Rangers Football Club, the heavyweights of Scottish football, returned to the Premiership last year leaving a dark time of troublesome years behind. Yet, there were some intramural dissension regarding the club’s ownership and shares – particularly against English billionaire business tycoon Mike Ashley, who according to the Gers’ fans was using the club as an outlet to enrich Sports Direct- UK’s largest sports goods retailer owned by him.
Thus, the news of Ashley selling his stake in the Scottish club and drawing an end to his three-year-involvement must excite the fans who were longing of his egress.
Mike Ashley, the decade-long owner of Premier League outfit Newcastle United who also had his association with the Gers since 2012, brought 8.92% of club’s stake during a period of confusion and vulnerability within Rangers.
He appealed to increase his shareholding to 29.9% in order to become the most influential figure among Rangers’ boardroom staffs, but the Scottish Football Association rejected his plea due to his major ownership with Newcastle United what might have created a conflict of interests in a broader scene.
Ashley’s plan of securing a £10 million loan using the club’s stadium Ibrox as security generated fans’ protest, dissent and as a result, outrage due to his intentions of feeding Sports Direct using Rangers’ reputation who were still battling a revival.
Series of undesired events instantiated a cold war between Ashley and club’s chairman Dave King as the later eventually managed to dry up Ashley’s power and presence within the club which will now expire soon when his Rangers merchandise agreement, renegotiated midweek, will run out next summer.
Read the entire thread. It is absolutely worth your time, we promise you that. #RangersFC #NUFC https://t.co/sKTxrHpVxu
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The fans boycotted the stores due to Sports Direct’s hefty profit who received 93p on every £1 spent on Rangers merchandise. But by 2018, Rangers will be rid of Ashley that shows signs of club’s upright and the ascent towards the top once more.
On Friday afternoon, 48 hours after his merchandise agreement, Ashley announced the sale of his 8.92 per cent stake in Rangers for £2 million.
Half of his stake was acquired by Julian Wolhardt, chief executive officer of Dehong Capital Partners (DCP) – a private equity firm based in Hong Kong and the rest were obtained by Club 1872, a supporters group formed in May 2016 by the merger of two of the club’s largest fan bodies namely, the Rangers Supporters’ Trust and Rangers First.
Daily Record, the Scottish outlet, that was barred from the club’s premises by Ashley’s long-term associate Derek Llambias upon uncovering the detail via all over their back page and revealing to Rangers supporters about Ashley’s intentions to favour Sports Direct gigantically using club’s popularity and reputation, has now claimed a vital victory of club’s chairman Dave King who, despite being criticised over the ambiguity and absurdity regarding his controversial statements and promises, has now netted the most crucial, probably the game-changing goal to turn things around at Rangers FC who finally seem to be out of the storm and set to roar once more in order to reconquer the lost throne.
