Rangers owner Charles Green has been very vocal in his opposition to the SFAs new reconstruction plans for Scottish football. The current structure of Scottish football is a 12-team top league with three leagues of 10 below it. Under the new proposals there will be a first and second division of 12 teams and a bottom division of 18 teams. Charles Green believes the SFA proposals to be unfair on his club as if they win promotion from the Scottish Third Division this season then they will still be playing the same teams next season. This is despite the fact that Rangers are still being promoted from the fourth-tier of Scottish football to the third. In fact Green is so angry about this that he has said he no longer wants Rangers to be part of Scottish football and that he wants his team to move to the English league system. This is an issue in which both halves of the Old Firm have raised in recent years, and every time UEFA and the FA have said it will not happen. Normally that is the end of the issue until someone else raises it again. But in an interview with
TalkSport today, Charles Green has said that he will sue UEFA on the grounds of sexual discrimination if they dont allow his club to play in England. He said,
"As the structures stand now, there are not many options , Green told Talksport. But I'm not one for hiding my light behind a bushel. "People say you can't go into England because you are not allowed cross-borders (leagues). "Well there is now a cross-border (league). You have a UEFA-sanctioned professional women's league in Belgium and Holland, so we have a precedent there. "If there was an opportunity to join a cross-border league and that was challenged by UEFA, I would go to Strasbourg and challenge the sexual equality." "People say you are not allowed in the English league - well let's then kick Cardiff and Swansea out, because they are playing in a different country, he said. "People are saying Wales is fine but Scotland is not. We cannot have a situation where one of the Union is annexed by the football bodies but Wales can join. It's rubbish."
What Culture's Adam Henderson files his opinion on the above news below;
Since Charles Green bought the assets of the liquidated Rangers in the summer and reformed them as a new club, he has become a very controversial character in Scottish football. He has often released statements which are highly inflammatory or controversial but not entirely factual. Many people believe that he is trying to pander to the lowest element of the Rangers support so they will back him. And this seems to have worked as initially most fans didnt like him and Green himself claimed that he was sent death threats by some. But now he is a popular figure amongst fans as they believe that he is the only man brave enough to defend them from those who have an agenda against the club. Although, if you listen to a Rangers fan, then that is just about everyone in the world. Although he has been very successful in gaining the support of Rangers fans, Green has become something of a laughing stock amongst fans of other Scottish football clubs. His latest comment has proven to be slightly more ridiculous than his normal statements. But it is along the familiar lines of Green coming out with sensationalised and non-factual statements every time Rangers are in the news. Considering that all 7 male Liechtensteiner clubs play in a cross-border league with Switzerland its hard to see how Greens potential lawsuit against UEFA on the grounds of sexual discrimination would hold any weight. Although there are cases of individual football teams playing in another country, such as Derry City, Monaco and the Welsh clubs in England, these are only due to exceptional circumstances and usually date back to before UEFA were founded in 1958. AS Monaco play in the French because the country have very close ties to France and it is the only way they could have a top European club considering how small the population is and because Monaco (the country) is not a member of UEFA. This dates back to 1924. Similarly, Swansea, Wrexham and Cardiff all play in the English league and all have done so since before the Second World War. The three clubs were all very strong teams and because no Welsh league existed at the time they were invited into the English league by the FA. If the FA had extended the same invitation to Rangers at the time it would have been flatly rejected as the Scottish league was much stronger and richer than the English league and Rangers would not have wanted to play there. The only possible precedent Charles Green could have would be the case of Derry City. The club who are from the Republican city of Derry in Northern Ireland initially played in the Northern Irish league but eventually withdrew after The Troubles in Northern Ireland started in the late 1960s. The club were not allowed to play their home games in Derry as the police felt it was unsafe. They were instead forced to play them 30 miles away in the mainly unionist town of Coleraine. Most Derry fans didnt want to travel there due to the politician situation and distance so eventually Derry withdrew from the league in 1972. They become the second Irish Nationalist club to withdraw from the league after Belfast Celtic had also done so 30 years before. After 13 years playing junior football Derry City were eventually granted special dispensation by the Northen Irish Football Association and FIFA which allowed them to play their football in the Republic of Ireland. So if Charles Green is going to sue UEFA then Derry City would be a much better precedent than the cross-border Dutch/Belgian womens league. However, Derry City were allowed to play in another league because they faced bigotry from opposing clubs and the police force which made it impossible for them to continue in their league. Rangers, on the other hand, have faced no such issues and in fact the SFA helped them out in the summer when they allowed then new Rangers into the Third Division after the old Rangers had liquidated. Charles Green should look at how Derry City were treated and be thankful that his club dont have to face the same thing. And maybe in future he should be more grateful that his new club are allowed to play football, rather than threaten to sue everyone whenever there is a perceived injustice against Rangers.