Yahoo News John Gilligan tells Dave King to shut up and behave like 'a proper shareholder' as Rangers row escalates
John Gilligan has told Dave King to “behave like a proper shareholder” after shooting down his claims Rangers are in crisis.
Speaking publicly for the first time since stepping in as interim chairman following the resignation of John Bennett, the 72-year-old wrote off his former Ibrox comrade’s chances to return as top dog as “unrealistic”. And Gilligan assured the Gers faithful that fresh investment would be incoming under the current regime after King claimed last week that it would take £50m to meet short and medium term objectives.
King - who still holds a 14 per cent stake in Rangers - last week claimed Rangers were “in crisis” and said influential board members wouldn’t want him back because they know he “wouldn’t tolerate board members who are only in it for the ‘jacket and tie’ and don’t actually want to do any real work”. He has offered to take on chairmanship of the club for two years and last week called for an EGM to allow fans to decide who they want to take the club forward.
But Gilligan, who served as a director between 2015 and 2017 after helping King oust Mike Ashley, insists there’s little chance of that happening, pointing to the fact the South African-based businessman “stepped away” at the height of the covid pandemic leaving others to step up to the plate.
Asked this afternoon if he King was out of order with his crisis comment, Gilligan said: “I think he has got it wrong. I think it is unfair. What exactly is he saying is not good/ what exactly is he saying is going wrong?
“Give us a plan and tell me. If Dave had some terrific plan to tell me where we are all going wrong then we would read that plan and we would consider it.” I'm trying to think, has any other director or any person said anything about Dave? No.
“Have they responded publicly? No. Will I ever say anything bad about Dave? No. So in answer to your question, do I wish he would stop? Yes.
“I just say to Dave, 'please take it below the radar, behave like a proper shareholder. Don't do what you are doing'. It's just a shame because he is a great character and he had a massive influence on the club at the time. I'll always respect that.”
Gilligan shrugged off claims King’s comments were destabilising the club but insisted fresh investment was coming into the club. Asked if he could see his old colleague returning as chairman, Gilligan said: “Dave is a major shareholder and he can say whatever he wishes to say. My view is it’s a bit unrealistic.
“Dave is a real businessman, he knows how shareholdings work. He is a 15 per cent shareholder, the other directors are 10, 12, 13 per cent shareholders. It is unrealistic. Again (with the EGM) it is a bit unrealistic because EGMs are invariably called by people who wish to change something. But the current board don’t wish to change. So why would we call an EGM?
“It’s only destabilising if the people who are are the main shareholders and operating the business don’t have a plan and don’t have people in place to execute it. We have had difficulties recently with the stadium and things but destabilising, no not particularly.
“Dave is entitled to say what he wants. It’s a free world. But I don’t feel it’s destabilised at all no. If you look at what's been said and what the guys have been saying, there's a shareholder structure to the business, there's a projection plan.
“Dave was chairman, Dave's still a major investor and can attend the AGM and ask questions, but there's just no appetite for it at the moment because, one, Dave was here before and he stepped away. Other people stepped up - Douglas [Park] stepped up, then stepped down and John [Bennett] stepped down. There's just no appetite.”
In his explosive statement last week King claimed Rangers would need £50m to meet short and medium objectives and start reeling in Celtic. Gilligan said: “I don’t think you can put a number on it.
"The gap at the moment is considerable but you just have to win your games, get back challenging for the top spot and then if we get into the level of Europe we hope to get to then the gap can change quite quickly. There is fresh investment coming in to the club. But in fairness Dave is talking about fresh investment, but he doesn’t want to invest.
“I am not quite sure where he means the investment is going to come from. There will be investment. What I meant was the current investors have invested considerably over the years and are willing to do so again.
“We are open to anyone who approaches us on investment. We get approaches from all over the world from various sources. But it has to be the right people and the right conditions and for the right amount of shares. We don’t want one person owning the club.”
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