The downward spiral that has enveloped Rangers FC continues to get more overbearing.
After players rejected pay cuts that would have relieved the club's financial burden, team administrators released a statement saying that they are accelerating the sale of the team. The club is currently in "a perilous financial situation" to the point that it might not be able to afford to play the rest of its games this season, according to the statement.
Rangers players were reportedly on the verge of agreeing to absorb hefty pay cuts that would have prevented the team from releasing any more players amidst the club's financial crisis before turning down the proposal. The pay cuts were going to be taken on a sliding scale based on player salaries — highest-paid players would have lost as much as 75 percent of their wages — and they would have saved the club enough money that no other players will need to be let go.
"We understand the players' position as the scale of wage cuts required to achieve these savings without job losses were very substantial indeed," administrators Duff & Phelps wrote. "In view of this, we are faced with a situation of making redundancies within the playing staff on such a scale that would materially erode the value of the playing squad. We are striving to strike a balance where cost-cutting measures can be implemented but do not destroy the fabric of the playing squad to the extent that it will inhibit the prospect of a sale."
Midfielders Gregg Wylde and Mervan Celik left the club on their own accord on Tuesday in hopes of relieving the financial burden currently weighing down the Scottish powerhouse, but that appears to be far from the case.
As a result, all remaining Rangers players, including Americans Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya, wait as their club futures dangle in the balance.
"We are expediting the sale process, and over the next few days we will be holding discussions with prospective purchasers who have declared their interest," the administrators wrote. "If however it becomes apparent that the sale process cannot be accelerated, there will be no choice but to implement very severe cost-cutting measures at the club."
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