Four days after walking out on Ibrox there is a distinct lack of tributes to Dave King on the club website.
Two and a half hours after he announced his exit- leaving behind a £10m funding gap- new deputy chairman John Bennett made a solitary mention to King in a club statement. Interim-Chairman Douglas Park didn’t say a word about his former colleague who has retained his full shareholding. Steven Gerrard has said nothing about the exit of the man who brought him to Scotland.
For two years as an outsider King told supporters through favoured media outlets that he had the cunning plan to stop Celtic’s run of success- and was prepared to spend his kid’s inheritance doing so.
Finally, in March 2015 he took control of the boardroom, the following season Mark Warburton led the team to promotion to the top flight and reached the final of the Scottish Cup.
Since then it has been wall to wall success for Celtic!
After the Invincible Treble came the Double Treble. Achievements that were beyond Mr Struth and Mr Walter. All on King’s watch.
The next gimmick after Pedro Caixinha had gone the same way as Warbo was to bring in Steven Gerrard with season tickets flying out the door.
But still Celtic kept on winning, Neil Lennon replaced Brendan Rodgers and the trophy collecting continued.
Last April King came out with a cracker, one that caught Gerrard by surprise as the chairman pleaded for season ticket sales with the Daily Record reporting:
I begin by again offering my most sincere thanks to each and every Rangers supporter for the continued commitment and understanding that you have shown throughout the recent rebuilding of our club.
It was never going to be easy and it is extremely gratifying to have witnessed the progress that has been made over the last year. We are now within tangible reach of Rangers becoming the dominant force in Scottish football again.
Much of the progress on the pitch can be attributed to Mark Allen, Steven Gerrard and their respective management teams. Turning to a young manager was a risk but it was one that Mark and the board felt we should take because of Steven Gerrard’s football pedigree.
Allen left in September to spend more time with his family, six months later King is spending his time saving the South African economy. After two break-ins in January he discussed quitting the country.
Park has to pay the bills and pick up the pieces, King leaves many legacies but We are now within tangible reach of Rangers becoming the dominant force in Scottish football again looks like being his biggest porkie.
