Rangers chairman Dave King to face questions over investment at Ibrox
Thursday 24 November 2016 17:29, UK
Rangers chairman Dave King is likely to face questions over his investment when the club holds its AGM in Glasgow on Friday morning.
The South Africa-based businessman, who invested £20m in oldco Rangers before it was consigned to liquidation in the summer of 2012, said in May 2014 he would be willing to invest up to £30m in the newco to enable the club to compete with Celtic.
King had made £4.5m in loans available to the club before the end of last season with other shareholders taking the total over £10m, and Rangers recently needed another £2.9m in funding from investors, as revealed in their annual accounts.
Now with the club lying a distant third in the table behind their Glasgow rivals, King looks set to face questions over his contribution to the club since he and his allies assumed control in March 2015.
Among the topics for discussion at the AGM, to be held at the city's Clyde Auditorium, is Resolution 11 - the authority to issue shares for cash. This resolution was defeated at last year's AGM by less than 1%.
Should 75% of shareholders vote in favour of this resolution, the board would be permitted to create a new share issue without automatically inviting it to existing shareholders first. This opens the door to fresh external investment into the club, and would dilute the shareholdings of the likes of Mike Ashley and the Easdale brothers.
Ashley, who has an 8.92 stakeholding in the club, controls Rangers Retail, the arm of the club selling merchandise which fans have boycotted. Fans will ask for clarification on the timetable for renegotiation of these deals
The Ashley/Easdale bloc is expected to vote against this resolution while Club 1872, the fans group created this year, have committed to vote in favour of all resolutions.
Other issues on agenda that will be raised by shareholders include manager Mark Warburton's signing strategy.
The Englishman will be quizzed over the signings of Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar on free transfers, both of which have been deemed as failures, the former leaving after a training ground row and subsequent suspension and Kranjcar facing months on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.
And Warburton insists King's rare visit to Glasgow will not be pivotal to his plans for improving the long-term chances of success at Ibrox.
"We talk to Stewart (Robertson, managing director) and Andrew (Dickson, head of football administration) every day. They are the mouthpiece through to the chairman and the board. The lines of communication are always very good.
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"There is no sudden announcement, it's about us constantly talking and putting forward proposals and chatting with Stewart and Andrew. The board meeting is a great chance to sit and talk through, we will present what we think about going forward."
When asked whether he thought fans would accept it will take time to challenge Celtic, the former Brentford boss said: "I hope so. I think so. And if you remember the very first press conference we gave 18 months ago, I spoke about communication and the flow of information. It's their club.
"The more the club does to give them information and let's them know where we are on and off the pitch, the better it is. It avoids shocks and surprises.
"It's important to say the club is building. It's been where it's been, and it's important we are moving forward. But we do so at a sensible pace for the club, that's really important as well."
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