Dave King recently announced that he has made an agreement to sell his Rangers shares to Club 1872, if £13million can be raised over the next three years, and the former chairman has spoken to Four Lads Had a Dream to answer questions from fans of the Light Blues about the project.
During the podcast, with Chris Jack of the Glasgow Times also participating, several topics were covered ranging from rumours of a board fall out to the reasoning behind the deal, King, know for his straight talking did, however, save a particularly strong response when asked about long-term nemesis Mike Ashley:
“Sports Direct was critical in the sense that the jaws of death that Mike Ashley had around the club were firmly locked through various legal relationships.
“If we were unable to unlock that, then the club could not have made the progress it has made over the last couple of years.
“The dealing with Mike Ashley and Sports Direct was absolutely vital to getting to the position that we have reached today.
“I think from Mike Ashley’s point of view as well, the extent to which a businessman of that immense wealth and capability invested in Rangers and got involved in this indicates just how important it was to him as well. It was a fight that he wanted to win.
“The absurdity of him trying to put me in jail over Christmas for Contempt of Court for looking after Rangers’ interests indicates the depths and levels of, quite frankly, disgusting behaviour that Sports Direct went to to try and retain their grip on Rangers.
“It is absolutely vital that we have been able to release that completely, definitely and absolutely.”
Despite the desires of the obsessed from the East End, Ashley and Sports Direct simply have nothing to do with Rangers anymore, yes, you can buy a strip in one of his shops but that is entirely up to you whether or not you give him any of your money, unlike before when he had a stranglehold on the club’s finances and ability to move forward.
Ironically, given who Celtic rent their retail premises from, they should maybe look a bit closer to home with regards to Ashley’s involvement in Scottish football.
We have gone from making pennies in the pound to a multi-million pound merchandising deal, and although there have been teething problems, the club is set to make a small fortune and King should be thanked for this, he didn’t get everything right in his tenure as chairman but he was certainly the right man to get rid of someone bleeding our club dry, and for that alone, we should be forever grateful.