IF timing is everything, Rangers chairman Dave King certainly got it spot on with the biggest announcement of his stay at Ibrox yesterday.
With Mike Ashley on the warpath against King and the board, the chairman told the AGM the £5 million the Sports Direct billionaire loaned to the club last January will be repaid imminently and in full.
At a stroke, Ashley’s hold over Rangers is diminished and the assets such as Murray Park that were put up as security for the loan will revert to Rangers.
No-one at the AGM asked about the reason for the board’s late change of heart – they had steadfastly refused to repay the loan before their meeting on Thursday – or why it had not been repaid earlier, or how £5m could be raised “in an hour”, as King claimed, when the club have apparently been struggling with their finances for months.
The National can reveal there has been speculation in City circles that Ashley was prepared to cite broken agreements and foreclose on the loan or even call for Rangers to go into administration once again, though there is no official statement of such intentions.
Sources close to the businessman say he will, however, take immediate court action against the board if they attempt any equity release following the two resolutions at the AGM authorising such actions – though the results of the vote have not been confirmed, both resolutions were expected to achieve the required majority.
At the AGM, King could not answer questions about Sports Direct’s business relationship with Rangers as a result of a court gagging order – an order which the chairman is accused of breaching, for and for which allegation he has been ordered to appear in the High Court in London on December 9.
King did confirm shareholders who have provided “soft” loans to the club will have them converted into shares at an appropriate time.
On the Ashley loan, King said later: “We had a discussion yesterday at the board meeting and I think, as most of the supporters know, my previous view was in fact not to pay the loan.
“I felt that was some sort of compensation for the historical negative cash flow but for the benefit of the company we just felt it was time to change that decision and so we discussed it and decision was made to repay it.
“It then became a question of me going out to those who have agreed to invest in the club and saying, ‘well would you mind giving us an additional £5m?’.
“What was really nice was that in an hour this morning speaking to George Latham, George Taylor, Paul Murray, John Bennett, Douglas Park and then myself, we raised the money.
“I was hopeful I could raise the money as quickly as I did but to do it within an hour was a phenomenal result. Normally it would take a couple of days.
“I said to the chaps that with the AGM today it would be nice to be able to announce that and I was very chuffed by that and by the speed with which people agreed to it.
“From a purely emotional point of view there is still some regret from me that the money is being repaid quite frankly, but from a business point of view it was the right thing to do.
“In terms of the club going forward it was quite a critical decision to go forward with some of the actions that we would like to take and it was a precursor to that.”
King had earlier told the AGM: “We’re one of the strongest clubs financially in the world. Once Sports Direct are paid off we’ve no external debt whatsoever.”
On the pitch, Rangers face St Mirren in the Petrofac Training Cup semi-finals at Ibrox today. Striker Martyn Waghorn said: “The prospect of getting to a final is a huge thing for me because it would be my first. It would also set down a marker for where we want to go as a club and what we want to achieve.”
Rangers have no new injury worries. St Mirren hope to have full-back Keith Watson available, but ankle injuries have ruled out Jim Goodwin and Alan Gow.
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