HOPES have been expressed that Rangers fans can set up a club ownership scheme similar to the one Hearts supporters have used to buy their club.

Supporters Direct Scotland hosted a meeting with a wide cross-section of fans in The Louden Tavern in Glasgow yesterday.

How to set up a community interest company (CIC), and the benefits of doing so were outlined to those in attendance.

A CIC lets fans buy larger stakes in clubs and they have been used by Hearts and Dunfermline fans to get control at their clubs.

A website - www.scottishfans.org/rangers - gives more details, and a working party is to be set up.

Craig Houston, the lifelong Rangers fan and season ticket holder behind the Sons of Struth protest group, was impressed with the presentation.

And he is optimistic that, despite differences between Rangers fans, they can set up a CIC.

Houston said: "I was impressed with the presentation and the reaction to what was said was very positive from everyone present.

"Not every CIC has to be the same. It gives you a fluid base to work with. You can tailor it to what suits you specifically. Even if there is a smaller-than-expected response to the scheme, it still gives us something to work with.

"There were people present who publicly criticised what Sons of Struth did. But that is in the past. We all spoke positively together about this scheme. I think we have all got to grow up.

"If there is a vehicle that allows us to gain greater control that has to be looked at."