Andy Watson does not want to think about the possibility of being stripped of medals he won with Rangers. The former assistant manager is well aware that the SPL are carrying out an investigation into alleged non-disclosure of payments to players from the league's inception in 1998. Former director Hugh Adam has claimed payments to Employee Benefit Trusts, which were the subject of a tax tribunal, were not listed on contracts registered with the football authorities. This brought the situation into the spotlight and instigated the SPL investigation. Watson picked up medals for SPL titles in 2003 and 2005 alongside Alex McLeish and would find it difficult to accept if ultimate sanctions were implemented should Rangers be found guilty of bending the rules too far. Watson said: "I don't know if these things can be stripped. We've all got a degree in retrospect. The things were won under the terms and conditions put before you there and then. Whether things can be stripped I don't know, on what basis I wouldn't know, but I would find it hard to imagine." Watson was around from 2001 to 2006 after Dick Advocaat made good use of resources made available to him. Things started to change from then but Watson did not foresee the depths to which the club have sunk in administration. He said: "I'm not sure if anybody could have foreseen where they are at the minute. It's an amazing institution and there's absolutely no doubt, you look at the fan base and everything that's there. And I just saw the players have taken a 75% wage cut to try to help the situation, not only for themselves. There's a lot of staff that work within Rangers and they've been there for a long, long time. It's for those kind of people that you feel for. Could we see it coming? I'm sure nobody saw it coming. Players get a lot of bad press at times right throughout the country and I think what they've done there is incredible. The players have taken a lead and shown they're committed towards the cause and that's all you can ask. If you see them pulling, everyone else has got to pull as well."
Source: FOOTYMAD
