Director of football Gordon Smith and chief operating officer Ali Russell were told last week they would be leaving the club with more news expected in the coming days.

Whyte departed for London on the day the club were forced into administration two weeks ago over an unpaid tax bill and later went to his home in Monaco.

But he claims to be in regular contact with the club's administrators and he believes there will need to be some painful cuts.

When asked about possible redundancies, the businessman told Sky Sports News: "I'm not aware of exactly what the plan is there but I would hope, like every other Rangers fan, that it's kept to a minimum.

"But there will be more pain and the administrators are acting in the best long-term interests of the club."

Whyte was speaking after another financial embarrassment for the club, who were fined £50,000 for failing to declare Whyte's seven-year disqualification as a director in 2000 when he took control of the club in May.

Whyte dismissed the development as an "irrelevance" but the PLUS Stock Exchange declared the failure of disclosure as a "particularly serious breach" of their rules.

Rangers did not confirm Whyte's disqualification until November 30, six weeks after the Insolvency Service had confirmed the fact in a BBC documentary and three weeks after being explicitly asked to do so by PLUS, according to their statement yesterday.

Whyte said: "That was disclosed as soon as I was made aware that it needed to be disclosed.

"It was always a matter of public record relating to events some 16 years ago.

"Really, this is an irrelevance with everything else that is going on."

PLUS had already suspended trading in Rangers' shares last month, because of their continuing failure to publish audited accounts, and non-payment of the fine within 28 days would see the club excluded from the stock market.