RANGERS last night insisted they would be unaffected by a new UEFA ruling banning clubs with the same owners meeting each other in European competitions.
There had been some concern that the ruling, agreed by UEFA's executive committee which met in Amsterdam yesterday, could have repercussions for Rangers, which is 25% owned by the London-based English National Investment Company (ENIC) who obtained the shares only last month.
As well as a minority shareholding in Rangers, ENIC have controlling interests in the 11-time Greek champions AEK Athens, former Italian cup winners Vicenza, and 14-time Czech champions Slavia Prague. They are also have been linked to French club Bordeaux, who may play Rangers in next year's UEFA Cup.
The new ruling is almost certain to affect both AEK Athens and Slavia Prague who will also play in next year's UEFA Cup, and a spokesman for ENIC said
Rob Robertson
last night they were astonished at the decision and were currently looking into the matter.
However the ENIC spokesman agreed that Rangers would not in any way be affected by the ruling as they only had a minority shareholding in the club and the Ibrox owner was David Murray.
Club director Campbell Ogilvie said he would be speaking to UEFA for clarification on the matter but as far as he was concerned the ruling only applies to club's who have the same majority shareholder.
''At Rangers the controlling interest is held by David Murray. We will not be affected,'' he said.
A UEFA statement in support of the new ruling said they were concerned about increasing ownership of clubs from different nations. ''It is of fundamental importance that the sporting integrity of the UEFA club competitions is protected.''
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