Scottish firm Biggart Baillie advises Rangers FC administration

Scottish law firm Biggart Baillie has been tasked with advising administrators from Duff & Phelps regarding the case of Glasgow Rangers Football Club, which went into administration on 14 February. As reported in Legal Week, and in line with rules agreed by the Scottish Football Association, Rangers stand to be deducted 10 points in the Scottish Premier League as a result of going into administration, a measure that will be highly detrimental to the club's sporting and commercial health, and leave their rivals Glasgow Celtic as the dominant footballing franchise in Scotland.

The news comes as the English football club Portsmouth FC have also applied to enter administration for the second time in recent years, amid growing concerns that football's financial bubble is about to burst. As wages and other costs spiral, the legal sector can anticipate working with a raft of other European football clubs as they enter administration in the short to medium term.

Taylor Wessing's restructuring and corporate recovery partner Neil Smyth, an expert in advising businesses in administration, is not surprised at the current situation in football: "While the points deduction is an obvious deterrent to a football club going through an insolvency process, football clubs are normally run by companies. Financial difficulty and a lack of resources often lead to an insolvency process, just like any other sector. Rangers will not therefore be the last football club facing an insolvency process this season, nor in seasons to come."