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Rangers newco in Division Three

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Rangers "newco" will start life in the Third Division of the Scottish Football League after the organisation's member clubs voted to decide the fate of the former SPL giants.

The 30 SFL clubs met at Hampden Park on Friday to determine the future of Charles Green's Sevco Scotland Limited, who were refused admission into the Scottish top flight.

The SPL and Scottish Football Association were hopeful Rangers would be parachuted into the First Division, with SFA chief executive Stewart Regan claiming that putting the Ibrox club into the Third Division would bring financial catastrophe and a "slow, lingering death" of the game.

The SFA and SPL had offered a reorganisation of the structure if Rangers were placed in Division One, but a majority of SFL sides intimated before the ballot that Rangers should start in the bottom tier of Scottish football and 25 of the 30 clubs voted in favour of such a measure.

SFL chief executive David Longmuir said: "The member clubs of the Scottish Football League have today voted to willingly accept The Rangers Football Club as an associate member of the Scottish Football League.

"Furthermore, the Scottish Football League's only acceptable position will be to place Rangers FC into the Third Division of the Irn-Bru Scottish Football League from the start of this season."

Longmuir also stated that he was 'comfortable' with the outcome of the vote and that the decision from the SFL clubs was taken with the sport's best interests at heart.

He said: "Today's decision has been one of the most difficult for all concerned but it has been taken in the best interest of sporting fairness which is the fundamental principle of the Scottish Football League.

"The Scottish Football League has been entirely consistent with our willingness to work with other bodies to ensure that we focus on rebuilding our game, restoring pride in our game and exploring revenue streams and our willingness to achieve these aims does not alter."

Raith Rovers chairman Turnbull Hutton revealed that Green, Regan and Rangers manager Ally McCoist addressed the meeting and said: "It was a good meeting that was handled well and all the issues came out. There was also a good hearing for those who came into the meeting.

"The league made a decision and I think it was the right decision and the right process and I'm proud to be a member of the Scottish Football League.''

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