Dave King has broken his silence on the San Francisco 49ers takeover of Rangers as the club prepares to change hands.
The South African based business remains Rangers’ largest individual shareholder with a near 13% slice of the famous Glasgow club.
Dave King led the consortium which ousted Mike Ashley and the Easdale brothers in 2015 and played a crucial role in bringing Steven Gerrard to the club and securing 55.
Stepping down as chairman in early 2020, King has been outspoken in recent months about how Rangers have been run over the last few years.
Speaking about the proposed Rangers takeover from the investment group behind NFL giants San Francisco 49ers, King has warned fans not everything is as it appears.
Dave King aims to leave Rangers ‘legacy’
In a letter published by the Rangers Review, Dave King appears to suggest that talks are underway for a change of ownership ten years on from when he secured the club.
King has revealed that despite being knocked back from returning as chairman, he played a key role in bringing together the existing shareholding and negotiating with would be buyers.
Earlier reports had suggested King was ready to sell his Rangers shares and the former Ibrox chairman appeared to confirm this in the statement.
In fact, King believes that transferring ownership to the right people will be his Ibrox ‘legacy’ with the businessman central to the negotiations up until this point.
“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,” King explained.
“Such an investor would also need to be acceptable to supporters and to have the appropriate skills set to take our unique club forward. It was extremely unlikely to find such an investor in Scotland (which is why I was pulled into the 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.”
Dave King: Rangers takeover coverage ‘incorrect’
With Dave King confirming the negotiations to transfer ownership at Rangers, the question then becomes ‘to who?’.
Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe has been repeatedly named as a key player in the Rangers negotiations given the 49ers Enterprises’ takeover at Elland Road last year.
But Dave King has warned that much of the coverage surrounding the takeover is actually wide of the mark, with the ex-Rangers chairman branding the chatter ‘speculative’.
King has also explained the process of Rangers getting to this point with two unnamed investment options on the table.
In doing so, Dave King has warned fans that whilst negotiations have progressed in a ‘constructive manner’ any deal is yet to be ‘finalised’.
“The initial engagement required discussions with the principals to understand why they wanted to invest, confirming proof of funds from their bankers for the level of investment I think is needed over the next few years, and establishing what a potential deal might look like,” explains King.
”After the initial high-level discussions, I had an initial preferred investor so I put the other one on hold by agreement.
“I then, over a period of time, engaged with individual shareholders and directors to try to get broad consensus on a deal that might be done and that I felt I could support personally and that I thought supporters would support.
“That point was reached and more formal discussions ensued between the potential investor and the board as a collective. Discussions have proceeded in a constructive manner but a deal has not yet been finalised and the parties remain bound by confidentiality.
“Much of what has been written in the press is speculative and incorrect. At this time no deal has been concluded with any investor.”
