RANGERS have been hit with no fewer than five SFA charges in the wake of their withering recent comments about referee Willie Collum.

The Ibrox side were on the wrong end of a lengthy notice of complaint from SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte last night, in relation to statements from the club between the eighth and 16th of November which said that there were “underlying issues” with the match official and called for a “fundamental review of the rules relating to red cards which result from two bookings of a player in a game”. The backdrop to the story was Collum’s decision to give Daniel Candeias a second booking in a match at St Mirren earlier this month for an incident involving Anton Ferdinand where he appeared to be largely blameless.

The Ibrox side have until this Tuesday to respond to the charge, with a provisional date for the hearing scheduled for Wednesday December 19.

The first charge alleges that Rangers breached rule No 72 or No 38 of the SFA statutes, which talk about “criticising the decisions and/or performances of match officials” in such a way to “indicate bias” or “impinge on his character”. The second and third charges relate to bringing the game into disrepute, or failing to act in the “best interests of Association football” respectively” with charges No 4 and No 5 alleging failure of club officials to comply with the association’s procedures and disclosure of confidential information.