Rangers 1 Hearts 2

No European football for Rangers next season and cuts to the playing squad that will be imposed tomorrow. That was the news yesterday from David Whitehouse of Duff and Phelps, administrators

of the beleaguered Scottish champions, on an afternoon which saw Rangers beaten at home for the second time in succession as Hearts won 2-1 in front of a capacity crowd.

Rangers fans had entertained what were admittedly frail hopes of seeing their club come out of administration by March 31, the deadline to be eligible for European football under the Uefa licensing system.

When Whitehouse and his colleague, Paul Clark, first met the media two weeks ago they declared themselves “optimistic” that they could accomplish their task by the end of the month.

Much more immediately, the administrators are now all but certain to make players redundant tomorrow after failing to come to an agreement with the Rangers players and their representatives in PFA Scotland, who had offered to defer pay until after the club emerges from administration – should that be the case.

“They [the Rangers players] are very keen to look at this deferral, but we have made it very clear from the outset of this process that a deferral doesn’t work,” said Whitehouse. “It is just a delayed problem, really, and in any administration there comes a time when you’ve got to make hard decisions for the benefit of the long-term future of the club. Deferring problems isn’t dealing with them in our eyes.

Asked if this meant that high earners – like Lee McCulloch and Kyle Lafferty – would be seeking new employers by tomorrow evening, Whitehouse replied: “Not necessarily. It is difficult because there are a lot of individuals involved and we can’t speculate what people have agreed or not agreed to do and it wouldn’t be right to play that out in the public domain.

“What we can say is that a large percentage of those stakeholders have been supportive of the club and have offered to adjust their remuneration levels in a way that would work for us.”

It also emerged that Craig Whyte is almost certain not to emerge from the insolvency process in control of Rangers and that although he has security over Ibrox and Murray Park it is not possible for him to lease the facilities to whoever might buy the club.

“In the event that the business needs to go through a CVA process we are having a discussion with him setting out his ownership,” said Whitehouse.

“We have made it clear that we think it highly unlikely and improbable that he will retain ownership of the club. Craig Whyte has security which we are continuing to investigate. We are also continuing to investigate what, if any, funds are secured under it.”

There was no relief for Rangers on the field of play at Ibrox, where the support rallied to fill the stadium only to see their team slump to a third successive home defeat, this time against Hearts, who fell behind to a Steven Davis strike in first half injury time but were never outdistanced.

They drew level with a spectacular 35-yard drive from Ian Black before notching the winner from a penalty kick conceded by Dorin Goian when he embraced Andy Webster in a bear-hug. Jamie Hammill saw his attempt from the spot blocked by Allan McGregor but was first to the rebound to beat the Rangers goalkeeper.

And another ominous scenario threatens to unfold. Although Celtic were held to a 1-1 draw by Aberdeen at Pittodrie, if Ally McCoist and whatever players he can muster drop points against Dundee United on their next league outing, the Parkhead side can win the championship at Ibrox on March 25 – to cap an utterly unpalatable passage for Rangers and their supporters.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk