With City facing the possibility of severe punishment, attention now turns to what will happen next.
For Rangers, going into administration in February during the 2011-12 season automatically resulted in a 10-point penalty. They ended the season as runners-up, finishing 20 points behind champions Celtic.
No additional sanctions were imposed before the company entered liquidation in June 2012.
Rangers were not deprived of any trophies secured while using EBTs, as it was determined that the arrangements had not provided an “unfair competitive advantage”.
The more complicated and widely debated issue among supporters concerns the difference between Rangers as a football club and the company that operated it.
After liquidation, the football assets—including Ibrox, the training facilities, the club name and its brand—were purchased by a new company headed by Charles Green.
Although the team continued playing at Ibrox with its familiar colours and crest, rival supporters regularly claimed that Rangers were no longer the same club.
Once Green had acquired the assets, top-flight clubs voted on whether Rangers should be allowed to retain their place in the division. Ten of the 12 clubs rejected the request, while Kilmarnock abstained and Rangers supported it.
Rangers were subsequently required to seek admission to the lower divisions, which were then overseen by the Scottish Football League, an organisation separate from the top tier known at the time as the Scottish Premier League.
There are parallels with the present structure in England, where the Premier League operates separately from the English Football League, which runs the Championship, League One and League Two.
Expulsion from the Premier League has been suggested as one possible punishment for City. If that happened, the club might need to apply for admission to the EFL, much as Rangers applied to join the former SFL.
The Scottish FA advised placing Rangers in the second tier, but most SFL clubs opposed that proposal. Of the 30 members, 25 voted for Rangers to begin in the fourth tier instead.
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