RANGERS players, management and staff are expected to find out today from the club's administrators how many of them are to lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise designed to cover a £4.5m shortfall between now and the end of the season.
Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, had spoken on Saturday evening about his hope that redundancies could be avoided, but that seems unlikely with savings of £1m a month required just to keep the club afloat. It is expected those players who are kept on will be required to take a significant wage cut.
PFA Scotland, the players' union, had hoped the offer of a wage deferral by the first-team squad would help ease short-term cashflow problems and minimise the need for redundancies, but that option was ruled out by the administrators, Duff & Phelps, for fear it may put off potential new owners who would be saddled with paying the deferred wages at a later date.
The administrators have set a deadline of March 16 for parties interested in investing in the club to make their intentions known. There have already been a number of expressions of interest and potential owners now have less than a fortnight to show how serious that interest is.
The administrators, however, also admitted over the weekend that liquidation is still a possibility and it emerged yesterday that at least some of the remaining 11 Scottish Premier League clubs have discussed possible penalties should a "newco" Rangers emerge to take the place of the old club in the event they are wound up.
It is thought a sizeable points deduction at the start of next season and a reduction in income due from broadcasting arrangements have been spoken about as potentially suitable sanctions.
Meanwhile, Campbell Ogilvie, president of the Scottish Football Association, will not be involved in the governing body's investigation into the allegation that Rangers formerly made secret, off-the-book payments to players.
Hugh Adam, a former director of the club, had claimed last week that the practice had been commonplace from around the mid-1990s, something the SFA are now looking into it.
With Ogilvie Rangers secretary at that time, Stewart Regan, the SFA chief executive, felt it would be unwise to have him involved in any investigation. "Campbell won't play any part in any meeting, discussion or conclusion on any activities surrounding Rangers," Regan was quoted as saying.
"I think it's pretty obvious that he's heavily conflicted. We've been aware of the issue for a while. We've been aware that people have views and believe that pieces of evidence exist. What we're trying to do at the moment is get hold of as much information as we can.
"The board will meet to discuss it within a week or maybe slightly longer. Very, very quickly the board will get together to consider the facts. This will be the Scottish FA's main board. There are seven people on the board, but if you exclude Campbell it's six. He's not going to be able to take part."
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