Financially-stricken Rangers struggling to see out season

Administrators last night warned Rangers would not finish the season unless they secured a quick sale or implemented “very severe” cost-cutting measures.

Duff and Phelps announced they were “accelerating” the sale of the club after failing to finalise a wage-reduction agreement with players that would have limited redundancies in return for cuts of 75% for the highest earners.

They had been optimistic of success after failing to finalise personal details with about half a dozen players on Tuesday night but no deal emerged yesterday and administrators then delivered a stark warning about the scale of the club’s financial problems.

The dramatic confession over the dangers of not fulfilling their final nine Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixtures came after Ibrox director Dave King claimed liquidation was “inevitable”.

Joint-administrator David Whitehouse said: “The club is in a perilous financial situation and that should not be under-estimated.

“Regrettably, we have been unable to agree cost-cutting measures with the playing staff on terms that will preserve value in the business. We understand the players’ position as the scale of wage cuts required to achieve these savings without job losses were very substantial indeed.’’