an entirely new entity. However, argument is the fuel of any legal system, after all, did not Lords Carlaway and Glennie, two of Scotland's most-senior judges, not disagree on another matter concerning Rangers just last month.

The Scottish football public - at least those members of that constituency prepared to contribute to on-line discussion threads - seem to be (if not Rangers' fans) of the opinion that some sort of punishment has to be handed down to that club. They cannot, however, decide if the Green team should carry that punishment.

As I have said before: if The Rangers FC is indeed the successor/continuing football club, then they have every right to be admitted to the SPL, but MUST carry the can for the PROVEN football misdeeds of Rangers 1872 (in liquidation). They should be forced to pay-back the football debts to Hearts and Rapid Vienna, they should pay any penalties for the non-compliance with the accounts timeline and if - or as now seems likely when - it is proved that Rangers 1872 (in liquidation) was using double contracts which were not divulged to the SFA, then the penalties for this rule breach should fall on The Rangers FC. This is only fair and transparent.

However, the misdeeds of Rangers 1872 (IL) have opened a far-bigger can of worms. There is the increasingly untenable position of SFA president Campbell Ogilvie for a start. Merely suspending The Rangers FC from membership and perhaps placing Mr Ogilvie on gardening leave might not suffice.

I have come round to the conclusion that what is needed now is an independent review of Scottish football, almost, if you like and you forgive my melodrama here, a sort of truth and reconciliation tribunal similar to that set-up at the end of apartheid in South Africa.

The trouble with this is - who in the Rangers family is going to play FW de Klerk, and who from elsewhere is going to play Nelson Mandela? For it is generally accepted that football, whether in Scotland, the British Isles as a whole, UEFA or FIFA, is somewhat short of untainted officials.

GIVEN the above, the SFA and SPL's clear intent not to give the Green team a clear assisted ride into the SPL, if I was Mr Green, I would be looking at a Plan B.

He has a team with a good stadium and nobody to play against - look for a club with a not-so-good stadium, no money, but a guaranteed league place and take them over.

If I was Mr Green, I would be speaking with 1), the administrators of Portsmouth FC and 2), that body which Phil Mac Giolla Bhain so-brilliantly named the MCC (the Walter Smith-led Magic Cardigan Consortium). They have, at least, £6 million to spare. Put that £6 million together with the Green Group's £5.5 million, buy Portsmouth, transfer them to Glasgow to play in the English League as 'Portsmouth Rangers', eh voila - they have a "Rangers" team playing in England. Those players seeking to get out of their existing contracts would surely be happy to play in England, with a view to the shortest possible trip into the English Premiership, so the squad would be competitive; the Rangers fans would be delighted - most are still in denial and would relish showing two fingers to the rest of Scottish football; Mr Green would see - potentially - a speedier return on his investment and the MCC, being "True Rangers Men" would be able to get behind a successful winning team again. Scottish football would, on the other hand, be rid of a big bully who has beaten them up for years.

I call that a win-win situation. Of course, the down-side is, and there has to be a down-side: who would the remaining Scottish sides hate? After all, the wicked witch might be gone, but they need a replacement. And, the in-fighting between the Green team and the MCC would be wonderful to behold.

And, finally, how would the Celtic Family cope with being "The Establishment Club"?

Scottish football, don't you just love it.

Don't Hang Them - Just Suspend Them

TWO posts ago I suggested it would be no bad thing if "Newco" Rangers were admitted into membership of the SFA, but had that membership suspended for one year, whilst matters arising from the liquidation of Rangers 1872 and the extended fall-out: alleged double contracts, Duff & Phelps' actions in taking the SFA to the Court of Session and so-forth were addressed.

Following the news of the plan to unify the SPL and SFL into a single "Scottish League" and the suggested implementation of a pyramid system, I now believe the call for a suspension of any club named "Rangers" from participation in Scottish football, until the hysteria has abated and calm, sensible decisions have been taken, is now to loud to ignore.

That Scottish football at "professional" level has for so-long been run by three different bodies - the SFA, SPL and SFL was a nonsense. I think, deep down, everyone knew it was a nonsense, but, entrenched positions had to be maintained, while naturally the turkeys were never going to vote for Christmas. I liked the suggestions brought forward by Henry McLeish's review body, but was amazed that those suggestions which were speedily implemented were pushed through so-quickly. I still felt the sensible suggestion of a single SFA running the entire game and the formation of the pyramid would never happen - there would be limits.

Now, thanks in no small part to the Rangers crisis, it looks like happening. HOWEVER, be warned, as we all know from bitter experience, rules implemented in haste are generally repented over at leisure.

Clearly, there are some within the Game here who believe Rangers are: "Too big to fail"; I am not so certain; however, the debate which has followed liquidation does indicate the club's importance to the economics of Scottish football.

The misdemeanours of the management of Rangers 1872 - Messrs, David Murray and Craig Whyte in terms of financial jiggery-pokery and the business of BDO, the liquidators appointed by HMRC. IF - and it has to be accepted there are grounds for believing this to be the case - then it is Murray and Whyte, their employees and agents, who must be pursued with the full vigour of the law, although it also has to be acknowledged, given the muddy nature of business waters, it could take years for charges to be brought and proper verdicts reached.

This has nothing to do with The Rangers FC, as Charles Green's consortium has called itself. However, as I have said before, if TRFC is indeed, RFC (continuing) then the Green group MUST be punished for the misdeeds of Murray and Whyte IN FOOTBALL TERMS.

If TRFC is an entirely new company, then it MUST start from scratch. The RFC SPL place cannot be theirs as of right (and the naming of 'Team 12' in the 2012-13 fixtures seems to indicate this is the view of the SPL).

The newco TRFC, as SFA/SPL/SFL rules stand CANNOT be admitted to membership. IF the men who walk Hampden's corridors of power consider them to be the rightful heirs to the legacy, however tainted, of RFC, then there is an argument for admitting them. Realistically, though the Rangers' fan base may be, in the memorable words of Ian Archer, brought back into common usage by the marvellous Rangers Tax Case blog: "a permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace", that's a lot of bodies and a lot of cash to throw out.

As I have said, often, there is much to decide and not a lot of time in which to reach that decision. Better to start season 2012-13 with the status quo as far as leagues are concerned, whilst independent SFA-appointed tribunals look into matters arising, while plans are implemented for the new pyramid-under-pinned, all-in-one Scottish League, including TRFC, comes into being at the start of season 2013-14.

The question then would be: at which level would TRFC come in?

KUDOS to the Celtic fans who have come-up with suggestions for a name for the team which TRFC will put onto the park, when they are finally allowed to.

My favourites came from the following - the poster on Rangers Tax Case who suggested: "Trigger's Broom FC" and Phil Mac Giolla Bhain's 'I can't Believe It's Not Rangers'. Celtic-minded blogger PMGB also came up with a cracker for the ill-timed and wonderfully cynical Walter Smith-led potential saviours: 'The Magic Cardigan Consortium' - aye, the MCC, not exactly a body well-known for a modern outlook to running a sport. I also liked the suggestion of 'Swordsman' a well-respected and long-time poster on The Scotsman's "Rumour Mill" web forum, who, when the now-over-turned SFA ban on Rangers signing players was announced, suggested 'The Apprentice Boys' as the name for the virtual youth team it seemed Rangers would be forced to field.

It's Gonna Get A Whole Lot Harder For England

AS I have oft said before, I lived and worked in England for a number of years: well, not exactly England, for most of the time I was based in the People's Republic of West Yorkshire, which is, in many ways, like Scotland without the accent. But, I digress, I like the English on a personal level; they are, by and large, a lovely people, held back somewhat by the fact we Scots are a samll, far-away nation, of which they know nothing.

But their media, particularly those members from within the London media bubble - oh dear! And it is the English media which continues to drive this Scottish animosity towards English teams. They are a wee bit like Rangers fans wi bools in their mooths - We Are The Chaps, rather than Weaarpeepul; the same superiority, the right to rule.

Thus, survives and thrives the Scottish cult of ABE (Anyone But England), whenever a major international tournament comes around. But, not this time, not (as yet) in Euro 2012. The English, even the truly awful Clive Tyldesley, went into events in Poland and Ukraine for once unsure of themselves. They went in, in fact, in almost Scottish mode - delighted to be there, but, forward tho' they couldna see - they guessed and feared.

And, so far, they have done better than their worst fears had them expecting. Sure, they got lucky against France, with the lesser end of a draw, but, the way they came back from 1-2 down to beat Sweden must surely have lifted them and brought back something like the old English self-belief. A lot of the credit for this has to go down to the comparatively unloved Roy Hodgson; maybe not a "great" manager in the mould of Ramsey, Busby, Shankly, Stein, Ferguson or Robson: more a Grade Two boss such as Clough, Revie, Mercer or Venables. He has been in the game a while, knows his stuff and while there isn't a truly great side in Group D, he got a win when he needed it, albeit against what isn't, in truth, a great Swedish side.

Now comes his big test. The looser cannons in the English media pack will now go into full England Expects mode, the clamour for the England squad to become Wayne's World will now reach earache level - how Hodgson handles this will go a long way towards deciding what happens next.

I am thinking back to Spain 1982. England went into that World Cup, not having qualified for the tournament since they went, as Champions, to the 1970 tournament. In 1974 and 1978 they had to sit and watch Scotland - (song moment) - "We're representing Britain, and here's the reason why, England canny dae it, fur they couldnae qualify" - thank you Andy Cameron.

So, England in 1982 were as desperate for victory as they are today, and, like today, they had injury problesm, with top players Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking both injured. But, they got through the group and were playing well, when the big two recovered from injury. Too soon, they were introduced into the team and England went out. Might history repeat itself with Rooney?

Shevchenko and Voronin might be past their best, but, they are, I feel, still capable of exposing England's week link, their central defence: where frankly, Lescott has never been international class, while Terry, who even at his best, has barely been international class, is now, I fear, over the hill and perhaps fearing a possible spell as a guest of Her Majesty.

England may yet qualify, but, I feel the quarter-finals will be the limit of their ambitions in 2012.

At least, they are at the party and I hope they enjoy what time they have left.

There are still more questions than answers

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".

Duff & Phelps, BDO - Why Not Burke and Hare?

AT SOME point later this morning, the representative of HMRC will formally refuse to accept the details of the CVA being proposed by Messers Duff & Phelps; in effect the life-support system plug will be pulled out and Rangers will die.

The question then is, will Duff & Phelps the attending physicians, who failed to keep the patient alive, have time to sell-off the saleable organs (Ibrox, Murray Park etc) to Charles Green, or will the HMRC-appointed undertakers - BDO - take possession of the corpse and in turn become responsible for the organ harvesting?

I don't know enough about how these things work to say definitely, but I sincerely hope BDO has charge of the corpse, otherwise - things may get decidedly messy. Whatever happens, the accountants and m'learned friends will continue to live high on the hog, whilst the estate of the dear departed is divided up.

And, by the way, since he is a grade one chancer who has spent most of his life living on the edges of legality, don't be surprised if Craig Whyte hasn't left a few booby traps in the path of BDO and HMRC - I have a feeling they will find out that the deeds to Ibrox and Murray Parks are lying in some office in the Cayman Islands for instance.

SO, I intend saying no more about the corporate business side of things, I'll leave that to the guys on the business desks - other than a parting comment; the two pieces of real estate - three if you count the Albion car park MUST be worth more than the £5.5 million which messers Green and Duff & Phelps have valued them at.

What about the footballing side of things? What happens now? I honestly believe the demise of Rangers 1872 offers Scottish football a once-in-a-life-time chance to sort itself out. Will they take it?

Probably not - Scottish football is good at tinkering round the edges, not so good at real and meaningful change.

For a start, any thoughts of "New" Rangers continuing to occupy a place in the SPL have to be kicked into touch. I am not in the "They've cheated for years" camp. I appreciate these things don't have to be proven "beyond reasonable doubt", as is the case in criminal courts; the non-payment of tax/legality of EBTs issue is one for the civil courts, where it's the "balance of probabilities" rather than "beyond reasonable doubt" which counts. But, given that EBTs were legal when Rangers went down that route, it may be that Rangers use of them has been flawed rather than illegal and that difference is just the sort of area the legal brains love getting into - it can keep them talking and arguing for years. Then there is the area of what is and what isn't a contract - again sorting out the difference between a second contract and a side note will keep the guys in the silk gowns in school fees for Fettes and the Edinburgh Academy well into the 2020s.

So what do the admittedly duller brains within Hampden's corridors of power do in the meantime? Well a good start would be for the SPL to declare that since Rangers are in liquidation, their membership of the SPL falls. There is already evidence that Duff & Phelps' pairing of Sooty and Sweep have failed to even keep up to date with the less-than-taxing standards of administration demanded of them by the SFA or SPL.

The accounts are not up to date, certain necessary pieces of paperwork have not been completed - ergo with "Old" Rangers dead and "New" Rangers failing to meet the SFA's paper work demands, then the "New" Rangers cannot as things stand compete in the SPL in season 2012-2013. Get Dundee in - now.

But, what happens as regards the newco? On the face of it, they ought to be asked to apply for the vacant place in SFL Division Three which has caused by the promotions in the wake of the oldco's demise. Dundee's elevation will leave a gap in the SFL Division One, which should go to Airdrie - the losing side in the play-off final; their Division Two place will then go to Stranraer, who lost the Division Two-Three play-off final, leaving the Division Three vacancy to be filled.

This ought to be done by invitation. Spartans could apply, ditto one or more Highland League Clubs, perhaps Gala Fairydean or Preston Athletic might fancy a go, although I don't see any of the junior giants such as Talbot, Irvine Meadow or Linlithgow Rose throwing their bunnets into the ring.

"New" Rangers will. It will then be a case of the SFL deciding: do we want those awfully nice Rangers fans trampling all over our grounds or not? In that case, £ signs will flash in front of eyes and "New" Rangers will be in.

Of course, this scenario overlooks the on-going saga of the SAF Appeals Tribunal's decision on the crimes of "Old" Rangers; the transfer ban was kicked into touch, so the tribunal has to come up with some new sanction, which will apply to the newco. This has to be a hefty one, to appease the wolves at UEFA and FIFA and, as I have said before on these pages - I don't see Zurich and Nyon being satisfied with anything short of suspension for at least one year.

This, actually, is the SFA's get-out-of-jail card. Accept "New" Rangers into membership, but, suspend that membership sine die - with a commitment to review at the end of the 2012-13 season, to see what has been done to de-toxify the Rangers brand, allow for the Big Tax Case to be determined and to see what steps have been taken to sort-out the football debts of the "Old" Rangers.

If sufficient steps have been shown to have been taken - "New" Rangers goes into SFL Division Three at the start of season 2013-2014.

Meanwhile, Scottish football will have a season to see how we get on without them and, just maybe, the necessary changes can be put in place - three governing bodies into one - fewer "national" league teams - better "district" leagues, with (finally) a Scottish pyramid in place and an emphasis on bringing-through good, young, skilled, Scottish players.

The cure will be difficult, at times painful and could be a lengthy one - but - it just might work in terms of Champions League, European Championship and Champions League and Europa League success, some years in the future.