Rangers win court action challenging SFA ban against signing players

Rangers have succeeded in court action seeking to overturn a player signing ban.

The Ibrox club will have their case referred back to the Scottish FA’s appeal tribunal after the Court of Session decision on Tuesday.

As a result of several rules breaches, the SFA’s judicial panel imposed a 12-month player registration embargo on the club.

The Court of Session ruled on Tuesday that the sanction was not available to the panel.

Now the case will be referred back to the SFA’s appeal tribunal, which previously rejected an attempt to overturn it.

An SFA spokesman said: "We are surprised by today’s verdict at the Court of Session, especially since the original sanction against Rangers FC was imposed by an independent panel chaired by a leading QC and upheld by an Appellate Tribunal chaired by a Supreme Court Judge.

"We will now consider our position with our legal advisers before making any further comment."

The club were awarded expenses at the hearing after the judge highlighted that there was no specific mention of the SFA applying a player signing ban on a club.

A consortium led by Charles Green has put forward a £8.5m loan to Rangers to repay their creditors that is dependent on the club continuing to play in the Scottish Premier League and holding its SFA membership.

Lord Glennie found on Tuesday that the only sanctions available to the SFA were fine, expulsion from the game, being barred from the Scottish Cup and termination or suspension of the club's association membership.

The judge decided the Court of Session did have jurisdiction over the decision as SFA rules do not give explicit right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

He noted that the case required a "matter of some urgency" and referred it back to the SFA's appeal tribunal. The stance of the football governing bodies on Rangers' case is not yet known, though Fifa are opposed to clubs going out with the rules of the game to appeal against decisions.

Richard Keen QC, the counsel for Rangers, said the club had been hit with an "unlawful" sanction that the SFA could not impose.

Paul Clark, joint administrator of Rangers FC, said: "We welcome the decision by Judge Lord Glennie today that vindicates the club's position that the original SFA judicial panel tribunal and the appellate tribunal acted beyond their powers in imposing a transfer embargo on the club.

"The costs for this legal action have been awarded against the SFA and it is our position it is very regrettable that court action was required.

"Both we, and the SFA, will have to study the full ramifications of the judgment when it is published and either side has 21 days in which to decide the next course of action or whether they wish to appeal."

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