Why was Rangers relegated? The team's former owner said, "I was defrauded"

Rangers was the dominant team in Scottish football in the 1990s. Having won the championship for 9 consecutive seasons, Rangers still did not find these successes sufficient. Their goal was to succeed in European cups. The team, which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1972, wanted to bring another European trophy to their museum.

The club's chairman and owner, David Murray, announced that they would open the purse strings to achieve success in Europe as well.

Celtic begins to recover!

Following Rangers' successful years, Celtic also began to see the results of its new restructuring. Celtic was making less costly but more effective transfers compared to Rangers and was placing importance on its youth academy. Celtic began to both win championships and draw a more successful graph in Europe. As spending increased, the club's debt also grew. Rangers was spending more money than Celtic.

Rangers came very close to its European trophy goal in 2008. They reached the final of the UEFA Cup. However, they were defeated 2-0 by Zenit in the final match.

Tax investigation into Rangers!

Rangers was placed under tax investigation in 2011. Rangers, which was found to have evaded 35 million pounds in taxes, was fined 14 million pounds. The Scottish team found itself in a total of 150 million pounds of debt.

Unable to overcome this debt, David Murray sold the club to Craig Whyte in 2011 for a symbolic price of 1 pound. Although Craig Whyte said he would solve the economic problems, he could not do so.

The new chairman mortgaged the club's season ticket revenues

It was understood that Whyte not only failed to fix the economic picture but also mortgaged Rangers' future season ticket revenues to obtain cash. It was revealed that there was a ban on Whyte serving as a club director.

The Herald newspaper summarized Rangers' situation with the headline "Birth: 1872, Death: 2012".

4 Rangers jerseys for 1 pound

With Craig Whyte leaving his post in 2012, an administrator was appointed to the club. And all players gained the right to become free agents. It was expected that Rangers would now be shut down. Sports apparel stores, left with Rangers jerseys on their hands, began selling 4 Rangers jerseys for just 1 pound to clear their stock.

"I was also defrauded"

Rangers' former owner David Murray said, "I regret selling the club. I sold it because I believed Whyte would solve the problems. Actually, I was also defrauded."

Only Celtic said "Let Rangers stay in the league"

A vote was held among the teams in the league regarding whether or not Rangers should be relegated. Only their arch-rival, Celtic, voted for Rangers to remain in the league. The others wanted Rangers to be relegated.

Relegated to the lowest tier

After all these developments, it was decided that Rangers would be relegated to the lowest tier. In 2012, Rangers played its first match in the 4th division. Rangers managed to return to the Scottish Premiership in the 2015-2016 season.

News Source: 12punto