A COMPANY has had £300,000 of Rangers' money ring-fenced over fears of further financial trouble for the Ibrox club.

The firm, 802 Works Ltd, were granted an arrestment warrant by a sheriff on December 31.

They claim the cash is to be paid out for an unpaid bill for a Wi-Fi system installed at the stadium.

It is believed Rangers are investigating the possibility of lodging a counter-claim for the reimbursement of £600,000 paid in the WiFi deal.

In the latest court hearing involving Rangers, sheriff Ian Miller heard from both sides at Glasgow Sheriff Court about whether the arrestment would continue.

The Wi-Fi providers, 802 Works claim the football club owe them the money because a system was installed and the balance hasn't been paid.

But, Rangers allege that the company breached the contract they had with them because the Wi-Fi is not fit for purpose.

They claim that the system does not have the capacity to be used by 50,000 people at the same time, but less than 10,000.

However, 802 Works say they are entitled to the money because the work was carried out and figures relating to how many people would be able to access the system was made known to Rangers.

Lawyers for 802 Works wanted the money ring-fenced to ensure payment if the club goes into insolvency.

The court was told that Rangers "over a considerable period", has been operating at a loss of £7.5million per year.

But counsel for the defenders, The Rangers Football Club Ltd, told the court that there was no prospect of insolvency and lenders were in place.

Various accounts were lodged at the court including an audited report dated October 2015 showing financial information and an account showing more recent figures that were taken from the clubs account system.

The most recent figures were objected to by the representative of 802 Works. Solicitor advocate Simon Catto, representing 802 Works said the audited report showing a full years accounts and a loss of around £7.5 million per year should be preferred.

He said:"These are the only documents that should be looked at when considering if there is a risk of insolvency."

Counsel for the club, Christopher Wilson, told the court that the sum sued for is two percent of the turnover.

He said: "The company is turning over that amount each week."

The court heard Rangers had repaid the £5 million loan from Sports Direct.

Mr Catto said that the defence that only 10,000 users could access the Wi-Fi in the stadium and that contributed a breach of contract was "feeble".

The court was told that it was "quite clear from documents" that it was obvious there was no intention that anything like 50,000 people would be able to use the system simultaneously.

The sheriff is expected to make a decision on Friday if the warrant to freeze the money is to continue or be recalled.

An interim order for the arrestment was originally agreed on December 31 in the absence of the defenders.

The applicants pursued the arrestment believing there was a risk that the enforcement of any court order will be risked by the defenders verging on insolvency.

The annual report of accounts released in November showed that Rangers International Football Club incurred net losses of £7.5m - a drop of around £0.6 million.

They also confirmed that £2.5 million of external funding needed to be found before the end of the season.

Two weeks ago Rangers announced that loans totalling £6.5million had been secured from chairman Dave King and several other investors to settle the £5million debt that was outstanding to Sports Direct, the firm owned by shareholder and businessman Mike Ashley that controls Rangers’ retail and merchandise streams.

Two years ago, a new WiFi deal was announced by the club described by the brokers 802 Event WiFi as a "ground-breaking international deal between Rangers, one of the world's greatest football clubs, and giant Chinese company Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker."

Lanarkshire-based Event WiFi, whose parent company is 802 Works Ltd, announced the seven-figure investment to bring the Ibrox fans "into a whole new era of in-depth, WiFi-based engagement with the massive club - as well as opening it up to lucrative new Asian markets".

"Using its telecoms and networking infrastructure experience, 802 Event WiFi will deliver one of football's first fully converged stadium-wide WiFi deployments - and Huawei's first deployment in a European club. As part of the package, Huawei will connect its 160,000 worldwide employees to the club," said Event WiFi.

802 Event WiFi said the "market-leading project" would ultimately give every fan seated at Ibrox - as well as in the approaches, concourse, restaurants and corporate areas - full, instant access to content-rich media and allow them to participate in real time interactions with the club.

It said the new set-up would "remove at a stroke the connectivity problems of 3G in high-density areas and allow 50,000+ supporters access to club competitions, merchandising, Rangers media, forthcoming events and more fan/club interactive engagement".

Rangers also acclaimed the new WiFi set up describing saying it would bring fans into "a whole new era of in-depth, WiFi-based engagement with the club".

A spokesman for Rangers said: 'An action has been raised by the company which installed the wi-fi system at Ibrox for payment by TRFC of a further £300,000 in addition to the £600,000 already paid by the Club. Rangers anticipates counterclaiming for the sums already paid. Those familiar with the inadequacies of the system will understand why.

"The hearing which is a preliminary step in the court proceedings is to determine whether the pursuer can seek to arrest funds due to Rangers by 3rd parties. No such funds have to Rangers' knowledge actually been arrested. Friday's decision will determine whether the pursuer will still have the right to arrest on the dependence of the legal proceedings or whether whether this right should be removed.

"Any decision on the merits of the claim and counterclaim could be 18 months or more away."