• Dispute with manager Ally McCoist also cited
• Lafferty likely to have exit clause from club
Rangers have confirmed that their striker Kyle Lafferty has been suspended for two weeks amid reports of a dispute with the manager Ally McCoist and what has been referred to as a "breach of discipline".
The club would not expand on the reasons for the punishment but reports on Tuesday claimed he had failed to report for Saturday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash against Hearts, which Rangers won 3-0, after being troubled by a hernia problem.
The Northern Ireland international had come off the bench in the previous game, a 3-1 win over St Mirren two weeks before.
Speaking on Friday at the club's pre-match media conference, McCoist said: "Obviously Lafferty hasn't done a lot of training again but we'll have to wheel him out. He is basically just getting by game to game." However, Lafferty was not among the 18 players who were stripped for the Tynecastle clash.
Rangers later confirmed on their website that Lafferty had been suspended for a "breach of discipline". The article referred to a "fall-out between the Northern Ireland striker and manager Ally McCoist ahead of Saturday's game at Hearts".
It continued: "Lafferty has been struggling with hamstring and groin problems since the start of 2012 after being plagued by back issues in the second half of last year."
The 24-year-old will miss SPL games against Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell. The club added: "Although he could be available for the friendly game at Linfield and the final SPL fixture at St Johnstone, he is lacking fitness and is therefore unlikely to be picked."
Lafferty's Ibrox career now looks to be at an end. The former Burnley forward, who joined Rangers in the summer of 2008 for a fee of more than £5m, is out of contract at the end of next season.
However, the player, who has scored 38 goals for the club, is likely to have secured an exit clause to allow him to leave for a specific fee this summer after agreeing to temporary wage cuts with the rest of his team-mates last month.
Players are due to revert to their original contracts on 1 June with doubts continuing over the prospect of administrators Duff and Phelps naming a preferred bidder in the coming days. Read More
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