Rangers demoted to Third Division

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. "Today's (Friday's) decision has been one of the most difficult for all concerned but it has been taken in the best interest of sporting fairness, which is the fundamental principle of the SFL." Safeguarding the multi-million pound commercial deals on which Scotland's professional clubs rely so heavily was central to Regan's stance, with a new television deal worth £80 million ($125m) over five seasons reputedly dependent on the screening of four Rangers v Celtic Old Firm derbies a season. Broadcasters were said to be prepared to go no more than one year without these showcase matches. Prior to Friday's vote, there had been talk regarding the creation of a new 'SPL 2' were Rangers sent down to the Third Division as a way of speeding up their return to the top-flight and so preventing a major financial hit for all of Scotland's leading clubs. However, Rangers new chief executive Charles Green said the club accepted Friday's decision. "We are grateful to be accepted as members of the SFL and accept their decision to vote us into Division Three," he told Rangers' website. "From the outset, we made clear we would play where we were told to play and we just want to get back to playing football." Meanwhile Regan, said to favour an 'SPL 2', opted for far less apocalyptic language after Friday's decision than he had used in the run-up to the vote. "In light of today's decision by the members of the Scottish Football League, the Scottish FA is committed to leading the challenge to reinvigorate the national game," he said. It has still to be decided if Dunfermline, relegated from the SPL last season, or First Division runners-up Dundee will take Rangers' place in next term's top-flight. Police are conducting a criminal investigation into the takeover of Rangers by Craig Whyte in May 2011. Businessman Whyte bought an 85% shareholding in Rangers for £1 from previous owner Sir David Murray and made several pledges regarding investment and paying off the club's bank debt. However, Rangers went into administration on February 14 this year following court action from UK tax officials. That saw Rangers, 54-times champions of Scotland and 33-times Scottish Cup winners as well as the 1972 European Cup Winners' Cup champions, docked 10 points -- a decision that effectively handed the SPL title to Celtic. Administrators announced subsequently Rangers had failed to pay about £9 million ($14m) in tax since Whyte's takeover.