No short cut offered to Rangers

Rangers will not be offered a short cut back to the top of Scottish football under a plan agreed yesterday to reform the club game in Scotland.

Rangers have had to relaunch from the lowly fourth tier of the Scottish game after collapsing under a pile of debt last year.

The demise of the 54-times champions has added to the financial problems facing many clubs in Scotland where attendances are modest for most teams except Rangers and Glasgow rivals Celtic.

The latest plan would see a three-tier structure replace the current four levels, possibly as early as next season, and a more even distribution of revenues among the 42 clubs.

It would reunite the top-flight Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League 15 years after leading clubs broke away from their lower division counterparts.

All 42 clubs will vote later this month on the plan for two top divisions of 12 clubs and a third tier of 18 teams.

“I’m delighted to say that we have agreed a set of principles to restructure Scottish football,” “ Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan said. “That will include a single league body,” he added.

League places would be based on sporting performance and no club would be fast-tracked to a higher level, sources close to the talks said.