Newco Part 3: A bigger Gretna?

Before reading this please read part two of our blog posts about the situation at Rangers. Click here.

What seems to be the main backing of people wanting Newco to enter the SPL is that the Newco is Glasgow Rangers. It would harm the Scottish game if they weren't allowed in and it's an unfair punishment since it was the previous owners who did all the harm.

First of all this isn't Glasgow Rangers, this isn't my view it's the view of Uefa. That is why Newco can't play in Europe for three years because Uefa need the club to have three years of audited accounts. To make sure the club isn't doing anything suspicious and to make sure the club is stable(unlike Gretna).

So we have a brand new club entering the league system with a good chance of some high quality players playing for the club. A big chance of getting the second largest set of attendances in Scotland. With the third biggest stadium in the country being managed by some high up figures within the Scottish game. Essentially it's like Gretna multiplied by a factor of ten or a club like Newcastle deciding to join the Scottish game.

Would you treat Gretna differently if they had a 50,000 capacity stadium, big name players, big name manager and a lot of the Scottish public have signalled interest in being a fan of the club? How would you treat Newcastle joining the Scottish game.

In the interest of sporting integrity a bigger Gretna would still have to go through the same route as they did, so would a team like Newcastle. It's essentially buying advanced entry, pushing back three other Scottish football teams. It's comparable to Man City in 2008 saying, we are going to pump in $1bn to this club over 5 years but only if you give us UCL next season. We don't want to wait until 2011/12.

Another argument coming out for pro-newco is how much the football league has helped clubs in England with financial issues. The only help given by the Football League to Portsmouth (800,000 in 200,000 payments). This was to ensure that Portsmouth could complete their fixtures for that season. It would have cost the Championship more to allow them not to complete the fixtures. Bring in the fact as well that the SFA wasn't big enough to help Rangers.

Lets have a look at the three clubs that got liquidated in England without a CVA being agreed. Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham all of them at the time were at the very bottom of professional football(League two is like our division 3). They were all punished via league point deductions and were forced to sign something like a CVA with their old creditors. The only other punishment would be to kick them straight out of the professional league system and go into semi-pro football. Newco won't be treated as harsh, they will likely play professional football and will not be forced to pay any of the Oldco debts or face any point deductions. If Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham were higher up in the league system they would have been pushed down into League two.

Rangers your a new club, no one in the world was willing to pay to save your club from liquidation. Fortunately someone was willing to buy your assets and keep football at Ibrox instead of a shiny new Tesco. This is a benefit given to you, you should be grateful that after mounting up over 134m of debt that dwarfs your club that football will still be played there.

As for the likes of Jim Traynor, your excuse of why Newco getting put into division 3 isn't sporting integrity is ignorant. You probably have no idea about Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham. You completely ignore the fact that Rangers for the past 20 years has had a lot of success in Europe and Scottish football due to tax avoidance. Meanwhile Rangers mounted up debts they had no chance of paying. Clubs and fans will like seeing a big opponent fall but it's way down on the list why Newco won't be admitted into the SPL. Open your eyes and see the big picture. Stop thinking that this is Rangers football Club, you can be related to your history but if Newco win's a title it will be it's first.