The Rangers fans are ready to play their part in staving off the financial crisis at Ibrox by pledging to put in their own money to a revamped club, if it is reshaped into an organisation that follows a European model of being owned by supporters.

Reports that the troubled Scottish champions may turn to their own followers to fund a rescue package to help to raise the £30 million debt now being called in the club’s bank, Lloyds Banking Group, were given an endorsement yesterday by official supporters’ groups, just as Martin Bain, the chief executive, revealed that fans had flooded Ibrox with offers of help.

Bain is believed to have already explored the possibility of a membership scheme for Rangers, similar to those at Barcelona and Real Madrid, as the club try to find a way out of the mess and unearth a fresh source of funding to buy out Sir David Murray, the majority shareholder and former chairman.

“It has been a difficult period for the club,” Bain told the Rangers website. “However, they [the supporters] have stepped up to the plate to voice their support for Rangers. We have been inundated with e-mails, letters and phone calls and the message of the fans is that the interests of Rangers come first.

“I cannot express strongly enough the club’s gratitude for this show of support and it reflects the true spirit of Rangers. Numerous supporters have expressed their desire to help the club in one way or another. Regarding the future of the club, the board cannot comment further beyond our statement of October 26.”

It is believed that talks have already taken place between supporters’ groups and representatives of a consortium that could attempt to buy out Murray, should the favoured bidder, Dave King, fail to make his move.

The idea of creating “members”, who would pay an annual fee separate from ticket costs, is being mooted for Rangers. This role would be modelled on the “socios” at Real Madrid and Barcelona, who provide the “social ownership” scheme found at clubs throughout Spain.

“Members” would be expected to pay £200 a year for their voting rights, on top of their season ticket. Any cash raised by fans could be combined with the funds already in place from interested parties, giving Rangers supporters a significant say in the running of the club.

That proposal was given a positive response yesterday by David Edgar, the spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Trust (RST). “The response so far to these suggestions over the weekend has been massive. With the right people driving this plan, Rangers fans would back it significantly in our opinion,” he said. “We have been exploring various avenues towards this with some of the potential investors, and that will continue.”

Andy Kerr, of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, agreed. “The concept of the fans having a stake is one we are keen to pursue,” he said. “It would not mean fans running the club but they would have a major say in decisions and discussions.”

There is an alternative to the Spanish social ownership model that Rangers fans are keen on, which would give supporters a voice but also still embrace a wealthy individual. Germany’s top clubs in the Bundesliga combine both fan power and vibrant commercialism.

Bundesliga rules state that no individual can own more than 49 per cent of a club. The remainder has to be owned by the Verein, which is the original sporting club. The Bundesliga possesses the strictest ownership rules of any league in Europe, with club members always controlling the majority of the shares and supporters given a voice on the board.

German clubs must be non-profit-making organisations but the Bundesliga offered a helping hand in 1999 to recognise the growing power of finance in football by allowing the sporting clubs to spin-off the football team and make it a separate corporation, to allow Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke and others to develop commercial activities.

However, unlike Britain, there is a check system to prevent debt spiralling out of control. The Bundesliga looks at the books of the clubs each March and assesses budget plans and revenue, before issuing a licence to operate for the following season. Rangers would fail that health check right now.

The other issue is whether the Rangers supporters would sacrifice their own money to wipe out the debt during a global recession. The club’s fans shunned a share issue launched by Murray in 2005. The former chairman had to spend £50 million to underwrite a £51 million issue when supporters contributed only £1 million.

However, the RST is convinced that a fresh start inside Ibrox would bring a different response. “If there was a new, dynamic regime coming into Rangers, the fans would want to back it,” Edgar said. “You would find a lot of people in Scotland would be willing to put in sizeable amounts. In return they would want a bit of influence.”

• David Gold, the former Birmingham City chairman who recently sold his share in the Barclays Premier League club to Carson Yeung, ruled himself out yesterday as a potential bidder for Rangers. “It has never crossed my mind to buy into Rangers,” he said.