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