Dave King has fired another shot in his simmering civil war with the
Rangers board after insisting he had a “moral obligation” to vote against Graeme Park’s re-election as a director.
The former chairman has also launched an attack on the “shameful and disloyal” treatment of Club 1872 as he accused his one-time Ibrox allies of marginalising the fan group.
King raised eyebrows when it emerged he had used his 15.45 percent stake in the club to vote against Park - son of current chairman
Douglas Park - ahead of last week’s AGM.
His vote was not enough to oust Park Jnr from the Ibrox boardroom, with the 37-year-old businessman keeping his blazer after receiving the backing of 81.1 percent of shareholders.
But
King says he has an obligation to the Rangers support and the club’s shareholders to vote against a man who had first been appointed a director while he was chairman back in August 2015.
He told
Record Sport : “I have a fiduciary duty to vote my shares in what I consider to be in the best interest of myself and my fellow shareholders.
“I also believe that I have a continuing moral obligation to consider the interest of supporters at all times.
“I have voted in accordance with the knowledge that I have.”
King - who holds more than 65 million shares in Rangers International Football Club plc - also used his stake to vote against a motion which would allow the current board to issue further new shares to hand-picked investors.
It carried regardless of the former chairman’s opposition ballot and now raises the prospect of Kings’ holding being watered down in future.
But King - who has struck a deal to sell his shares back to Club 1872 - insisted: “I am completely at ease with dilution as long as it is done at the right value and is necessary to continue improvement at the club.”
King no longer holds sway at Ibrox but his fall-out with the current board will concern fans who remain thankful for their combined efforts to return Rangers to the top of Scottish football.
It was with Park Snr’s help that the Castlemilk-born millionaire was able to wrestle the club away from
Mike Ashley’s clutches in 2015.
Together with other investors like the Three Bears, they set down the foundations which led last season to the title triumph the Gers faithful had waited a decade for.
But relations have broken down since King abdicated his Ibrox throne in March 2020 in order to focus on his South African business interests.
Last month, he slammed “incorrect” information in Gers’ annual accounts after it was revealed he had made £832,000 in interest repayments from a £5million loan he’d given the club.
Now he has taken another swing at the board over the treatment of Club 1872.
Last year, the Johannesburg-based businessman lined-up a controversial £13million deal which would have seen him recoup much of his investment by selling his shares to the fan group.
However, with many supporters uncomfortable about shelling out cash to King instead of the club, Gers announced their own supporter share issue which eventually filled the Ibrox coffers with £4.5m in fresh investment.
King is still hopeful Club 1872 can raise the sums needed to buy out his stake after the group announced a shake-up on the back of member complaints over its leadership.
“I hope so, all present signs are that greater supporter influence is becoming increasingly important.
“But I am concerned about the disconnect between Rangers and Club 1872.
“Club 1872 represents thousands of supporters who rallied behind the club in its time of need.
“To see them marginalised by the club and their officers unfairly subjected to a coordinated attack was shameful and disloyal.
“It is most certainly not consistent with the values that I spent so much time reintroducing at the Club following regime change.”
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