Rangers administrators are confident the club will be able to fulfil their Scottish Premier League fixtures.
Deadline of 16th March set for potential buyers of Ibrox club
Rangers administrators are confident the club will be able to fulfil their Scottish Premier League fixtures after players agreed to a pay cut.
Duff and Phelps on Friday evening announced the playing squad had consented to 'very substantial' reductions in their wages in order to save the jobs of non-playing staff.
The cost cutting measure is expected to stave off any threat of liquidation and administrator Paul Clark stressed they had needed to find balance between retaining value in the club.
Interested party Paul Murray had urged the administrators not to cut players and make a new owner's rebuilding job more expensive.
And Clark said at a news conference broadcast live on
Sky Sports News: "It would have been all too easy to simply cut players. That would have been the easy option.
"It may have destroyed value within the club and also the ability for the club to succeed on the field."
Rangers will earn around £900,000 more if they finish second in the SPL rather than third. They are currently three points above Motherwell.
Indicative bids
A statement added that the club remained in a "perilous" position but repeated the administrators' belief that the future of Rangers could be secured.
Clark told reporters: "The prospect of people buying Rangers football club remains our primary objective.
"That's something we have continued talks about in the last few days and there are a number of further meetings taking place next week.
"We have set a date of next Friday that the buyers should prove their worth and place indicative bids so we can decide which of the parties are really serious about acquiring Rangers football club."
Clark would not disclose how many players had forgone three-quarters of their wages, only saying it was a "large number", and refused to divulge details on any interested parties.
"The reason it has taken so long is quite simply because it has been a difficult decision for many," said Clark, who revealed wage cuts would last until the end of the season.
"The players have made very big sacrifices. It was very difficult for them to understand why they should do it given the position of the club was not of their making.
Long and difficult
"Those decisions have been long and difficult at times but for me it was waiting for."
Clark revealed the deal had given them "breathing space" to continue talks with potential buyers.
"The plan from the outset is to avoid any talk of liquidation," he added.
"We firmly believe Rangers football club will continue to operate and that's why we are continuing to talk to parties."
Clark hoped there would be more clarity on the club's finances for potential buyers in the coming weeks but did not believe the lack of clarity over the club's potential £49million tax case over Employee Benefit Trusts would hold up any sale.
He said: "The big tax case is something that is regrettably out of our hands but to some extent it's really about what that would then mean in terms of the deal that was offered to settle the big tax case.
"Just because we don't have the final extent of the amount that's outstanding, needn't hold that process up.
"It doesn't concern me - even if the big tax case decision has not actually been delivered, we still think we could conduct a transaction with a new buyer."
When asked if there was any chance of cutting a deal with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, which forced the club into administration over £9million in unpaid tax accrued under Whyte, he said: "I think it would be too early for me to say what the chance of a deal with any of the creditors are."
