Aberdeen

SFA must act

The use of EBTS by Rangers has two implications: (1) It was a method used to avoid tax on wages paid to players, allowing them to employ those of a calibre they otherwise couldn’t afford, thus creating an uneven playing field. It was financial doping. (2) It was a deliberate failure to disclose these arrangements to the SFA, in breach of player registration requirements, designed to hide these payments from HMRC.

Multiple other sports have provided the lead on dealing with historic doping, from cycling to athletics. The consequences of illegally gained advantages are clear. In Scotland, the fielding of irregularly registered players leads to forfeited results. Fans will not stand by and let the SFA deal with this by living up to its acronym and doing SFA, as it is trying to.

Steve Wilson