Slow progress will not derail Craig Whyte's bid for Rangers

Craig Whyte and his negotiators still hope to complete their proposed takeover of Rangers this week despite being disappointed by a lack of progress over the weekend.

Lawyers for the businessman put in "a huge amount of work" on Saturday and Sunday, according to a source close to the Whyte camp, but no substantive progress was made on the points which need to be resolved before a final agreement is reached to buy Sir David Murray's controlling interest in the Ibrox club.

"We are seriously hoping that this is the week," the source said last night.

The middle of the week is the most likely time for a resolution to be reached, but the nature of the negotiations means that predicting the date of a conclusion is far from an exact science. A vast volume of paperwork is still outstanding, and only when that has been processed will both parties be in a position to proceed with the sale.

The Whyte camp, while stressing that they had never set or been a party to the various deadlines supposedly imposed on the takeover talks, have admitted that they had hoped last week would see a successful outcome to the talks.

They have accepted as "very sensible" the statement by the Rangers manager-in-waiting Ally McCoist that in planning for next season he has to work on the basis that there will be no new owner. That means that at present, when attempting to persuade a new player to join Ibrox or an existing member of staff to sign a new contract, McCoist is working within the very tight budget imposed on the club by their bankers, the Lloyds Group.

Whyte plans to provide the new manager with several million pounds' worth of funds to make new recruits. The precise amount will depend on the cost of the takeover.