King reckons day Gers beat Celtic in Cup semi at Hampden was highlight of reign
MICHAEL GANNON
DAVE KING choked back the tears as the Armadillo held its breath. The huge sigh when he finally made his big reveal that it was time to stand down might have been one of relief.
It’s been a heck of a five years for the Rangers chairman having walked into Ibrox and discovered the place was in ruins to walking away with the club’s reputation restored at home and in Europe.
But it’s certainly not been fun. Or cheap. King has sunk up to £40million into Rangers during his two incarnations on the board and he freely admits it has been hard going trying to rebuild the club while maintaining his business and family life in South Africa.
He said: “I think I enjoyed about seven minutes of it – the day we beat Celtic in the semifinal at Hampden [in 2016].
“Those seven minutes didn’t last long as I had a meeting straight afterwards which took me back to reality. So I think about seven minutes. Out of five years that’s not bad …”
King might think differently in a few months when he’s free of it all and clutching a glass of wine in the Jo’burg sunshine, tuning in to Rangers TV.
He feels the time is right to go, even if it is with a heavy heart. He’s got plenty on his plate back home and he’s convinced he’s leaving with the Ibrox club in solid shape for the years to come. The way he sees it, the job has been done, the mess has been cleared up.
But King admitted: “It was very emotional for me. Other people will judge my legacy and I guess the job isn’t finished yet.
“The mere fact I can consider stepping down shows to you that the club is in its healthiest financial position for 20-odd years. I’m not just talking about since regime change happened, I am looking at when I first sat on the board.
“We owed the banks £35m back then. So once we’ve squared away what I call the legacy debt we will no longer need to run the club on an ad hoc basis.
“I was micromanaging the business and we are now in a position, largely because of the progress we have made over the last five years, where I feel it’s the time for me to move on.
“Of course I will have some regrets about standing down as chairman because this club has been a big part of me for the last five years. I wouldn’t be standing down if I didn’t think the crisis was behind us.”
A share issue in the New Year is expected to find the funds for the £10m required this m.gannon@dailyrecord.co.uk
season and allow the club to get back to breaking even in the years to come. King is adamant the days of relying on handouts from him and the Three Bears of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor are coming to an end.
King said: “The club was in a far worse position than I had envisaged when regime change initially came about. I thought the situation would be dire because of what insiders were telling me. They were trying to give me an insight into how Barry Leach and Derek Llambias were cutting corners.
“I still felt there would be infrastructure in place. However, it had been institutionally demoralised. They weren’t doing any maintenance, even the health and safety stuff was being ignored. The level of degradation throughout the club was astonishing.”
Not any more. King knows he has his critics. Running up
huge losses caused concerns but he has always insisted that was always going to be the case initially, the financial defibrillators needed to shock the club back to life.
The chairman has lobbed in more than £15m of his own cash since his return but he doesn’t grudge a penny.
He saw saving Rangers as a duty and a privilege, a job to be endured rather than enjoyed.
The only regret was chucking money the first time around when the club were already heading down a dark path.
King said: “If you’re asking me I probably regret the £20m because I was too passive and allowed David Murray to spend my money. This situation? No. because I’ve been in control of the spending where I’ve thought it’s to the advantage of the club.
“No one was imposing that on me. It was my choice. So I’m really comfortable with the money I’ve put in now.”
King is convinced Rangers are back in business in all respects. He said: “We have now got a manager at Rangers that is fitting of the image and reputation. That has helped me a lot with the corporate and sponsorship side of things.
“People want to be associated with Rangers, five years ago they didn’t want to be associated with this club. There is a big difference now.”
King departing in March wasn’t how this story was meant to end though. There’s a Premiership title up for grabs and he’ll be leaving just when it could get really interesting.
Winning the league would be the Hollywood ending but the response perhaps sums up King’s spell on the Ibrox throne.
He said: “No. I have a situation back home where I’ve told my MDs in South Africa. There are things I have to do back there that I’ll do from January. I’ve told the MDs when they come back from the summer vacations I’ll be back in their faces.
“There’s a good new structure in place. I’ll be as happy if they win the league whether I’m on the board or not.
“I want Liverpool to win the league. I’ve been waiting 30 years for that. I don’t have to be on the Liverpool board to enjoy that. I’m looking for the double this year.”