Rangers crisis: Green unable to rule out accepting SFA signing ban

Prospective Rangers owner Charles Green has hinted he may backtrack on the club's appeal against a ban imposed by the Scottish FA on signing new players.

The man leading the Sevco consortium also rejected accusations from Ibrox director Dave King that he was using season ticket money to fund his buyout of the Ibrox club.

Mr Green claimed that the majority of the £8.5m loan his group has put forward to buy the club is in the hands of administrators Duff and Phelps.

He said he would reveal his financial backers if a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) was agreed next week.

On Friday Mr Green told STV News his bid for the club would not be affected should the SFA hit the club with a ban from the Scottish Cup. This is despite CVA proposals published last week stating his offer was conditional on the club remaining in all competitions they are currently in.

He said that possible suspension or expulsion from the game would be an "extreme" punishment. When asked if he could rule out accepting the registration embargo that the club successfully appealed at the Court of Session, Mr Green responded: "I can’t comment until I’ve had the final comments back from my legal team."

Rangers' lawyers argued in Edinburgh last week that the punishment was not legitimate as it was not specified in the football body's rules and regulations. Lord Glennie sided with the club and ordered the matter back to the SFA's appeals body that previously rejected an attempt to overturn it.

Mr Green added: "What we’ve said under Lord Glennie’s decision is both parties have 21 days to appeal it and we, through our legal team and the fighting fund, are reviewing those notes carefully and we’ve conveyed that message to the SFA.

"What we’ve also said from my consortium’s point of view is that we never want to do something that would damage Scottish football. Even though the problems that brought about whatever the censure is, is down to people in the past, nothing to do with members of staff currently or the investors currently. We’re going to have to suffer some pain and we acknowledge that’s right.

"Whatever the degree and the other issues surrounding it are another discussion. Possibly being thrown out of the league or suspended in my view is extreme and the damage it would inflict on Scottish football, because clearly there would be no Sky contract, no Premier League, no Old Firm derbies, would be an incredibly bad thing."

Offer

Asked whether his offer would stand if Rangers were ejected from the Scottish Cup, Mr Green it "absolutely would". This is despite the CVA proposals sent out to creditors last week stating that the deal was conditional on the team being allowed to continue competing as it currently is.

Mr Green continued: "We recognise that this club, rightly or wrongly, has to take some punishment. My upbringing in life was if you did something wrong your backside was smacked, that’s not allowed now because of political correctness – I think it should be. We have to stand up and be counted. We have to take the punishment and we have to move forward."

Mr Green has so far refused to name the full team involved in his consortium, or where the money raised for the takeover has come from. He said that should the CVA be voted through next Thursday, he would be happy to name those involved in Sevco.

Season ticket renewals were sent out to fans on Friday, Mr Green said, and claimed that the money from them would be placed in a "secure" bank account that would not be accessed by Rangers until the club were out of administration.

This came after accusations from Rangers director Dave King who also called on fans to reject the CVA proposals at the Ibrox meeting next Thursday.

He said: "The season tickets haven’t even gone on sale, although I understand renewal letters have gone out this afternoon to fans. But to suggest that we’re using that money to buy the club is preposterous.

"It shows a lack of understanding that Mr King has in this transaction. His other comments recommending that creditors and shareholders should vote against a CVA beggars belief for someone who is a Rangers fan. What he’s suggesting, rather than get a CVA through that retains all the history and tradition, we should go down the newco route. I mean why would a true fan suggest that?"

Funding pledges

The former Sheffield United chief executive claimed that there were no issues surrounding the raising of funds for the Sevco bid, while he also stated that it was working towards raising a total of £30m it had pledged to put into the club.

He added: "I’m from Yorkshire, I will never, ever, have enough money. I’ve never been to a church where there wasn’t a collection and this is now my church and if anyone comes here, they have to pay.

"Either pay as a fan to watch the game or pay as an investor to be part of the shareholder register. So I’m always going to have money and if I told Ally McCoist tomorrow we’ve got £50m but I could raise £100m, he’d tell me to go and raise £100m so he could go and buy Ronaldo." He also admitted some investors in the consortium would "prefer one option or another" when it comes to the newco or CVA routes out of administration.

Earlier this week the businessman, who recently stepped down as a director of Signapore-based coal technology investment firm Nova Resources, unveiled proposals to ask season ticket holders to vote on renaming Murray Park after either player Davie Cooper or Moses McNeil, one of the club's founding fathers.

On Friday, Mr Green said: "Being completely honest I had never heard of either of the two names put to me, but no-one had heard of my name until a few weeks ago. What I thought was fair to do was put that message forward and we’re saying to fans when they’re renewing their season tickets ‘Do you think it should be called Davie Cooper or do you think it should be called Moses?’

"Where we’re trying to take the club is forward, let’s draw a line, forget the past, forget the divisions, forget the bigotry and lets take Rangers back to being a super team."

He also claimed the move to rename Murray Park was not an attempt to "divert" the attention of fans away from the many issues at the crisis-hit club.

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