THE SFA SHOULD RETURN RANGERS’ £50,000 FINE Monday, 23rd April 2012 was the day on which Rangers were fined a whooping £160,000 by the Scottish Football Association, and handed the controversial one year registration ban. The SFA said that Rangers had been given the maximum £50,000 fine for going into administration, or “experiencing an insolvency event”, whilst the remainder of the fine was made up of £10,000 for breaching SFA rules, and £100,000 for allegedly breaching rule 66 by bringing the game into disrepute. The same SFA tribunal also imposed a sanction, “prohibiting Rangers FC, for a period of 12 months from the date of determination, from seeking registration with the SFA of any player not currently with the club, excluding any player under the age of 18 years”. At the time, Stewart Regan said, “The Scottish FA has a responsibility to all its members and must implement its rules without fear or favour. The Scottish FA must act with integrity and with the best interests of the game at heart. It is with this in mind that we await any appeal from the club.” The subsequent Rangers’ appeal was dealt with by the SFA’s Appellate tribunal, chaired by Lord Carloway on 16 May 2012, and upheld all of the decisions taken by the original Disciplinary Panel, although the registration ban was later ruled unlawful by Lord Glennie at the Edinburgh Court of Session. The sanctions meted out by the SFA at its original Disciplinary panel and, subsequently endorsed by its Appellate Tribunal were significant precedents, which were described by Stewart Regan as, “proportionate to the breach, dissuasive to others and effective in the context of serious misconduct”. Yet these precedents were quickly swept aside by the SFA in its desire to keep Dunfirmline and Hearts afloat, and the principle of applying its rules ‘without fear or favour’ was unceremoniously ditched to accommodate more moderate sanctions for both clubs. Fast forward to April 2013 and, two months later, to June 2013, and Dunfermline and Hearts are in administration and immediately deducted the requisite 15 points for “experiencing an insolvency event”. In addition both are handed registration bans and prohibited from signing new players older than 21, until December 31, and 1 February respectively. To the amazement of almost everyone (including the anti-Rangers media) neither Dunfermline nor Hearts suffered a financial penalty, and neither was required to shoulder their registration ban for more than 7 months. Even the most ardent Rangers haters were embarrassed by the blatant inconsistency. So why the differential treatment? Why was Rangers subjected to a £50,000 fine and a 12 month registration ban, when Dunfermline and Hearts received no financial penalty and a much shorter registration ban relating to players 21 or over as opposed to the Rangers ban on players 18 and over? Despite the fact that all three clubs suffered a similar insolvency event as a consequence of the financial mismanagement and potential criminal conduct of rogue owners, the treatment meted out to Rangers was much more draconian, and in stark contrast to that imposed on Dunfermline and Hearts. Last year Rangers could ill- afford to pay a fine of any sort in circumstances where players were being forced to take a 75% pay cut to avoid staff redundancies, and at a time when the club was on the brink of financial ruin. Dunfermline and Hearts now find themselves in precisely the same position, although it appears that attitudes have dramatically moderated since Rangers were in the ‘frame’ last year. It now seems that the Scottish Football Association, however belatedly, has realised the error of its ways and has prevailed upon its Disciplinary Panels to exercise some common sense in the application of sanctions. And rightly so; after all, what is the point in imposing a fine on a football club that has just went into administration because it’s insolvent – because it has no money in its coffers? Why heap agony upon agony in circumstances where the clubs concerned can’t pay the taxman, their players or their creditors, let alone a whooping fine imposed by the football authorities? The fact is that Dunfermline and Hearts are in the same position now that we were in last year, and can no more afford to pay a fine than we could a year ago. But, of course, one year on the ‘atmosphere’ at Hampden Park has suddenly become much more benign and supportive. Dunfermline and Hearts are not to be treated in the manner that Rangers were, but will receive much more preferential treatment – the atmosphere will be one of understanding, sympathy, support and assistance. “I’d love to go into the SFA’s wallet and give Hearts the money to make their problems disappear’” said Stewart Regan in a recent interview with the Daily Record. “Wouldn’t it be nice if the SFA had a bottomless pit of money and could make everything better for those in distress?” Isn’t that just wonderful of Stewart – how thoughtful – how understanding! It almost brought a tear to my eye. What a pity that he couldn’t be so magnanimous toward Rangers when we were at our lowest ebb? Where was the sympathy and understanding of the SFA when we so badly needed it last year? Nevertheless, it seems that a degree of common sense has finally descended upon the mandarins at Hampden Park, and the frenzy to put the boot into Rangers has abated somewhat because the financial realities of life without Rangers in the top flight is finally hitting home; or maybe it’s because the potential demise of Dunfermline and Hearts has brought the spectre of total meltdown so much closer. Whatever the reason, it may be that Stewart Regan’s remarks offer an opportunity to right the wrong done to Rangers. Perhaps, it’s not too late to redress the blatant injustice done to our club. But will Stewart Regan and his cabal at the SFA offer an olive branch? Alas, I very much doubt it. Craig Mather’s timely statement, and his request for clarification of the recent Dunfermline and Hearts decisions, offers the SFA a unique opportunity to rectify the injustices done to Rangers by the imposition of the £50,000 fine and the ill-conceived and unlawful registration embargo. His request for clarity offers Regan’s SFA the opportunity to treat all member clubs in the even-handed manner that was so obviously lacking last summer, and to reinstate the principles of fairness and equity so cynically jettisoned during the Rangers crisis of 2012. “The Scottish FA has a responsibility to all its members and must implement its rules without fear or favour” he insists, yet he has never acted with any vestige of integrity, and has signally failed in to apply the rules “without fear or favour”. But now he has the opportunity to do the right thing by refunding the £50,000 unjustly and unreasonably imposed upon Rangers in April last year, and by offering a public apology for the cant and hypocrisy of the SFA over the past 18 months. Stewart Regan and the SFA know that our concern is not about the punishment meted out to Dunfermline and Hearts but, rather, about rectifying the injustice done to Rangers. We have no desire to see either club punished as unfairly and unjustly as we were. We know that Dunfermline and Hearts are going through hell at the moment – a hell that every Rangers employee and fan knows only too well – and we wish them luck in their journey back to financial stability. This is not about penalising either club unfairly because we were penalised unfairly. This is not about seeking the same unjust sanctions for Dunfermline and Hearts, because they were unjustly imposed on us. There is no justification for imposing a £50,000 fine on Hearts or Dunfermline, just as there was no justification for imposing it on Rangers. No, this is all about the inequity and unfairness of the penalties imposed upon Rangers last year and so conspicuously avoided by the SFA in its consideration of the Dunfermline and Hearts cases this year. It’s about an SFA disciplinary system that is inconsistent; subject to the vindictive whims of football administrators; open to the malign influence and manipulation of vested interests and subject to the perverse agendas of those who wish to damage Rangers Football Club. It’s about the ‘make it up as you go along’ culture that pervades the corridors of Hampden Park when it comes to all things relating to Rangers. This is about the SFA accepting that they got it horribly wrong; it’s about their crass insensitivity and their collective incompetence; their indifference, their bias and hypocrisy and their unwillingness to give us a fair ‘crack of the whip’. It’s about a corrupt system that allows our club to be mercilessly sanctioned whilst others are treated benignly in similar circumstances. But, above all, this is about the SFA doing the honourable thing and doing what it knows to be right! It’s about acting with real integrity, rather than the ‘sporting’ kind they trot out with such nauseating regularity. Restitution must be made and our £50,000 returned forthwith. That is the only sensible outcome, and if they really wish to act “without fear or favour” that is what they must do. Regrettably, however, I don’t believe that will happen, and when the SFA declines to offer that restitution, they will bear the sole responsibility for the war that will inevitably follow.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 11:44:13 +0000
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