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Dave King Expects To Invest $30M In Rangers, Says Mike Ashley Is Not A 'Threat'

Dave King "expects to invest" more than £20M ($31.3M) of his own money in Scottish Championship side Rangers after reiterating that £30M ($47M) is required for the club to compete at the top level, according to the BBC. King, who will take over as chairman on Friday, has supplied £1.5M ($2.3M) for "working capital 'in recent days.'" King said, "It is really going to depend on meeting the objectives of the club. I've already lost £20M [through prior investments in Rangers]. I'm expecting to invest more than that." And he said that a £5M ($7.8M) loan from shareholder Mike Ashley was "unlikely to be paid back soon, adding that he hopes to renegotiate the relationship with Ashley's Sports Direct." The Newcastle United owner's company "controls Rangers' retail operation and the businessman this month demanded the club hold a general meeting to pay back the loan given to the club in January." King: "I regard that resolution to be a non-event. It is a lot of nonsense. The shareholders cannot tell the board how to behave. The board would be under no obligation to take their advice" (BBC, 5/21). The Glasgow EVENING TIMES reported King said that he "hoped to get a commercial and retail set up at Ibrox the fans 'can buy into.'" King has said that fans are "critical and central to the regeneration of the club," which he "hoped would be able to compete with Celtic and play European football again." King said, "I'm hoping now we've got the change, and now the fans have a board that I at least believe they can trust in terms of we are taking nothing out of the company. We're only putting money into the company and they know we are all working in the same direction, so it really is absolutely vital that the fans come back and start supporting the club in the way that we know that they want to do and that they have done historically." Accounts revealed that, while Rangers Retail turnover quadrupled from £1.2M in the year to April '13 to £4.8M in the year to April '14, profits only doubled from £434,312 to £877,662. It is "understood most of that money has gone to Sports Direct as Rangers Retail is buying Rangers merchandise, including replica kits, gifts, polo shirts and track suits from the Ashley-controlled firm" (EVENING TIMES, 5/21). 

NO WORRIES HERE: The Scotland DAILY RECORD reported at a "packed" press conference at Ibrox on Thursday, King again "spoke about blueprint for the club and revealed he is willing to sit down and deal" with Ashley. He will not, however, be "cowed by the controversial Sports Direct chief." When asked to "rate the threat posed by Ashley," he replied, "On a scale of one to 100, [Ashley] doesn't get up to one in terms of a threat." King, alongside interim Chair Paul Murray, also "explained that the club has received a further fresh injection of cash from the Three Bears" in the shape of a £1.5M loan for working capital (DAILY RECORD, 5/21). 

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