Keith Jackson

CONFRONTED at last by the hard reality of the financial situation at Rangers, suddenly there came a softening of the rhetoric.

Dave King had waited a long time for this moment.

For what must have seemed like an eternity, he’s been chiseling away from the outside of this club, determined to tunnel a way into the boardroom and to liberate it from an ugly culture of greed and self-interest.

And now here he was in the nerve centre of the old place, pulling up a chair inside the Blue Room. Just 24 hours from his official confirmation as the next Rangers chairman.

As victories go this one must register as the sweetest King has experienced in all his years as a Rangers supporter.

And yet, now this club is his to run, there was also a sense of realisation yesterday this job might be far more complex – not to mention far more costly – than he’d previously bargained for.

His first cheque has already been signed. A sum of £1.5m has been advanced from South Africa this week and is about to drop into the club’s account.

But beyond that? King was giving little away.

It wasn’t necessarily that he was being slippery. But he was a hard man to pin down yesterday nonetheless.

Repeatedly he was asked to put an exact figure on how many of his millions have been set aside for the long-term rebuild. And every time he found it impossible to answer.

The closest he got was to confirm his belief a figure of at least £30m will be required to fund this work in its entirety and he stated too that, over the first phase at least, he expects to have to stump up HALF of all the new money raised.

At one point King referred to his previous £20m investment – that enormous wad of cash that turned to dust under Craig Whyte’s watch – while insisting he may be prepared to lose even more of his money this time around without such extravagance “threatening” the future comfort of his own family.

For the most part though King was toning down the

SPORTS NEWS WRITER OF THE YEAR hubris which might well be no could. In that respect, saving bad thing for a club that has Rangers doesn’t come with a paid the ultimate price for price tag. King will have to pay decades of over-reaching. for it as he goes.

In fact, there were moments As he sat flanked by longwhen he sounded like a very term ally Paul Murray, King different man to the one who talked about the need for has spent so long on the “financial flexibility” while outside, stamping up and insisting he will continue to down for change while keep cash flowing into the club. throwing huge numbers Most of all though King around as if his fortune was seemed content yesterday to burning a hole in his pocket. be taking on the responsibility

Now he’s grabbed the keys a of the chairmanship and more frugal approach may be cheque-signer-in-chief after deployed. After all, King all this time. admits he is doing all of this He said: “It’s something I’ve out of a sense of duty as well certainly thought about for a as a realisation that, if he did couple of years now because not, then perhaps no one else that was the ultimate game plan, if we could get control and get like-minded investors to put funds in.

“My view was always, for the level of funds I thought the club requires – which is fairly substantial – I certainly wasn’t willing to do that.

“I was willing to support the club as I did for the change of control by putting some money in. But I wouldn’t have put a substantial amount of funds in to the club unless I was actively involved as chairman. I’ve always made that position clear.”

Well, actually, that’s not quite the case. In fact, eyebrows were raised on Tuesday when King confirmed the scale of his investment depended upon him being allowed to take a seat at the top of the boardroom table. He had kept that one to himself.

In fact, on a previous highprofile sortie to Glasgow in February King was adamant the outcome of his fit and proper test “wouldn’t change anything” with regards to his investment plans.

When invited to clarify this curious contradiction yesterday, King again proved to be quick on his feet.

He said: “I can’t actually remember that question but certainly I remember very clearly, when we had the major press conference just after the gm, that I made it very clear my level of investment would depend on my involvement with the club. But I also stated