DAVE KING has rejected a £25million bid for his major shareholding in Rangers.
And the former chairman has accused the Ibrox board of squandering their advantage over Celtic and undervaluing the club on the back of their recent successes.
King pulled out of his agreement with Club 1872, which would have seen the supporter organisation become the largest individual shareholders in RIFC plc, earlier this year as he labelled the proposal as 'futile' following a slow take up to the multi-million pound plan.
Just weeks later, American businesswoman Kyle Fox confirmed that she had withdrawn her interest in investing at Ibrox after being met with resistance from a number of key shareholders.
King confirmed that the bid for his 14.22 per cent stake in Rangers had not been made by Fox as he rejected the chance to cash in and end his financial interest in the club.
And he has been left bemused at the recent issuing of shares - 4.2million of which were allotted in February and a further 7.7million earlier this month - that he believes has undervalued Rangers.
King was a vocal critic of former chairman Douglas Park before he stepped down from the board last week and has urged successor John Bennett to adopt a fresh approach to put the interests of supporters first.
King said: “Since 55, the board has squandered the advantage that we worked so hard to achieve – the current 12-point gap between Rangers and Celtic clearly suggests this - and has completely lost sight of the biggest stakeholder group in the club.
“It is the supporters, not the directors, who should be prioritised. Hopefully, the removal of Douglas will allow the board to put supporters first once again. By doing so the board commit to ensuring there will be no repeat of this season.
"Like most supporters and many shareholders, I am demoralised by the continuation of the Douglas Park led board - he was chairman at the time - to look after their personal interests ahead of the club. No sooner had the board rejected a fully-funded offer of new shares at 40p than they issued substantial shares to themselves at 25p.
“This is after previously stating that shares would no longer be issued at the low price of 25p. 25p is the price that prevailed before 55, before the Europa League final, and before the re-emergence to Champions League football. It massively undervalues our club and our recent achievements.
“I recently turned down an unconditional cash offer of 40p from a group other than Kyle Fox’s - so 40p is presently a fair price.
“25p undervalues the price of the shares by almost 40% and I wonder how the board would react if supporters asked for a 40% discount on next seasons ticket prices as an equivalent?"
Rangers were approached for comment on Tuesday evening.
