Rangers have been given 90 minutes to appoint their own administators after a dramatic day at court.

A hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh took place to decide the fate of the current SPL champions.

Lord Menzies gave the club 90 minutes to appoint its own administrators or he will rule on an application by HM Revenue and Customs to bring in a court-appointed firm. The club's legal representatives told the hearing they were "confident" the deadline would be met.

Earlier, Rangers told the court that paperwork was on its way to appoint an administrator on Tuesday afternoon. This would allow the club to get breathing space from its creditors, which include the tax authorities.

However, HMRC opposed this move and instead wants to bring in a court-appointed insolvency expert to run the club in the interests of its creditors. It said there "problems of perception" with the appointment of Duff and Phelps, Rangers' preferred firm.

It said its representatives were on their way to the court to appoint an administrator on Monday when they found out that Rangers had made their move.

Roddy Dunlop QC, representing the Ibrox club, claimed that Rangers could appoint administrators as the floating charge holder had approved it. HMRC has disputed this, claiming Rangers could not call in administrators for five working days from lodging their notice of intent to appoint insolvency experts.

Under the Insolvency Act 1986, companies have to give at least five days written notice before appointing an administrator bysubmitting a notice to the court. Businesses have a maximum of ten working days in which to try and agree terms with creditors before appointing administrators after lodging a notice with the Court of Session.

Once in administration, the club will be automatically been docked ten points in the SPL, leaving them 14 points behind Celtic in second place.

The club is awaiting the outcome of a crucial tax case with HMRC that could result in them being hit with a bill of up to £75m, according to owner Craig Whyte.