Players have “no loyalty to the new club”

The notion that Newco is the same as Oldco took a bit of a battering yesterday from two employees of Rangers Football Club PLC, Steven Naismith and Steven Whittaker.

Naismith said, “I am extremely proud of the actions we took but I am disappointed and angry that Rangers Football Club no longer exists in its original form.”

“My loyalty is with Rangers, not with Sevco, who I don’t know anything about.

Whittaker got straight to the point, “We owe no loyalty to the new club. There is no history there for us.”

“No longer exists”, “no loyalty to the new club”, “no history there for us”.  Ouch.

Sevco chief, Charles Green responded by confirming he had received guidance from the Scottish FA on the transfer of player-employees from one club to a successor club/company.  Curiously he didn’t suggest the SFA backed his position that he was entitled to force players to become employees of Sevco, instead confirming only that there was an appeal route open to him:

“The Scottish FA has been considering the issue and has issued a preliminary guidance note on registration issues. That note has made it clear that it is open to the club to challenge the actions of the players.”

Perhaps emboldened by his precedent-making Court of Session challenge to the SFA which passed without censure from the Association, Green threatened to do so again:

“We have no wish to go to court on these matters but the players involved, their agents and clubs who may be pursuing these players should be in no doubt that we will do whatever it takes to protect the club’s interests.”

This is what happens when the SFA declines to pursue a club for raising actions in the civil courts.