Former chairman Dave King offers Rangers return to solve Ibrox 'crisis'

Former Ibrox boss Dave King has offered to make a return to Rangers as chairman.

King, who was chairman of the club from 2015 to 2020, says he would take on the role again, after John Bennett announced that he was stepping down for health reasons.

However, STV understands interim chairman John Gilligan is expected to remain in place for months to come.

Referring to the current situation at Ibrox as “a crisis” the South Africa-based businessman said that he would not invest any more money personally but believed he could secure funds from Saudi Arabia or the United States to improve the club and team.

The 69-year-old, who appointed Steven Gerrard as manager, believes the club should be able to “dominate” in Scotland.

The announcement that Bennett was to step down as chairman was followed by news that former Rangers board member John Gilligan would take on the role, but only as a temporary measure.

In an interview with newspapers, King has said that he would be happy to return for a specific period of time, with a plan to improve the club’s fortunes quickly.

“I think I might be the best person to do it for two years,” he told the Daily Record.

“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.

“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.”

King lost an investment of around £20m when Rangers suffered financial collapse in 2012, and then returned in 2015 to take over with a purchase of around 15% of the club’s shareholding. He remains the club’s largest individual shareholder but does not plan to put more funds into the club personally.

“I wouldn’t be looking to invest more money in the club,” he said. “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.”

The businessman believes there is the potential to secure investment from abroad but says the running of the club should come from people with experience of Ibrox.

“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,” he said. “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.”

King previously announced plans to sell his shares to supporters group Club 1872 but revealed last year that the agreement had been scrapped after the group failed to take up the offering.

He said at the time that he had rejected another offer for his shares and was heavily critical of the Ibrox board, who he said “squandered the advantage” after the title win in 2021.

Since winning that title, and reaching the Europa League final the following season, Rangers have seen Celtic gain a stranglehold on domestic trophies with three league titles and four cups. In that time, Rangers have lifted the Scottish Cup and League Cup.