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RANGERS have been rocked by a fresh scandal after chief scout Neil Murray was suspended by Charles Green.

Record Sport can reveal former player Murray has been ordered by the chief executive to stay away from the club until an investigation into last summer’s transfer activity has been carried out.

But 11 days into the internal probe it’s understood no evidence of any misconduct has been uncovered and an outraged Murray is determined to fight his own corner.

The shock development comes at a time when striker Fran Sandaza is serving a similar suspension after being the victim of a hoax phonecall, which was then broadcast online.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist confirmed the suspension at today's pre-match media conference, but was unwilling to go into the exact details, stating: "Neil has been suspended by the club pending an investigation. It's a really sensitive matter and that's all I can say on it."

Murray's suspension also follows the departure of leading youth coach Tommy Wilson and physiotherapist Pip Yeates and when asked about concerns over changes to his backroom staff, McCoist said: "We have to be in position ready to go for the start of next season, that's my concern.

"Staff at football clubs, and in any work force, come and go. I fully appreciate that.

"That said, in terms of the recruitment of our players, the next two or three years will be the most important time in the club's history.

"So we have to be ready for that and we will be."

At this stage, no known timescale has been set for the probe into Murray, who has been in charge of drawing up a list of potential signing targets for McCoist.

(Image: Craig Williamson/SNS Group)

The Rangers boss hopes to recruit a number of free agents in September when the club’s 12-month transfer embargo is over.

Murray helped identify some of a raft of new arrivals last year, at a time when McCoist had only a handful of first-team players to work with following the catastrophic financial meltdown caused by former Rangers owner Craig Whyte.

Very few of those signings have lived up to expectation during what has been a difficult slog by McCoist’s side towards this season’s Third Division title.

The reason for concern over the part played by Murray in those dealings is as yet unclear.

But Record Sport understands Green demanded the probe after being given emails relating to some of the transfers.

Last night, despite approaches made by Record Sport, neither Murray nor Rangers chose to make any comment.

But an Ibrox source told us: “This situation is incredibly sensitive. Some very damaging allegations have been made but so far not substantiated and Neil is confused, outraged and distraught.

“He knows if he had been guilty of anything inappropriate then he would have been dismissed, quite rightly, without his feet having touched the ground.

“But he’s still sat at home sweating on his future.

“Ally has also been placed in a very difficult position. At this point there is no way of knowing how it will play out but it seems, if nothing else, Charles has lost confidence in the manager’s chief scout.”

Record Sport also understands that stadium manager Ross McCaskill is set to lose his job as part of Green’s ongoing restructuring.