For the uninitiated, the spectacular fall from grace experienced by Rangers football club serves as a cautionary tale for all football clubs across the world. In broad strokes, Rangers were discovered to have been paying players and staff using something called an EBT (employee benefits trust) which, it has been alleged, is illegal and constitutes tax evasion according to the HMRC. The total sum has been quoted at approximately £94 million owed by Rangers now including all fees, though the 'old co' will be responsible for this. The penalties handed down were a demotion to the third division of Scottish Football and a transfer embargo for this season. Despite shedding the 'old co' and becoming the 'new co' Rangers still face a number of issues, the most important of which are listed here.
1. Promotion
Rangers are now faced with a mountain to climb as they make their way back up to the SPL from division 3 and already Rangers are finding it far from smooth sailing. 7 games played reads 3 wins (All at home), 3 draws and 1 loss (all 4 away from home) leaving them sitting in 4th place. Furthermore, they suffered a humiliating elimination by Queen of the South in the Ramsdens cup. It should be noted that when Gretna football club did the same thing they deliberately bought older players with lower league experience, something Ally McCoist has not done. Instead he opted to buy established premier league talent, but the premier league is nowhere near as combative and the grounds are far less sure. Should they not achieve promotion, the ramifications could be spectacularly bad.
2. War with the SPL
Charles Green, the owner of Rangers, has stated that should Rangers achieve promotion to the Scottish Premier League and it is still run by the people currently running the SPL, they would reject promotion. This would delight the Scottish Football League, as it would mean two things: one, that they hang on to one half of the biggest rivalry in Scottish football who, even now, regularly pull in 50,000 fans for home games; and two, that an advantageous restructure of Scottish football might take place. It should also be remembered that the ill-advised terms of the SPL's deal with Sky relied heavily on the Old firm being in place and while that issue has a pin in it at present it remains to be tackled.