A sigh of relief is breathed, after dominating headlines in Scottish football for all too long, we can stop talking about Rangers. Or at least we should be able to, as they do not exist anymore. However, Newco have come steaming to the forefront and look set to dominate media proceedings for the near future at least.
Newco have picked up where Rangers left off. It is important to remember that this is the case; it is not that Rangers have carried on. In whatever guise the new company take, they are a new entity from what existed before. Though as early as it is in their incarnation, they are showing traits similar to their predecessor. Notably, they too are fans of playing the victim card.
At time of writing, four players had proclaimed their intentions not to play for Newco. Rhys McCabe and Sone Aluko were the first pair to unveil this intention, though as a fringe youth player and a player whose contract was up this summer anyway, would not appear to be significant losses. The half-hearted way with which their exists came to knowledge would seem to reflect this.
What would seem more notable was simply the fact that they were the first dominoes to fall, and a chain would seem to be set off as the more notable names of Steven Whittaker and Steven Naismith were to follow within 24 hours.
The exit of the two Stevens was carried out in a more professional manner with official statements and a press conference being organised. Though some of what was contained in those statements did not echo the words of their former manager.
Ally McCoist was quoted in the Daily Ranger as saying that: “The players would be playing for the same club – Rangers.” That is not strictly the case though, as the club they were playing for last season no longer exists, and this was certainly conveyed in their statements, showing a recognition of two different bodies:
− “I am disappointed and angry that Rangers Football Club no longer exists in its original form.” – Naismith
− “(I) believe I have made the right decision to object to joining Sevco (Charles Green’s new company).” - Whittaker
Charles Green has come out fighting though (who would have thought?), and he is very unhappy about the idea of these players being able to leave for free, and he is going to "seek damages for breach of contract and for inducement to break contracts". Ah, there is that defiant sense of being wronged, though from a legal standpoint it would seem to be misguided.
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) Regulations 2006 (or TUPE), governs situations such as this where a company is taken over by another, with a view to carrying out the same or similar business. The Regulations were brought into place with the intention of protecting employees in the result of their employers being taken over, and as such are designed to be read/interpreted in favour of employees. The general rule is that in the event of such a takeover employees are allowed to transfer to the new company on the same terms they were previously on. There is an exception to the general rule, where the employee informs the transferor or the transferee that he objects to becoming employed by the transferee.
In other words, exactly what Whittaker and Naismith have done. Green would seem to have a pretty weak case were he to proceed with legal action against departing players, and for the hope of moving on he shall not proceed with it. Though as this whole saga, and I think it can now be categorised as a saga, seems to have drawn on longer than most would want it to, form would suggest Green will drag this out as long as possible.
Putting the legal matters to one side, the issue of where the Newco will be playing their football is still to be decided. July 4th is decision date, officially, but it would seem the decision has already been made. Hearts and Dundee United got the ball rolling, United have been quite categorical in their upholding of integrity within the Scottish game, and Hearts issued a statement in a manner that only Vladimir Romanov could, distancing themselves from anything that could be seen as supporting a Newco. And from then, others soon followed.
Hibs, Inverness, Aberdeen and St Johnstone have now confirmed themselves as voting no as well. A minimum of six voting no, Newco will not be admitted to the SPL. It was very drawn out, but it now looks like we have an answer.
With now being a crucial time for season-ticket sales, the fans are being listened to more than they perhaps may be at another point in the season. It is important though, that the fans are being listened to. Scottish football has been waning for a while, but this could be something that unifies supporters. Our game needs something to spark it back into life, if clubs can recapture the community feel that seems to have faded away, we might start to get somewhere.
Just now we have the opportunity for change, and as our product has been stagnating somewhat for a while now. The 11-1 voting system allowed a level of growth comparable to Russia, where the richest would look after each other as the poor became poorer. It must now be suspected that this will now disappear. Time is ripe for change, and come the Fourth of July, change, in some form or another will be seen.
It looks now a foregone conclusion that Newco will not get the eight votes they require to be admitted to the top flight. One would assume then that they would have to apply to the football league for admittance, and if accepted, start their life in the Third Division as is practice for new clubs.
There is a concern that with talk of league reconstruction afoot, an opportunity may present itself for Newco to take their place in the First Division, in a hopeful bid to appease the accountants and financial backers as well as the purveyors of sporting integrity. This half-way house is neither one thing nor the other. A Newco in the First Division, or SPL2 is it may become branded, still leaves the air of Rangers hanging over it, it would not be allowed for other clubs. If it is to be a Newco, make it a totally clean break, so that they can earn their way to success legitimately.
So the decision has been made, and we are heading towards the moral high ground. If fair play, honesty, integrity and all those other morally just words that get branded about are to be fulfilled, then it should not be a case of whether or not teams could survive, it should be a case that we must learn to survive without them.
simpson_1903
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