Ashley lands knock out blow to King’s AGM plan

Mike Ashley has delivered a hammer blow to Dave King’s cunning plan to carve up shares in Sevco.

The South African based criminal had put forward a resolution for Friday’s AGM that would have prevented anyone with a stake in another football from being able to vote.

Mr Ashley challenged that move at the Court of Session on Friday and has had the resolution removed from this week’s AGM.

The club website announced earlier today: “Resolution 11 was intended to afford the Company with protection against a further breach of the Scottish Football Association’s Disciplinary Rule 19 on dual interest whether relating to MASH Holdings Limited and related parties’ interests in the Company and its main operating subsidiary, The Rangers Football Club Limited while MASH Holdings Limited is also the ultimate parent company of Newcastle United Limited or any other shareholder who might have such an interest now or in the future.

“The Company is under an obligation to demonstrate the utmost good faith to the Scottish Football Association (“SFA”) in relation to any possible breaches of disciplinary rule 19. Shareholders will be aware that related parties of MASH Holdings Limited have other contractual relationships with members of the Group of Companies of which the Company is the holding company.

“The terms of these relationships are confidential and in some cases the subject of the interim injunction granted before June’s General Meeting. Shareholders are therefore reminded that the Board will be restricted at the AGM in answering questions concerning these arrangements.”

The Company has still to demonstrate its good faith by paying the £250,000 slap on the wrist handed out by the Nimmo Smith report into a decade of failing to fully disclose payments made to players.

Sports Direct’s 9% shareholding in the company is believed to be part of the Five Way Agreement brokered by the SFA, SPL, SFA with Duff & Phelps and Charles Green.

Dave Whitehouse, Paul Clarke and founding father Green have been charged with fraud over the asset transfer from Rangers to Sevco.

Mr Ashley was unsuccessful in his bid to remove two other motions that would have allowed the current directors to award themselves cut price shares but with his own 9% stake assured those resolutions look certain to fall short of getting approved by 75% of shareholders.

In June the Sports Direct tycoon received the backing of 45% of shareholders to get the club to repay the £5m crisis loan that allowed the club to stagger through to the end of last season and the arrival of new season ticket money.

It’s believed that the season ticket money has now been spent funding Mark Warburton’s Revolution with the recently published accounts admitting that there was a £2.5m shortfall in funding to complete the 2015/16 season.

With Mr King still to invest a penny in the club, while drawing generous expenses for his monthly visits to Scotland and Chelsea, it remains to be seen how the shortfall will be met.

That figure doesn’t include any current court cases with Green claiming for his legal expenses for the upcoming Ibrox Fraud Case while Mr King faces Christmas in Wormwood Scrubs for discussing confidential details of the Sports Direct contract during an interview with Jim White.