Rangers will always be Dave King's first love. But the former Ibrox chairman’s soft spot for Liverpool means he’ll be a winner tomorrow night no matter what the outcome.
The Johannesburg-based former Ibrox chairman hopes to be at Anfield on Tuesday evening to see the club he helped rebuild lay the foundations of an unlikely Champions League revival against Jurgen Klopp’s glittering Premier League outfit. But given the Reds have long been his bit on the side, split loyalties mean King can’t lose.
That's not a statement Rangers can make with any confidence given they’ll be up against a club who have conquered Europe six times and have a salary budget three times the size of the Ibrox wage bill. But if King is to see his beloved Light Blues beaten, then let it be to the other side he grew up supporting. The ex-Gers supremo - a regular in the Anfield posh seats thanks to his friendship with Kop hero Kenny Dalglish- said: “It is my intention to attend both games.
“I have already organised tickets through the club, they have been very kind to give me tickets for the Ibrox game and I’m obviously working on the Anfield game too. It will be an incredible occasion because I am not aware, certainly in my lifetime, of the two clubs meeting in a competitive match.
“So for me this is a dream match. Rangers are my No.1 team, but Liverpool are No.2.
“There’s only one team I’d even be remotely comfortable with beating Rangers in the Champions League and that would be Liverpool. I’m hoping we can give them a really good game, making it as competitive as possible.
“I think the atmosphere on both nights will be something truly special. I’ve been to Anfield on some very memorable nights, but I’ll tell you what, Ibrox is still better.
“I don’t think there’s a better stadium out there on a European night than Ibrox. I love Anfield, I love the history, I love everything about it. But Ibrox is still better.”
King put his ties with Dalglish to good use back in 2018 as he called on the Celtic legend to help him recruit Steven Gerrard as Ibrox boss. The appointment of the former Liverpool captain set Rangers on the road to recovery, a journey that has now returned the club to Europe’s premier competition under the charge of Gio van Bronckhorst.
However, it’s been a testing transition to the main stage for last year's Europa League runners up following back-to-back hammerings from Group A does Ajax and Napoli. But King hopes to have a better result to chew over with King Kenny when he takes his friend out for a curry ahead of next week’s Glasgow return.
“I’ve spoken to Kenny,” said the Castlemilk-born tycoon, who stood down from the Ibrox board in March 2020. “It’s very interesting for him as well.
“As you know, Kenny was a Rangers fan growing up who went on to play for Celtic. He became a Celtic and Liverpool legend.
“But for Kenny it’s also a very important and interesting game. I’m sure he’ll have a lot of fun and hopefully we can meet in Glasgow before the second game and head off to Satty’s for a meal before or after.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him at Anfield.”
King has previously admitted there were times he feared Gers would never again grace UEFA’s top tournament given the mess he and his Ibrox allies were left to tidy up when they launched their bid to regain control of the club in 2015.
It’s been a long and difficult path back but now the club - along with Celtic - have re-established their place amongst the European elite, he worries what the vast financial rewards will mean for the rest of Scottish football and their desperate attempts to hold onto the Old Firm’s coattails.
King said: “I think it’s good for Rangers and Celtic - but I don’t know if it’s good for Scottish football.
“I saw a recent publication where Rangers were the ninth-top team in the world and that was based on our progression in Europe and the points we get through playing games and going through qualification rounds.
“And there is no real differentiation between the level you are playing at. From Celtic and Rangers’ point of view, playing in the Champions League is great financially.
“Whether on a net basis it works well for Scotland and the coeffiicent, I’m not too sure because there’s no doubt that Rangers’ performance in the Europa League was better for Scotland and for Rangers than if we’d beaten Malmo in last year’s Champions League qualifiers.
“It’s a balance. Do you want to play at a level where you’re always going to be in pot four looking up but making a lot of money. Or do you want to be competitive?
“My preference would be to play Leipzig at Ibrox (in the Europa League) and beat them than play Liverpool and lose.”
As far as King is concerned, the Europa is for enjoyment, the Champions League for cashing in.
But even banking the huge sums that come with qualifying will not be enough to put them on a level playing field with clubs from the ‘big five’ leagues who can mainline huge sums of TV cash straight into their playing squads.
What it does, though, is ensure they remain in the same ballpark as Celtic when it comes to spending power.
“The importance of the Champions League each year means that, in a two-team league, we can’t afford Celtic having the Champions League and us not having it,” argued King.
“I’m less concerned about what it means for Rangers and Celtic relative to Europe. I mean, you get clubs buying players for 70-80m euros and the players don’t even play. It’s a different scale completely.
“But domestically, we cannot afford to have Celtic getting Champions League money for the next three years and we’re not there. My concern is always the gap between us and Celtic because my priority is still about winning domestic titles.
“We had a good season last year, but it wasn’t a great season. When we started the season, we should have won the title last year. But we threw that title away.
“I’d much rather have won the league title and not got to the Europa League final. If that situation had been managed differently, we should have won that league title.
“As long as we keep winning the league titles, it protects our domestic position in Scotland. And that’s my main concern.
“For me, the big relief this year of the Champions League was making sure that we continued to narrow the gap against Celtic. That’s the most significant thing for me.”
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