Rangers chairman Dave King has blasted talk that his side could be stripped of titles they won between 2001 and 2010.
The Gers recently saw a judgement last week go against them, ruling that during the period their use of Employee Benefit Trusts broke tax rules. And that has led to some questioning whether Rangers' use of EBTs fgave them an unfair advantage on the pitch.
King feels that despite Rangers having signed stars such as Tore Andre Flo, Stefan Klos, Mikel Arteta and Peter Lovenkrands on contracts with EBTs, there was no advantage signed as had the stars been unwilling to join without EBTs then the Gers would have signed players of a similar standard.
"It is disappointing that a debate has re-emerged around the subject of Rangers’ history in Scottish football. It must be especially frustrating for the Club’s supporters who again find individuals within the structures of Scottish football unfairly targeting the Club", the chairman said on a statement carried on the club's official site.
And he added that: "Throughout the period in question the shareholders were committed to providing funding to the Club. The tax scheme may have reduced the need for shareholders to provide higher levels of funding so, as I have tried to make clear in the past, any advantage gained would have been to the company and its shareholders, not the team.
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"Certain players may not have signed for the Club without the perceived benefit of personal tax savings but there was no general advantage for the player squad, or the performance on the pitch. We would still have signed players of equal abilities if one or two had decided they didn’t want to sign under different financial circumstances."
King also attacked representatives of other clubs for seeking to revisit the issue of whether Rangers should lose titles accumulated during the period. The Rangers chairman feels they would do better to concentrate on their own clubs than put forward the cases of fans who are only interested in attacking the Gers.
"Finally, it is extraordinary that representatives of other Scottish clubs – who admit the damage done to Scottish football by Rangers’ removal from the Premier League – should even wish to re-engage with this issue.
"It is time those individuals, who represent other clubs, recognise their legal and fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and shareholders rather than submit to the uninformed ramblings of a few outspoken fans to whom attacking Rangers is more important than the wellbeing of their own clubs."
And King insists that Rangers will fight to maintain the history of their club and take whatever steps are needed if it is under attack.
"For the avoidance of doubt, however, I wish to make one point clear. If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football."
