Rangers braced for £100k legal bill over Kenny Miller & Lee Wallace appeal

Rangers could be hit with a bill of more than £100,000 after the SPFL upheld an appeal by Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace over financial sanctions handed down by the club to both players last season.

Former Ibrox striker Miller was fined two weeks’ wages, while Wallace was hit with a four-week fine for their part in an alleged dressing room bust-up after a 4-0 Scottish Cup semi final loss to rivals Celtic.

Wallace, who was out injured at the time, was accused of an angry outburst at former Gers boss Graeme Murty, with Miller - an unused substitute - reprimanded after launching a stinging criticism of Murty’s approach to the game.

Club chiefs felt the duo had overstepped the mark and, following negotiations with managing director Stewart Robertson and human resources staff, took the decision to suspend both players on full pay.

Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller were backed by the SPFL in their appeal. Picture: SNS Group

But eyewitnesses insisted that no fracas took place in the Hampden dressing room, and the SPFL backed Miller and Wallace’s appeal yesterday.

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A statement from Rangers said: “The club is surprised by the decision of the SPFL’s Tribunal on this matter and disappointed that the decision seems to have been leaked before the club were advised of it by the SPFL.

“Decisions on such matters deal largely with procedural issues, not the conduct which gave rise to the club’s sanctions.

“The club was only presented with a 40-plus page decision after 4 o’clock this afternoon and will now take some time to consider matters before deciding how to proceed.”

Now the Ibrox club could be presented with a legal bill plus a request to repay both players the money they were initially denied - and the total could top £100,000.

Miller left Rangers in the summer and, following a very brief spell as player-manager of Livingston, signed for Dundee as a player on a two-year deal.

His former team mate Wallace has been included in the matchday squad for Rangers’ recent league games, but was stripped of the club captaincy and was omitted from the Gers’ Europa League squad.