Rangers FC Questions (long)

[yankspurs]

Alright so I am completely lost on this whole thing with Rangers. Can anyone explain to me what exactly happened with them? All I know is that they used to be a good club, went into administration then were knocked back all the way into Scotland's 4th tier. Why was this? Did the Scottish FA really knock them back from SPL one year into Scotland League Two the next or were they banned a year or something?

I searched this subforum and found a thread on them cheating taxes from back in 2012. If that is true, then they certainly deserved to be knocked all the way back into the 4th division. That is unbelievable. Not only did they cheat Scotland and Scottish football, they pretty much cheated the United Kingdom and world football. Definitely deserved to be relegated all the way to their 4th tier.

Anyway, I see that they are essentially guaranteed promotion into the Scottish Championship next year. They ran away with the league last year and are running away with League One this year. Did most of their players stick with them or something? Its crazy how they are running away with their league title 2 years straight. Is Scottish football just so bad that it is essentially Celtic and Rangers then everyone else?

Also, Is there any other club around the world that experienced something similar to Rangers? Maybe not the tax cheating stuff, but getting knocked back from the top division to the lowest in one year and maybe some sketchy dealings in their past?

The reason I am wondering all this is because now that I am a huge Spurs supporter, and my knowledge about the game continues to increase, I am starting to get into the game around the world. Huge scandals like this pique my interest. I know that Italy has had and continues to have problems with match fixing. That is pretty much the extent of what I know regarding football scandals at this point, hahahaha.

I wish football had more coverage here in the states so I would know all this. But that will come as the MLS improves and the USMNT continues to improve. The coverage has already began to increase due to the USMNT's performance in South Africa. Seems that the 2009 CC and 2010 WC got alot of people interested in football. Every EPL match can now be seen in the states, and some Spanish, Italian and French football can be seen from the states on Bein. I've even seen the occasional German football game on there, but not nearly as much as Spanish, Italian and French. Bein and ESPN also have shows dedicated to football too. So when new scandals emerge, I wil actually informed on them! Yipee!

 

[Spurger King]

A mate of mine (and ex-housemate) is a passionate Rangers fan, so I've had the 'pleasure' of getting minute by minute updates on them.

First of all, the Scottish league was a two-horse race for many, many years...far worse than the Barca/Madrid situation. The league title was either won by Glasgow Celtic or Glasgow Rangers, year in, year out. The Scottish Prem ended up cutting the top division in half and having all the teams play four times against each other, for the simple reason that the matches between the two Glasgow teams (dubbed 'the Old Firm derby') were by far and away the biggest TV draws.

Over the years both teams have had their fair share of decent players (such as Laudrup, Gazza, and Henrik Larsson), whereas the rest of the league would probably struggle in the English Championship division. There's also the political/religious rivalry between the teams, with Celtic being historically a Catholic club with strong Irish connections, and Rangers being a Protestant club with strong loyalist connections.

Essentially Glasgow Rangers don't exist now. As you touch upon, their chairman was found to have been financially corrupt, and effectively buying players and paying high wages with money that wasn't theirs - which by extension meant that their recent titles over the last few years were illegally gained. When this was discovered, the club went into administration, and as a result of being completely bankrupt, they ceased to exist.

A new club - Rangers FC - was formed, and applied to take the place of Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. This went to a vote between the rest of the clubs. As you can imagine, it was a subject of fierce debate due to the importance of the Celtic/Rangers rivalry, and the money their games brought to the rest of the league. Essentially why would Sky or any other TV network want to pay good money for a competition that no longer had its main attraction. Not to mention the complaints from one club (I forget which one) that stood to gain promotion if Rangers were expelled.

After a long process, it was eventually decided that Rangers FC could stay in the Scottish league, but would have to start in the bottom division as a new club/business. They had to sell a lot of their players due to the money problems they were continuing to have.

Of course promotion on a yearly basis until they are back in the top division is virtually guaranteed. Each game they play is a sell-out (both home and away, which brings in money at the lower end of Scottish football), plus they still get good TV money, as well as having the reputation to bring in half-decent players. Half the teams they play these days are little more than amateur or pub teams at best.

It's a foregone conclusion that they'll soon get back into the top Scottish division, as they have a massive fan base (one of the biggest in the UK), but I suspect it will take a lot longer for them to catch back up with Celtic.

 

[chrissivad]

Livingston FC were alsi demoted to the bottom division after they went bankrupt, so Rangers got the same punnishment.

they kept a few players, dont think them all, but are a much stronger theam than the leahue they are in.

 

[Syn_13]

Livingston FC were alsi demoted to the bottom division after they went bankrupt, so Rangers got the same punnishment.

they kept a few players, dont think them all, but are a much stronger theam than the leahue they are in.

I don't know why, but when I saw the typo there I started reading it in a Scottish accent. Alsi does sound Scottish...

 

[scottishbairn]

They made a loss of £14mil last financial year. Still spending out with their means but they say they are going to cut the wage bill etc.