FOR Rangers there appears to be no respite from battle.

On the field they continue to face scraps every week as they try to adjust to life in Division Three when everyone expected them to skate it.

Off the pitch, the controversial Employee Benfeit Trust scheme used to pay players over a decade is, of course, subject of an ongoing dispute with the taxman that is believed to be on the verge of conclusion with a decision on Rangers' appeal over a multi-million assessment imminent.

Despite this issue being at the fulcrum of the club's meltdown, no more damage can be done, monetary-wise anyway. If the three judges who have spent months and months poring over the case find in favour of HMRC then Charles Green won't be liable for the bill.

But what would really hurt, and this strikes right into the heart of the support, is the other EBT investigation which was thrust firmly into the spotlight over the weekend.

Green has opted to have nothing to do with the SPL's commission, headed by Lord Nimmo-Smith, into the use of EBT's.

This is, essentially, a football regulatory matter, which has to be decided on and could lead to Gers losing five titles from 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Of course, had events turned down a different road, the SFA wanted four Scottish Cups to be wiped as part of a five-way agreement to allow the newco into Division One.

Where that leaves them, as the first body of appeal should Gers choose that option after Nimmo-Smith's commission releases its findings in November, is anyone's guess as they have already been party to a plan that would remove trophies!

Meantime, Nimmo-Smith made the unprecedented step of defending his impartiality over the weekend and more or less called on Rangers to offer some kind of defence to the allegations against them.

Green won't take up that offer, neither will the administrators representing the oldco.

Maybe Green has a plan to go to a civil court if an outcome arrives that he doesn't fancy, as it could be hard for Fifa to get involved against a club taking legal action against a governing body that actually has no governance over them!

Then again, would it not be fit and proper for Sir David Murray to make a quick call to Green and offer his substantial resource on this matter as Rangers' defence?

The club paid the Murray Group £500,000 a year for legal advice on EBT's and he has also spent well over £2m on legal fees in the HMRC case.

Given that it all happened on his watch, Murray, who has already publicly stated no wrongdoing on his part, has an obligation to defend the trophies won during that period.

But if he doesn't, you can rest assured the pressure on Green to act will be unbearable from the support, and we could be heading for one very messy situation.