Fan-ownership group Rangers First has increased its Ibrox stake
Saturday 10 January 2015 22:09, UK
Fan-ownership group Rangers First has increased its Ibrox stake after buying another 60,000 shares in the club.
Rangers First, which has set up a scheme similar to the one which rescued Hearts from administration, now controls 664,792 shares - or around 0.8 per cent of the Glasgow club.
Around 10 per cent of Rangers' shares are now owned by fans and small shareholders, and with three factions - Dave King and the Three Bears, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, and the existing board which is aligned with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley - all battling for control the Ibrox fans could have a vital part to play.
Rangers First has followed the lead of the Rangers Supporters Trust - which now has a one per cent stake after snapping up another 100,000 shares last week - by purchasing a further sizeable tranche.
The Rangers board urgently needs to raise cash to keep the club afloat and an announcement on Sarver's £20million takeover bid and possible news of another emergency loan is expected early next week.
A general meeting may also be called if King and the Three Bears - wealthy fans Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor - can find the support to force boardroom change.
And Rangers First director Ricki Neill says the bigger the stake his group possesses, the bigger the impact it can have.
He said: "With our membership growing on a daily basis, I really think that there is now a belief within the Rangers fans that we can now achieve fan ownership.
"If we can buy this amount of shares with the members we have, as regular as we are buying just now then I can't wait until we've got the same kind of membership numbers as the Foundation of Hearts "
