Fans will find a way to save day

Whether it is through having "Save Rangers" buckets outside the ground or whatever else, the fans can be relied on to rally round. They would go to the end of the earth for their club.

All football fans are the same, not just Rangers ones. You would not believe the kind of thing they will do to raise money. It was fans and local businesses who raised the cash that saw Dundee through the creditors voluntary arrangement (CVA) that got them out of administration.

Apart from turning up at games in numbers, they had fundraising nights, and even a calendar of female fans, and it may be Rangers fans have to go down the same sort of road.

I know supporters might be wary about contributing in case the money feeds its way through to Craig Whyte, but that wouldn't happen. It would go straight to the administrators to help pay wages. It would not be frittered away.

I have seen some administrators in the past go in and liaise with owners, but in this case they are distancing themselves from Whyte, so I don't think the fans need to worry about that. These guys are fighting to keep the club alive.

I know Sir David Murray largely had to underwrite his own share issue a few years back, while Celtic fans raised tens of millions of pounds in 1994. But if it is to save their club, the Rangers fans will come up with the money. There is no doubt in my mind.

It can be difficult to mobilise such a large support but one fans' website has at least gathered pledges totalling millions of pounds. The various Rangers supporters' bodies out there need to get together and amalgamate and the fans have to realise an instant reaction is required. They need to organise themselves and start collecting money now. They can't afford to wait about for even another week or so.

Some might argue it would be best for the club to be liquidated and come back debt-free and playing under a different name. But fans don't think along those lines. They don't want the club to come back under a new name. It is about identity and history.

People might also say the money the fans could raise would be a drop in the ocean with a potential £50m tax bill possibly round the corner. But that bridge can be crossed if we come to it; for now it is about taking every step possible to ensure ongoing survival.

Perhaps the ideal solution from the fans' point of view would be if Rangers ended up with some kind of supporter ownership. After saving Dundee, the fans there now effectively run the club.

Everybody can see how successful Barcelona, a members' club, are and there are clubs in Germany run in a similar way, so why not? It would be the safer option for the future of the club because I don't think fans would overspend at put everything at risk.

There are too many clubs where things have gone wrong when a supposed benefactor has been involved – Calum Melville, Whyte, and you could probably throw David Murray into that mix.

Rangers in administration is like a wounded animal bleeding to death when a quick kill might be more merciful. Usually in such situations redundancies are announced quickly and while that may not be great for those involved – it certainly wasn't for me at Dundee – leaving it hanging for the best part of three weeks is horrific.

I salute the players for voting for wage deferrals but apart from the young boys and maybe one or two older guys I think they will all get other clubs.

With every day that goes by I feel more pessimistic, not just about Rangers' future, but the rest of Scottish football as well: look at Dunfermline, or Hearts.

I was brought up supporting Rangers and have worked for and with them, but the longer the current situation goes on, the more I fear for them. The only cause for optimism is the ongoing support of the fans. If they are asked to help save the club, they will find a way.