Administrators appointed to Rangers FC

Rangers have today appointed administrators Duff and Phelps after a court battle with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

Rangers were given an ultimatum to move into administration at the Court of Session in Edinburgh 24 hours after lodging notice of intent.

The move will trigger an automatic 10-point deduction by the Scottish Premier League, all but handing the title to Celtic.

Rangers appointed their preferred administrator after a court petition was lodged by HMRC to have one appointed for them.

Rangers had been given until 3.30pm to make the appointment following legal debate and did so with around 45 minutes to spare.

The court was told the administrators would be Duff & Phelps, who Rangers named as their preferred partners after lodging papers at the court yesterday signalling their intention to enter administration.

Rangers said a final decision would be taken in 10 working days but their hand was forced by the tax authority.

The Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions, who have fallen 14 points behind leaders Celtic as a result of the decision, are awaiting the verdict of a tax tribunal which owner Craig Whyte claims could cost them £75m.

Speaking at the Court of Session, HMRC's legal representative David Thomson said the authority was keen to avoid the public perception, and the perception amongst Rangers' creditors, that the administrator was too close to the club.

However, Rangers’ counsel Roderick Dunlop QC said Mr Thomson had put forward an “amorphous criticism” of Duff and Phelps, which he called “a respected firm”.

Following legal debate HMRC accepted Duff and Phelps as administrators, and their appointment was confirmed shortly before 3pm.

An element of doubt was immediately raised over Rangers' next SPL game, against Kilmarnock at Ibrox on Saturday, as Strathclyde Police sought assurances they would be paid for policing the event.

A statement read: “Strathclyde Police is a public body and has a duty to make sure public resources are used appropriately.

“We are seeking an urgent meeting with the administrators to ensure that any payment for policing costs at future Rangers games is guaranteed.

“Until we have such a guarantee we would not be in a position to commit public resources to policing an event unless we had a reassurance that our costs would be met.”