Rangers Voted into Division 3

So the Inland Revenue and football fans have voted that clubs should not live outwith their means, pay silly wages and avoid tax (something all clubs try and do). The fans have also said that rules are rules and should apply to all. Think of the fans of the likes of Partick Thistle who faced a unique rule change to save Dundee Utd from relegation. Other big clubs have been saved from relegation with rule changes.  The other smaller club fans see that and remember it.

The result of this will be all clubs live within their means and players will not be paid silly money from fans many of whom have had wage cuts or freezes over the past few years with no relief to come. There will be a big boost to lower league teams. The police are jumping for joy with the prospect of no Old Firm games to police, saving huge amounts of money for them. Clubs will now pay their taxes, benefitting all. Apparently tax revenure from all sporting clubs has increased since Rangers went bust as it became clear the IR meant business. Plenty of clubs survive administration and if that happens to the likes of Kilmarnock or Motherwell (again), so be it. Forget Celtic and enjoy a league competition to see who finishes second. I always ignored the Old Firm and looked at the league as if they were not there.

I agree Idc. I just hope Killie can stay afloat.  This division 3 could be a busy place in the next few years.  

I can see a larger Premiership and only Division 1 and 2 shortly. The aim being Rangers only take 2 years to get back rather than three.

St Mirren have no debt. Their highest paid player is on £3k a week, a damn fine wage at this time of economic crisis. The Chairman is not happy about Rangers being out of the Premiership for so long, but that is because the club he wants to sell has become less valuable. Which is great for the fans who want to buy it.

I think too many people are listening to the doom mongers who face losses or are no longer going to be able to live beyond their means (boo hoo to them) rather than those who are going to get a big windfall that will make them far better off. That is the majority.

Unfortunately it's bums on seats that pay the player's wages, club expenses etc. The gates of all SPL clubs are going to be vastly reduced by the lack of Rangers fans going through the turnstyles and the lack of Sky money coming in.
Some clubs are destined to fail.

That is yet to be seen to be true. I know of kids who have switched from Rangers to now support their local team and will boost their coffers. I know of people who will go to more games as they avoid any game between their team and one of the old Firm because of increased trouble and/or risk of a heavy defeat. There will be real competiton for the second spot and European football. Then Celtic will be the team to beat and they will not be strong as they were. They cannot attract players they may have before and they don't have to to still win the league.

All smaller teams should see this as a huge advantage and should seize that. If they mump and moan and go into administration they have just failed as well. The big winner will be the Third Division side who finish second to Rangers and get promoted, so have two seasons of extra income. Since so many think Scotland = Old Firm, they cannot see beyond that.

A few kids going to watch games that they otherwise wouldn't have isn't going to plug the massive fissure that Rangers visiting fans will leave.

What you're effectively saying is that if Man City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea left the top English league leaving just Man Utd then all the other clubs would flourish?? 

\the only reason Man Utd have just been recognised as the wealthiest sports club in the World is due to the other clubs making the league strong - the SPL was weak enough with just Rangers and Celtic, take away one half of the Old Firm and everyone will suffer massively, most of all Celtic.

' Man Utd have just been recognised as the wealthiest sports club in the World '

They are only in debt to the tune of   £423 Million.      

Remember that with Rangers Football Club their own fans welcome Division 3 given that the integrity of the sport is paramount. Not a chance that the SFA are being fair with the new owners though given that they want to further punish the club for things did wrong by two other individuals namely Mr Murray (still to be found guilty) and Mr White who for some strange reason did not pay the tax due to HMRC ? The new management are innocent are as the staff, the worker, the players and most importantly... the fans.

What we have here is the SFA treating Rangers Football Club correctly as a neco owned club putting them in Division  3  but at the same time wanting to still punnish more this self same newco for the oldco's wrongdoings and that has to be wrong. The SFA have been making up new rulings as we go along and all in all it seems such a sham.... right down to still wanting a transfer embargo put upon the newco (already ruled as Unlawful in the court of session) at the same time most players have been leaving ?

We'll see just how the SPL clubs act on sporting integrity when each and every week their players start falling over to win free-kicks and penalties... sporting integrity in the World of football is a misnomer.

I recon there is still more to come out of this Rangers saga.

I have to agree. A lot of fans outwith Rangers were desperate for the blood of Rangers without actually thinking of the long term consequences. Whether fans of other SPL clubs will admit it or not, but when it comes to money in Scottish football then the vast majority is generated by Rangers and Celtic,that's a fact. Nobody outside Kilmarnock and Paisley gives a flying f@@k about watching Kilmarnock versus St Mirren on a Tuesday night in the middle of January, Where as an Old Firm game is world wide. It's only if both sides of the Old Firm were out of the SPL would it be more competative and more exciting but...... Without the money the Old Firm generate. The one thing that will be good to see is the clubs and towns from the lower leagues getting a wee windfall when Rangers play them.

Man Utd may be £423 million in debt but they're worth $2.3 billion dollars which is the big difference between them and Rangers.
I agree that Newco Rangers will be the whipping boys of the Scottish league for some time to come which is, as you rightly say, nothing to do with the new owners, fans etc.

I just don't quite know how the whole thing is going to work from here - I recall Leeds Utd being high fliers in the Premier League just a few years back before plummeting down 2 divisions - they weren't in the same financial straits as Rangers but managed to keep their fan base and have now started to rise again.

I think those who were guilty of steering Rangers to where they are now have absconded without charge. If Tesco were to go bankrupt, would they blame the checkout staff and customers??

Agreed.

Scottish football seems to have decided that "Newco" is a new club and therefore has to join at the lowest level. Fair enough.

It also seems to want to punish "Newco" for old discretions. It can't work both ways.

It is either a new club starting fresh (fair), or the old club which should be punished (fair) bit not both.

It is now taking the appearance of a witch hunt that won't stop until Ibrox becomes Tesco. Integrity is only applied when it suits.

It would make a hell of a lot more money if it became Tesco!

Up until this season, maybe. But Bates is selling/has sold most of the best players for many millions, and has brought in 8 players for around one million in total. While such a man owns a club, it will never rise again. Bates has always been in it to make money for himself, and not for the benefit of the club, and god help anyone who ever crosses him (Matthew Harding). I think attendances at Leeds will suffer this year with such a sub-standard team. I'm not a Leeds fan, but I do think their fans deserve better than a man like Bates.

They got off to a great start beating Brechin, who are in the league above. A capacity crowd of 4100.

Didn't look like they'd lept their fan base when I was there at a League One match! In response to us singing 'your ground's too big for you', they sang 'our ground's too big for us'! 

Lot of ill feeling towards Bates, over ticket prices in particular. While I have some sympathy for Leeds fans, if Norwich with their recent signings contribute to aggravation for Bates and / or Warnock I won't lose any sleep.