Rangers out of the SPL + SPL T.V deals in question.

With thanks to our friends at Sky Sport News for the following post and to the Daily Record for the post on the threatened T.V deal.

Scottish Premier League clubs have voted overwhelmingly against the Rangers' newco joining the top flight next season.

The clubs voted on Wednesday morning and Charles Green's newco failed to secure the majority of eight to four needed to allow their entry into the SPL.

The SPL announced the news in a brief statement after more than five hours of talks at Hampden today.

SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster earlier hinted the vote could be deferred amid fears over the financial consequences of the Ibrox club starting their new life in the Third Division, but clubs carried through their vow to deny Green's bid.

Rejected

An SPL statement read: "At today's General Meeting, SPL clubs today voted overwhelmingly to reject the application from Rangers newco to join the SPL."

The decision caps a humiliating fall from grace for the most successful club in Scottish football, who entered administration earlier this year following a tax dispute.

The Ibrox club are now set for demotion to the Scottish Football League, but it remains unclear in which tier they will ply their trade.

SFL chiefs still need to decide whether they would accept Green's new club into the Irn-Bru First Division or insert them into the bottom tier.

Warnings have been made in the last few days that up to half the SPL clubs could go into administration if the Ibrox club are in the bottom tier.

It appears that most if not all of the SPL's commercial contracts include exit clauses for sponsors and partners allowing them to pull out or renegotiate if the Old Firm are not present.

The clauses were inserted amid speculation over the Glasgow pair moving to England or into a European league but they have proved costly after Rangers went into liquidation last month.

A package put to SFL clubs to accept the Ibrox side in the second tier includes moves to merge the leagues, promotion play-offs to the top flight and a £1million payment for television rights.

Before the meeting on Wednesday morning, Doncaster said: "There are probably three options for dealing with Rangers. Rangers coming into the SPL with an appropriate range of sanctions is one option. Rangers going into the second tier is another option.

"The option that a lot of people have talked about, Rangers in the fourth tier, ultimately that would wreak huge financial damage on the whole game and it's difficult to see why 41 innocent clubs should pay the price for the misdeeds of one.

"So I think there are really two viable options that are in play at the moment."

It is as yet unclear whether relegated Dunfermline or Dundee, who finished second in the First Division, will replace Rangers in the SPL although the proposal put to SFL clubs states the Dens Park club would be promoted.

Green, whose Sevco firm bought the assets of Rangers for £5.5million, attended the meeting with chairman Malcolm Murray and manager Ally McCoist, who left before noon.

Verdict

The verdict was announced by email about 2.20pm, with Green and Murray leaving shortly afterwards, while SPL clubs continued to talk.

Green claimed earlier this week he was confident chairmen would listen to his pleas after meeting several clubs to warn them of the financial implications.

Murray issued an "unreserved" apology on Tuesday in a move thought to be designed to pave the way for a U-turn.

But St Johnstone, St Mirren, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee United and Inverness had already declared their opposition while Motherwell announced on Tuesday night their fans had voted to reject the application.

T.V Deals in question.

This post taken in full from the Sunday Record.

SKY TV are poised to tear up their £110million deal to screen Scottish football if Rangers are thrown into the Third Division.

The broadcasting giants agreed their five-year deal with the SPL on the basis of four money-spinning Old Firm clashes a year.

And sources close to talks between Sky and the SPL say without those audience-grabbing games, Sky will have no commercial reason to stay in Scotland.

But one way out could be for Rangers to be demoted to the First Division in the hope they could bounce straight back in a season.

A Sky insider said: “Three years without Rangers, while Rangers climbed from the Third Division to the Second, then the First and then the SPL, would blow the whole deal out of the water.

“If Rangers are kicked out of the SPL, the longest Sky will wait for them to return is a year.

“It’s just not worth it commercially if it’s going to be any longer than 12 months with no Old Firm league games while Rangers climb back up the leagues.

“Four Old Firm games a season is what Sky export around Britain and around the world – that’s what they pay for.

“No Rangers equals no Sky, unless Gers are back very soon.”

The Sky deal, which also involves broadcaster ESPN, is worth £16million a year to the SPL – plus at least another £6million a year from spin-offs, such as shirt sponsorships and pitchside adverts, which would collapse without TV cameras at games.





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