MIKE Ashley has made great play of trying to have Dave King branded as not a fit and proper person to be chairman of Rangers.
Last week I followed the Ashley v King court case and read a superb piece of investigative journalism in The Guardian, two items which make me think that Ashley, too, might not want to undergo a fit and proper test.
The newspaper sent in undercover reporters to one of Sports Direct’s distribution centres and the management practices they found there – such as docking 15 minutes off an employee’s pay for being a minute late for work – were unfair and frankly dodgy.
No doubt everything that goes on at Sports Direct is legal, but it is passing sad that a billionaire makes his money off the backs of several Eastern European workers on the minimum wage while he and top management in the company enjoy tremendous pay packages.
Still, that’s capitalism for you, and Ashley is not the first, and won’t be the last, to make a killing from exploiting his fellow man.
Of more interest to Rangers fans was the case in the High Court in London.
In trying and failing to have King jailed for alleged contempt of court, Ashley proved what I have been saying for some time now – that he is utterly determined to destroy King, presumably in revenge for the South African-based businessman’s coup at Ibrox earlier this year that saw Ashley’s placemen booted off the board.
It would have been a total victory for King if there had not occurred something sinister in the court.
Fans will recall that King made great play of saying that it took him just an hour to raise the £5 million needed to repay the loan given to the club by Ashley – a very necessary loan, because more informed sources than me have said the club might have gone into administration without it.
It’s all being paid back, claimed King, and that was a monkey off the current board’s back. Except that in court last week it emerged that the loan had not been repaid and that the board had been £500,000 short in their one-hour round-up of cash.
All of which means that Mike Ashley and Dave King now have some serious questions to answer. Fair-minded journalist that I am, I will ask them one by one in alternate order.
Mike Ashley (MA) – Just how far are you prepared to go and how much are you prepared to spend to get David King out of Rangers?
Dave King (DK) – Why did you let the fans think that the loan was being repaid when it wasn’t?
MA – It’s long been rumoured that you want to sell Newcastle United. Is that true and if so, do you want to own Rangers FC as under the current rules you can’t own both? And by the way, do you accept those rules?
DK – You have made great play of having your wealth standing by ready to invest in Rangers. Can you state for the record what is your current wealth and how much of it you are prepared to invest? If it is located in South Africa, how will you get it out of the country given the South African government’s very strict rules on exporting money?
MA – You are challenging the Scottish Football Association in court next year over its determination that Dave King is a fit and proper person to be chairman. Do you accept the SFA’s rules (they are also Fifa’s) that football matters should be resolved within football and not the courts? How much are you prepared to spend to win the case?
DK – You state that Rangers must keep their titles for the years in which they used an illegal tax avoidance scheme to gain a competitive advantage. In effect you imply that the club’s history must be preserved. Why then, has Rangers FC not paid the £250,000 fine plus costs that was imposed as part of that history?
MA – Just exactly what are your intentions regarding the Sports Direct contract with Rangers? Do you intend that this controversial contract should stand for the full seven years or are you prepared, in the spirit of fairness and football, to enter negotiations to let Rangers get out of it?
DK – How much has the club spent on lawyers’ fees since you took over? Can Rangers continue to afford the services of top lawyers if Ashley carries on his legal war of attrition?
MA – Is it true, as has been strongly rumoured, that your associates once threatened to close down the Blue Room within Ibrox?
DK – Can you state for the record what exactly were your convictions for tax avoidance and for contempt of court in South Africa, as there has been considerable obfuscation about these matters?
MA – You have dismissed the protests of Rangers fans, yet you presumably expect them to buy Rangers-branded products from Sports Direct? Is it logical or good business practice to alienate customers?
DK – Last question to you – if Rangers are not promoted to the Premiership at the end of this season as you have demanded, will you walk away?
Answers on a postcard please...
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