EGM Result: King resolutions pass with 85% of vote

[ian1964 10,761]

New Rangers chief Dave King vows: We'll check the Ibrox books for crooks

 

THE South African-based businessman vows to find out how £70m was spent and expose any dodgy deals.

 

DAVE KING has vowed to expose the brutal financial truth behind the running of Rangers and chase down anyone who illegally profited from greed.

 

The South African-based tycoon swept into power on Edmiston Drive yesterday and insisted the Light Blues legions deserve an Ibrox equivalent of the truth and reconciliation commission established in his adopted homeland.

 

King and allies Paul Murray and John Gilligan routed the last remaining board members, Derek Llambias and Barry Leach, with 85 per cent shareholder support for their moves to seize control of the club at yesterday’s general meeting.

 

Executive chairman Murray and director Gilligan have been joined on the board by Douglas Park after King decided to decline a director’s position for now.

 

He will be subject to scrutiny by a nomad he expects to appoint next week after he pled guilty to 41 criminal counts involving tax offences in South Africa last year.

 

However, all four have already begun the task of sifting through the financial carnage caused since since Charles Green grabbed control three years ago and kick-started the burn of more than £70 million from investors and supporters.

 

King has pledged no stone will be left unturned as he promised a new era of openness - and says the recover of any funds that have been misappropriated in recent seasons will be pursued vigorously as he bids to return Rangers to the top.

 

King said: “We’ve given a commitment we’ll be taken very seriously on issues of transparency and accountability. We really have to look at what has gone on and if anything is untoward we must ensure there is accountability for it.

 

“If, in terms of our investigation, it transpires funds have left the club inappropriately and there is a possibility of recovering them it would be in the club’s interests to recover them as quickly as possible.

 

“It will not be a witch hunt, but it would be irresponsible of us not at least to look at some of the things that have gone on in the last couple of years.

 

“Have the fans been victims in this? A thousand per cent. If we look at it and feel anyone has either behaved in a manner that was criminally or civilly liable then we’re giving a commitment in the interest of transparency to deal with it.

 

“It’s important for the fans we find out what actually went on. There’s allegations going back to the Charles Green days about money and kickbacks and we really have to look at that.

 

“It’s a little bit like South Africa with this Truth and Reconciliation Commission which came out after 1994. It was a good thing for people to air things and finally put it behind them - the fans need a bit of truth and reconciliation to get some understanding of what happened in the last five years.”

 

Craig Whyte, Gary Withey, David Grier, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse are already under criminal investigation for their role in Whyte’s takeover of the club in 2011.

 

Police Scotland have also begun an investigation into Green’s takeover of the club in February 2012 and key figures involved in the club at that time have been interviewed in recent weeks.

 

Castlemilk-born King insists the board have the necessary skills to examine all contracts signed by the club in recent years in the first instance, but may ask for outside help.

 

However, he was bullish on what he might find, insisting there can be little lurking under the bonnet for which he is not already prepared.

 

He saidL : “We’re experienced enough in business to look at commercial contracts and understand them. If we have a concern about a specific contract then it’s best to pass it onto someone who is forensic and independent.

 

“I’m not scared of what we might find because it can only provide opportunities. If there is a potential for recovery, that can only be a good thing.

 

“Instinctively, one doesn’t expect to find an impossible mess. I’m not expecting anything dramatic, other than what we know - the club is fiscally and financially challenged, but far from being in a crisis.”

 

Discussions on a new manager will begin over the weekend although no appointment is imminent with the future of football board chairman Sandy Easdale, who abstained from the general meeting vote, also subject to scrutiny.

 

Asked if there is a future for the Greenock bus boss at the club, King said: “My personal view is that it would be challenging.”

 

Llambias and Leach, ousted as directors, remain for now as chief executive and finance director but their positions will also be top of the agenda for discussions in the coming days.

 

King was applauded as he arrived for the general meeting at 11am with Murray and Gilligan and it passed respectfully and without protest.

 

King said: “The club is broken in many areas, pretty much everything has to be looked at.

 

“There will be other appointments to the board. The fans’ groups have been absolutely superb and that should be recognised. We want to work with fans in terms of getting representation on the board.

 

“More than anything, we want Rangers to get back to its rightful place in Scottish football.”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/new-rangers-chief-dave-king-5288569

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Don't now where you got that from!

 

I got them from GS who oft quoted these figures.

Edited March 7, 2015 by BrahimHemdani

[BrahimHemdani 1]

king is going to have to put in a lot of money and has said he will.

 

it's unfortunate that greenco have burned up a lot of the available investement by forcing king etc to buy shares.

 

King only spent about £2.5m buying shares, petty cash for him according to your figures.

Edited March 7, 2015 by BrahimHemdani

[BrahimHemdani 1]

It’s a little bit like South Africa with this Truth and Reconciliation Commission which came out after 1994.

 

He should know.

[ian1964 10,761]

King targets reclaiming Rangers assets after seizing power at Ibrox

 

DAVE King has revealed Rangers can pay back the £5 million loan to Sports Direct straight away - and reclaim all of the Ibrox club's major assets.

 

 

 

And he is confident the controversial contracts with Mike Ashley's sports goods company won't prevent the Glasgow club rebuilding for the future.

 

Newcastle United owner Ashley was given security over Murray Park, Edmiston House and the Albion Car Park in return for an injection of cash in January.

 

However, King, who gained control at his boyhood heroes at an EGM yesterday morning, expects to repay that money to the enigmatic billionaire immediately

 

The major shareholder said: "If we look at the contracts he's got in place and they allow him to call up the loan immediately it is a priority.

 

"Then it's something that has to be faced immediately. We're kind of expecting that in a way. But the funds are there to pay him.

 

"But until we look at the contracts and see them ourselves we're not sure what rights he's got."

 

King doesn't believe the second Sports Direct loan will be drawn down and predicted he can work with Cockney businessman Ashley going forward.

 

He also expressed hope Gers fans will start buying official merchandise once they reveal the terms of the deals.

 

There has been speculation that Rangers only receive 75p of every £10 spent at club shops under a deal agreed by former chief executive Charles Green.

 

He said: "One doesn't expect to find it an impossible mess. The club has been in such a difficult situation, you can't imagine there are a lot of creditors have loaned money and not been paid.

 

"I would imagine there may be opportunities there but I'm not expecting anything dramatic other than what we know. It's financially challenged, but I think the club is far from being in a crisis."

 

King added: "I've heard from one person who has seen some of the contracts and I regard as being fairly reliable. He has told me we won't find anything untoward when we look at the Mike Ashley contracts.

 

"He said the best we'll find is someone who is commercially aggressive and has out-negotiated the people who were on the board. If that's the case then good luck to him.

 

"Others have said it's not that simple and we'll find that. If that's the case then we'd have to look at that very carefully.

 

"But if Mike Ashley is going to continue his relationship with the club and we assume his contracts are robust and we have to live with them and come to the conclusion they're fairly balanced to the club and we let the fans know that then they can resume spending.

 

"One of the reasons the fans aren't spending on the kit is because they think a disproportionate amount is going to Mike Ashley. So it's in his interests and he knows as we sit here today what we're going to find when we get there.

 

"If he's confident there's nothing untoward then it's better for him for us to go to the fans and say: 'Listen, we've seen the contracts, we've heard all the noise leve,l but we can live with them'.

 

"That's good for Mike Ashley and we'll tell the fans to buy the kit again because enough of the money is coming back to the club."

 

King has decided not to take up a place on the Rangers board until he has proved to the AIM Stock Exchange and the SFA he is a fit and proper person.

 

The Castlemilk-raised South Africa-based financier was convicted of 41 tax offences in his adopted homeland back in 2013 and had to pay authorities £40 million.

 

But the former director, who ploughed £20 million of his personal fortune into his boyhood heroes during Sir David Murray's time in charge, is comfortable he will be cleared to be chairman.

 

King said: "I wouldn't have started this process if I didn't think I was fit and proper. I've had no discussions with Nomads or other regulators that suggests there are concerns.

 

"The only concerns that were aired came from the other side who felt the need to flag this. It was a mechanism to deflect away from their own failings."

 

King believes the current absence of a nominated financial advisor - WH Ireland stood down on Monday when it became clear the board would be voted out at the EGM - is irrelevant.

 

He said: "The Nomad is not an issue. Whether Rangers is listed is not an issue. The listing is irrelevant.

 

"It is something that affects a specific group of investors - of which there is very few right now.

 

"You have really only got River and Mercantile who as a London-based institution can't invest in unlisted companies.

 

"But most of the other shareholders would be as happy to be in the club whether it is listed or not.

 

"So the listing to me was just noise level from the other side given they didn't have much in the way of real argument."

 

King believes it would be "challenging" for Rangers football board chairman Sandy Easdale to have a role in the future running of the Ibrox club.

 

But he would be happy for the Greenock-based bus magnate, his brother James, who stood down as a director last week, and Ashley to invest in the second tier club at a future share issue.

 

He said: "If we have a rights issue then I'd be quite happy if the Easdales put money in - the more people who invest the better. I suspect they won't and the burden will fall on people like us, but I'd rather spread the burden."

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/king-targets-reclaiming-rangers-assets-after-seizing-power-at-ibrox-199520n.120113068

[trublusince1982 243]

king has said ad nauseam he will put up 50%. Struggle to understand why people cant grasp that.

 

He does not know the full figure until the books are looked at and a final figure is collated. Whatever that figure is he will stump up 50% above what the club can cover in its day to day.At first guess they envisioned the club needing £20m extra in the short-medium term, that figure has risen northwards recently . He will put in no more than £30m over a 5 year period. the £50m quote was in reference to what he assumed Rangers would need in investment more recently in the med to long term. its not hard the man talks quiet frankly.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

King only spent about £2.5m buying shares, petty cash for him according to your figures.

 

your gutted aren't you this is hilarious.

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

your gutted aren't you this is hilarious.

Takes the moral high ground with King but votes to keep Leach and Llambias on the board. Superb.

[Mountain Bear 0]

Yesterday was a very good day.

 

Started a new job, which means I'll be able to make mid week games for the first time in a while; came into a little bit of money which means I can afford to up my subscriptions to RF / BR; but most importantly of all, I saw my beloved Rangers returned to the leadership of people who are motivated by the Club's interests, rather than their own.

 

It's great that in our own small way, the good folk of Gersnet contributed to yesterday's EGM result. We can allow ourselves a short celebration (and my head tells me I celebrated too long), but the real work starts now.

 

For ordinary fans that means filling Ibrox for the remainder of this season, whether or not performances and results improve. I really hope we all retain the current optimism when we hit the inevitable bumps in the road ahead. I don't think it's going to be an easy ride, but at least we're heading in the right direction.

[ian1964 10,761]