By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Glasgow Rangers, one of the world’s most iconic clubs, filed for administration today in arguably the starkest example yet of football’s fragile finances.
The record 54-times champions of Scotland lodged the notice with the Court of Session in Edinburgh and have five days in which to declare that administrators have taken over the running of the club.
The move comes as Rangers await a tax tribunal decision over financial penalties totalling £49 million ($77 million/€58 million).
If the club is formally put into administration, it faces an immediate 10-point deduction from the Scottish Premier League, a massive humiliation for one of the best supported clubs in the world and one half of Scotland’s famous “Old Firm” duo.
Rangers recently sold Croatian star Nikica Jelavić to Everton but that was not nearly enough to get the blue half of Glasgow out of its financial crisis.
Reports suggested Rangers could face a bill of between £30 million ($47 million/€36 million) and £50 million ($79 million/€60 million) if they lose a dispute with the tax authorities.
Last week owner Craig Whyte (pictured) said the club he bought nine months ago for £1 ($1.6/€1.2) were entering the “toughest few weeks” in their 140-year history, both due to current monies owed and massive overspending before his arrival.
In the worst case scenario, Rangers, formed in 1873, would be formally wound up.
However, it is more likely they would be docked 10 points, leaving them 14 points behind arch-rivals Celtic, while the mess is sorted out by the appointed administrators who would take over all the club’s assets and decide how to raise enough money to keep them alive.
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