Rangers say no leadership crisis after departure of another key figure as pyro plea issued after UEFA sanction

Director of football operations Creag Robertson will stand down in the coming weeks "to pursue new opportunities" leaving the Ibrox club with vacancies for three key roles.

Rangers have been without a chief executive since the departure of James Bisgrove in May while previous chairman John Bennett stepped down in September due to health reasons.

Gilligan has stepped into the latter role on a temporary basis but denied that Rangers are rudderless as he praised head coach Philippe Clement for steering the club through a "difficult" period.

In a message to Rangers supporters confirming the departure of Robertson, Gilligan said: "We must thank Creag for his contribution in several roles since he joined the club in 2016 and we wish him well in his future endeavours.

"With Creag moving on, I have seen some reports of the club being without leadership. I can assure you that is not the case with George Letham and myself, who have deep knowledge of business and our great club, working tirelessly alongside our executive management team to continue to drive the club forward.

"Of course, we are determined to fill the chairman and CEO roles as quickly as possible, and our recruitment consultants have already produced short lists of very strong and experienced candidates for both roles.

"While that is ongoing, our absolute priority is to support Philippe in any way we can to ensure the men's first team can continue to build upon the progress we have seen from them in recent weeks.

"We must thank Philippe for standing tall during these difficult months and for dealing with non-footballing matters on the club's behalf."

Gilligan also pleaded with supporters to stop the pyrotechnics after revealing that the club have been fined a total of €32,750 by UEFA following disturbances in the recent Europa League matches against Malmo and Lyon.

The game against Lyon at Ibrox on October 3 was halted for a brief period by the referee after flares and fireworks were let off inside the ground by a group of supporters in the newly refurbished Copland Stand.

There were fears the incidents could have led to a partial stadium closure, but Gilligan has warned that Rangers could face heavier sanctions in the future in the event of any repeat.

"After a fantastic result in Malmo, we were all disappointed with the Europa League result against Lyon, but I was proud to see the supporters staying with Philippe and the team until the final whistle," Gilligan said.

"The biggest disappointment of that evening, however, was the actions of a small minority of supporters, whose use of pyrotechnics at the match has seen the club fined €13,750 by UEFA. This is in addition to a €19,000 fine for a similar incident in the match with Malmo.

"My message is the use of pyrotechnics must stop and stop now at all of our matches home and away! Not only could the repercussions become ever-larger for the club, many supporters have difficulty coping with the effects of pyrotechnics, whether that be the smoke or loud bangs they produce. It is desperately unfair for any Rangers supporter to come to a match and be affected in such a manner."