Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley plans £30m takeover bid

[WATP-FOREVER 5,231]

Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley plans £30m takeover bid to see off Dave King and retake control of Ibrox club

The Sports Direct billionaire is said to be ‘shocked’ at the state of the club under King and is promising significant investment if a takeover deal can be struck.

Mike Ashley is believed to be circling Rangers once more – this time with a view to taking over the club as he looks to win his long-running feud with Ibrox chairman Dave King.

Newcastle United owner Ashley is ready to make another move for the Glasgow side, a purchase that would see him finally take control of his long-time target.

But the Sports Direct billionaire is understood to be ‘shocked’ at the state of the club and is promising significant investment if a takeover deal can be struck.

Ashley is opposed to working with King, who ousted him from the board two years ago – although he remains a significant shareholder with just under nine per cent of the stock.

A source has told Sunday People Sport that Ashley is ready to make a comeback and a purchase price of around £30million could seal the deal.

The source said: “The current situation is unacceptable – Mike knows that. Rangers are set to finish behind Aberdeen and are more than 30 points behind Celtic.

“He is prepared to invest but he will not work with the current owner, who he feels has done little for the club in the past two years.”

This will not, however, affect his running of Newcastle — set to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking — as there are no regulations to prohibit the ownership of two clubs operating under different national associations.

The news that Ashley is once again eyeing taking control at Ibrox comes just two weeks after former Rangers chief executive Derek Llambias appeared on TV and demanded that King show the fans where the money is at the club.

Llambias - who was appointed chief executive at Ibrox in December 2014 - launched the broadside during an interview on Sky Sports.

The former Newcastle United managing director joined the Ibrox board as a non-executive director in November 2015 having worked closely withAshley on Tyneside.

He was removed from his role on the board after King's EGM victory in March 2015.

At the time King vowed that once he was in charge he would appoint a new nominated adviser, known as a Nomad, in order to keep Rangers on the Stock Exchange.

However, the club lost their place on the Alternative Investment Market and delisted from the Stock Exchange in April 2015 when King failed to secure the services of a new Nomad.

And Llambias reckons nothing has changed during the Ibrox chairman's two years at the helm despite promises of a £30m warchest and over-investment in the playing side in order to close the gap with Celtic and then overtake the Parkhead club.

Following former manager Mark Warburton's departure last month King insisted in a withering statement that £18million had been put into the club since his takeover, although he stopped short of detailing how much of his own cash had been invested.

Speaking on SkySports Llambias said: “Last time I spoke to you guys when we were voted off I asked ‘where was the money? where was the cash?’.

“There was no money, there was no Nomad, there’s no listing and we’re two years on and it’s exactly the same. Where is the money?

“To be honest with you, the club has got great history, wonderful traditions and they just need somebody with a lot of money behind it who are going to produce the goods.”

Rangers insist they remain hamstrung by what they view as the punitive Ashley deals, struck by Charles Green in his last acts as chief executive, such as retail contracts.

Many Rangers fans will be enraged at the thought of Sports Direct supremo Ashley returning to take charge of their club.

A large number of supporters still refuse to buy club merchandise because of the terms of the deal negotiated with Sport Direct that sees only a small percentage of money returned to Rangers from the sale of strips.

The present regime were able to seize control thanks to the support of the vast bulk of the fans who will view Ashley's latest plan as a hostile takeover.

Ashley is also held in disdain by many supporters due to the way his company treats its staff and the high-profile use of zero hours contracts within the business.

Rangers chairman King has been locked in a series of bitter legal disputes with Ashley since the Sport Direct tycoon was ousted by the South African-based businessman's consortium.

King has made it clear he believes the retail deals signed before he took over are not in the best interest of Rangers and that he is determined to fight the club's corner in court.

_________________

 

Anyone believe that pish, in today's record?

[WadeWilson 4,670]

Ask Sweetheart.

[WadeWilson 4,670]

If you want Ashley in control after all that has gone on, you are a moron (also known as thehost or Smile).

[one55 1,510]

Fucking better no happen. If he is in charge then he's no getting any my money. Haven't bought this season top and am prepared to ditch my season ticket if he comes in. Fuck off Ashley.

[TheCutch 4,340]

It's almost as if we had a good result on the park yesterday..

Oh wait....

[five stars 1,621]

As the op eloquently put it, pish.

[j1mgg 3,766]

More chance of Jim McColl buying us

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,715]

He has to buy shares for this to happen.

If those shares were available why would club 1872 not be snapping them up?

No substance, no quotes, typical media pish.

[Three stripes 411]

Fuck off ya fat fucking parasite

[jim beam 2,188]

Wank material for a few on here.

[deco19761 1,006]

As I posted last week.  There.appears to be only one option ... make peace with ashley somehow .. king and the rest of board have no money.

There is.no major rangers.fan who is mega rich wanting to invest.

Ashley is.making money from us anyway. 

The state we are in just now is how we will be forever and a day. 

I don't see any other option opened at present.  

 

[dan_ger 1,454]

Just fuck off. That fat mess is not the answer no matter how bad things look. 

[loyalfollower 1,543]

As much as he's more money than the mendacious one I think he brings much more of a circus.

the best scenario is for him to work with the board.

[plumbGER 24,518]

57 minutes ago, j1mgg said:

More chance of Jim McColl buying us

That ship has sailed, pun intended.

He has bought a shipyard down my way and it is expanding rapidly.

Old buildings, that were in a poor state of repair, have been revamped and jobs created.

Speculating to accumulate, sounds exactly what we need.

Ashley can fuck off.

[Uncle Fester 186]

This is a fucking noise up, hope that fat bastard has his fatal heart attack soon...An absolute cancer of a human being.

[onefootwillie 1,518]

This is rubbish. I thought that as he owns Newcastle he can't have a higher percentage of shares in Rangers according to SFA regulations

[linfield1690 4,249]

Paper talking a load of shite

[Murray Loyal 26]

This is another attempt by the media to unsettle our team, they do it every time something goes well for us so i dont believe it...

[Ragnar1872 811]

what a load of shite

[Deanzmeanzheinz 4,312]

This thread might just lure Lawman onto Bears' Den 

[loyal 136]

Kenny Miller's neighbor  saw a fleet of Mercedes cars with blanked out windows arrive at Ibrox on Friday and a dozen Arabs got out  of them one looked like Al-Ali-shite 

[Brackley 1,401]

When Sarver appeared on the horizon King was forced to make his move.

If there's the slightest hint this could be true will King now find the long arms to reach the cash in his pocket.

[blueballss 2,969]

the circus that is my team continues

[eejay the dj 31,964]

3 hours ago, WATP-FOREVER said:

Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley plans £30m takeover bid to see off Dave King and retake control of Ibrox club

The Sports Direct billionaire is said to be ‘shocked’ at the state of the club under King and is promising significant investment if a takeover deal can be struck.

Mike Ashley is believed to be circling Rangers once more – this time with a view to taking over the club as he looks to win his long-running feud with Ibrox chairman Dave King.

Newcastle United owner Ashley is ready to make another move for the Glasgow side, a purchase that would see him finally take control of his long-time target.

But the Sports Direct billionaire is understood to be ‘shocked’ at the state of the club and is promising significant investment if a takeover deal can be struck.

Ashley is opposed to working with King, who ousted him from the board two years ago – although he remains a significant shareholder with just under nine per cent of the stock.

A source has told Sunday People Sport that Ashley is ready to make a comeback and a purchase price of around £30million could seal the deal.

The source said: “The current situation is unacceptable – Mike knows that. Rangers are set to finish behind Aberdeen and are more than 30 points behind Celtic.

“He is prepared to invest but he will not work with the current owner, who he feels has done little for the club in the past two years.”

This will not, however, affect his running of Newcastle — set to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking — as there are no regulations to prohibit the ownership of two clubs operating under different national associations.

The news that Ashley is once again eyeing taking control at Ibrox comes just two weeks after former Rangers chief executive Derek Llambias appeared on TV and demanded that King show the fans where the money is at the club.

Llambias - who was appointed chief executive at Ibrox in December 2014 - launched the broadside during an interview on Sky Sports.

The former Newcastle United managing director joined the Ibrox board as a non-executive director in November 2015 having worked closely withAshley on Tyneside.

He was removed from his role on the board after King's EGM victory in March 2015.

At the time King vowed that once he was in charge he would appoint a new nominated adviser, known as a Nomad, in order to keep Rangers on the Stock Exchange.

However, the club lost their place on the Alternative Investment Market and delisted from the Stock Exchange in April 2015 when King failed to secure the services of a new Nomad.

And Llambias reckons nothing has changed during the Ibrox chairman's two years at the helm despite promises of a £30m warchest and over-investment in the playing side in order to close the gap with Celtic and then overtake the Parkhead club.

Following former manager Mark Warburton's departure last month King insisted in a withering statement that £18million had been put into the club since his takeover, although he stopped short of detailing how much of his own cash had been invested.

Speaking on SkySports Llambias said: “Last time I spoke to you guys when we were voted off I asked ‘where was the money? where was the cash?’.

“There was no money, there was no Nomad, there’s no listing and we’re two years on and it’s exactly the same. Where is the money?

“To be honest with you, the club has got great history, wonderful traditions and they just need somebody with a lot of money behind it who are going to produce the goods.”

Rangers insist they remain hamstrung by what they view as the punitive Ashley deals, struck by Charles Green in his last acts as chief executive, such as retail contracts.

Many Rangers fans will be enraged at the thought of Sports Direct supremo Ashley returning to take charge of their club.

A large number of supporters still refuse to buy club merchandise because of the terms of the deal negotiated with Sport Direct that sees only a small percentage of money returned to Rangers from the sale of strips.

The present regime were able to seize control thanks to the support of the vast bulk of the fans who will view Ashley's latest plan as a hostile takeover.

Ashley is also held in disdain by many supporters due to the way his company treats its staff and the high-profile use of zero hours contracts within the business.

Rangers chairman King has been locked in a series of bitter legal disputes with Ashley since the Sport Direct tycoon was ousted by the South African-based businessman's consortium.

King has made it clear he believes the retail deals signed before he took over are not in the best interest of Rangers and that he is determined to fight the club's corner in court.

_________________

 

Anyone believe that pish, in today's record?

Courageous journalism again " copyright of ass hole Murray .

They write it as if he was part of the old furniture .

These utter contemtable scum are having a field day at sticking the dagger in to all the Rangers support .

I hate King like a passion but it's every one of these bastards that have fucking messed up our club 

[fleeting_glimpse 21]

A quick look at the current shareholder register shows MASH and Easdale with less than 25% combined. 

There is still the mysterious Blue Pitch holdings etc. who've been in hiding for months, who'd potentially bring the combined opposition up to circa 35%. Still nowhere near enough. 

Furthermore, MASH can't  exceed 10% of total shares unless Ashley tales the SFA back to court, having previously lost and not appealed. 

So it's highly unlikely that the story will materialise. But we should never caught with our guard down again. When the share issue happens, I'll be buying as many as I can afford. 

The future and existence of our club must never be put in jeopardy again.