Scottish Championship side Rangers have assured the Scottish Professional Football League that "they are not heading for administration despite their current financial troubles," according to Chris McLaughlin of the BBC. Rangers CEO Derek Llambias was "called to a meeting at Hampden on Tuesday to clarify the situation." That followed news of a "late tax bill and the club revealing they need more cash before the end of the month" (BBC, 1/7). In Glasgow, Keith Jackson reported Llambias was asked to attend a "one-to-one meeting" with SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster, who "demanded to know if there is a danger that the club may be tipped into administration." Llambias gave Doncaster a "personal guarantee that another set of administrators" are not "about to be called into Ibrox." The Rangers board admitted on Tuesday that "more emergency funding will be needed to keep the club in business this month." That admission came as Rangers turned down an £18M ($27M) bailout from U.S. banker Robert Sarver. Some "sort of fresh funding will have to be in place by the middle of next week at the latest if insolvency is to be avoided and so an
announcement on a new lifesaving loan can be expected imminently." Llambias and Rangers Chair David Somers are currently in negotiations with a "consortium of wealthy fans headed by Douglas Park and including George Letham and George Taylor." The board has invited Sarver to "table a rival offer" and it is "inconceivable" that shareholder Mike Ashley -- whose recent £3M crisis loan has "already been spent -- has not also been approached" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 1/6).
