NO HIDING PLACE

THE FIT and proper storm has not blown itself out just yet but at least, from Dave King’s point of view, it is very much behind him. Very soon it will have disappeared completely from his horizon.

However, when the dust does settle King will be left out in the open and for the first time since he positioned himself in the eye of the Rangers debacle there will be no place for him to hide.

Today, in fact, King is expected to hold his first media conference since having his ascent to the office of chairman cleared by the SFA.

Since that moment the general noise level around King has been deafening but hopefully a hush is about to descend because now the real examination of this man can begin and his every word must be heard loud and clear.

Until now King has cloaked himself in mystery. On occasion – and only when it has suited him to do so – he has broken cover with a machine gun rattle of sound bites and some military precision PR.

He took aim, he fired and then he made his way back to the sanctuary of South Africa.

Understandably, he retreated into the shadows while the SFA went about its work. King promised not to operate as a shadow director and it appears he has been as good as his word.

But now it is time for this man to start delivering on his promises.

Already, King appears to be giving out curiously mixed messages. On arrival in Glasgow on Tuesday he made a great deal of declaring his cash investment in Rangers was entirely dependent on the outcome of the fit and proper probe.

King even insisted he had made all of this perfectly clear on previous visits and his indignation suggested anyone who thought otherwise had not been paying proper attention. But hold on a minute there Dave, you most certainly did not.

In fact, this is what he said in February when, after talking of a £16million cash investment, he was asked if a fit and proper block would alter his plans.

King said then: “It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change my shareholding, it wouldn’t change my passion for the club. I’d still be a fan. I’d just put on an alternate director.

“If I go to the SFA and they say, ‘Look Dave, we’re very uncomfortable. You stayed on the board while Craig Whyte was there, we have difficulties with that’. If I couldn’t contest that I’d say, ‘Fine, I’d go off the board and appoint someone else’. The game is bigger than me being on the board.”

And yet, on Tuesday, King said: “My ongoing investment depended on me getting through the fit and proper test so now it has been cleared I’m in a position to proceed.”

King and his supporters will argue none of this really matters. He’s here to get on with the job.

Maybe so. But that doesn’t come close to explaining this peculiar contradiction or, for that matter, where the current Rangers regime might have been left had King been blocked.

King bristles every time the phrase “glib and shameless liar” is trotted out and with good reason. He finds it grossly unfair these words have been framed for posterity from 11 years of courtroom litigation and he has a point. But that is precisely why he must choose his words carefully and why a small section of Rangers fans might yet view him with a smidgen of suspicion. It’s not that his love for their club is in question nor his good intentions.

King too is a lifelong fan so they can be certain this is not a fleeting bout of Rangersitis – the condition which left pound signs flashing in the eyes of previous fly-by-nights. He is clearly not another Green or Whyte.

But it’s too simple to say he deserves blind faith just because of his bluenose. It’s the colour of his money which will count most of all because King has made some big promises about how much he will plough in.

Last year in a Q&A with this paper King talked about blowing north of £ 30m of his kids’ inheritance on Rangers as if he had dropped more down the back of the sofa. By February the figure he mentioned was £16m – not all of which was necessarily coming out of his back pocket. So again the question must be asked: Just how much is he really willing to lose on this love affair?

In fact, having recently signed a £40m cheque to the South African tax man, what is left in his kitty?

King must now give a few straight answers. How much does he estimates this rebuild will cost? And how much of the tab is he willing to cover.

Also, King may wish to explain why he’s not already parted with £5m to clear Mike Ashley out of Ibrox and reclaim the club’s brick and mortar assets along with its badges and crests.

It could be that there is a strategy in play here and perhaps the ongoing probes into Ashley’s business with previous Rangers owners might be at the heart of it.

It could make more sense to wait until the police investigations into all manner of murky contracts have been concluded before any more money swaps hands and if that is the reason for stalling on Ashley’s repayment then King should say so.

Or if there is some other game afoot then, again, King should let the fans in on it because many thousands of them wish for Ashley to be sent packing immediately.

Over the days and weeks ahead, King will have other issues with which to grapple not least the appointment of a full-time manager and the facelift of a first-team squad.

There are other questions too such as when the club will be listed on the ISDX market? And who will be selected for roles on his executive team?

It would be unreasonable to expect him to have all the answers today. But, even so, the time has come for King to start delivering on the detail.

A question has to be asked – just how much is he really willing to lose on this love affair?