Paperwork not completed but Robin Propper is in Clement’s Champions League squad

At his media conference at lunchtime today Phil Clement explained that ‘new signing’ Robin Propper wouldn’t be involved in the SPFL opener against Hearts on Saturday because the paperwork hadn’t been completed.

Many transfers these days are announced as being subjected to international clearance which usually seems a formality, transfers between the Netherlands and Scotland are fairly frequent at all levels.

There had been a bit of a rush on to get business completed on Thursday, at 11pm/Midnight CET the squad lists for the Champions League Third Round had to be submitted.

With four hours to go until the deadline the signing was announced, subject to international clearance.

The UEFA website remained static throughout Friday morning, at lunchtime it was updated with Propper included among the defenders to the exclusion of former AC Milan starlet Clinton Nsiala.

The registration process is unclear, clubs might submit their squads directly to UEFA or more likely through the SFA to ensure that all of the players are indeed signed and contracted. Sandy Bryson has previous.

There is a precedent for this sort of incident involving the previous club from Ibrox.

In August 2011 Ally McCoist’s side were knocked out of the Champions League by Malmo, dropping into the Play Off round of the Europa League and the chance to bring in some UEFA money during the winter months.

Similar to Propper an experienced central defender was required with Carlos Bocanegra rushed in the door from St Etienne, his signing was announced the day before the away leg in Maribor.

Captain America as he was dubbed made his debut in the 2-1 defeat away to Maribor but wasn’t eligible to play in the SPL at Motherwell three days later.

On 23 August 2011 The Guardian reported:

Uefa will investigate a complaint from Maribor about the eligibility of Rangers’ Carlos Bocanegra for the Europa League play-off first-leg last week. The American defender completed a transfer from St Etienne to Ibrox last Wednesday, the day before the Scottish club lost 2-1 in Slovenia. Bocanegra played in that game but did not appear in a Scottish Premier League match at Motherwell on Sunday.

His absence at Fir Park was because a work permit had not been granted so Maribor are questioning whether he was eligible to play in Europe. The permit has now been issued. “How can the player have the right to play in the European competition on the Thursday night but [not] have clearance to play for Rangers in a domestic match in Scotland three days later?” said a Maribor spokesman.

A Uefa representative said: “We can confirm that NK Maribor have raised a protest about the eligibility of the Rangers player Carlos Bocanegra for the Europa League qualifier on 18 August. Uefa’s control and disciplinary body will deal with this protest in due course.”

Maribor went through the tie on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at Ibrox with the Bocanegra issue dropped, it was the last UEFA tie that Rangers ever played, St Etienne appeared in the list of 276 creditors when the club went into administration in February 2012.

On Tuesday Clement’s side face Dinamo Kiev for a place in the Play Off round of the Champions League, reaching that stage now pays out £7m, around double the prize for winning the SPFL title. Without Propper the central defensive options would be down to John Souttar, Leon Balogun and Ben Davies.

Clement knows what he is doing with his UEFA squad, as well as Nsiala he has left Ianis Hagi, Todd Cantwell and Nicky Raskin out of his selection.

If any ineligible players are used in UEFA ties the club involved is punished with a 3-0 defeat.

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