The leader of the Blue Knights consortium attempting to take over Rangers last night confirmed he will table a bid by Friday's deadline.
Ex-Ibrox director Paul Murray emerged from a meeting with joint administrator Paul Clark to claim he is hopeful of being granted "preferred bidder" status through a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA). He is competing with groups from Singapore, the US and Brian Kennedy, the Scots-born owner of Sale Sharks rugby team.
Mr Murray, who was ousted by owner Craig Whyte last May, is fronting a rescue bid for the stricken club that has now been in administration for four weeks.
The Blue Knights are backed by Ticketus, who advanced Mr Whyte £24.4million for future season ticket sales which he then used to buy the club. Executives from the London-based ticketing agency were also present at the meeting.
It came after Douglas Park, the owner and chairman of Hamilton-based Park's Motor Group, Scots-born London-based fund manager John Bennett and international property adviser Scott Murdoch emerged as members of the group.
More Blue Knights will be named inside the next 48 hours as Mr Murray clarifies those involved.
He told The Herald: "We had a very good meeting with the administrators. It was an open meeting with very constructive dialogue and both myself and the executives from Ticketus asked a lot of questions, and answered a lot of questions.
"We are in good shape for Friday. We will be making an offer to buy Rangers.
"It's up to the administrators to evaluate any offers that come in, but I think they will have to crack on in terms of a decision. I would like to think we would get an answer next week and we are hopeful of being able to take control of the club and stabilise the situation. That is the main thing, Rangers needs to be saved in its current form, then plans can be put in place from there."
The involvement of Ticketus has raised eyebrows among supporters.
Whyte entered into an agreement to sell Ticketus – an off-shoot of finance house Octopus which has a net value of £3 bil-lion – over 100,000 season tickets over four years and used the money advanced to pay off an £18m debt to Lloyds Bank.
However, Mr Murray was keen to outline to The Herald exactly how the arrangement with Ticketus will work.
He did not rule out that they could be short-term partners, with Rangers possibly reverting to a bank for their credit facilities should the club be returned to a sound footing.
Mr Murray added: "It's important to point out that Ticketus are a very big business with substantial cash reserves. They have been painted in a bad light due to the Craig Whyte deal, but they entered into the agreement with him in good faith.
"We have held extensive dialogue about how it can work in terms of alignment with the Blue Knights."
Meanwhile, trustees for a pension fund linked to Whyte, which considered ploughing £3m into the club, yesterday said the money may have been released without permission.
The Worthington Group outlined their Jerome Group Pension Fund's call on more than £2.9m of the £3.6m, which Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps claims belongs to the club.
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