Rangers director on stripping of their titles

I continually read misleading interpretations about the alleged second contracts at Rangers.  Rangers may, and almost certainly did, insist at the First Tier Tribunal that the letters in question were not contracts.  This point is important to the tax authorities but completely irrelevant to the football authorities.

The SPL specifically:

“Impose a prohibition on players receiving payments for playing football or participating in an activity connected with football except where such payments are made in accordance with a form of contract approved by the SPL and require that all such contracts are submitted to the SPL within 14 days of being entered into”.

The SFA require:

“All payments, whether made by the club or otherwise, which are to be made to a player solely relating to his playing activities must be fully recorded within the relevant written agreement with the player prior to submission to this Association and/or the recognised football body of which his club is in membership.”

So, for clarity, side arrangements do not have to be part of a contract before they become subject to SFA and SPL regulations, but “payments… connected with football” or payments received by a player “solely relating to his playing activities must be fully recorded”, otherwise the player has been improperly registered and his team would be awarded a 3-0 defeat for each game he played.

The Sun’s landmark story on this issue claim’s one Rangers player was due £1200 appearance money per game, clearly “connected with football”.

In point 14 of his statement today, concerning Rangers being stripped of their disputed titles, Dave King said, “I am absolutely confident (now that I have a good sense of the true position) that this will not happen”.

The “true position” will be established by SPL inquiry.  If they have all letters  issued to players of the kind produced by The Sun, or given as evidence to the First Tier Tribunal, Rangers have no case to answer, but we have to wonder, if this is the case, why the inquiry?

I note the swift and robust defence issued by Sir David Murray against allegations levelled by former college Dave King.  I also note the swift and robust defence issued by Sir David Murray against allegations levelled by former college Hugh Adam of side-contracts being issued to players.

Wait a minute, Sir David hasn’t uttered a word about Hugh Adam’s allegations!

I would like to be the first to congratulate St Johnstone on winning the League Cup in season 1999-2000.

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