• SPL

Rangers will not attend SPL hearing

Charles Green: "The club cannot continue to participate in an SPL process that we believe is fundamentally misconceived.'' © Getty Images

Enlarge

Rangers have refused to co-operate with the Scottish Premier League inquiry into alleged undisclosed payments to players by a previous Ibrox regime.

Chief executive Charles Green announced on Monday the club would not attend the opening hearings of the SPL-appointed independent commission into the matter, due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Green said in a statement: "The club cannot continue to participate in an SPL process that we believe is fundamentally misconceived.''

He went on to accuse the SPL of hypocrisy and insisted it had no legal authority over his Third Division club. Green questioned the independence of the three-man panel, which is chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith and includes two QCs, and threatened legal action if SPL titles are stripped from Rangers.

The commission, due to hold procedural hearings this week but not hear evidence, was appointed following initial assessment of Employee Benefit Trust transactions to Rangers players from 2000 to 2011, which could breach SPL rules over declaring payments in contracts.

Green's company bought the assets and business of the soon-to-be liquidated oldco Rangers and secured the club's SFA membership but was denied entry to the SPL.

"The club ceased to be subject to the SPL's rules when it was ejected from its league,'' he said. "Our lawyers have made that point repeatedly to the SPL in correspondence and yet our requests for an explanation from the SPL have been completely ignored. The SPL's silence on these issues is deafening. The outcome of the SPL's process will have no legal effect.''

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.