Rangers Stars Agree 75% Pay Cut
Rangers players and administrators are closing in on a wage-reduction deal that would prevent significant redundancies, with an agreement needed before the end of the day.
PA PhotosSteven Whittaker and Steven Naismith are among those Gers players to agree a wage cut
It is understood that Scotland trio Steven Whittaker, Allan McGregor and Steven Naismith have now signed an agreement to accept 75% wage cuts, having been among about half a dozen players to have stalled on a deal late on Tuesday night.
Like the rest of the squad, they had agreed in principle to the wage cuts but wanted guarantees that their sacrifices would ensure there would be no job losses among the entire workforce.
It is understood the pair are now happy with assurances from administrators that there will be no forced redundancies. Administrators are now understood to be pushing ahead with attempts to sign agreements with the whole squad.
Given many players had been happy with the deal several days ago, there is hope that process can be concluded today. Naismith arrived for training this morning and explained his position.
Naismith told
Sky Sports News:
"We just want to get the best for the club, everybody at the club's doing all they can to get a solution. There's a lot of Rangers fans in the squad and we just want to get it fixed.
"Everybody's trying to come to a good conclusion and get the best for the club. Everybody wants to succeed, there's a lot of innocent people here that just want to go on with their lives and get a job at the end of the day.''
Administrator Paul Clark appears content to accede to some demands for a caveat in the contracts given the uncertainty over the club's future.
Clark told
BBC Scotland:
"I don't think that should be considered that any or all of the players are considering that they want to leave the club in the summer.
"It's just a safety mechanism from their point of view, in exchange for the very substantial amounts they're giving up, to give them some flexibility depending on what the new ownership structure looks like when the club comes out of administration.''
Talks are also set to continue with prospective buyers.
"We've got several parties who appear to be asking all the right questions and we are looking for them to move forward to make some bids to us, we hope at some point next week," Clark added.