The extent of Rangers’ immediate financial problems was highlighted yesterday after they announced they needed a loan of up to £500,000 from shareholder Sandy Easdale to provide “working capital” in the coming days.

It is believed that the loan staved off a winding-up order from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in relation to an unpaid national insurance bill.

A spokesman for Sandy and James Easdale, who has a seat on the plc board, said the latest loan had been the only option for Rangers.

Easdale family adviser Jack Irvine said: “Once again Sandy has stepped up to the plate with this half million pound loan from his own pocket. 

“While we welcomed the recent share purchases by Dave King and Douglas Park and his consortium, this unfortunately did not put any funds into the club.

“Sandy was the only option for this cash injection at such short notice. 

“The Easdale family remain totally committed to achieving a satisfactory financial future for Rangers and they hope all parties can work together in the future with that common goal.”

Rangers announced a new loan deal to the stock exchange as well as confirming that Robert Sarver, the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns NBA basketball team, had made an approach that may or may not lead to an offer to buy the club.

Sarver’s interest was reported on Sunday but his approach to the Rangers board came before almost a third of the club’s shares were snapped up by a combination of Dave King and the so-called Three Bears — George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park.

Easdale’s loan will be secured on income from the recent sale of Lewis Macleod, who signed for Brentford on Friday for an undisclosed fee that was reported as £1 million.

Macleod had been the team’s most impressive performer this season and his displays earned the 20-year-old midfielder a place in the most recent Scotland squad, but his exit came as Rangers bid to recoup annual losses of £8.3m.

Rangers previously announced his sale had been necessary to provide funds for working capital and the urgent nature of those needs was laid bare in their most recent statement, which revealed that football club chairman Easdale’s interest-free loan of up to £500,000 would be used for “general working capital purposes over the next few days.”

The Scottish Professional Football League said yesterday that they had received no notification of any overdue bill.

It is understood that the league contacted Rangers and were satisfied that there has been no default and no breach of rule E20.