Tweet
Rangers demoted to Third Division
By Julian Guyer | AFP – 4 hours ago
l
Rangers will play in the Third Division next season following a vote of Scottish Football League (SFL) clubs on Friday in a move that could have enormous consequences for the entire future of Scottish football.
Already expelled from the Scottish Premier League (SPL), following months of financial turmoil that led to the formation of a new company or newco, Rangers were dropped to the lowest tier of Scottish league football during a meeting of Scottish Football League chairmen.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan had said that demoting Rangers to the Third Division -- the fourth tier -- would cause financial catastrophe and a "slow, lingering death" of the Scottish game.
Regan argued the 140-year-old Rangers, Scottish football's most successful club, should be dropped just one league to the First Division.
But at a news conference after Friday's meeting at Glasgow's Hampden Park it was announced that 25 out of the 30 SFL clubs had voted for Rangers to be entered into the Third Division instead.
And that meant Rangers, a club with an average home attendance of over 46,000 at Ibrox, would be playing sides such as East Stirling, whose average gate at Ochilview Park, the ground they rent from Stenhousemuir, is just 321 out of a capacity 3,776.
"It has been a very, very important day for Scottish football," said SFL chief executive David Longmuir. "The only acceptable position will be to place Rangers FC into the Third Division from that start of this season, 2012/13.
By Julian Guyer | AFP – 4 hours ago
l
Rangers will play in the Third Division next season following a vote of Scottish Football League (SFL) clubs on Friday in a move that could have enormous consequences for the entire future of Scottish football.
Already expelled from the Scottish Premier League (SPL), following months of financial turmoil that led to the formation of a new company or newco, Rangers were dropped to the lowest tier of Scottish league football during a meeting of Scottish Football League chairmen.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan had said that demoting Rangers to the Third Division -- the fourth tier -- would cause financial catastrophe and a "slow, lingering death" of the Scottish game.
Regan argued the 140-year-old Rangers, Scottish football's most successful club, should be dropped just one league to the First Division.
But at a news conference after Friday's meeting at Glasgow's Hampden Park it was announced that 25 out of the 30 SFL clubs had voted for Rangers to be entered into the Third Division instead.
And that meant Rangers, a club with an average home attendance of over 46,000 at Ibrox, would be playing sides such as East Stirling, whose average gate at Ochilview Park, the ground they rent from Stenhousemuir, is just 321 out of a capacity 3,776.
"It has been a very, very important day for Scottish football," said SFL chief executive David Longmuir. "The only acceptable position will be to place Rangers FC into the Third Division from that start of this season, 2012/13.
Comment