Craig Whyte has said he will stand down from the position of Rangers chairman once the Scottish champions are out of administration.

The future of the Glasgow club is in the balance as they await the outcome of a tax case that could see them owing almost £50 million.

Whyte took over the club last May with the case lurking in the background, but Whyte was confident that the Gers would be left with no liability to pay.

That now seems unlikely, while Whyte has been criticised for using money from future season ticket sales to complete a deal with former owner Sir David Murray.

In concluding a long statement, he said: "I will not continue as Rangers chairman post-restructuring. Regardless of administration and irrespective of the tax case, the club had serious long-term structural problems financially and they needed to be addressed with some urgency.

"I knew that when I stepped up to the plate and, despite the accusations and abuse that I have suffered over weeks and months, I was determined to see things through. I will admit there have been times when I have wished that I had never entertained the idea of taking over Rangers.

"But I am a Rangers fan, and, like other Rangers fans I don't do walking way."

He also said that the club's problems were not of his doing, despite administrators now confirming that money from the Ticketus deal (selling the right to sell future season tickets) was used to fund Whyte's takeover of the club.

The firm paid £24 million to secure the right to sell future season tickets.

According to a statement from the administrators released on Tuesday, the cash was used by Whyte to pay the club's £18m debt to Lloyds Banking Group when he completed his takeover last May.

David Whitehouse, joint administrator, said: "Since being appointed administrators last week there has been widespread concern raised with us, not least by Rangers supporters and season ticket holders, about the agreement between the club and Ticketus.

"Following information received, it is now apparent that the proceeds from the Ticketus arrangements amounted initially to a sum in the region of £20m plus VAT. Subsequently, £18m was transferred to the Lloyds Banking Group."

Whyte's statement denied that he had done anything wrong, however.

"The fact is that Rangers, had they not gone administration now for the reasons I have given, would have done so some time in the future whoever the owner was because they could not go on funding losses of up to £15m a year," the statement read.

"People seem to forget that the previous board under Alastair Johnston were talking seriously about administration two years ago. If things had turned out differently with HMRC, then I seriously believe I had the correct plan that would have avoided administration and put Rangers back on a sound financial footing.

"Of course, there would have been some pain especially after the spendthrift days when the massive debts were run up in the first place – but that's the hard facts of life."

On the question of payment of tax to HMRC, he also defended his actions, citing the example of Vodafone as a company that has been afforded special dispensation in repayment - and suggested that they were hellbent on making an example of the club.

"It is simply not true to say that Rangers or I have reneged on paying these liabilities since the takeover. The truth is that around £4.4m of the £9m demand is, in fact, the 'wee tax case', including penalties, and which is in dispute," the statement continued.

"We offered to pay £2.5m of the PAYE and VAT up front with the remainder at £500,000 a month, but HMRC flatly rejected that.

"On the big tax case – and, of course, no one yet knows whether that has been won or lost or how much the liability would be – we wanted HMRC to confirm that they would accept repayments of £2.5m a year if we lost. But again they said no.

"Given that HMRC had seen fit to reach agreements with huge corporations owing far more than Rangers – Vodafone, for example – it was difficult to understand why they were being so inflexible unless, of course, they were simply determined to make an example of Rangers.

"In these circumstances it would have been far too risky to pump further funds into the club while the result of the EBT tax case remained unresolved.

"People need to understand that the big tax case has had, and continues to have, a huge bearing on Rangers' future and that I have done everything in my power to safeguard the club against the possible outcomes which could have included the possibility of Rangers being forced into liquidation. Anyone who pretends that this has somehow been my goal is either a fool or has a particularly sharp axe to grind.

"Remember also, that HMRC had frozen some of our bank accounts while we were in dispute. On top of that we had other funds frozen because of legal claims by certain former members of the board all of which contributed to why we fell into arrears on our monthly PAYE liabilities.

"Negotiations with HMRC about trying to reach a compromise on the EBT case continued right up until the very last minute, but HMRC would have none of it – if they had, that would have released further funds and we could have avoided administration. I understand why the fans are angry and believe that I am to blame, but in the position we find ourselves in meant that administration was the only option."

PA Sport / Eurosport