The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) board were given a “factual update” yesterday following oldco Rangers’ tax battle defeat by HM Revenue and Customs.

League chiefs were not due to meet until later this month but held a emergency conference call yesterday afternoon to discuss the fallout from the latest twist in the long-running Ibrox saga.

Opposition fans have demanded Gers be stripped of titles won between 2001 and 2009 after three Court of Session judges ruled a number of companies run by David Murray, including the now-liquidated oldco Rangers, failed to pay millions of pounds in tax.

Murray’s Rangers used employee benefit trusts (EBTs) to boost the salaries of dozens of former first-team players and staff.

However, neither Murray’s firms nor BDO, the liquidators currently working on behalf of the oldco’s creditors, have yet confirmed whether they intend to appeal against the ruling at the UK Supreme Court, meaning angry supporters will have to wait for the SPFL’s official response to the so-called “big tax case.”

A spokesman for the body would only say: “The SPFL can confirm that its board held a short conference call this afternoon to allow for a factual update on the recent decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session.”

However, a league source said that the call would be a “million miles away” from deciding whether Rangers would be subjected to title-stripping or other sporting sanctions.

The Scottish Premier League, the SPFL’s forerunner, asked Nimmo Smith to investigate the use of EBTs by Rangers and whether they breached league rules two years ago.

He ruled the use of side letters to players and staff detailing the EBT payments did break league regulations and fined the oldco £250,000 as well as ordering it to pay £150,000 in costs. The Ibrox newco are challenging attempts to force them to pay the fine.

However, at the time of Nimmo Smith’s ruling, EBT payments were not considered to have been taxable earnings, a matter which led the judge to rule that Rangers had not received a sporting advantage by making the tax-free payments.

Now that the Court of Session has ruled that the payments should have been taxed, the eight-man SPFL board are under pressure to look again at Smith’s report.

The SPFL Board is made up of chief executive Neil Doncaster, chairman Ralph Topping, Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen), Eric Riley (Celtic), Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), Eric Drysdale (Raith Rovers), Mike Mulraney (Alloa Athletic) and Ken Ferguson (Brechin City).