Rangers non-executive chairman David Somers has been appointed executive chairman of the club on a temporary basis, the Glasgow side have announced to the Stock Exchange.

Somers will oversee the recruitment of a new chief executive and finance director following the departures of Graham Wallace and Philip Nash.

A statement said: "David Somers, non-executive chairman, will become executive chairman of Rangers on a temporary basis with immediate effect.

"In this role, he will liaise directly with senior staff within the club about the operation of the business, and he will oversee the recruitment of a new chief executive and finance director."

Somers was appointed as Rangers' acting chairman in November last year and was re-elected at the club's AGM the following month.

The announcement comes a day after Somers held talks at Ibrox with two of Mike Ashley's associates, Derek Llambias and Barry Leach, as they get to grips with the financial situation at the Scottish Championship club.

Somers said he invited Llambias and Leach to work for the club as consultants, days after the board accepted Newcastle owner Ashley's £2million loan offer.

Somers declined to give any details about how long Llambias would work for the club, telling reporters: "He's a consultant. I'm sure everything will turn out for the best.

"I've invited him and Barry Leach in as consultants just to help us out.

"It's good to get investment into the club."

Any attempt to place Llambias and Leach on the board could fall foul of Ashley's agreement with the Scottish Football Association, which was designed to limit his influence at Ibrox while he remains in control of Newcastle.

Ashley signed the agreement, which restricts him to a share of no more than 10 per cent, in 2012.

Somers spoke to Sky Sports News outside Ibrox at around 10am on Thursday morning and joked that his new role involved "more work, no more money".

But the Englishman refused to put a timescale on his search for a new chief executive.

He said: "The board have asked me to lead the search for a new chief exec and also for a finance director.

"And obviously we are having a look at everything with the consultants. It's a good opportunity to dig into everything while we are appointing these people.

"We have got to do these things properly. We have got to make sure we get the right guy. Obviously I would like to do it as fast as possible but at the same time I need to make sure I get the right person for Rangers.

"We may put an interim finance director in, just to fill the gap. It's the same for this role, we need the right person."

And he revealed Llambias has yet to put his name forward as one of the candidates for the chief executive position.

"I don't think I should say (how many people have applied for the chief executive role) at this point," he said.

"I have got some headhunters helping me look for people.

"I can't confirm that (Derek Llambias has applied). That would be unfair of me to say who has applied and who hasn't. As you can imagine it is really early days.

"I was looking at his CV but he hasn't actually applied. He hasn't actually said anything to me. He is here as a consultant."