The twist to whether Steven Davis is elegible to sign for Saints took another twist today when the administrators for the old Rangers stating they sold the players contracts to new owner Charles Green.
Just what that will mean to Saints purchase of Steven Davis at the moment is uncertain and it could be a legal wrangle that will be solved quickly or it could run and run, certainly the administrators of the old Rangers Duff & Phelps are satisfied that they sold the contracts to the newco under TUPE regulations which protect employee terms and conditions when parts of a business are sold to another company and if this is the case then Saints could have a legal battle on their hands, or at least would have to negotiate with Rangers newco over a transfer fee for Davis.
The big question though is how this issue is written into the contract, I would imagine there is some sort of break clause in as its highly possible that Saints negotiated wages and signing on fees etc based on the fact they were getting the player on a free, if they now had to pay a substancial fee for Davis would they feel that signing the player would be a good deal, that is the question we will soon find out.
Certainly new owner Charles Green and Duff & Phelps seem confident in their legal position and indeed Green sent out letters to football clubs across the UK warning them of the legal position.
Perhaps the strangest stance is that of the PFA, they have advised their members at Rangers not to transfer to the newco, strange because normally they would be fighting tooth and nail in these situations for their members rights to have their contracts paid in full when clubs change hands as in the situation at Portsmouth, its seems thet the PFA likes to run with the foxes and hunt with the hounds and is not afraid to offer its members conflicting advice when it suits them