Dundee’s SPFL vote U-turn was put under the microscope again today as Rangers released their long-awaited dossier to clubs.
They devoted two sections of the document to the Dark Blues but the SPFL claims the Ibrox club are yet to provide “a single shred of evidence” to support allegations about the controversial ballot.
The Dens Park side have stayed tight-lipped on the latest round of questions posed by Rangers, who need 32 clubs to back their call for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the vote.
Dundee’s ‘yes’ ended the lower-league season – with title wins for Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers – and handed the SPFL board the authority to do likewise with the Premiership campaign.
Gers had called for SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and legal adviser Rod McKenzie to be suspended after claiming they had received “alarming” evidence from a whistleblower alleging clubs were “bullied” into voting for the resolution.
After saying they would release the evidence to clubs “well in advance” of next Tuesday’s general meeting, the Light Blues presented their case at 10am on Thursday morning.
However, it was quickly met with a strong response from the league.
An SPFL spokesman said: “It is now a month since Rangers accused the SPFL of bullying and corruption relating to the Dundee FC return.
“At last, Rangers have issued their ‘dossier’ and we will now take time to review it, before responding to all 42 clubs.
“Since Rangers publicly demanded the suspension of the SPFL’s chief executive and legal counsel, everyone in Scottish football has waited patiently for them to present their case.
“However, an initial examination of their ‘dossier’ has failed to identify a single shred of evidence to support Rangers’ vociferous claims of corruption, bullying and coercion by SPFL staff.
“If Rangers have any good reason for Neil Doncaster and Rod McKenzie to be suspended, we have yet to see it.”
Rangers issued a very brief response to the SPFL statement, declaring on Twitter: “#RangersFC will not be bullied into silence.”
The account also retweeted the release of their own statement from April 11 in which they had called for Doncaster and McKenzie to be suspended and claimed to have received evidence which raised “serious questions concerning the corporate governance of the SPFL”.
Leaked WhatsApp messages involving several Championship clubs, including Dundee, formed part of Gers’ dossier.
Dee managing director John Nelms was angry they had entered the public domain.
Speaking last week, he said: “It’s unbelievable. The way that was handled was not business-like and was very poor.
“It has caused a lot of bad blood throughout the league, the way that was done, taking private messages and putting them out there.
“Of course, they have been taken out of context at some levels because you don’t know exactly what was going on and what the conversations were.
“There were a lot of conversations going on at that time, loads of them, so you don’t get the full context of it but you do get one view and that’s what they wanted.”
