Steven Gerrard did not want to leave Rangers when he did, insists Dave King.
The club's majority shareholder has astonishingly claimed that the former manager wanted to stay at Ibrox when Aston Villa came calling in November 2021.
As he aims to return to Ibrox as chairman following the departure of John Bennett, King insist that Gerrard was 'absolutely kicked out' by the hierarchy of the Scottish Premiership side.
“It's just extraordinary that we got to this position from 55,” King said in an interview with the Rangers Review. “It really is extraordinary. I'll go to the point that it’s disturbing.
“As a supporter, it's disturbing and as a large shareholder it's disturbing because I felt that after 55, we're on the right trajectory. We were doing well and the value of the club was going up.
“Of course, the value of the club going up helps you attract investment. Now, I think the value has gone down quite dramatically and it has to be restored. It's not been lost, but it has to be restored and it has to be marketed positively.
“There's not a single person in the club I can think of who I would get any inspiration from, who I thought could lead this club out of its existing predicament. Make no mistake, it is a predicament.”
“I think from Steven’s point of view, and I can't talk for him but I do talk to him, including very recently,” King added. “Let's be absolutely clear, Steven was not ready to go when he went.
“Steven wanted to defend the title and I'd extended his contract at his request because my arrangement with Steven was always, ‘I'm never going to put you in a situation where you turn me down because that would be awkward.’
“I don't want you ever to come to me and I turn you down. What I'm telling you is, at the moment I see your future being in the club and if you feel you want to extend it, you approach me any time and we'll sort it out’.
“We had our understanding that we'd respect each other and he came to me and said, ‘look, I'd like to extend’, we did at his request. He was happy at the club and his ambition was to defend the title and then commence us on a run. Thereafter he felt he could then pass over and go on.
“In the process of defending the title, having a nice European run and then he could then move on to the balance of his career, having used Rangers as a basis to gain some very valuable first-hand experience.
“Steven said ‘I knew everything about Glasgow’. When I interviewed him, all I said was Steven trust me until you've been there. I've heard so many guys say I know, but until they actually get there you don't know until you know. He still says, even Anfield just can't compare to Ibrox on a European night.
“Steven was absolutely was kicked out. I have no doubts about that. Steven did not want to leave at that point in time. He would have left, but not at that point in time. It wasn't what he wanted to do.
“It's absolutely true that we went backwards because it wasn't just Steve, it was support staff and it was the very structures that Steven had put in place that supported the overall football department. It was the ethos, the standards, everything about the club. Then we started to go down from there.”
