Green hits out at SPL 'bigotry'

Charles Green claims Rangers are the victims of "bigotry" and "jealousy" after being forced to start from scratch in the Third Division.

The Ibrox outfit were consigned to liquidation earlier in the summer, with the financial mismanagement of previous regimes driving the club to the brink of extinction.

Green's Sevco consortium purchased the assets and business of Rangers and are in the process of trying to piece a broken giant back together.

Their efforts to bring stability back to the Glasgow outfit have not been helped by the decision to block newco Rangers from entering the SPL, and Green believes Scottish footballing authorities have been quick to 'kick this club while it was down'.

He said: "Some of it has been driven by bigotry, some of it's been driven by jealousy and some of it's been driven by all the wrong motives."

Asked to expand on what he meant by bigotry, Green said: "We've got a position whereby Rangers were thrown out of the league and these clubs are still appealing with fans to buy season tickets.

"What's happened with Rangers, as an outsider looking in, although I am now an insider, is absolutely incredible where it seems to me the whole of Scotland have wanted to kick this giant club while it was down.

"I think justice has been done. The club were fined 10 points, it received a £190,000 fine, it was then put out the SPL, it was then put down to the Third Division, it has had to pay all the Scottish club debts, which wouldn't normally happen for a newco to be obliged to pay oldco's debts.

"We're also now paying European debts and there is still a potential cloud hanging over the club from the SPL over EBT issues.

"I had meetings last week with some UEFA officials who say this is unprecedented in Europe."

Rangers played their first competitive match of the new regime on Sunday when they claimed a 2-1 extra-time win over Brechin in the Ramsdens Cup.

That game was only given the go-ahead on Friday night when the club were granted conditional Scottish Football Association membership.

Green added: "My frustration's been, after 30 years of business, I have never experienced anything like the last three months.

"Some of the business decisions that have been made really have been nonsensical from a business point of view.

"One of the meetings I went to, one of the reasons why SPL chairmen were under pressure to do something with Rangers was they [fans] wouldn't buy season tickets until Rangers were thrown out of the league."