By Paul Nicholson
January 19 – The battle for control of Scotland’s Rangers Football Club continued over the weekend with angry fans protesting at Saturday’s match against league leaders Hearts (abandoned after 20 minuted due to heavy snow), and this morning the board announcing to the stock exchange that it is seeking the withdrawal of a notice for a general meeting that would seek to oust four directors.
Rangers are in a cash crisis and do not have enough money to pay wages at the end of January. Mike Ashley, who has an 8.9% stake in Rangers and owns Newcastle United and Sports Direct, has offered a £10 million loan but wants it secured against the Ibrox Stadium and the Murray Park training ground.
Fans were furious, leading to disturbances outside the ground. The club had previously said that it would never allow Ibrox to be used as security.
Another shareholder group made up of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, and which owns 20% of Rangers, has said it will increase its offer of a £5 million loan. The offer doesn’t require the stadium as security but does require two seats on the board. The board has recently turned down a £20 million offer from a US investor for the club.
Separately, 15% shareholder Dave King lodged paperwork at the end of last week calling for a general meeting and a vote to oust four board members – David Somers, Derek Llambias, Barry Leach and James Easdale – and the appointment of himself and associates Paul Murray and John Gilligan to the board. Llambias and Leach are close business associates of Mike Ashley.
Rangers International Football Club, the holding company for the club and the property assets, said: “The company is currently verifying that the notice is properly constituted.”
“If valid, the board intends to seek to have such notice withdrawn in order to avoid the cost and disruption of an ad hoc general meeting.
“The AIM rules require that all individuals appointed to the board of an AIM company are suitable to be a director of a UK public company.”
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