John Gilligan tells Dave King to shut up and behave like 'a proper shareholder' as Rangers row escalates

John Gilligan has told Dave King to “behave like a proper shareholder” after shooting down his claims Rangers are in crisis.

Speaking publicly for the first time since stepping in as interim chairman following the resignation of John Bennett, the 72-year-old wrote off his former Ibrox comrade’s chances to return as top dog as “unrealistic”. And Gilligan assured the Gers faithful that fresh investment would be incoming under the current regime after King claimed last week that it would take £50m to meet short and medium term objectives.

King - who still holds a 14 per cent stake in Rangers - last week claimed Rangers were “in crisis” and said influential board members wouldn’t want him back because they know he “wouldn’t tolerate board members who are only in it for the ‘jacket and tie’ and don’t actually want to do any real work”. He has offered to take on chairmanship of the club for two years and last week called for an EGM to allow fans to decide who they want to take the club forward.

But Gilligan, who served as a director between 2015 and 2017 after helping King oust Mike Ashley, insists there’s little chance of that happening, pointing to the fact the South African-based businessman “stepped away” at the height of the covid pandemic leaving others to step up to the plate.

Asked this afternoon if he King was out of order with his crisis comment, Gilligan said: “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.” I'm trying to think, has any other director or any person said anything