Dave King looking for return to Rangers with club ‘in crisis’

GLASGOW: Dave King is looking to return to Rangers after claiming the club is “in crisis.”The Govan club is reeling following John Bennett’s decision on Saturday to leave his post as chairman due to health reasons after taking over from Douglas Park last year.

Former director John Gilligan has been named as interim chairman as the Ibrox outfit look to fill the post while also searching for a CEO, a sporting director and an academy director, while Philippe Clement’s side are already five points behind dominant Celtic in the William Hill Premiership title race.

South Africa-based Glaswegian businessman King, the largest shareholder in RIFC plc with a 14 per cent stake, was previously Gers chairman between 2015 and 2020.He told TalkSport that Rangers “lacks leadership in all areas of the club” with “a very significant gap on and off the pitch between us and Celtic” and with the club having “actually wasted the money that we did have.”

King said: “I just hope John is well because I don’t know how tough it is being chairman at Rangers at any time.“But having seen John stepping down, under normal circumstances I would expect someone from the board to step up.

“And when I heard that the board have decided to go outside and get a head hunter and try and get a chairman, a CEO – the job at Rangers is very, very different from chairing a public company.

“Right now the club is in crisis, the extent of it I don’t know, only those inside do know.“But certainly the operational issues within Rangers are a challenge.“A lot of the policy, procedures and processes have been in place at the time that I stepped down have been hollowed out during Douglas’ reign.

“And I thought if no one is going to step up and we’re going to have to go to some external city-type appointment – I’m absolutely certain will not take the club forwards – but as the leading shareholder, perhaps I can step up for a period of time.“So I’ve made an announcement. I’m available to do that. I think something has to happen fairly quickly. The club lacks leadership in all aspects of the club.”