Rangers: Sandy Easdale strengthens hold on club

Sandy Easdale: Now has voting rights over almost a quarter of Rangers' shares. Picture: SNS

Easdale’s appointment as a director of the football club board was confirmed last Saturday before it was revealed that he had just increased his shareholding to 4.73 percent.

The club have now made an announcement to the London Stock Exchange stating that the Greenock-based businessman had secured control over a far larger tranche of shares.

The statement explains that Easdale had acquired voting rights over more than 12.5 million ordinary shares, equivalent to 19.42 per cent of the company. He therefore has voting rights over 23.8 percent of Rangers International Football Club plc.

Easdale is not a member of the plc board, unlike his brother and business partner James, but is a director of The Rangers Football Club Ltd, the company formerly known as Sevco Scotland. The plc owns 100 per cent of the club.

It is the plc board which has been at the centre of a power struggle which is set to come to a head at Rangers’ annual general meeting, which they have vowed to hold by the end of October.

Further statements revealed that Sandy Easdale had secured voting rights from significant holdings held by Margarita Funds Holding Trust and Blue Pitch Holdings.

He last month declared himself the club’s biggest shareholder after securing a deal to buy former chief executive Charles Green’s stake.