Dave King targets sensational Rangers return as former chairman wants back in to put 2 year plan in place
Dave King has offered to make a sensational return as Rangers chairman.
The former Ibrox boardroom boss believes he can help steady the ship in Govan following John Bennett’s shock resignation. It was confirmed over the weekend that the 61-year-old was stepping down due to “health reasons”, with his personal strain exacerbated by the struggling Light Blues’ nightmare start to the season.
John Gilligan, who joined the board when King wrestled control away from the previous Mike-Ashley-backed regime in 2015, has been persuaded back to serve as interim chairman while the club begins the hunt for Bennett’s replacement. But King - who remains the clubs single biggest shareholder with a 14 per cent stake - reckons he’s the right man to get Rangers back on track. The Castlemilk-born millionaire offered to return and serve a strict two-year term aimed sorting out the mess the Light Blues currently find themselves in - while also attracting new investors to take the club forward.
He’s likely to face opposition from ally-turned-foe Douglas Park. But the South Africa-based tycoon is confident there are Ibrox investors who would be happy to see him return. “I think I might be the best person to do it for two years,” he said. “I don't want to do it for four or five years - but I know the club well enough and I do think it's a two-year job.
“I'd be willing to do it. Yes, I would. I understand what's involved. I'll come in, stabilise it, get the right people in place, get the club working properly, at least give it direction, give it a plan. But part of that will be for me to find new investors who will come in and make a significant investment in the club.
“I believe in chats that I've had there's enough of an investor interest in those areas who are investing. Saudi, obviously, where Steven Gerrard is at the moment. There's a lot of interest in football there. There's a lot of interest in America still where they see football, sports generally as being good. Rangers are a far more attractive opposition, a far more attractive opportunity than, say Sunderland or Brighton.
“We're going to be in Europe and with the right amount of money, we really should be able to march on and actually dominate in Scotland. We need people at this stage that understand the club, understand the operations, are willing to take it on.
“My thoughts have always been not to (return as chairman), because I felt I'd done my crisis. Quite frankly, I didn't expect a crisis to happen again in my lifetime. But a stranger can't come in.
“There's no point in getting a guy from London and paying him £200,000 a year to be the chairman of the club. So I've rethought it. I've spoken to some other people who I think would like me to come back.”
But King - who lost a £20million investment when the club was plunged into a financial blackhole by Craig Whyte - admits he won’t be digging into his pockets again. He said: “I wouldn't be looking to invest more money in the club. I don't think that's the way forward for the club. I think, and I can't talk for the other guys, there's investor fatigue within the existing board members.
“So I think the way forward is in fact for us to attract additional investment. There is some interest in the club at the moment, but I think we've got to get away from the model where we just rely on supporters writing out checks. There is money out there, but that money is not going to come from Rangers.
“We need to go and find other investors and bring them into the club. And I think that's what we plan for the next two years.”
Rangers are a rudderless operation, without a permanent chairman, chief executive or youth academy boss. But King is confident he can get the club heading in the right direction again. He said: “I don't think we're as bad as we were in 2015, but I think what we need is, let's call it a two-year plan. We'll be on a three, four, five-year plan. And I'll say two maximum.
“One, to get control again of the commercial and operational issues of the club and get the right people actually running the club. I don't think anyone's running the club. I can't think of a single person, there are no directors there. There's no one ever at Ibrox. There's no executive team. Get control of the commercial contracts that we sign so that when we commit liability to the future, we know what they are and we know what they're based on.
“Get all the operational procedures and processes so the club is working behind the scenes on things the supporters don't see. And actually come up with a viable way forward, including a funding plan that allows the manager to start to rebuild that squad.”