Rangers FC are in the process of being liquidated. Their 'assets' (the training ground and the stadium, effectively) have been sold to a consortium led by chap called Charles Green for £5.5 million. From his comments to the press over the last few weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking that Del Boy Trotter had shown up in his Trabant and talked the administrators into passing the club over to him.
Green has, so far, refused to reveal the names of many of his investors. One of those he named promptly denied it within hours. There are rumours flying around that, so far, he hasn't actually managed to raise the money. What he has done is attempted to transfer the contracts of the staff to his Newco without actually bothering to inform them. Employment law allows employees to walk away if they wish rather than to transfer to a Newco. In the last 24 hours two Rangers players, Sone Aluko and Rhys McCabe, have apparently announced their intentions to walk.
As for the administrators, they're still hanging around like a bad smell. Duff & Phelps had claimed, when they 'sold' to Green's bunch, that they would be around for a few weeks yet; some cynics wondered whether this was an attempt to keep the HMRC-appointed liquidators, BDO, from disrupting the sale of the assets. They won't be able to leave for a while, even if they want to; Lord Hodge has demanded that they produce documentation to disprove the claims by Mark Daly's BBC documentary that senior figures at D&P were in cahoots with Whyte long before the Shyster-extraordinaire even bought the club in the first place. Hodge has insisted that they remain in place at Ibrox for another three weeks at least, until those questions are answered.
So, at the moment, it seems unclear exactly how the club will come up with cash - season ticket money is apparently still going to the Oldco - and it is uncertain how many of the players will hang around, particularly as it seems unlikely they will be paid in full come payday on Thursday.
And that's just some of the problems the club face.
For a start, it's not even clear which division they will play in next season.
We're still waiting for the SFA to reconvene the Appelate Tribunal to come up with an alternative (and, possibly, more severe) punishment than the transfer embargo that the Court of Session deemed illegal.
And of course, the SPL will, on 4th July, vote on whether to accept the Newco into the SPL directly in place of Rangers. Whilst a few months ago the idea of them being thrown out was unthinkable (despite the fact that it is the only punishment that justifies the offences they have committed), clubs appear to have been turned by fan power; supporters have been putting forward their views in droves, and the overwhelming majority not only want the book to be thrown at Rangers, but the opportunity to kick them while they are down. There is now a very big chance that at least five clubs (the minimum required to stop the Newco getting in) will tell Mr Green where he can shove his application.
In that case, SPL rules dictate that Dundee would be promoted, and the SFL is left with a decision on where to stick the Newco. Some (mostly those writers of outrageous, unbelievable fiction who continue to pollute the back pages of the Scottish red-tops with ridiculous pro-Rangers drivel) have claimed they will be 'invited' to join the first division. I can't help feeling that this would be met by opposition by the sides in the second and third division, who would miss out on the revenue generated by matches against the Newco as the inevitably rose through the leagues. In particular, sticking Rangers into the second tier would surely be protested by Airdrie United, who would be otherwise have been promoted to that level, and Stranraer, who would have taken Airdrie's place in the second division.
And, given the shambolic nature of the whole administration process, it seems likely that, when the liquidators do get their hands on the Oldco, a number of D&P decisions will be protested by BDO, and by creditors.
There are, in short, a huge list of reasons why the Rangers situation could end up being sorted out in a courtroom. And if you ask a lawyer what they think of the whole fiasco, they reply by saying "It's very interesting", which is legal-speak for "that'll be a hundred pounds an hour for several months, please".
We don't have several months. We have six weeks.
It seems to me that it is increasingly likely that the 2012-13 season will not involve a team called, or related to, Rangers FC.
L.
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