RANGERS and Celtic have expressed their "surprise and disappointment'' after the 10 other clubs intimated their desire today to resign from the SPL and now the future of the game in Scotland has been thrown into some confusion.
The Old Firm had gone into a meeting at the National Stadium at Hampden with fresh hope that an agreement could be reached over a TV deal for next season following positive developments on the SPL TV plan in that a securitisation deal had been put forward which would make the plan more viable in their view.
Rangers also made it quite clear that they have had no discussions or hatched any plans to leave the SPL, but the other 10 went ahead and made their resignation plans clear.
They are angry that the Old Firm refused to back the business plan for SPL TV last week but they are also determined to change the voting system at the top level in Scottish football.
In a statement, Rangers said today: "Representatives of Rangers attended the reconvened General Meeting of the SPL today to consider outstanding broadcast issues.
"The formal business of the meeting was to consider terrestrial TV, radio and overseas media packages in the light of the decision the previous week not to progress live match broadcast from next season through SPL TV.
"Chairman, Lex Gold, proposed that voting on these resolutions be deferred to give an opportunity for discussion which had not been available at the original meeting. This was agreed by all clubs.
"Rangers and Celtic approached the meeting in a conciliatory manner having had positive discussions over the weekend.
"Most significantly, news of a possible securitisation deal for the SPL channel had been received on Monday afternoon which could minimise the risks involved in this venture. Our assessment of these risks was the main reason that Rangers felt unable to vote for the SPL TV business plan as presented last week.
"We had previously reconfirmed in writing to the ten our commitment to the SPL given in January. We further confirmed that we have no plans for an alternative channel, have had no negotiations, nor have we developed any plans, to participate in any other league structure.
"At the outset of the meeting, we believed there to have been a constructive dialogue which could have led to re-examination of SPL TV and other options against a background of a generally very poor broadcast market.
"However, rather than continue this discussion, the ten called for a brief adjournment. On their return, it was obvious that they had aproached the meeting with a pre-determined agenda and immediately announced their intention to resign from the SPL - which requires a period of notice of two full seasons.
"Despite agreement on the current SPL voting structure being in place for the last four years and agreement on the distribution model being in place since last August, both Old Firm clubs were prepared to progress discussions on these matters within the existing SPL.
"We find the statements of intent to resign to be extremely disappointing and concerning. However, we hope that dialogue will continue with all parties concerned."
Hearts chief executive Chris Robinson explained why the 10 clubs took the surprise action. He said: "Under any other competent business, the 10 clubs intimated to the chairman of the meeting that we had to give two years' notice of our resignation under the rules of the SPL.
"The reasons for that were simply that the clubs do require to take control of their own destiny and future and to operate under rules of fairness in terms of voting structure and distribution.
"Any new league that we set up will be founded on fairness in terms of voting structure of a similar pattern to the English Premiership where a two-thirds, one-third situation is the voting structure and this distribution is a much fairer situation than the current SPL.
"There is a process to go through to put that in place but we certainly intimated that will be happening in the weeks ahead.''
they`ll end up beggin us to join them again
so i wont worry. either that or its off to the EPL we go
CHEERIO CHEERIO CHEERIO
Good Riddance to ****e teams that dont provide any competition, if they gave us a challenge we would do better in europe
The Old Firm had gone into a meeting at the National Stadium at Hampden with fresh hope that an agreement could be reached over a TV deal for next season following positive developments on the SPL TV plan in that a securitisation deal had been put forward which would make the plan more viable in their view.
Rangers also made it quite clear that they have had no discussions or hatched any plans to leave the SPL, but the other 10 went ahead and made their resignation plans clear.
They are angry that the Old Firm refused to back the business plan for SPL TV last week but they are also determined to change the voting system at the top level in Scottish football.
In a statement, Rangers said today: "Representatives of Rangers attended the reconvened General Meeting of the SPL today to consider outstanding broadcast issues.
"The formal business of the meeting was to consider terrestrial TV, radio and overseas media packages in the light of the decision the previous week not to progress live match broadcast from next season through SPL TV.
"Chairman, Lex Gold, proposed that voting on these resolutions be deferred to give an opportunity for discussion which had not been available at the original meeting. This was agreed by all clubs.
"Rangers and Celtic approached the meeting in a conciliatory manner having had positive discussions over the weekend.
"Most significantly, news of a possible securitisation deal for the SPL channel had been received on Monday afternoon which could minimise the risks involved in this venture. Our assessment of these risks was the main reason that Rangers felt unable to vote for the SPL TV business plan as presented last week.
"We had previously reconfirmed in writing to the ten our commitment to the SPL given in January. We further confirmed that we have no plans for an alternative channel, have had no negotiations, nor have we developed any plans, to participate in any other league structure.
"At the outset of the meeting, we believed there to have been a constructive dialogue which could have led to re-examination of SPL TV and other options against a background of a generally very poor broadcast market.
"However, rather than continue this discussion, the ten called for a brief adjournment. On their return, it was obvious that they had aproached the meeting with a pre-determined agenda and immediately announced their intention to resign from the SPL - which requires a period of notice of two full seasons.
"Despite agreement on the current SPL voting structure being in place for the last four years and agreement on the distribution model being in place since last August, both Old Firm clubs were prepared to progress discussions on these matters within the existing SPL.
"We find the statements of intent to resign to be extremely disappointing and concerning. However, we hope that dialogue will continue with all parties concerned."
Hearts chief executive Chris Robinson explained why the 10 clubs took the surprise action. He said: "Under any other competent business, the 10 clubs intimated to the chairman of the meeting that we had to give two years' notice of our resignation under the rules of the SPL.
"The reasons for that were simply that the clubs do require to take control of their own destiny and future and to operate under rules of fairness in terms of voting structure and distribution.
"Any new league that we set up will be founded on fairness in terms of voting structure of a similar pattern to the English Premiership where a two-thirds, one-third situation is the voting structure and this distribution is a much fairer situation than the current SPL.
"There is a process to go through to put that in place but we certainly intimated that will be happening in the weeks ahead.''
they`ll end up beggin us to join them again
so i wont worry. either that or its off to the EPL we go CHEERIO CHEERIO CHEERIO
Good Riddance to ****e teams that dont provide any competition, if they gave us a challenge we would do better in europe
spl tv has wrecked scottish football forever
nah, only jokin hearts have a good support
