JohnnyB

But they still haven't realised that no-one else would touch them!

Hopefully it will be a formality for Newco to register withthe SFA and that the SFL will announce soon who moves into SFL1 & SFL2 sowe can get on with next seasons football. What’s next? Shufflearound some teams but we still have the same structure. The authorities nowneed to quickly get together and agree a plan for restructuring for the benefitof the whole of Scottish football. If the SPL or anyone else tries to protecttheir own interests by stalling things or not playing ball, then the SFA needto kick them into touch and lead the change with or without those resisting thechange. I think most of us would agreethat the first thing that needs to happen is change at the top. Over recent months we have all witnessed theway those leading have behaved and as the saying goes “if you can’t change thepeople, change the people”. I’d like to think with Newco playing in SFL 3 next seasonthere will be far greater focus on restructuring. However, unless there is radical change ofpersonalities and behaviours at the top, we, the fans, cannot sit back in thehope that they will take care of it. We need to keep up the pressure. One things for sure, just like the Arab spring, countriesand now organisations at home are now witnessing how powerful social media canbe. The next person to lead the SFA, SPLor SFL should read this thread as handover / takeover notes. They will be talking about the ‘power ofsocial media’ and pointing to P&B at universities across the UK for yearsto come!

They are even getting a kicking in the gaming world! Will Rangers be part of FIFA 13? http://www.joe.ie/entertainment/video-games/will-rangers-be-part-of-fifa-13-ea-sports-have-their-say-0026917-1

I think they will get a very decent support initially as they will rally round and put a brave face on things, however I expect the attendance to drop as the season goes on and if they are still not in the top tier next season, then they will struggle to attract relatively decent crowds.

Apologies if already posted! http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/rangers-lowest-league-victory-fans 'Rangers' starting in the lowest league is a victory for fans over an inept elite A grassroots network has exposed the connivances at the top of the game. Now's our chance to rebuild Scottish football It's worth getting a few things straight before kick-off. This isn't about "relegating" Rangers. Rangers don't exist any more. This isn't about Craig Whyte. Craig Whyte's not around any more. It's about a culture of failure, a total lack of transparency and connivance from the very top of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football Association in a rigged cartel that has brought Scottish football to total crisis. The good news is that the inept coterie at the top of the game has been bypassed by ordinary fans and smaller clubs. This is what democracy looks like. Just when you thought the corporate takeover of society was just about complete, an event takes place or a movement pops up to renew your faith and make you realise that big change is not just possible, it's inevitable, because right across society the elite that runs our world is being exposed daily as a corrupt and incompetent failure. Sevco 5088 Ltd being forced to start their existence in Scotland's lowest league is one of these events, and the sweeping grassroots network that made this happen is one of these movements. Only a few months ago this was completely unthinkable, and only a few days ago it seemed like efforts to parachute this new entity into the First Division – the next tier down from the Scottish Premier League – by Neil Doncaster, the now utterly discredited SPL chief executive, would succeed. Sporting integrity, or integrity of any kind, would, it seemed, be crushed under the weight of corporate expectation, a conflation of embedded sports and business journalists and the staggering sense of entitlement of Rangers and their allies in the governing bodies. Instead, incredibly, we've just seen the transformation of Scottish football, realised almost entirely through Twitter and key websites that have proliferated as the story has dominated every media outlet for over a year: the award-winning Rangers Tax Case, fans site Pie and Bovril, rebel journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bhain, Wings Over Scotland, Scotzine and Paul McConville to name a few. These sites give us hope that what may follow is not just a renaissance in Scottish football but in Scottish media. A core part of this saga has been the failure of the sports and business media with allegations of laziness, partiality and just a complete lack of any critical faculties. Whatever you think of the rights and wrongs of Rangers, the fact is that the SPL chairmen would have quite happily connived to drop the newco into the top flight. Without the resistance of a network of ordinary fans unconvinced by the governing bodies' (or the mainstream media's) account of things, the money men's perpetual short-termism would have prevailed. Faced with (unsubstantiated) apocalyptic scenarios, ordinary fans put huge pressure on their own clubs in advance of the vote at Hampden this week, withholding their season tickets. The collapse of Rangers and the shock it's put through the entire Scottish game has wider consequences. The allegations of widespread tax evasion and the brutal gangster behaviour of football executives has exposed an entire class of feral businessmen. But this is about more than exposing bad business. The model of endless growth has been challenged. The consequences of consigning Sevco Scotland to start where any new club would start may well mean drastic cuts in Scottish football. Some clubs may have to close or downsize. This is no bad thing. We know we have too many clubs in this country. Endlessly chasing an utterly unsustainable model is failed economics. This has been a profound failure of governance, not just among the series of dodgy geezers who lined up to fleece Rangers fans for decades, but the entire edifice of Scottish football, especially the leadership of Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster. The reality is that the SPL, founded in 1998, has failed by any metric you can choose: attendances, club success in Europe, entertainment value, national team success. Incredibly, since the SPL began, five of its member clubs have entered administration. The newly leaked email from the SFA's Stewart Regan marks him out as a clueless fixer, who's failed at every effort to collude with Rangers. BBC Scotland reported yesterday that a vote of no confidence in Regan was proposed and seconded at last Friday's Scottish Football League meeting. By having the courage to break from the old failed model, the SFL clubs have done the whole of Scottish football a huge favour. There won't be any "social unrest", there will be renewed enthusiasm. More people in Scotland per head of population watch their domestic top-level league than any other European nation. Let's rebuild, let's transform Scottish football. Let's learn the wider lessons not just about the failed corporate economies but the lively powerful networks that can offer an alternative.

http://www.thedrum.c...cottish-premier Former BSkyB football boss reckons the broadcaster will stay loyal to Scottish Premier League after Rangers loss Former BSkyB football boss reckons the broadcaster will stay loyal to the Scottish Premier League (SPL) despite the exit of Rangers FC. The former executive producer of BSkyB's Scottish football coverage claims that the station will stay loyal to the Scottish Premier League (SPL) despite the exit of Rangers FC. However, Colin Davidson has told the Sunday Herald that the broadcaster is likely to renegotiate its deal now that Rangers has been consigned to the Scottish third division. According to the Sunday Herald, the SPL will hold emergency talks with BSkyB today (Monday 16 July) to clarify BSkyB's plans following the loss of Rangers. The media company currently has a £16m-per-season broadcast deal in place with the SPL, which is scheduled to run for one more season. Davidson told the Sunday Herald: "What Sky is facing now is a very different set of circumstances in the SPL. Without Rangers it is a diluted product for any broadcaster. They may well want to renegotiate the contract. "All Sky have to do is listen. It will be up to the SPL to convince them to stay. What they won't do is pay them more money than the product is worth. The deal is worth far more to the SPL than it is to Sky. "If they renegotiate, I think the SPL has done well. I do think Sky will be loyal. They have, historically, been very loyal partners. When they enter into a partnership with any organisation they do their best to be as supportive as they positively can." ESPN has also assured the SPL that it is committed to Scottish football, says The Sunday Herald, which also claimed that a deal could be struck to broadcast the Newco Rangers game in the third division. Scotland on Sunday has also claimed that First Minister Alex Salmond has been urged to use his relationship with Rupert Murdoch to protect the BSkyB deal.

Are there any good guys left?

I know there are a lot of people who would like to see Newco join SFL3 and even their own supporters are starting to say the same, but for different reasons than the rest of us I would assume. There is obviously the sporting integrity aspect which points Newco towards SFL3 and in time with a bit of luck and favour from the bank manager they may survive to reach the top tier in a few years' time. Would we be back to normal, where we have been for decades, with a closed shop and the non-OF teams continuing to fight for the scraps, Scottish football declining and the SPL saying 'f**k you' to the SFL clubs. Or, do the SFL teams swallow their pride and do a deal that will benefit Scottish football, re-structure the leagues, break the OF/SPL monopoly and give more teams a louder voice? I'm sure this option does not sit easy with many, but perhaps it makes sense for the whole of Scottish football. I couldn't give a toss whether Newco survive or die but if the SFL put the nail in their coffin by offering them a place in SFL 3, the SFA & SPL may be more adamant to alienate the SFL and what would we all gain? The SFL are in the best bargaining position they have ever been in and will probably never have another chance like this. If they can get a deal that breaks the monopoly and gives fair power to the non-OF so that we can never return to the current state of affairs, it could be the way ahead!

A couple of days ago they had sold 9,741 ‘season tickets’ for home games in the WC qualifiers and I assume that the added incentive of the package also giving priority for the friendly at Wembley next year helped achieve the 9,741 sold. Whilst I desperately want to get a ticket for the Wembley game next year I have decided to hold back and see what happens with Newco as I personally think that the SFA are the ones, as the games governors, to blame most. If they continue the way they have been, then the national team are finished as far as I’m concerned. Not that there is much joy following Scotland anyway!

Agree. I suspect this to be the case with the SPL clubs given assurances that it would be 'sorted' with Newco having a place in the SPL after 1-year. After all, is this not what has been said with it being either SFL1 or SPL2 being the only options for Newco? The SPL clubs have ensured that they satisfied their own fans and passed the difficult decision to the SFL and let them face the consequences of fans boycotting.

Doesn't matter, the diddies will have to sort it out. The only problem that any of the authorities care about is Newco.

I can't see Club 12 being named until the Newco issue has been addressed. So Dundee or the Pars don't matter as much!

Speak for yourself

RM thread on the merits of applying to join the FA. One of them would even take the Conference! Don't think they realise that the FA wouldn't touch them with a bargepole as they are trying to clean up their act. http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=230314

Anything on Club 12 yet? If not, are we going to see the SPL hold the position vacant until the SFL decide what to do with Newco? The SPL won't give a shit about who Club 12 is as it will not be Newco this season and I don't think they will be in a hurry to name Club 12. Perhaps if the SFL don't put Newco in SFL1 then is there a scenario where Newco sit out for a year and the SPL complete the season with a vacancy? Wouldn't put it past them as a last ditch attempt to protect their finances.