Is Ashley allowed to own that sort of percemtage of a second Club ?

8% may not seem a lot to some people but actually it is

Seems to be Jake. Maybe because it's not another English club it's ok ?

They are not allowed to be in the same UEFA competition I think, other than that, no restrictions.

There was talk of league reconstruction to speed up Rangers return to the SPL but now in a bizarre turn of events. A new convoluted league format has been proposed. That will see Rangers stay in the bottom tier should they win the league. You couldn't make this up....

http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/clubs...-within-weeks/

The plan is to implement a top flight "Premiership" of 12 clubs, a 12-club "Championship" beneath and a third tier "National League" of 18 clubs.

After two rounds of games, the top two tiers would split into three sub-leagues of eight teams. The top eight would contest the league title and European places with the middle eight settling promotion and relegation.

That middle league of eight, made up of SPL1's bottom four teams and SPL2's top four, would see their points reset. They would then play 14 matches, facing each other both home and away, with the four highest placed sides at the end of the campaign playing in the subsequent season's top division.

Supporters have voiced their unhappiness at the plans, which were unsuccessfully experimented with in both Austria and Switzerland in the late 80s and early 90s.

:shs:

Three leagues each splitting up and merging top and bottom clubs... total madness, no country in Europe does this. Another nail in the coffin of Scottish football. Lets hope Sky can influence things.... because as it stands Rangers would be in the new larger bottom tier of 18, playing all the same clubs again for another year !

'Gers should quit Scotland'
 

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headli...-quit-scotland


CHARLES GREEN will recommend to the Board that Rangers try to find an escape route from Scottish football if the 12-12-18 reconstruction plans are pushed through.

The Chief Executive knows that in the current political climate it is difficult to play anywhere else, but he firmly believes that Rangers should explore all options as he is firmly against the proposals being hurried through.

In an exclusive interview with RangersTV, Green pulls no punches as he criticises a set-up which he feels most supporters don’t want.
He says the new set-up will render the remainder of the season meaningless and he insists it is only cash that is driving the adoption of the plan.

He said: “If this does happen what is the point of us finishing the season? Why should we send players out to get broken noses – like Ross Perry last week – or have players getting surgery when no-one can get promoted and no-one can get relegated.

“We might as well have a winter break now til next August. I can’t see any point in carrying on with meaningless matches.
“In what league do you win a division and then end up playing the same teams again the following season? There is no meaning to it, in reality.

“I haven’t read anything other than what is in the press and if that is what we have sat here eagerly awaiting to transform Scottish football, my advice to the board of Rangers is the quicker we can leave Scottish football the better.

“I can’t see anything that is going to transform the finances, the status or the excitement.”

Green knows that there is resistance by the European and World authorities to clubs playing in other countries, but there is strong feeling for a ‘Beneliga’ involving the top 12 teams in Holland the top eight in Belgium.

And Standard Liege have threatened to try to join Ligue 1 in France if permission for the Beneliga is not granted.

Green added: “On first glance, of course, there is nowhere for us to go because FIFA have made their feelings known on cross-border leagues.

“However, we have noted the comments of Standard Liege recently and what Peter Lawwell said at his AGM a few weeks ago when he discussed the changes in Europe.

“Hand on heart today there isn’t an option but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start looking for an option.

“If all we have to look forward to over the next four years is more madness then we would be failing as directors not to explore the alternatives.”

Agree with the point about the leagues, what is the point of winning League 3 and knowing next season you start in League 3 and also must be a doubt on the legality of changing the rules halfway through the season.

I also see a Bosman ruling coming up here and one of the clubs taking UEFA/FIFA to the European Courts citing free trade and movement and how the present rules prevent this.

I think they should take over Colwyn Bay FC and enter the English leagues. It would be difficult to ban them because they are not based in England.

Wodger you make two good points here. Both touched on today in interviews by manager Ally McCoist and chairman Charles Green.


http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/r...d-be-promoted/

Ally McCoist believes Rangers will be denied promotion under plans to restructure the Scottish football league which he says "lack sporting integrity".

The Ibrox boss believes the "small minded" proposal, which would see the current four-tier format change to three leagues, would unfairly penalise his side and render the current season meaningless.

Under the plans, Rangers would take up a place in the third tier of the league, a step up from their current position in tier four.

Although they would move up if they can clinch the Third Division title this campaign, they would be joined by every other team currently plying their trade in the bottom tier.

McCoist instead believes a way should be found for his team to be advanced out of the proposed new bottom tier.

"I don't think reconstruction can go through," he said. "It lacks sporting integrity. I don't think you can change during a season.

"All we are looking for is continued fair play. If we win the league then we should be promoted, in my opinion."

Speaking at his traditional Friday news conference, McCoist said he believed a combination of "time, legality and sporting integrity" should hamper plans to push through the planned change for the start of the 2013/14 campaign.

The manager also expressed his unhappiness at Rangers having no vote on the proposals, a circumstance of their admission to the Scottish Football League as associate members in the summer, saying it was a "slap in the coupon" to supporters.

Chief executive Charles Green had spoken earlier in the week of finding a way out of the Scottish league structure if reconstruction plans went ahead.

"Ideally the top league in this country would perfect," added McCoist. "There has been a lot of information coming out in the last week or so but all we want to do is get back to the top league in this country.

"I know Rangers and Celtic have explored avenues to play in different leagues and I would think they would continue to do that.

"But where I'm sitting at the moment, I'd settle for the top league in Scotland.

"Charles is doing his job in the respect that he's exploring avenues for other leagues.

"I can totally understand his dislike for the potential new set-up. If it goes ahead, I would imagine the biggest sufferers again, in my opinion, would be the Rangers supporters."

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/r...iscrimination/

Rangers chief executive Charles Green has claimed that he could take UEFA to court under sex-discrimination laws and says Cardiff and Swansea shouldn’t be in the EPL if Rangers aren’t.

Green is opposed to current plans that would see Scottish league football reshaped into a 12-12-18 structure. He said that he would be recommending to the Rangers board that options to quit Scottish football should be explored.

In a radio interview, he claimed that there was a precedent for cross-border leagues in the women’s game and that he would pursue equality in court.

"As the structures stand now, there are not many options [to leave the Scottish league],” 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."

UEFA’s Executive Committee did sanction a cross-border league in Belgium and Holland, beginning in 2012. However, the competition was only permitted on a trial basis and will be reviewed after three years.

The European governing body told STV that there are no plans for other regional leagues until that trial is finished and none would be sanctioned until its outcome has been evaluated.

Green also said that a route into the English league set-up should be available to Rangers. Citing Swansea City and Cardiff City as examples, he said they should be removed from the English league if Scottish sides aren’t permitted to join.

"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."

Was reading that Wales is a principality like Monaco so their clubs are allowed to compete in their parent countries league whilst Scotland is a country.

That said I can see a new league set up with Scandinavian teams, Scottish and maybe Irish and then would be a legal fight with UEFA if they didn't sanction it.

Berwick Rangers play in Scotland, and I remember Gretna being in the English leagues. I hope a way can be found to help Rangers play down here.