Ashley’s guerrilla warfare could be eclipsed

FOUR years ago, South African judge Brian Southwood coined the ‘glib and shameless liar’ line that came to haunt Dave King. High Court judges and the Rangers chairman have never been natural allies. The words of Mr Justice Peter Smith yesterday might change all that. For King, they must have been music to the ears. Mike Ashley’s raft of legal actions against Rangers and their chairman were certainly about something. But it was never justice. When the billionaire Newcastle United owner attempted to have King jailed for contempt of court before Christmas, he hit his first roadblock. The second came yesterday when the reasons for that were outlined in eye-watering detail in the High Court. Ashley, said Justice Peter Smith, has been seeking to hound the Rangers chairman using ‘deplorable tactics’. ‘From start to finish it was designed to intimidate rather than seek a proper sanction for an alleged breach,’ he noted. ‘I have referred to Mr King’s evidence which is unchallenged that Mr Ashley is pursuing a vendetta against him.’ In layman’s terms, Ashley has been acting like a wealthy bully accustomed to getting his own way. He wasted time and money pursuing the Ibrox regime. Why? Simply because he could. The court awarded Rangers £70,000 in interim costs. But that will only go towards defending a fuller hearing next month when Sports Direct seeks an injunction to prevent Rangers revealing commercial details. After that, it’s the SFA’s turn to see off a judicial review of the processes followed to rule King fit and proper. The governing body might actually have some questions to answer on that score. But will Ashley do any better there? Probably not. And neither will he care. Wealthy enough to pursue guerrilla warfare against Rangers, the SFA and anyone else who crosses his path, Ashley treats this stuff like a game. The impact on his finances of wasting court time is negligible. The same can’t be said of Rangers. They lost Brentford midfielder Toumani Diagouraga to Leeds United after two bids. Fail to land St Johnstone’s Michael O’Halloran after all the talk of ‘over-investment’ and King may yet discover that, compared to an unhappy Rangers support, Mike Ashley is a pussycat.