The administrators running Rangers, Duff & Phelps, issued a statement this evening on behalf of the club. Joint administrator Paul Clark said: “We are pleased to announce today a package of cost-cutting measures has been agreed with the Rangers playing staff that enables the Club to move forward.
“The agreement on very substantial wage reductions and voluntary departures from the Club represents a major sacrifice by the Rangers players.
“The discussions have been lengthy and by no means easy for anyone involved but the most important objective in all of this process has been to achieve an outcome that will help save the Club.There are a small number of matters still to be dealt with over the weekend but we do not believe these will be insurmountable in the completion of an agreement.
“The players deserve great credit and we are in no doubt that this agreement is the best way to achieve the necessary cost savings to ensure the continuing operations of the Club while preserving the fabric of the playing squad.
“The agreement has also directly prevented substantial job losses among non-playing staff both at Ibrox and Murray Park.
“This has been a difficult week for everyone at the Club and we are pleased that we can now move forward and focus on the next steps in the recovery process.”
The cost-cutting measures include the First team playing squad agreeing to substantial wage cuts temporarily ranging from 25% to 75% of their current salaries. Ally McCoist and the rest of the senior management team have also accepted temporary wage cuts.
However the agreement has come too late for both Gregg Wylde and Mervan Celik who requested to leave the club in a bid to stave off cuts to cuts to non-playing staff. While the remaining players at the club have taken wage cuts, which will prevent widespread job losses, it may not prevent some staff losing their jobs.
Mr Clark said: “Everyone involved in the process, the Duff and Phelps team, the manager, the PFA Scotland and, most importantly, the players themselves made every effort possible to reach a consensual position where job losses among the playing staff were either prevented or kept to the minimum.
“This required a commitment to very substantial temporary wage cuts and we’re very pleased to say that after all our discussions this has been achieved.
“The considerable sacrifice the players at Rangers have made has saved the jobs of other people at the Club and we fully recognise the football staff are paying a very heavy price for the greater good.
“It is to their eternal credit the players and the management have sought to find a solution that helps protect the fabric of the Club.
“We are especially grateful to the manager, Ally McCoist, who has put the interests of the Club, his players and the staff first and foremost at all times.Senior first team players have also been very helpful in trying to secure a successful outcome.
“We should be absolutely clear that this Club is in a perilous financial situation and there are no easy options. If substantial cost reduction could not be achieved then the Club would not survive until the end of the season.
“Administration is never a painless process and is imperative if the Club is to survive that the business trades viably through the period of administration.
“As regards non-playing staff, job losses will be kept to a minimum. The recently opened London office will close and another recently appointed employee will leave the business.
“We still hold to our view that the future of Rangers can be secured and the measures announced today will be an important part of the recovery process.”
PFA Scotland chairman Fraser Wishart meanwhile paid tribute to the Rangers players for taking pay cuts making sure the club will fulfil their fixtures until the end of the season.
Wishart said: “The players are to be applauded for their efforts. It really has been a fantastic gesture from them and the main thing is that is meant no redundancies and the club can now trade until the end of the season.
“The camaraderie in the group is very special because some of the players could have left and secured better deals elsewhere but they chose to take a pay cut and remain with their colleagues.
“That really tells you the level of unity in the Rangers squad and it shows what the club means to all of them. Of course retaining the playing squad makes Rangers a better prospect for a buyer so that is another huge benefit.”
“Much has been written and said about the talks but at all times the players were as one and this has been borne out by what has happened tonight.”
Meanwhile Inverness Caledonian Thistle chairman Kenny Cameron has announced that Rangers have paid £25,000 of the £40,000 owed to them by the Ibrox side from last month’s league clash between the two sides. With the remaining balance expected soon.
The club still owe Hearts £800,000 of the transfer fee for Lee Wallace and around £100,000 to Dundee United from the tickets sold for a Scottish Cup clash between the two sides.
The final installment of £150,000 is still owed to Swedish side Orbero from the transfer fee for Alejandro Bedoya, they still owe Rapid Vienna money for Nikica Jelavic and GAIS Gothenburg are still awaiting payment for Mercan Celik, despite the forward agreeing to leave the club just a couple of months after signing for the club.
