"Justice Must be Seen to be Done"

[Joe O'Rourke]

[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]I certainly don’t want to get involved in a hypothetical argument; and certainly not one that involves another club; but I feel I have to make a comment after receiving numerous emails from member branches of the Association.[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]They all ask the same question; will Rangers if they go into liquidation be allowed to maintain their position in the SPL as a Newco; Playing in the same stadium with the same players and the same infrastructure?[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]I really can’t answer that; but can anyone really see the majority of the other SPL clubs voting in favour of kicking them out? I certainly can’t; with maybe the obvious exception of Mr Romanov at Hearts; and of course Celtic.[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]What must happen if they are found guilty is; (and I will contact Mr Doncaster at the appropriate time) the punishment must fit the crime; if Rangers are found guilty of cheating for over ten years; then they must impose sanctions that will reflect that; it certainly cannot be a one-off ten point deduction.[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]I don’t think for one moment they will impose sanctions for ten years; but it should be at least three or four years; and any trophies that were won during that period of cheating; should then be awarded to whichever team was runners-up; and the history books and records amended to reflect that.[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]What Rangers did over that period of time was to operate with a significant advantage in operating cost; due to the non-payment of taxes; and that advantage was gained in European football as well as domestic football.[COLOR=#000000:fe67db38]There have been several precedents to use as a guideline for the SPL’s action; Airdrie, Dundee, and Gretna to name but a few; I’m sure in the weeks to come the Scottish media will be canvassing for a meagre punishment; if they are found guilty our fans will need to do everything in our power to see that justice is done.

[hen1rik]

Great article Joe,

The Integrity of Scottish Football is at stake here Joe and if they do not get punished and if the other SPL teams make the wrong choices then i for one do not see why we should support the other SPL teams in this country.

I have a feeling the boycott of the away grounds will be a must and we must hit hem hard in the pocket.

The media in this country will never change Joe, the succulent lamb brigade as we like to call them and they have No shame, no morals.

They can try and force the opinion on us but it will not work, i had to laugh at Keevins the other week.

He said I'm sick of the Celtic fans phoning this show about the tax cax, lets wait and see what happens, well sorry Shuggy the tax dodgers have cheated their way to titles and champions league revenue and it's our team that's suffered.

The one thing that annoys me in all of this is, our club have have been running a tight ship for years and now because they are in a dire financial position we've all now to say yes no problem rangers its ok to cheat the country out of millions and let them back in.

They better suffer or the SPL will not know what's hit them, we as fans will make sure the whole country knows what a corrupt country Scotland is.

[celticfanzone]

Joe, the campaign to 'ease the punishment' has already begun!

[Guest]

The country would be better off without the Huns, do not forget the bile spouted by the other "wee diddy" teams on out travels. It always bothers me particularly at Easter Road where the HIBERNIAN fans are full of their hatred of Neil Lennon and Celtic. I am talking about the main centre stand here.

[Guest]

a loss of any major honours gained over the offending period is only right. i live in australia were this happened to a high profile rugby league team. the league over here has a strict salary cap, which makes it hard to attract to many top players in one team. but the melbourne storm had a way round this by paying top players with ''gifts'' such as houses, cars, holidays etc. they were highly successful over a 3 year period, but when found guilty were stripped of their honours over the offending period. the only right thing to do.

[Guest]

Are you so sure that Celtic would vote against Rangers being accepted back into the SPL?

For financial reasons (such as the television money) it would make financial sense to allow Rangers back into the SPL. Perhaps everyone who supports football in Scotland will learn more about the clubs we support in how they vote on this matter.

Perhaps all Celtic fans should petition the club to tell them how the fans want them to vote!