Rangers takeover: "Deadline day" comes and goes yet again Last night the SFA last night categorically denied the administrators" claim on Saturday that Miller was "making progress" concerning his attempt to eliminate the risk of future punishment. Curiously, the SPL's communications director, Natalie Duncan, refused to confirm or deny whether Miller had been offered any such comfort. Meanwhile, the SFA's Judicial Panel met for a fourth day (originally scheduled for three) yesterday in an attempt to decide what sanctions they will apply to Rangers and discredited owner Craig Whyte for breaching their Articles of Association. Their verdict is expected today. "Bill Miller is seeking to get clarity from the football authorities with regard to a once-and-for-all level of penalties that might apply in the event of him going ahead with his bid," Whitehouse said. He was trying to get clarity over the weekend, hasn't got that yet but has made some progress. So I would guess, with him, it will be a couple of days. But he has made it clear that he effectively is leaving the door open for the Blue Knights, because he doesn't want to walk into a hostile takeover scenario. Whitehouse claims that the proposals made by Miller currently represent the best option for the 140-year-old institution. "If it's deliverable, which it's very close to being, the Bill Miller bid seems to be a very strong bid for the club," he said. It's two requirements are to mitigate - in fact, remove - future footballing penalties, if he can get to that position. And also to provide quite healthy structure moving forward. What he is intending to do is buy the business through a new company and then go through an orderly CVA process, not a rushed one, to effectively cleanse the [old] business. He won't be held to ransom, for example, by Craig Whyte in relation to his shares. Once the CVA is exited on the other side, the two companies are put together again. It is a newco in the short term. But it wouldn't involve liquidation. If he can do it before the start of the new season, the 30th of April penalties wouldn't apply. That's the logic behind it. "He doesn't have to put the two companies back together again before the start of the new season."But the operating company would be in a newco before the start of the new season - and therefore wouldn't be subject to the sanctions. That's the strategy. The sanctions in relation to newco come into force next season. So, if he can get a newco operational and intact from further penalties this season, it enables him to work out the CVA, which would no longer own the share - and wouldn't be subject to ongoing sanction. Once you get the CVA concluded, you can put the two back together. So his idea is to retain the history and minimise the sanctions. The clock is still ticking, though, and Whitehouse admits time is of the essence. "We have a short period of time in which the business is effectively funded, which is to the end of the season," he said. Given how extensively this has been marketed, if nobody is prepared to buy the business, we face a pretty bleak future. What we've been saying is that avoiding liquidation is in the gift of the purchasers. It's only by finding a purchaser and investor will you have avoid liquidation. The fact is that these bidders need to step up. Administrators jump gun with transfer talk Rangers" administrators, Duff and Phelps, in a statement posted on the club's website, posited the possibility of the Ibrox membership of the SPL being transferred to a "newco" before the end of the current campaign. They would seem to believe that if ownership of the club is transferred to Bill Miller (the only person yet to table an official bid) or the Blue Knights within the next week or so then the new custodians can apply for, and be granted, permission to have Rangers" share transferred to a phoenix operation. Unfortunately, any "newco" formed before the transfer window reopens on July 1 will be unable to sign players, including those who are presently out of contract. If a CVA cannot be reached (and there is still the huge matter of the Top Tier Tax Tribunal's verdict to be taken into consideration), then Rangers face liquidation, in which case the registrations of their playing staff, under Fifa rules, revert to the SFA rather than transferred to the "newco." Under those circumstances, a transfer of membership seems unlikely but, Scottish football politics being largely determined by self-interest, it would be unwise to make assumptions ahead of the event. Whitehouse certainly remains bullish about the prospects of success. "In terms of timing, we believe that should an unconditional bid be made that would meet creditors" approval and a CVA process could begin, the club could emerge from administration within a period of two months and certainly prior to the commencement of next season," he said.