Sir David Murray has agreed to sell his 85.3% shareholding in Rangers to Craig Whyte – for the token sum of just £1.

The protracted takeover of the Ibrox club is expected to be confirmed today. The entire deal will cost Whyte around £52.5m.

After yesterday ended with the deal still on ice due to a "technical issue", Whyte stayed in Edinburgh last night and returned to the office of legal firm Dundas and Wilson with his team this morning to try and finally force things over the line.

He is determined to get matters resolved by close of business today, with a source saying that in the early hours of this morning there was progress made on sorting out the issue that had held matters up.

Sport Times can now reveal the details of the deal struck between Murray and Whyte for his shares.

Whyte had originally agreed to pay Murray £5m for his controlling interest. But when a £2.8m tax liablity appeared in the club's accounts, published on April 1, Whyte went back to the negotiating table.

A source confirmed: "When this £2.8m tax bill appeared out of the blue, Craig renegotiated with Sir David over the price being asked for his shareholding.

"It was mutually agreed that the price would be reduced to £1 for the controlling interest. Instead of £5m going to Sir David, the tax bill was covered by Craig with the balance going back into the pot for the club to reinvest. So the club has done better out of the deal, which Craig wanted.

"That has been his main aim throughout this – that every penny possible goes to Rangers for future strengthening on and off the park.

"This agreement with Sir David for the shareholding enhances that further. The £5m was pledged by Craig for the shares – but now a good chunk of that is going back into the club."

The source also confirmed the details of the transaction that would take place once the legal documents are signed and sealed.

"Lloyds will be paid £18m to clear the term loan, with a small debt still outstanding, (believed to be around £4m on a loan against the Albion Car Park across from Ibrox)," the source revealed.

"£10m will then be transfered straight into Rangers current account for use as working capital.

"On top of that, Craig has guaranteed £25m for squad strengthening. He is fully aware that might need to be front-loaded this summer, and is keen to talk to Ally McCoist as quickly as possible about the plans for bringing in new players."

Yesterday afternoon, Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston announced that he will be resigning from his position on May 16.

Johnston hinted that the sceptics on the independent vetting board would have their say down the line, but insisted they would not stand in the way any longer.

"A great deal of work has been done by the board, and I'm very proud of that," he said, "I'm confident that the efforts of the board have improved the deal significantly for the benefit of the club.

"Our views will come out in the future and I'm comfortable with that - but I don't want to stand in the way of progress. I will resign as intended on May 16 but will be working hard until then to make sure Rangers secure the SPL title. After that, I will go back to being the club's number one fan."