King stepped down as Gers chairman in 2020 but has detailed his role in helping bring the 49ers to the table
Dave King has confirmed his crucial role in the San Francisco 49ers ongoing bid to takeover Rangers, with the former club chairman hoping that the mega deal will be his ”lasting legacy’ at Ibrox.
The South African businessman stepped down as Rangers chairman in May 2020 after five years in the role, but still owns a 12.6 per cent share in the club through his New Oasis Asset Company. As we reported on Thursday, King is now willing to sell up those shares as part of the 49ers Enterprises consortium led by Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe to take over the running of the club.
King has previously revealed that he had offered to return to his role as chairman at Rangers in order to help oversee a restructure of the club but was knocked back, with John Gilligan currently in office until a permanent appointment is found. But the 69-year-old has now gone into detail about his active role in bringing the 49ers to the table.
Speaking to Sun Sport, he said: “At this time, no deal has been concluded with any investor. In order to avoid the continuation of unnecessary speculation that might transpire to be harmful to the club, I introduce the following general facts.
“I am on record as stating that I offered to return as chairman for a limited two-year period to restore the proper operational structures at the club and to find a new and substantial anchor investor that could take the club forward with stability rather than the present ‘cap in hand’ approach to funding. The board rejected my offer of assistance, as it was entitled to do.
“I also stated that I believe that the present investors have ‘investment fatigue’ and that any new investor should be of unquestionable wealth to not only inject much-needed funds into the club immediately, but also have funds in reserve to support the rebuilding programme that will be required both on and off the pitch.
Given that the club had made it clear that I had no further role to play, I thought it would be a fitting legacy if I sought out potential investors that met my criteria and who could buy out some of the existing shareholders, such as me, who no longer have a role to play and then inject new funds to become a new anchor shareholder.
“Such an investor would also need to be acceptable to supporters and to have the appropriate skillset to take our unique club forward. It was extremely unlikely to find such an investor in Scotland, which is why I was pulled into regime all those years ago.
“After kissing many frogs, I finally identified two possibilities – one of which was introduced by an ex-colleague. Both met my criteria and I engaged with them accordingly.
