Kennedy makes new offer

The Sale Sharks owner saw a previous bid rejected last month for being too low but said at that time he would return to the table if he felt the club's future was in jeopardy and on Thursday he contacted administrators Duff and Phelps.

Kennedy confirmed in the Scottish Sun that he had made the new "substantially improved" offer, and added that he is "waiting for the administrators to come back to me".

He continued: "Whether they go the Paul Murray and Ticketus route or my way, I would implore them to act swiftly.

"We're both coming at it from exactly the same angle. We both have Rangers at heart, we're both Scottish, both live here and both know what's best for the club. We've got responsibility, we've got accountability. Whether it's Paul or me I don't mind, I just want this to be sorted - and sorted soon."

American tycoon Bill Miller and Bill Ng, a Singaporean businessman, are rival bidders while former Rangers director Paul Murray's Blue Knights consortium, originally backed by Kennedy, have stepped aside to help facilitate what they hope will be a quick deal with any of the other bidders in order to save the club from liquidation.

However, despite "intensive discussions" taking place on Wednesday night, the takeover saga shows no signs of reaching a conclusion any time soon with Duff and Phelps frustrated in their attempts to get an unconditional bid on the table.

While it is not yet quite clear what Edinburgh-born Kennedy is offering, it is believed some of the conditions attached to bids from Miller and Ng cannot be fulfilled or guaranteed by the administrators who are continuing to work towards a resolution.

The apparent impasse is not good news for Rangers fans or manager Ally McCoist, who on Tuesday called for the administrators to name a preferred bidder as soon as possible after expressing concerns over the protracted nature of the bidding process.

The source said: "The administrators are acutely aware of the desire to get a deal done as soon as possible. They want to accept unconditional offers but all bids have conditions and some of them can't be fulfilled by administrators."