McCoist believes club will emerge stronger

Rangers manager Ally McCoist is confident the club will survive a ‘black day’ after the Scottish Premier League champions entered administration.

The Light Blues were forced into administration on Tuesday over an unpaid tax bill of £9million – accrued since Craig Whyte’stakeover in May.

The Ibrox club have been docked 10 points over the move, actions that have all but handed Celtic this season’s title, although it is the wider implications that concern the club’s fans.

Gers boss McCoist has moved to assure naturally worried fans that everybody at the club will now pull together to ensure Rangers come through a turbulent period with a stronger future.

Assurance

“That’s the aim. That’s the thing we want to assure the fans and the players and the workforce of,” he told the club’s official website.

“We will be doing everything to make sure Rangers comes out the other side far better and far stronger.

“There’s no getting away from it. It has been a very disappointing and black day.

“We have 140 years of fantastic history at this football club but the most important thing is that we look to the future and the next 140 years.

“Going into administration obviously wasn’t ideal but it’s the opinion of many people that it might be the best thing for this football club.

“Everybody at this club wants the club to continue, which it will do that’s for sure, and this might just be the best way forward.

“So we have to adjust to what’s happened, react to it and take the club forward and we aim to do that.”

Former Rangers director Paul Murray has expressed interest in forming a consortium to buy out owner Craig Whyte following the club’s move into administration.

Murray fronted a last-gasp bid to buy out Sir David Murray before Craig Whyte took control in May last year, but the rival deal soon went through.

“Would I come forward and help the club? Yes,” commented Murray. “But I can’t do that on my own, I would need to work with others.

“Would I be prepared to do that alongside Craig Whyte? No.”

Murray added: “I don’t think one person running the club is a sustainable model.

“I think there has to be wider ownership to give the club the best chance of moving forward.

“This wouldn’t be Paul Murray coming forward to buy the club, it would be Paul Murray as one of many stakeholders putting together capital.

“However, I’m still digesting the events of the last 24 hours, so it’s too early to come to a judgment. It’s very difficult to know the scale of the liability the club now faces.”