Rangers administrators seek appeal

Rangers' administrators have requested an immediate expedited appeals process over the sanctions imposed on the club by the Scottish Football Association's judicial panel on Monday night.

The Glasgow giants were hit with a £160,000 fine and 12-month embargo on signing players aged over 17 after being found guilty of five charges in relation to their finances and the appointment of Craig Whyte as chairman.

In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, administrators Duff and Phelps also stated they were not yet satisfied at this stage as to whether the sanctions are lawful.

David Whitehouse, joint administrator, said: "We have today written to the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association requesting an immediate expedited appeals process over the sanctions imposed on Rangers by the Association's judicial panel last night.

"The decision of last night's judicial panel is in our opinion quite extraordinary.

"Not only in our opinion do the panel fail to have properly apportioned culpability between the club and Craig Whyte, they appear to have rendered a penalty which could have a very detrimental effect on the ability of the administrators to achieve a sale of the business or a Company Voluntary Arrangement.

"This, in turn, cannot be in the interests of Rangers Football Club or Scottish football in general."

Administrators claim news of the SFA sanctions could delay further their attempts to named a preferred bidder to take over the administration-hit club.

Former Ibrox director Paul Murray`s Blue Knights have requested more time to finalise their plans prior to any announcement on a preferred bidder, while American businessman Bill Miller had previously asked for written assurances that there would be no football sanctions next season.