Rangers newco apply to join SFL after SPL rejection

Charles Green has confirmed that Rangers will apply for Scottish Football League membership.

At a Hampden meeting on Wednesday, Scottish Premier League clubs "voted overwhelmingly" to reject the application from Green's Rangers newco.

Green said that he was "deeply disappointed" by the 'no' vote.

He added: "If our application were to be accepted, Rangers will play in whichever division the SFL sees fit and we will move forward from there."

Rangers went into administration in February owing up to £134m to unsecured creditors. The club will eventually be liquidated and its registrations with the Scottish FA and SPL were terminated.

The majority of SPL clubs had indicated they were against the newco application prior to the vote but Green complained that he had been given "false hope" of success.

"We are deeply disappointed that our application to rejoin the SPL has been rejected overwhelmingly by the member clubs," explained Green.

"This time last week, all of us at Rangers were resigned to the fact that we would not be admitted, due mainly to the public declarations of clubs indicating they would not support our application.

"At the weekend, we were approached by representatives from the SPL suggesting our application still stood a chance of success and we should discuss this further with clubs. This we did in good faith but with the knowledge of the hurdles that lay ahead of us.

"We had asked the SPL whether it would be more appropriate for us to withdraw our application but were advised against this.

"We made a presentation to the SPL clubs this morning, detailing our proposals in support of our application and this included what we believed to be penalties and sanctions that would have dealt fairly with the difficulties caused by events at Rangers prior to our acquisition of the club on 14 June.

"Sadly, this was rejected by the other clubs and we regret that our club and our supporters were given false hope by this initiative.

"We will now proceed as we had planned from late June to apply for membership of the SFL.

"It is entirely a matter for them whether our application will be accepted or rejected and we will make no representation to any member club prior to that application being considered.

"We also recognise that the SPL has been placed in a difficult position because of the way events have unfolded."

SFL clubs met on Tuesday to discuss an SFA proposal that would see Rangers enter Division One and are expected to put the matter to a vote on 12 July.

A simple majority is required in that ballot, with 12 of the 30 clubs already publicly opposed, while Dundee, who stand to take up the SPL vacancy in the tabled plan, say they have been told they cannot vote.

Cowdenbeath, whose chairman Donald Findlay QC is a former Rangers vice chairmain, said they would support Rangers' application to join the SFL, but only if the Ibrox club entered the Third Division.