FORMER Celtic striker Chris Sutton says it is "inconceivable" that Rangers will not have to follow Hearts' example by slashing costs at Ibrox.

The outspoke pundit has insisted that no Scottish club will be safe from the financial effects of the coronavirus shutdown that has forced some teams to lower player and staff wages in a bid to stay afloat.

Tynecastle owner Ann Budge led the way with cost-cutting by asking everyone on the Gorgie cut's payroll to take a 50 percent pay cut.

And now Sutton says that Rangers must follow suit to make sure they steer clear of financial difficulty.

In his column for the Daily Record, the ex-Parkhead idol wrote that no Scottish side - not even his old club Celtic - could afford to carry on as if it was business as usual.

"Unless Dave King left a giant pit of money as big as the gaping hole in football’s finances as he walked out of the door, given what is happening around the globe at the moment, the Light Blues hierarchy have to be making a similar move," he said.

"If they aren’t, they must be the richest club in Europe and we just didn’t know it."

He continued: "Now, I don’t profess to have any clever line into the finances of Rangers. I don’t know the exact figures of what they have and what they don’t. 

"But in November last year the club announced losses of £11.3million in their annual accounts, revealed they needed a fresh cash injection of more than £10m to get to the end of the season and confirmed Dave King and Douglas Park had converted a staggering £35m in soft loans into shares over the past 18 months.

"So I think I can safely assume they simply do not have enough cash in the bank to just ride this out for six months as if it a couple of matches lost due to a waterlogged pitch.

"As tough as it may be to tell employees, Celtic, Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs and others are doing the right thing to look at implementing cutbacks.

"In find it inconceivable bordering on reckless that Rangers won’t do the same thing."