Sandy Easdale is at the front of a queue of investors ready to torpedo Dave Kings Sevco revolution.
On April Fools day caretaker chairman Paul Murray issued a flowery statement, typically without any substance, outlining his vision to see Andy Murdoch and Tom Walsh lift the 2022 Champions League trophy.
Yesterday in a desperate attempt to pin the blame elsewhere Mr Murray blamed the previous regime for the company running the football club getting kicked off the barely regulated Alternative Investment Market.
The transparency champion claimed that an unnamed NOMAD, in an unnamed city, had given the directors the all clear before the AIM scuppered their cunning plan.
With Mr King remaining silent at home in South Africa a small number of the gullible hordes are starting to wake up to the reality of a man recently described as a glib and shameless liar by a South African judge.
The loss of listed status, on the back of Deloitte walking away as auditors, is a massive blow for the fragile respectability of the company certain to scare off any potential investors other than the small clique former around Mr King and Mr Murray.
Many current investors paid 70p a share when the company launched in December 2012, and have watched the value of their holding crash through the floor now have to find a buyer for their stock with AIM status removed.
Mr King’s promise of a share issue looks like going the way of others issued by the non-billionaire from Castlemilk leaving Mr Easdale and others furious at the latest deception.
Should Mr King attempt a new share issue, which will dilute the stake in the company held by his critics, he can expect to be bombarded by legal challenges which could starve the company of the investment needed to complete the season.
Last night Greenock based transport tycoon Mr Easdale told Sky Sports: “I think we have been misled on several occasions with Dave King and Paul Murray saying that they had a Nomad and that it was a certainty that the club would keep its listing.
“I think categorically we have been misled. Dave said in several interviews that he had a Nomad and he felt comfortable that he would be found fit and proper and the company would still be listed which today I would’ve hoped would have been the case.”
Ominously he added: “The previous board made it public that the club could suffer delisting if the requisitioners went ahead and especially with Dave heading it up.
“I think they had a chance to keep it listed if Dave would’ve stepped aside. But I’m not sure why they are using that tact. Up until the other board was dismissed it was still a listed company and potentially could trade shares up until WH Ireland resigned.
“I don’t think we would be taking Rangers to task. Our group has more than a personal basis with the individuals who misled the shareholders in thinking the shares would still be on a market.”
Adding his voice to the critics of the move is Kieran Prior who has always supported plans for the club to be governed by lifelong real Rangers men with the good of the club at heart.
Prior, once described as Britain’s brainiest person, paid just over 50p per share for 785,000 shares in July 2013 and is now looking at an investment less than Ian Black’s monthly wage packet.
Speaking to the Daily Record he claimed: “Dave (Mr King) was always clear he would do his utmost to maintain the AIM status. Paul Murray told me in a phone call this morning the prospective Nomad was Cantor Fitzgerald and I don’t know why this has not been made public.
“I call on the board, for reasons of openness and transparency, to reveal the paper trail that outlines discussions with Cantor Fitzgerald.
“They should reveal details of the discussions with the Stock Exchange that led to the prospective Nomad being unable to take up their appointment.
“As long as checks and balances were put in place, under new company management, to ensure there was no repeat of past issues, I can’t see why Rangers would be denied AIM membership.
“I’m looking at my legal options. I don’t need my money back. My investment is in the institution of Rangers itself and our attempts to return to the most prominent position possible, not just in Scottish football but Europe.
“That goal could suffer as a result of these actions. It’s naive of Dave to believe he can fund the infrastructure requirements of Rangers without access to capital available on the AIM market.”
After a month in the chairman’s seat the SFA have still to make any comment on Mr Murray who is banned from Scottish football until 2017 after being a director of Rangers in the two years prior to liquidation in 2012.
