BBC dismisses campaign to have Rangers described as a 'new club'

An objection was made to the BBC Trust after it had previously ruled that the BBC had been wrong to use the terms "new" and "old" club in reference to Rangers.

The Trust was told that the complaint surrounded references to "Rangers" in BBC output and that it was "more appropriate to refer to them as 'The Rangers' or 'Sevco 5088'.

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Complainers believe that Rangers became a new club following liquidation in 2012 and that the club should thereafter have a different name reflecting the names of companies that subsequently took control of the business.

Many diehards will only refer to Rangers as Sevco, the name given to the Charles Green-headed consortium that bought the liquidated assets with a £5.5 million loan in 2012.

But a panel of the Editorial Standards Committee responsible for assisting the Trust in securing editorial standards quashed any move to take the matter further, saying it had previously concluded it was not necessary to refer to the name of the holding company.

A group of Celtic fans caused controversy when they paid for an advert in a newspaper last year saying Rangers are a new club.

Those Celtic fans who feel Rangers are a new club, have objected to any commentary that indicates that on promotion from the Scottish Championship to the Premiership that they will "return" to the top flight.

The Rangers Football Club plc, the former operating company, went into administration in February, 2012, after a £9 million PAYE and VAT debt was amassed to the taxman under Craig Whyte's ownership. The oldco renamed RFC 2012 plc is now being liquidated.

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The Celtic fans ad said the term The Old Firm was now redundant "following the liquidation of Rangers (1872)" and stated the new club came into being in 2012.

The fresh complaint to the BBC Trust said that that the continual references to Rangers would come across as "an insult" to those owed money by its financial collapse.

BBC trustees decided that the challenge did not qualify to go further to an appeal.

A BBC Trust spokesman said: "This was the end of the matter."

By way of explanation, the panel said: "Decisions about how to refer to names of people, clubs, or other organisations, rested solely with the BBC Executive as the Royal Charter made it clear that the creative and editorial direction of the BBC was a matter for the Executive and not for the Trust."

They said that BBC Audience Services had issued a "reasoned and reasonable" reply which pointed to the BBC Trust's previous position that the the corporation had previously been wrong to use the terms "new" and "old" club, and that BBC Scotland had breached its guidelines on accuracy in reports about the financial collapse of the club.

The position was made three years ago, following complaints about various BBC reports, which referred to "old" Rangers being placed in liquidation, with the assets being sold to Charles Green's consortium, which subsequently "re-launched" the "new" club in Division Three.

Objectors maintained that it was only the company which ran the club, and not the club itself, which was liquidated.

Rangers Football Club plc, the former operating company, went into administration in February, 2012, after a £9 million PAYE and VAT debt was amassed to the taxman under Craig Whyte's leadership. The oldco renamed RFC 2012 plc is now being liquidated.

The Celtic fans ad said the term The Old Firm was now redundant "following the liquidation of Rangers (1872)" and stated the new club came into being in 2012.

But evidence put to the BBC Trust in the long-running debate of the club's status, by those objecting to the use of the term "new club" pointed to the fact that the Lord Nimmo Smith commission that was put together by the SPL to look at Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) over a period of 11 years, made a distinction between the club and its owner or operator.

The Advertising Standards Authority in December, 2013, in considering challenges to Rangers' claims as "Scotland's most successful club", supported the view that continuity of history continued.

And European football's governing body UEFA confirmed to the ASA that its rules allowed for the recognition of the "sporting continuity" of a club's match record, even if that club's corporate structure had changed.

The European Club Association, the sole independent body recognised by UEFA and word football's governing body FIFA as representing clubs at European level confirmed Rangers remained as members of the organisation in December, 2012 after the transfer of ownership.

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In December, 2014, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster insisted Rangers are the same club which existed before liquidation.