SPFL drop plans for Independent Review into Rangers' EBT use

The SPFL board took the decision on Thursday after the Scottish Football Association rejected its call for the authorities to co-operate on a review into how they handled the case and other tax issues involving Scottish football clubs.

Chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: "The SPFL board has been clear that any meaningful review would have had to be carried out in association with the Scottish FA and with the full and active co-operation of both organisations.

"The SPFL board has therefore concluded that it cannot, by itself, take forward an effective independent review."

In a statement, the SPFL board said it was "disappointed" in the SFA's decision not to take part in a review, which it called for after the Supreme Court ruled Rangers should have paid tax on about £50million of payments to players and other staff during the first decade of the century.

It continued: "The SPFL board still believes that an independent review, promoted jointly by the Scottish FA and SPFL, would have resulted in a better understanding of the procedures and processes adopted by football's governing bodies.

"Such a review would also have enabled any lessons learned to be implemented for the future benefit of the game in Scotland."

Both bodies may still be the subject of scrutiny with plans for a fan-funded judicial review apparently progressing.

Rangers were fined £250,000 by the Scottish Premier League in 2013 after the oldco club failed to disclose dozens of payments to players in breach of regulations, but a commission led by judge Lord Nimmo Smith declared they had gained no "unfair competitive advantage".

Both the governing body and the league stated that legal advice meant there was no recourse for further disciplinary action following the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in July

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