The board of Scottish Championship side Rangers "has revealed the pointed questions it will ask at a general meeting of Dave King, the shareholder moving to wrest control of the football club from Mike Ashley," according to Naomi Rovnick of the FINANCIAL TIMES. King, a former director whose family trust owns 14.6% of Rangers Int'l, "has been calling for an emergency meeting" to vote off Chair David Somers, CEO Derek Llambias, Finance Dir Barry Leach and non-Exec Dir James Easdale. He "plans to replace them on the board with himself and Paul Murray and John Gilligan, his associates." Ashley, the Sports Direct retailer with a stake of 8.92% in Rangers, "has the upper hand after supporting the Scottish Championship club financially" and placing Llambias and Leach in key positions on the board. A power struggle "has been deepening since last month," when King launched his push to remove the retail entrepreneur’s allies from the board. The moves "come as the club’s finances continue to deteriorate." In the year to last June, the club made a £8.6M net loss (FT, 2/20). In Glasgow, Martin Williams reported the Rangers board "asked pointed questions" of King over how he intends to avoid a stock exchange delisting related to his suitability as a director. The board's questions partly related to the directors' previous advice from their stock exchange nominated adviser (Nomad) that there would be a "material adverse impact" on the company's stock market listing if King is appointed to the board. Nomads "are the primary regulators of any company floated on the Aim stock exchange." The board of the club holding company Rangers Int'l Football Club said that if King were to succeed, Manchester-based stockbroker WH Ireland "would resign as Nomad to the company and shares would be suspended from trading immediately." The board said it believes there can be no guarantee that a new Nomad would be appointed and without that the company would no longer be traded on any Stock Exchange, making raising capital "both more difficult and more expensive" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 2/21). In Edinburgh, Moira Gordon wrote three Rangers shareholders "called for the dismissal" of Leach. Citing unprofessional conduct, the so-called "Three Bears" consortium of George Letham, Douglas Park and George Taylor have reacted to what they claim were "dishonest and disrespectful comments" made about them during a recent meeting of the Rangers Fans Board. In a statement, Park, Letham and Taylor, "who had offered a multimillion pound package to help ease the stricken club's financial woes but were rebuffed" in favor of a deal with Ashley, said that they had been astonished by the content of the minutes of the meeting between Llambias, Leach and the Rangers Fans Board. The statement said, "The insulting and uncomplimentary language used by Barry Leach towards our group, consisting of the three major shareholders, defies belief on so many levels" (SCOTSMAN, 2/22).
