Dave King: Rangers will run at loss until they're back at the top

Dave King has vowed that Rangers will run at a loss for as long as it takes to return the club to the throne of Scottish football.

The Ibrox club has been reliant on interest-free loans from King, directors and other businessmen to the extent that losses last year amounted to over £14 million.

A huge financial hit had to be taken to enable new manager Steven Gerrard to rebuild the squad after Pedro Caixinha’s disastrous recruitment, exacerbated by a costly and embarrassing European defeat by Luxembourg part-timers Progres Niederkorn.

All of the loans will be turned into equity rather than being repaid, which will increase the share-holding of these individuals and dilute the influence of others but ultimately improve the balance sheet. And Ibrox chairman King insists the club will continue to incur losses as they seek to bring back sustained success and end Celtic’s dominance.

Rngers chairman Dave King at the club's AGM. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

Speaking at yesterday’s annual general meeting King said: “Our business model requires us to get back to our historical success levels as it is the only sure way to create sustainable value for all shareholders.

“Success on the pitch meets the needs of the supporter shareholders while simultaneously improving the overall value of the club to the benefit of the passive shareholders.

“But we cannot restore former glories without spending more than we earn for an appropriate period of time. As we all know, we could not be running a loss-making business without funds to subsidise the losses.

“The funds required have been provided by myself and other key shareholders who have continued without hesitation to provide more interest free loans than we had originally thought necessary.

“We are extremely fortunate that we have individuals willing to do this.

“I would say another two years before we can be self-sufficient and to the extent we are not relying on interest-free funds from shareholders.”

King and the board coasted through the calmest Rangers AGM in years, comfortably dealing with relatively few probing questions. King added: “It has been the most benign we have had for a number of years but that is a result of the way things have been going on and off the park.”

He praised Steven Gerrard for his recruitment – other than Umar Sadiq – and indicated that more players will arrive in January.

King added: “I think we have brought in 15 players and only one hasn’t worked out so that’s a very good return. I would be surprised if we didn’t bring in some new players in January but it has been stressed that we will only bring in players that will improve the squad.”