JIM McColl, the multi-millionaire Scottish businessman, has revealed he was approached by the owners of Liverpool about the prospect of taking over Rangers and using Moneyball techniques to transform them into the dominant club in the country.

McColl, who is one of Scotland’s richest men with an estimated personal fortune of £1.1 billion, was part part of a consortium, which included former manager Walter Smith, which tried to buy the Ibrox club from liquidators BDO back in 2012.

The Clyde Blowers chairman was also involved in attempts to oust the former hierarchy at the 54-times Scottish champions and donated 10,000 shares to supporters group Rangers First in 2015 in a bid to bring about regime change.

In an interview with author and entrepreneur Rob Moore on You Tube, McColl admitted that the Fenway Sports Group, who own Liverpool and baseball franchise Boston Red Sox, had contacted him about taking over Rangers and using Moneyball techniques to resurrect their fortunes.

John Henry, one of the Fenway Sports Group’s founders, became fascinated by Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book about the Oakland Athletics baseball team's general manager Billie Beane, after it was published in 2003.

Beane deployed the “sabermetrics” principles devised by Bill James - a method of using analytics and statistics to buy players who are undervalued - and enjoyed great success as a result.

Henry was inspired by what he believed was an economic and efficient approach to recruitment and hired James for the Red Sox.

Beane rejected Henry’s offer to move to the Red Sox, but has admitted he has been impressed with how he has embraced James's philosophy. “John Henry knows how to run his sports clubs,” he said. “He wants to win not just for today, but for the next 100 years.”

Since Michael Edwards was appointed sporting director at Anfield in 2016, Liverpool have targeted young players with world-class potential at smaller clubs who have impressive performance statistics – including Scotland left back Andy Robertson.

Liverpool, bought by the Fenway Sports Group for £300m in 2010, have flourished since. They won the Champions League last year and were on course to win the Premier League before football was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month.

Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool great who gave up his role as coach of the Anfield club's under-19 team to become manager at Rangers in 2018, has been repeatedly tipped to succeed Jurgen Klopp at the English giants when the German departs.

Asked about his involvement with Rangers by Moore, McColl said: “At no time in my mind was I going to buy it. Although, I might think differently now because I was learning about this technique that was used in Moneyball.

"That is what’s happening in Liverpool. It is the same technique they’re using. You see them 22 points ahead of everybody else (Klopp's team are 25 points clear of Manchester City) using this technique. So that’s a thought.

“In fact, we were approached recently to see if we were interested in looking at it again. The people who have invested in Liverpool would be interested in looking at it with us and applying the same techniques. Not that I’ll ever do it, but it’s nice to think about them being 22 points ahead of Celtic.”

Dave King, who ousted the former regime at Rangers at an EGM in 2015, stood down as Ibrox chairman on Friday. The South Africa-based businessman revealed that plans to raise £20m from a share issue this summer have "been put on hold" due to the shutdown of Scottish football.

There are no rules outlawing dual ownership of clubs in the Premier League in England.

The SFA’s articles of association currently prevent someone being involved at one of their member clubs who “may at the same time either directly or indirectly: (a) be a member of another club; or (b) be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management or administration of another club; or (c) have any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration of another club”.

However, the SFA are believed to be prepared to relax their guidelines in an attempt to encourage investment in Scottish clubs during the coronavirus crisis.