Rangers to apply for the Blue Square Premier ?

Richard J

This appeared in the Scottish paper the Daily Record last week.

Not so long ago I would have dismissed this as nonsense but now I could see it happening.

I would still not like it but what would be different to teams like Cardiff,Newport County Swansea or Wrexham?At least they would be asking to start at the bottom.

Conference clubs to discuss possibility of Rangers joining Blue Square Bet Premier

15 Jan 2013 15:23
IBROX chairman Charles Green hinted at a move to the fifth tier of English football last week and Conference chiefs say they will discuss the issue next week.

CONFERENCE chairman Brian Lee has refused to rule out the option of Rangers joining the Blue Square Bet Premier.

The Ibrox club have indicated they could seek to quit Scottish football if league reconstruction plans are approved.

Lee is well aware that any attempts by Rangers to switch south of the border would be met by a number of obstacles.

But he believes such problems are "not insurmountable" and the issue is set to be discussed at a club summit on January 21.

Lee told TalkSport: "On Monday we have a mid-season meeting of clubs so that is a topic for conversation.

"It's up to the clubs to make rule changes.

"There are one or two problems, of course. It's up to FIFA whether a club can change countries or not, so that's the first issue.

"And the second, and probably the most important, is the problem it would create with promotion and relegation and having an uneven number of teams.

"It would be wrong if the Football League would not take Rangers as part of the promotion and relegation system.

"Otherwise they would be in the Conference keeping out a team who might have the wherewithal to go higher in the pyramid.

"But they are not insurmountable problems.

"You will have to have the co-operation of a lot of different organisations to make it possible, but where there is a will there is a way."

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison says Old Firm need to leave Scottish football before national game can thrive
Rangers chief executive Charles Green is unhappy with plans for a 12-12-18 league format, which have been agreed on in principle by the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League.

If approved, the reforms could be introduced as early as next season, leaving Third Division leaders Rangers facing a second season in the bottom tier regardless of title success.

Faced with such a scenario, the Ibrox chief wants the Light Blues to explore opportunities to play their football elsewhere.

Green, who has proposed an alternative 14-14-14 format, believes Rangers fans would back a move to the fifth tier of English football.

Speaking on TalkSport last week, he said: "I could join the Conference and I would be in a higher league than I'm in. It doesn't matter to me (which league Rangers are in).

"I can tell you this, if the only option is to go into England and start at the lowest level, I believe Rangers fans would support that."

iainment

They are desperate aren't they. And no one likes them enough to help them through their self inflicted problems. Numpties.

LenGlover

It would be a step up from Scottish division 3 I suppose.

Does the English game want them though?

Rob62

I don't think the new reforms are the main cause for this, I think Green has bought the club with one eye on moving them to England. The value of his business would increase enormously.

And I actually hope they do move here, think it would be great to have them in the English leagues.

addick1965

I think he may find that the Blue Square Premier is not the lowest level in England,look forward to them in the Northumberland County Alliance Div 5

LenGlover

It would be wrong in my opinion if, say, Dover are deprived of their rightful place in the Conference come the end of the season to accommodate a bunch of Jocks who don't like the league they're in.

colthe3rd

Any chance this is to scare the Scottish Prem into letting them back in next season?

stonemuse

LenGlover said:

It would be wrong in my opinion if, say, Dover Welling are deprived of their rightful place in the Conference come the end of the season to accommodate a bunch of Jocks who don't like the league they're in.

corrected for you Len ;-)

Rob62

LenGlover said:

It would be wrong in my opinion if, say, Dover are deprived of their rightful place in the Conference come the end of the season to accommodate a bunch of Jocks who don't like the league they're in.

I agree, but that wouldn't have to be the case. They could have one season with an extra team in the league, with an extra relegation spot. Obviously not ideal, especially in terms of scheduling, but if the clubs vote yes for it then why not. It would certainly provide a big financial boost, if only a short term one.

LenGlover

stonemuse said:

LenGlover said:

It would be wrong in my opinion if, say, Dover Welling are deprived of their rightful place in the Conference come the end of the season to accommodate a bunch of Jocks who don't like the league they're in.

corrected for you Len ;-)

I'll take that correction Stoney. I don't know why I didn't think of Welling myself.

Probably because Chris Kinnear has just joined Dover as manager from Margate, the non-league team I support.

MrOneLung

Richard J said:

This appeared in the Scottish paper the Daily Record last week.

Not so long ago I would have dismissed this as nonsense but now I could see it happening.

I would still not like it but what would be different to teams like Cardiff,Newport County Swansea or Wrexham?At least they would be asking to start at the bottom.

Conference clubs to discuss possibility of Rangers joining Blue Square Bet Premier

15 Jan 2013 15:23
IBROX chairman Charles Green hinted at a move to the fifth tier of English football last week and Conference chiefs say they will discuss the issue next week.

CONFERENCE chairman Brian Lee has refused to rule out the option of Rangers joining the Blue Square Bet Premier.

The Ibrox club have indicated they could seek to quit Scottish football if league reconstruction plans are approved.

Lee is well aware that any attempts by Rangers to switch south of the border would be met by a number of obstacles.

But he believes such problems are "not insurmountable" and the issue is set to be discussed at a club summit on January 21.

Lee told TalkSport: "On Monday we have a mid-season meeting of clubs so that is a topic for conversation.

"It's up to the clubs to make rule changes.

"There are one or two problems, of course. It's up to FIFA whether a club can change countries or not, so that's the first issue.

"And the second, and probably the most important, is the problem it would create with promotion and relegation and having an uneven number of teams.

"It would be wrong if the Football League would not take Rangers as part of the promotion and relegation system.

"Otherwise they would be in the Conference keeping out a team who might have the wherewithal to go higher in the pyramid.

"But they are not insurmountable problems.

"You will have to have the co-operation of a lot of different organisations to make it possible, but where there is a will there is a way."

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison says Old Firm need to leave Scottish football before national game can thrive
Rangers chief executive Charles Green is unhappy with plans for a 12-12-18 league format, which have been agreed on in principle by the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League.

If approved, the reforms could be introduced as early as next season, leaving Third Division leaders Rangers facing a second season in the bottom tier regardless of title success.

Faced with such a scenario, the Ibrox chief wants the Light Blues to explore opportunities to play their football elsewhere.

Green, who has proposed an alternative 14-14-14 format, believes Rangers fans would back a move to the fifth tier of English football.

Speaking on TalkSport last week, he said: "I could join the Conference and I would be in a higher league than I'm in. It doesn't matter to me (which league Rangers are in).

"I can tell you this, if the only option is to go into England and start at the lowest level, I believe Rangers fans would support that."

Since when is that 'the lowest level'

DaveMehmet

If they really want the lowest level, they should come and join us at Goals on a Sunday night.

Chris_from_Sidcup

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

GretnaGreenAddick

Problem is we will then get Celtic to, i don't want there religious war in english football, crazy but doubt it will happen.

cafctom

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

sam3110

They can start by applying to the Borders Sunday League Division 3 and work from there

Rob62

cafctom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

In fairness the level of the Conference is miles higher than that of the Scottish Division 3.

cafctom

Rob62 said:

cafctom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

In fairness the level of the Conference is miles higher than that of the Scottish Division 3.

It is, but that's why Rangers are 20 odd points clear. If you put a Championship or League One team in the Conference there's a good chance they would be about 20 odd points clear.

If you put Rangers in the Conference, they would absolutely storm it simply because they are Rangers.

Personally I'd be happy to have them in the English league. Then again, they are my "second team" if I can really call them that.

Chris_from_Sidcup

cafctom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

The likes of Luton, Wrexham, Grimsby, Mansfield, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Hereford etc are all far better sides than any Scottish division 3 side. Probably better than most Scottish division 2 teams too.

The current top scorer in the SPL was signed on a free from Northampton (English league 2) so this shows you how good they must be.

Rob62

I don't doubt they would storm up through the leagues

ShootersHillGuru

Would sound the death knell of Scotish football. On that basis I doubt it would happen. At least I hope not.

SilentAddick

but celtic wouldnt want to start in conference - they will lose out on the euromillions!

WSS

We'd probably lose a few thousand supporters when they make it to our level as well.

Mortimerician

Charles Green is a quote machine. He generates an endless series of odd and sometimes wonderful ideas. They were off to the Dutch league last week, I'd not spend a lot of time worrying about it, it's all a message to the SFA to say, "we're horrified that we've been treated only slightly better than any other club".

Mortimerician

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

cafctom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

The likes of Luton, Wrexham, Grimsby, Mansfield, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Hereford etc are all far better sides than any Scottish division 3 side. Probably better than most Scottish division 2 teams too.

The current top scorer in the SPL was signed on a free from Northampton (English league 2) so this shows you how good they must be.

Bit of a simplistic way of looking at it. You might equally say an SPL team beat the best team in the world at home. Doesn't tell the whole story. WRT Rangers, they're so much better than S3 teams that they're not really getting out of second gear. It's kind of ridiculous with the amount of debt that they wiped out that they've been able to attract such decent players (one SPL player took a triple your money move to the third division), but it is what it is. Budget wise there'd still be a massive gap with English teams, but with their ability to sign players restricted it would be bad timing, I think.

se9addick

The SFA have to agree to any team in Scottish territory playing outside of Scotland, so without a messy European court case ( which Rangers could win actually) it won't happen.

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

cafctom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

This will never happen, year after year after year we hear these 'rumours', but the English league will never allow them in.

Incidentally even if they were allowed into next seasons conference, the current Rangers squad are so bad they wouldn't even be guaranteed to win it.

I think they're around 19-20 points clear of Scottish Division 3, I think they would be strong enough to handle Conference sides.

The likes of Luton, Wrexham, Grimsby, Mansfield, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Hereford etc are all far better sides than any Scottish division 3 side. Probably better than most Scottish division 2 teams too.

The current top scorer in the SPL was signed on a free from Northampton (English league 2) so this shows you how good they must be.

Mate, Rangers - even with their current squad - would win the Conference - Alexander, Wallace, Templeton (sometimes), McCulloch, Black, Sandaza plus some very good young players (Aird, McKay etc). I would assume you don't know much about the current Rangers squad and are comparing them to a normal Scottish fourth tier team, which they aren't.

MuttleyCAFC

I have always said- a team like Rangers needs the English league more than the English league needs them - so will never happen.

sam3110

What happens if they join, and then Scotland becomes independent?

Chris_from_Sidcup

I'm not comparing Rangers to a normal 4th tier team, no point in that. I'm simply questioning the fact that because they're pissing the Scots division 3, people think they'd stroll the conference. I don't think it'd be as much of a stroll as some would think and would argue that a decent conference side would probably be a match for a Scottish division one team. The two best sides that Rangers played this season, both beat them.

SE10

colthe3rd said:

Any chance this is to scare the Scottish Prem into letting them back in next season?

No.

LenGlover

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

I'm not comparing Rangers to a normal 4th tier team, no point in that. I'm simply questioning the fact that because they're pissing the Scots division 3, people think they'd stroll the conference. I don't think it'd be as much of a stroll as some would think and would argue that a decent conference side would probably be a match for a Scottish division one team. The two best sides that Rangers played this season, both beat them.

Akpo getting game time in the Scottish Prem tells its own story with all due respect to an honest, wholehearted player for us.