International clearance withheld by Rangers

As expected Scottish side Rangers have refused to give their contract rebels international clearance to leave the club.

That now means that a legal dispute has left Steven Davis, Kyle Lafferty, Jamie Ness, Steven Whittaker and Steven Naismith in football limbo.

How a transfer usually works is fairly simple, all the parties involved in the deal sign a document, which is then given over to a countries Football Association who clear the transfer and the deal is then concluded.

However in the case of Davis, Lafferty, Ness, Whittaker and Naismith, Rangers are not agreeing to the deal and in fact dispute the fact that their players can refuse their contracts to be transferred to the newco ahead of the oldco being liquidated, which formally makes them free agents and able to sign with whoever they wish, in doing so the transfers of all the named players are yet to be officially completed.

Rangers, despite not yet having a league to play in next season after being expelled from the Scottish Premier League, do not agree with the position of the PFA who gave the players the advice to walk out on Rangers and are now seeking compensation.

They have written to Premier League and Championship clubs to inform them of their position, while the Scottish PFA have also done the same.

"I have been furnished with a copy of Mr Green`s letter sent to English clubs in their top two divisions and consider that it amounts to an attempt to deliberately misrepresent my clients` position. I have therefore today sent a detailed letter to the clubs setting out the facts and repeating our very firm legal view that Mr Green`s allegations of breach of contract are entirely without legal merit. PFA Scotland solicitor Margaret Gribbon of Bridge Litigation said.

It continued: 'My clients are free agents and I am pleased to note that several Premier League clubs have already made applications to the SFA for International Transfer Certificates indicating that they attach little weight to Mr Green`s assertion that Sevco is entitled to seek damages for breach of contract.

"Furthermore it should also be noted that the SFA has confirmed that in the event of there being a dispute over registration the matter will be referred to FIFA.'

FIFA can give temporary registration to players to enable them to continue playing during a period of arbitration.

A spokesperson for FIFA said: 'At the time of writing, FIFA does not appear to have been approached by any association with respect to the international clearance of any particular player currently registered with Rangers FC.'

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