This week, the football community received some very terrible news. Â One of soccers most prolific teams announced that it was going into administration. But this past February 13th, Glasgow Rangers, 27 time Scottish Premier League champions (more than any other club), declared their financial troubles to the world. Â And now, reports indicate that in order to keep their rich history alive, the club is forced to reevaluate contracts, with players taking large pay cuts and the poteential laying off of a large portion of staff and players.
In fact, renowned Liverpool midfielder, Charlie Adam, a former Rangers player, released a statement today expressing his concerns over his brother, Grant’s,  future.  The 20-year-old has been left finding it hard to break into the first team, and is currently on loan with Airdrie United.  Adam spoke to the press today stating “”He is my brother and that is the important thing, he might lose his job and it is going to be difficult. But the rest of it is nothing to do with me, I cannot affect what is happening or what has gone on before.”
For those who aren’t aware what administration means…here is BBC’s take.
Basically, it implies that when a club enters a time of financial trouble, they are allowed a period for which they may restructure their finances and get the club running back on solid ground, without the risk of declaring bankruptcy. Â As soon as a club admits to creditors that they are unable to make repay their debt, instead of selling off all their assets, they are appointed an accounting firm to help them recover. Â This is preferred by most creditors, as they are more likely to make up all of their money then by forcing the sale of assets.
So with all of this talk I decided now was a great time to go over some of the biggest clubs to go into administration.
1. Glasgow Rangers – Feb 13, 2012.
As I mentioned earlier, these 27 time Scottish Premier League champions just recently declared their financial woes. Â But it doesn’t seem like financial troubles are the only problems at hte club. Â Overall, 2012 has been a bad year as the players are struggling to make a difference on the pitch, currently sitting 14 points behind league leaders, and rivals, Celtics with only 3 months left to play in the season.
2. Leeds United – May 4, 2007
Per guidance from one of our readers, Andy, I decided to re-evaluate my list, and why exclude some!! But Leeds United deserved rightful mention on this list, with an illustrious history of quality football and a fanbase shocked at the circumstances of their story of relegation.  In 2007,  Leeds United,  constant contenders in the top tiers of the nPower Championship  League, and with a history of performing well in European cups  and English Cups, faced a huge fall from grace.  After a long spell in England’s highest tier of football, The Premier League,  from 1992-2004, the club failed to maintain their position and fell to the Championship league for 3 years.  And things only got worse for the club, after three years of  Championship play, the club admitted its debt and made the decision to enter administration.  To  the disappointment of fans, this meant facing League rules requiring the team to lose ten points in the table, leaving it bottom of the league and in relegation to League 1.
3. QPR - April 1, 2001
A team that has broken its way back into the premier league, a place they haven’t been since being a top 8 side in 1994, only to be relegated in the following year.  THeir financial troubles saw them left out of many honors for the next decade, compounded with murders and deaths of promising young players, Kiyan Prince, and Ray Jones, respectively, as well as boardroom scandals and blackmail from the clubs chairman.
4. Darlington FC – Jan 3, 2012
Age doesn’t always imply security.  At least that wasn’t the case for 129-year-old, Darlington Football Club.  The team started its year off on the wrong foot, when only three days after the New Year, they left fans with limited hopes for a good year of soccer.  On Jan 3rd, the club declared that it was heading into bankruptcy.  However, the fans didn’t let this news shatter their spirits.  They rallied with the help of the internet, to sell shares to fans to raise the  necessary $464,000 needed to stay above the red.  Fans are happy to hear that after the completion of this investment strategy, the club belongs 100% to the fans.
5. Leicester City – Oct, 2002
After a rough season in 2001, the ended with the club being relegated, Leicester decided it would start fresh. Â It hired a new manager, replacing Martin O’Neil (Now Sunderland’s manager) with Peter Taylor, and moving into a brand new, 32,500 seat stadium, The Walker Stadium. Â ONly this was bad news for the company when only a few months later, the team lost a large portion of TV money, and went in debt for one of the largest values to date, Â 30 million pounds.
6. Portsmouth – Feb 17, 2012
For the second time in just as many years, the club with ties to some of the sports greatest stars, entered administration. But it’s previous stars, Kevin Prince Boateng, and the coach who left the club in shambles, Harry Redknapp, can do nothing about it.  News has yet to be decided on how this will affect the future of the club, but currently the rule deducts ten points from their league score, leaving Portsmouth only surviving relegation zone by goal difference.  This has hurt the fans, considering the relatively recent succes in England, when they took home the FA Cup Trophy in 2008.
For a great list of clubs that have declared administration…Thisispop did a great job.
Given the situation, do you think that a club can be too big to fail? Just like American corporations were too big to fail when the Global Recession began?
Share Your Thoughts! And Let us know what you  think should happen to Rangers FC!
I have been a long time soccer fanatic who naturally loves to live and breath the sport. Having played at many different competitive levels as well as coached the youth, I have developed a passion for talking about the game. My goal is to help educate on local opportunities to become involved in the soccer community, as well as help provide instruction, and entertainment for all soccer enthusiasts.
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