Posted on Apr 03
The entrance to Glasgow Rangers football club's Ibrox ground in Glasgow, Scotland. Rangers' administrators expect to receive up to 'four or five bids' for the cash-strapped Scottish champions to be submitted by Wednesday's 5pm local time (1600GMT) deadline for best and final offers.

Rangers' administrators expect to receive up to "four or five bids" for the cash-strapped Scottish champions to be submitted by Wednesday's 5pm local time (1600GMT) deadline for best and final offers.

Administrators Duff and Phelps set the deadline in a bid to end the uncertainty surrounding the 140-year-old Glasgow giants.

Joint administrator David Whitehouse told Rangers' official website the club could be in new hands "within weeks", adding: "We need to have ownership change before the end of the season."

Whitehouse said Tuesday: "We have been in detailed conversation with a number of parties over the last couple of weeks and the best and final bids are due to be submitted by tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5pm.

"It could be we end up with at least four possibly five bids being submitted.

"If it becomes clear after tomorrow's bids then we would want to be backing one horse very soon after Easter and then concluding a deal within a few weeks - in other words ownership change -- and Rangers would come out of administration at that point.

"We need to have ownership change before the end of the season."

Administrators were called in to Rangers on February 14 after British tax authorities went to court to seek payment of an unpaid bill of £9 million ($14 million) built up since owner Craig Whyte took charge at Ibrox in May.

That meant Rangers were docked 10 points -- a move that effectively handed this season's Scottish Premier League (SPL) title to arch Glasgow rivals Celtic, who now only need a point at Kilmarnock on Saturday to be crowned champions.

Whitehouse stressed: "I am told that Craig Whyte will not be an impediment to any deal."

One of the bids expected Wednesday is due to come from the Blue Knights consortium led by former Rangers director Paul Murray.

Earlier Tuesday, Murray said he's done a deal with Ticketus that will see them write off "very significant sums" they believed are owed by Rangers.

Deals between Whyte and Ticketus over the sale of future season tickets were worth some £30.5 million in total but, with £27 million still owed to the London-based company, it was reported Tuesday that Ticketus were willing to accept just £10 million back.

It has been suggested they will allow Murray to pay the debt back over nine years, while also supplying Murray's regime with a £10-million loan to cover the club's running costs until they launched a share issue.

Murray told the Daily Record: "They have agreed to this to help Rangers survive and prosper.

"Not only are they prepared to write off very significant sums but they are also committed to putting more money into the club in the short term which would give us the ability, this coming summer, to carry out some essential activity in terms of the first-team squad."

Administrators are appointed to run a company that cannot pay its debts.