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John Gilligan responds to 'unfair' Rangers Dave King claims and urges ex-chairman to stop talking

John Gilligan responded to ex Rangers chairman Dave King
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


John Gilligan has branded Dave King's Rangers claims 'unfair' and urged the former chairman to stop airing the club's dirty laundry in public.

Gilligan has just taken over as interim chairman after the departure of John Bennett for health reasons and has met the media for the first time today. Inevitably, he was quizzed on King's recent comments after the shareholder slaughtered the board's decision making and demanded an EGM.

The South African businessman, 61, also claimed he was the man for the chairmanship and insisted he could steady the club for a couple of years before allowing a more long-term candidate to take over. Gilligan is in that role for now and says he is willing to do it for as long as it takes.

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Asked about King's self-endorsement for the job, he said: "Dave is a major shareholder and he can say whatever he wishes to say. My view is it’s a bit unrealistic. Dave is a real businessman, he knows how shareholdings work. He is a 15 per cent shareholder, the other directors are 10, 12, 13 per cent shareholders. It is unrealistic.

"If you look at what's been said and what the guys have been saying, there's a shareholder structure to the business, there's a projection plan. Dave was chairman, Dave's still a major investor and can attend the AGM and ask questions, but there's just no appetite for it at the moment because, one, Dave was here before and he stepped away. Other people stepped up - Douglas [Park] stepped up, then stepped down and John [Bennett] stepped down. There's just no appetite."

And on the EGM call, he added: "Again, it is a bit unrealistic because EGMs are invariably called by people who wish to change something. But the current board don’t wish to change. So why would we call an EGM?"

Rangers are miles behind Celtic both on and off the pitch and the wealthy champions look set to defender their title and possibly even win a Treble. Gers have underachieved for some time and King painted them as a club in crisis.

But Gilligan feels that is an exaggeration and insists the comments have been unfair.

He explained: "I think he has got it wrong. I think it is unfair. What exactly is he saying is not good? What exactly is he saying is going wrong? Give us a plan and tell me. If Dave had some terrific plan to tell me where we are all going wrong then we would read that plan and we would consider it.

"It’s only destabilising if the people who are the main shareholders and operating the business don’t have a plan and don’t have people in place to execute it. We have had difficulties recently with the stadium and things but destabilising, no not particularly. Dave is entitled to say what he wants. It’s a free world. But I don’t feel it’s destabilised at all no."

Asked if he would like King to "shut up" now, Gilligan wasn't quite as blunt but said: "I'm trying to think, has any other director or any person said anything about Dave? No. Have they responded publicly? No. Will I ever say anything bad about Dave? No. So in answer to your question, do I wish he would stop? Yes. I just say to Dave, 'please take it below the radar, behave like a proper shareholder. Don't do what you are doing'. It's just a shame because he is a great character and he had a massive influence on the club at the time. I'll always respect that."