Dave King praises '˜proud and dignified' Rangers support

Dave King insists no other fanbase would have been able to remain 'so proud and dignified' if faced with the same 'traumas' which have befallen the Rangers support.

Dave King insists his work will not be complete until Rangers are back on top. Picture: John Devlin

Keep up to date with all our sport news on The Scotsman’s Sport page on Facebook

The club chairman praised the Ibrox faithful as he launched the club’s season-ticket renewal drive for the 2017/18 campaign.

Rangers shifted 43,000 season-tickets on the back of their promotion push and say they may have to introduce a waiting list this summer.

This is despite the likelihood that expectation levels which greeted their return to the top-flight last summer - partly inflated by the club’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final triumph over Celtic - will not be matched this time round, with Celtic having established themselves as Scotland’s sole super power under Brendan Rodgers.

But King has also sought to appease supporters worried about what next season has in store by promising progress will be made.

“Much of the work undertaken off the pitch is unseen and the maintenance of Ibrox and Auchenhowie is a never ending and costly process,” explained King, who remains locked in a bitter dispute with shareholder Mike Ashley.

“But it is a price we must continuously pay in order to boast two such fantastic facilities and advance the excellent youth development process that we have put in place.

“Much has been achieved in the past year and the club structures are significantly better than a year ago.

“Our academy structures and young players are more promising than at any time since my first association with the Club almost 20 years ago. Auchenhowie is finally looking ‘fit for purpose’ and is showing a vibrancy hitherto unseen.

“No other club anywhere can match Rangers’ history and successes. No other supporters could have endured the traumas that befell Rangers in recent years and remained so proud and dignified.

“It is gratifying to finally be able to deal with the normal vagaries of football such as team performance and management restructures as business in the normal course rather than as a new crisis - which had been the case over the last few years. I look forward to the coming season with great optimism.”