Dave King steps up Ibrox civil war with claim that Douglas Park forced Steven Gerrard out

Dave King has accused Douglas Park of creating a climate at Ibrox that is becoming impossible for manager’s to operate in.

The former Ibrox chairman is back in Scotland on a rabble rousing mission ahead of the December 6 AGM with pressure on the current board to present a manager to shareholders.

Van Bronckhorst was sacked on Sunday by phone with the news announced in a club statement on Monday morning after just over a year in the job.

Playing the Steven Gerrard card to supporters is a guaranteed winner for King with fans emotionally attached to the manager that delivered the club’s only ever Premiership title.

King has been trying without any success to sell his 15% stake in the troubled club but with no sign of a buyer his verbal attacks are aimed at smoking out an offer from inside the club.

Park has resisted the easy option of buying up King’s stake to marginalise his former boardroom colleague, ensuring further criticism from outwith the Blue Room.

Speaking to Chris Jack of the Evening Times, King said:

The position that Rangers were in at the beginning of last season was really one where I thought we would embark on a number of titles and would go on to win a number in a row.

If it wasn’t for the fact that, first of all, Steven was let down in terms of the money that was promised to him and then secondly when his relationship with the chairman got to the point when he was effectively forced out.

To me, I don’t think the circumstances that forced Steven out of the club were any better when Gio came in. Therefore I am kind of guarded in my comments about Gio and Ross Wilson.

I do think they have probably come up, over the last year, against some of the same obstacles with the board that Steven encountered and that lead effectively to Steven being forced out of the club at a time when he was top of the league and in the semi-final of the cup.

To some extent, I think we scored an own goal. But whether that own goal can be attributed to Ross Wilson, I am not certain.

Early last season the club repaid King a £6m loan with interest that could have been used to strengthen the team and keep Gerrard happy.

Since King recalled that loan there has been very little investment/loans put into the club with UEFA now monitoring the accounts as part of their new Sustainability Guidelines.

Park has so far resisted the opportunity to throw mud back in King’s direction. The South African based businessman stood down as chairman in March 2020 just as football went into lockdown.