The Scottish businessman's takeover bid, reportedly worth around £52.5million, is in its final stages after a positive day of talks in Edinburgh between Whyte's camp, current owner Sir David Murray and members of the Ibrox board.

A spokesman close to the deal told Press Association Sport: "Whyte's full team will be working late in to the night to get the final piece of the jigsaw with the hope that the deal will be concluded tomorrow."

Whyte's takeover bid turned in to a protracted saga after he first revealed his plans to the stock exchange in November.

The Motherwell-born tycoon was believed to be on the verge of completing his buy-out last month after agreeing a deal with majority shareholder Murray and main creditor Lloyds Banking Group which would clear the club's debts of around £22million.

However, the bid appeared to hit a stumbling block when Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston, part of an independent committee of Ibrox board members, cast doubts over the offer and revealed plans to explore an alternative deal.

Rangers non-executive director Paul Murray - who proposed the £25million rival plan - this week claimed Whyte's imminent takeover was not the right move for the club.

However, earlier today, Johnston appeared to accept the deal was on the way to completion when he confirmed he will stand down from his post later this month, albeit while revealing he still has some misgivings about Whyte's bid.

He told BBC Scotland: "A great deal of work has been done by the board and I'm very proud of that.

"I'm confident that the efforts of the board have improved the deal significantly for the benefit of the club.

"Our views will come out in the future and I'm comfortable with that, but I don't want to stand in the way of progress.

"I will resign as intended on May 16 but will be working hard until then to make sure Rangers secure the SPL title.

"After that I will go back to being the club's number one fan."

Whyte's bid would see him take over 75% of Murray's shareholding, with London-based property developer Andrew Ellis becoming a 25% partner.

Whyte, also based in London, originally promised to provide £25million over five seasons towards strengthening the Govan club's playing squad.

However, a source last month claimed that Whyte would make available "significantly more" than the average sum of £5million per season to manager-in-waiting Ally McCoist when he succeeds Walter Smith at the end of the season.

Most Rangers fans, though, will simply be glad that the long, drawn-out takeover saga seems to be coming to an end.