Decision on EBTs backed by Milne

ABERDEEN chairman Stewart Milne last night backed the SFA’s decision to reject an independent review into the game’s handling of the Rangers’ Employee Benefits Trust saga. The governing body wrote to member clubs on Thursday to announce it would not take part in any review proposed by the Scottish Professional Football League, claiming that ‘raking over the coals’ would damage the game. Yet to publicly elaborate on the reasons behind their stance, the SFA have received criticism from many quarters, with the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association (SFSA) last

night claiming that avoiding such scrutiny was ‘unhelpful’. Milne, however, refuted such a suggestion and claimed the good of the game would only be served by now drawing a line under the matter. ‘I have said it previously and I will say it again: there has been too much negativity in Scottish football for the last few years and it is not healthy for the game,’ he stated. ‘Both the SPFL and Scottish FA engaged top-level QCs to give advice on the situations presented to them and dealt with by them. We now must focus our collective efforts on taking Scottish football forward and stop dwelling on the past. ‘It is my wish that we all work together to make this happen. The current situation does nobody any favours.’ Milne’s words are unlikely to cut ice with fans who feel the wounds of the past will only heal if the powers-that-be are prepared to have their own role in the saga put under the microscope. The SFSA, which boasts about 70,000 members, claimed it was ‘essential to have proper evaluation and scrutiny of the administration of our game to learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past’. Rangers went into financial meltdown in 2012, with administration and liquidation preceding re-admittance to the bottom tier of the game. Amid the tumult, the club were fined £250,000 by the Scottish Premier League in 2013 over nondisclosure of the EBT payments following an investigation led by Lord Nimmo Smith. However, the commission’s verdict that Rangers gained no ‘unfair competitive advantage’ has come under scrutiny since the Supreme Court issued a final ruling which found EBTs were improper. One aspect of the saga which could yet rear its head again is the Ibrox club being granted a licence to play in Europe in 2011. SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan is set to investigate whether correspondence between Rangers and Hampden six years ago is materially different from evidence given by two directors at the recent trial of Craig Whyte. If the SFA believe they were initially misled in discussions over the so-called ‘wee tax case’ — a £2.8million liability — the club could face SFA charges, although it is not known what the scale of potential sanctions would be.