THE long-running saga of Mike Ashley’s running battle with Dave King and the board of Rangers FC would long ago have been deemed to be farcical if it were not so serious.

The billionaire owner of Sports Direct and Newcastle United is a man who does not suffer fools gladly, if at all, and he is known to detest people who oppose his will – such as King.

Now we all know Dave King is no shining saint. His tax ‘affairs’ in South Africa have been the subject of much reportage and comment, and he himself was forced to prove his good offices when the Scottish Football Association queried his ‘fit and proper person’ status.

(What a laugh that the SFA can query anybody about being fit and proper when their latest actions in regard to the Scottish Cup Final trouble show clearly that they are neither fit nor proper people to run the game in Scotland – a slap on the wrist is heading the way of Rangers and Hibs and the rest of Scottish football is seething with anger.)

In all the brouhaha that has surrounded Ashley v King, one interesting approach to the matter has never been tried. Dave King himself might not want to try this, but surely someone interested in defending Rangers might want to have a word with the Football Association of England.

Rule E3(1) of the FA’s Rules of the Association states: “A participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute (my italics) or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.”

For the record, the Rules state that ‘Participant’ means an “Affiliated Association, Competition, Club, Club Official (my italics), Intermediary, Player, Official, Manager, Match Official, Management Committee Member, member or employee of a Club and all such persons who are from time to time participating in any activity sanctioned either directly or indirectly by The Association.”

Now this columnist is not going to accuse Ashley of anything untoward.

It is in the public domain, however, and has never been questioned by Ashley, that his company’s deal with Rangers was very adverse for the Ibrox FOOTBALL club, and very profitable for him.

No doubt Ashley will argue that it was his company that made the deal and not him. This from a man who had to admit to a House of Commons committee that his company had paid workers less than the minimum wage.

Justice Peter Smith said in January when he threw out Ashley’s attempt to have Dave King jailed for contempt of court that the “whole proceedings from first to last were designed to intimidate rather than to seek proper sanctions for an alleged breach” adding: “These kind of muscular tactics of using a threat of committal is something which the courts should deplore.”

King is no innocent, but surely the question must be asked if Ashley’s dealings with Rangers and the club’s chairman are entirely of repute.