Rangers’ administrators say they have received “several expressions of interest from parties not connected to the club” since taking over the running of the cash-strapped Scottish champions.
Administrators Duff and Phelps took charge of the football giants on Tuesday after Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the British tax authority, went to court to seek their administration over an unpaid bill of STG9 million ($A13.28 million) built up since Craig Whyte took control at Ibrox in May.
Rangers’ title hopes were all but ended after the Scottish Premier League docked them 10 points for entering administration, leaving them 14 points behind leaders and arch Glasgow rivals Celtic, but still in second place.
They are also awaiting the verdict of a tax tribunal that could leave the 140-year-old club with a bill of up to STG75 million, according to Whyte.
“As administrators, we have to look at all other expressions of interest in the club and to date we have received several expressions of interest from parties not connected to the club,” joint administrator Paul Clark told a news conference at Rangers’ Ibrox ground.
“These will be subject to ongoing discussions and examined in the forthcoming days.”
Clark stressed that players would be paid their February wages as normal and that the weekend’s match against Kilmarnock would go ahead as scheduled.
Earlier on Thursday, Rangers won cross-party support from leading politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron.
Both Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond – currently at loggerheads over the latter’s plan for a referendum on Scottish independence – said it was vital the club survived.
“I want that club to survive and to thrive,” Conservative Party leader Cameron told the BBC on a visit to Scotland.
“It has an extraordinary history, it has a very special place in many people’s hearts in Scotland and no-one wants to see that club disappear.”
Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), urged HMRC to realise the importance of the club to the country as a whole.
This week, Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said his club, and even Scottish football as a whole, could live without Rangers.
But Salmond insisted: “The most die-hard Celtic supporter understands that Celtic can’t prosper unless Rangers are there. The rest of the clubs understand that as well.”
However, a statement on Celtic’s official Twitter site on Thursday said: “We are very disappointed with the First Minister’s claims that Celtic ‘need’ Rangers and that Celtic ‘can’t prosper unless Rangers are there’. This is simply not true.”
