Charles Green says admitting newco Rangers into SPL is ‘right financially’

Charles Green: Appeal to SPL clubs over Rangers vote.SNS Group

Charles Green has warned Scottish Premier League clubs to base their votes on finance rather than emotion when deciding whether to allow his newco Rangers into the league.

The 12 member clubs - including 'oldco' Rangers - will meet on July 4 to cast their votes at a specially convened general meeting, with an 8-4 majority required.

The Ibrox side was replaced with 'Club 12' when the fixtures were released earlier this week.

Rangers chief executive Mr Green told RangersTV: "Look, we've always said that we bought the club because we want to play a team in Europe, we want to rebuild the image of this club, and everybody wants to play in the Premier League. Whether that can happen is out of my control; it's in the hands of the other members of that league.

"There is no easy solution. It's something we all have to deal with, we all have to take responsibility for. And we all have to come up with something that works, not just for an individual club, but for the whole collective."

Mr Green and his investors completed the purchase of the business and assets of Rangers on a newco basis last week after a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) was rejected, meaning liquidation is now inevitable.

He added: "I think some of the views we see and some of the comments are not based on business and, of course, the criticism I regularly get burdened with is, for me, every decision is about business. It's not about passion, it's not about commitment to a cause.

"It's purely about doing what is right financially because if there is no money - and that doesn't just include Rangers Football Club, it includes the SFA, SPL and the old mantra of going right down to grassroots football - we go out of business."

Meanwhile, Mr Green and manager Ally McCoist will meet with players next week to discuss their futures at the club.

Mr Green believes all contracts should transfer to his newco under employment law, despite the Scottish PFA previously claiming the players are not obligated to remain with a newco.

Players are due to start reporting back to Murray Park for fitness training on June 28 and Mr Green plans to speak directly with them after initial discussions with some of their agents and the union.

Mr Green explained: "From the moment HMRC announced they wouldn't support the CVA, we contacted the staff and had a meeting with them and the administrator made them aware. We, as a newco, started having discussions and, as far as we are concerned, all the contracts transferred under TUPE.

"Of course, the difficulty is some of the players haven't been around and the likes of [Carlos] Bocanegra have been away on international duty with the USA team. They've also been having holidays and taking their families away so it has been more difficult with the playing staff than the non-playing staff.

"We've been speaking to the PFA though and to individual agents and, as the players come back next week, Alistair and I will be sitting down with them and explaining where we are."

The Herald reported on Thursday that Rangers players could pursue an action against Mr Green’s club for 13 weeks of unpaid wages, which would total £5m if the entire team joined the action.

The paper claimed the players would have a case if Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) rules have not been followed correctly.

The report added that a number of players were considering not appearing for training for fear it could undermine any legal action.

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