British PM hopes for Rangers future

Crisis-hit Scottish champions Rangers on Thursday won cross-party support from leading politicians, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, after the Glasgow club went into administration over unpaid tax.

Cameron and Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond -- currently at loggerheads over the latter's plan for a referendum on Scottish independence -- both said it was vital that the club survived.

"I want that club to survive and to thrive," the Conservative Party leader told the BBC on a visit to Scotland.

"It has an extraordinary history, it has a very special place in many people's hearts in Scotland and no one wants to see that club disappear.

"So, I hope that HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the British tax authority) will work as closely as they can with the administrators to try to solve the problems, to try to resolve the issues."

Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), accepted that the tax authorities had a job to do in the public interest but they had to realise the importance of the club to the country as a whole.

"They've got to have cognisance of the fact that we're talking about a huge institution, part of the fabric of the Scottish nation, as well as Scottish football, and everybody realises that," he told Al Jazeera English.

The Labour former Scottish first minister Henry McLeish also said he hoped the club, whose origins date back to 1872, will survive.

Rangers' title hopes were all but ended after the Scottish Premier League docked them 10 points for entering administration, leaving them 14 points behind leaders and arch Glasgow rivals Celtic, but still in second place."

The chief executive of Glasgow rivals Celtic, Peter Lawwell, has suggested that his club, and even Scottish football as a whole, could live without Rangers.

But Salmond insisted: "The most die-hard Celtic supporter understands that Celtic can't prosper unless Rangers are there. The rest of the clubs understand that as well."

Administrators Duff and Phelps took control of Rangers on Tuesday after the HMRC went to court to seek their administration over an unpaid bill of £9 million (ê14 million) built up since Craig Whyte took control at Ibrox in May.

Administration is the process whereby a troubled company calls upon independent expert financial help in a bid to remain operational.

Rangers are also awaiting the verdict of a tax tribunal which could leave them, according to Whyte, with a bill of up to £75 million.

The administrators were due to meet manager Ally McCoist and players on Thursday before holding an Ibrox news conference at 3:30 pm local time (1530 GMT).

Duff and Phelps have said there will be "no immediate cuts in the playing staff" but there will be a review of the situation in due course.

Wednesday saw joint administrators Paul Clark and David Whitehouse issue a statement saying Rangers would continue as a football club.

"In broad terms, supporters can be reassured that Rangers will continue as a football club," their statement said. "And we hope to reach a stage as soon as possible where the club can emerge from administration."

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