Clubs weren’t told of £10m clause: Gers
RANGERS have accused the Scottish Professional Football League executive of withholding vital information before clubs voted to end the lower-league season and potentially the Premiership campaign.
The Gers sent clubs their highly-anticipated dossier of evidence which forms the basis of their quest for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding last month’s vote.
But, within 90 minutes, the league claimed there was not a “single shred of evidence to support Rangers’ vociferous claims of corruption, bullying and coercion by SPFL staff ”.
Rangers had called for SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and legal advisor Rod Mckenzie to be suspended on April 11, the day after clubs were requested to vote.
They claimed they had received alarming evidence from a whistleblower which raised serious concerns about the league’s corporate governance and lack of “fair play” and later stated other clubs claimed they had been “bullied”.
In the confidential and lengthy dossier, Rangers say they are concerned that Doncaster “may have breached his duties as a director”, alleging the SPFL executive did not give clubs enough information and thus misrepresented the situation ahead of the vote.
Their main concern was that clubs were not told that £10m could be due to sponsors and broadcasters if the league was not completed and that sponsorship rights could be gifted in compensation. SPFL chairman Murdoch Maclennan previously declared himself comfortable clubs had been given enough detail without “overloading them with excessive information”.
THE Scottish Professional Football League claims Rangers are yet to provide a “single shred of evidence” after the Ibrox club finally released their dossier to clubs.
Rangers need 32 clubs to back their call for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the recent vote which ended the lower-league season and handed the SPFL board the authority to do likewise with the Premiership campaign.
The club had called for SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and legal adviser Rod Mckenzie to be suspended after claiming they had received “alarming” evidence from a whistleblower and further alleging clubs were “bullied” into voting for the SPFL.
After saying they would release the evidence to clubs “well in advance” of next Tuesday’s general meeting, Rangers presented their case at 10am yesterday.
However, it was quickly met with a strong response from the league.
An SPFL spokesman said: “It is now a month since Rangers accused the SPFL of bullying and corruption relating to the Dundee FC return.
“At last, Rangers have issued their ‘dossier’ and we will now take time to review it, before responding to all 42 clubs.
“Since Rangers publicly demanded the suspension of the SPFL’S chief executive and legal counsel, everyone in Scottish football has waited patiently for them to present their case.
“However, an initial examination of their ‘dossier’ has failed to identify a single shred of evidence to support Rangers’ vociferous claims of corruption, bullying and coercion by SPFL staff.
“If Rangers have any good reason for Neil Doncaster and Rod Mckenzie to be suspended, we have yet to see it.”
Rangers issued a very brief response to the SPFL statement, declaring on Twitter: “#Rangersfc will not be bullied into silence”.
The account also retweeted the release of their own statement from April 11 in which they had called for Doncaster and Mckenzie to be suspended and claimed to have received evidence which raised “serious questions concerning the corporate governance of the SPFL”.
Meanwhile, Scotland international John Fleck insists he would ‘love’ to return to Rangers one day.
The Sheffield United midfielder broke through the youth ranks at Ibrox amid much fanfare, making his competitive debut against East Stirlingshire in January 2008 at the age of 16.
Still seen as a precocious forward, Fleck then became the youngest ever player to feature in a Scottish Cup final, coming on as a late substitute in a breathless 3-2 victory against Queen of the South. However, his career failed to blossom as predicted in Govan and he went on to make 59 appearances for the Glasgow giants — just 26 as a starter — before leaving the club for Coventry in 2016.
Fleck has reinvented himself as a deep-lying midfielder in England and is now starring in the Premier League with high-flying Sheffield United — but he would not rule out another stint with his boyhood side.
“I’m very happy at Sheffield United and the longer that continues, great,” said the 28-yearold.
“But if the chance came further down the line to go back to Rangers, I would love it to be honest. I wouldn’t say I’ve got unfinished business because I was a small part of a very successful team and was delighted to get some great memories of that squad and the club.
“I’m not sure I could have done anything different in my time at Rangers. I was young and it was a very successful Rangers team at the time.
“It was difficult for any young kid to come through and stay in the team at that time.
“Everyone’s path is different and mine took me away from there and it has worked out for me.”