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Mike Ashley Issues Statement Outlining Why Rangers Should Repay $7.7M Loan

Sports Direct Owner Mike Ashley outlined the reasons why he believes that the £5M ($7.7M) loan he made to Scottish Championship side Rangers "should be paid back straight away," according to the Scotland DAILY RECORD. The EPL side Newcastle owner -- who owns a 9% shareholding in Rangers, insisted that the loan he made was only designed as a "short term loan facility" and that the new Ibrox board should pay it in full immediately. The club is in "no rush to pay back the loan" while it studies the legal position. Chair Dave King said, "The Ashley loan situation is something we’re looking at but it’s part of a bigger and broader relationship" (DAILY RECORD, 6/10). In Edinburgh, Andy Newport wrote Ashley warned his South Africa-based rival that his company "is not a bank." His statement, issued through Sports Direct’s holding company MASH Holdings, said, "Sports Direct notes from the recent voting advice statement issued by the new board on 3 June 2015 that the new board are saying that there has been 'a continued and dramatic reduction in income generated by retail operations.' Sports Direct is of the opinion that there is no basis for this statement whatsoever, and invites the new board (subject to complying with confidentiality obligations) to explain in detail the facts behind this statement" (SCOTSMAN, 6/10).

SUPPORTERS HIT BACK: In a separate piece, the DAILY RECORD reported the Rangers Supporters Trust "hit back at a statement" released by Ashley and blamed the men he put in place at Ibrox of "running the club into the ground." The fans group, which holds a 2.12% stake in the club, also announced that "it will fully support the Ibrox board in voting on the two resolutions at Friday's EGM -- which was requisitioned by Ashley, and called for a boycott" on all of his brands. The statement included, "If MASH was concerned about the AIM listing then they should have chosen their boardroom placemen more carefully and ensured they ran the company with proper levels of corporate governance and not simply for the benefit of Mr Ashley. In short, Mr Ashley may well know how to make money for himself at any cost but as can be seen at both Rangers and Newcastle he doesn’t have a clue how to run a football club properly" (DAILY RECORD, 6/10).

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