Dave King’s Chairman plan is kicked into touch by Ibrox Directors

Dave King’s public pitch to become the next Chairman at Ibrox is set to be rejected by his boardroom enemies.

It is exactly the reaction that the South African based ‘businessman’ is looking for to paint the current board into a corner as a number of critical issues pile up.

While Celtic announced a £77m bank balance that will be boosted by a transfer surplus and Champions League income across the city a £20m loss is expected for last year with the impact of austerity there to see in Phil Clement’s squad.

Just as Ibrox is about to partially reopen the club is faced with a chicken and egg situation as they attempt to install a Chairman and recruit a CEO to replace James Bisgrove.

The next defeat will renew fan unrest with next week’s Europa League match away to Malmo looking an ominous with with both Ibrox clubs suffering costly failures against the Swedish side.

Ever the opportunist, King burst onto the scene last night through his obliging network of messengers to promise the earth to supporters if he is reinstalled as Chairman, the job he walked away from in March 2020 with the Blue Room bare.

King created plenty of in-house enemies by walking away, his latest publicity stunt hasn’t gone down well with Andy Newport of the Daily Record reporting:

Dave King’s bid to complete a sensational Rangers return looks set to be dashed.

The ex-chairman has offered to replace outgoing Ibrox chief John Bennett, who announced he was stepping on Saturday due to health reasons. But Record Sport understands King’s former allies in the boardroom have no plans to dispatch an SOS to his base in Johannesburg following a bitter bust-up that followed his shock Ibrox exit back in 2020.

King left his colleagues stunned when he chose to walk away from the chairman’s seat at the height of the Covid pandemic in order to focus on ensuring his South African business survived the pandemic.

And the likes of Douglas Park and George Taylor are in no mood to forgive and forget. John Gilligan – a key King lieutenant when the Castlemilk-born millionaire wrestled control of the club away from the Mike Ashley-backed regime in 2015 – has been brought back and put in temporary command at Ibrox and will lead the search of a new chief executive and permanent chairman.

King can now played the spurned saviour role as the storm clouds gather over Ibrox with statements at the ready to crank up the pressure on Gilligan, Park and Taylor.

Clement could have joined the exodus in the summer but chose to get a salary rise and the security of an additional year on his deal knowing that his two predecessors had averaged out just less than a year in charge before autumn sackings.