Rangers successfully overturned an SFA imposed year-long player registration embargo at the Court of Session in Edinburgh last week.

And last night businessman consortium leader Charles Green said they had been left with no choice but to seek the court's intervention.

Mr Green said: "It is my firm view that it is vitally important for the current issue of the SFA player embargo to be resolved and neither I nor my investors wish to see an outcome that would be to the detriment of Scottish football.

"Throughout this process, the club, the administrators and most importantly the supporters have taken the view that any sanction against Rangers – due entirely to the misdeeds of individuals no longer at the Club – should be proportionate.

"We and the administrators did not want to take the matter to a civil court at all. Unfortunately, the route to apply to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) was not open to the club because the SFA's own articles fail to include a specific provision permitting appeals to CAS and the Judicial Panel Protocol contains a rule which prohibits any form of appeal to CAS or any other body.

"Our position has been endorsed by Lord Glennie.

However, the SFA claimed Rangers could have sought arbitration short of raising an action in court.

An SFA spokesman said: "Given that any two parties can seek arbitration, the club was not "prohibited from appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport", as was claimed.

"Indeed, no representation was made by the club to the Scottish FA to discuss the possibility or the process of seeking arbitration via the Court of Arbitration for Sport before Judicial Review was actioned."

ewan.fergus@ eveningtimes.co.uk