Keith Jackson has opened up on the turmoil inside Ibrox that has the potential to cause ‘unrest at the worst possible moment’.
Over the last three months the company has converted four loans into shares which are virtually worthless due to constant dilution, annual losses running into eight figures and a projected £23m shortfall before May 2022.
While the current backers, it would be madness to describe them as investors, are writing off millions in a bid to stop Selik former Chairman Dave King has another motivation.
With some fans discussing whether or not a statue should be erected as a lasting memorial to the South African based ‘businessman’ the great man has been deep in talks with fans group Club 1872 about selling his worthless shares for £13m.
That sort of money would be like a lottery win for the Ibrox board as they try to meet monthly payroll with no matchday income and on-going legal costs from King’s battles with Sports Direct.
Club 1872 would need cash commitments from 20,000 fans to buy out King’s shares but the thought of their former Chairman walking away with a pay-off is setting off the alarm bells in the Blue Staircase of Undignified Debt and Financial Mismanagement.
Discussing the boards attempts to extract money from Club 1872, Jackson tells Daily Record readers:
What did come as a surprise, however, was a revelation from managing director Stewart Robertson that the very fans’ group which seems so eager to climb into bed with King on this venture recently turned down an opportunity to purchase shares directly from the club itself.
That admission alone does raise some questions over the motivation behind those with their hands on the tiller and in charge of Club 1872. Indeed, from the outside looking in, King’s relationship with this particular body of supporters has always seemed a great deal more cosy than its self-proclaimed ‘wholly independent’ status suggests.
Given the enormous strides Gerrard has made in reinventing Rangers as a force with which to be reckoned on the field, this attempt at muscle flexing and political manoeuvring behind the scenes comes at a curious time. It carries with it the potential to cause unrest at the worst possible of moments where the recovery of this club is concerned.
After buying half of Mike Ashley’s Club 1872 took their stake in the company to over 10% but further share issues has diluted their holding down to 4.75% according to the company website.
It is believed that less than 2,000 fans are currently subscribing to Club 1872. The fans group voted in favour of giving the board permission to issue further shares which has erroded their own token power and influence.