Sir Alex says 'tragedy' at Rangers must not lead clubs to panic

Sir Alex Ferguson has described what is happening to his former club Rangers as a "tragedy" but insists other clubs do not necessarily have to press the panic button.

The Manchester United manager said yesterday: "I'm not surprised what happened at Rangers. That was on the cards for a quite a while from since that lad took over. It is a tragedy because it is a great football club.

"It is one of the best clubs you could ever think about. I don't know what will happen there. As far as the rest of Europe is concerned, the top clubs have the ability to manage their affairs in the right way.

"You get the odd one here and there that run into trouble, like Portsmouth. But in the main you are talking about a small percentage.

"It is nothing we should panic about. We are just disappointed in the ones who do fall aside."

The administrators of Rangers have told supporters they can "be reassured that Rangers will continue as a football club" and that they hope to reach a stage "as soon as possible" where the club can emerge from administration.

Duff & Phelps were appointed on Tuesday after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs forced the issue in the Court of Session to try to secure payment of £9m in PAYE and VAT, accrued since Craig Whyte took control of Rangers in May last year.

Joint administrators Paul Clark and David Whitehouse said: "We can report we have made very good progress within the first 24 hours of being appointed."

Saturday's SPL game against Kilmarnock at Ibrox will go ahead as planned, while the administrators expect to hold meetings with the club's staff at least on a weekly basis throughout the process.

The statement continued: "Our first priority has been to ensure that the club continues to function and this is being achieved with the help of staff, players and management. In particular, we would like to thank the club's business partners who are going the extra mile to ensure that Saturday's home match against Kilmarnock goes ahead as scheduled."