Steven Clifford, host of influential Rangers podcast Four Lads Had A Dream, helps Sky Sports News track Rangers' progress as King steps down as chairman
Thursday 5 March 2020 23:10, UK
Five years ago today, Dave King strode out of Ibrox's Argyle House offices - hands raised in triumph - to receive the adulation of Rangers supporters having been voted onto the board, as he wrenched control of the club away from Mike Ashley.
King promised to rebuild a "broken" club with fan engagement, investment in infrastructure, a return to the Champions League and, ultimately, an end to Celtic's rule over Scottish football.
Although that has not happened yet, the Gers are back in the top-flight under Steven Gerrard, having been promoted by Mark Warburton in 2016, during a roller-coaster few years for supporters, but without any silverware.
Five years on King is poised to step down as chairman in the next few weeks, and Sky Sports is assessing his impact with the help of Steven Clifford, host of influential Rangers podcast Four Lads Had A Dream.
"There must be a degree of realism in where we were, and where we want to be," Clifford says. "I don't think there's many that will completely disagree that we are on the right track, but the process is obviously taking longer than any of us hoped or wanted it to.
"I would have hoped that, by this point, the club would be sustaining a title challenge - not necessarily winning it because Celtic are a very good side - but I would have hoped we would be in a position to challenge them and be stronger consistently for a lot longer than we are at the moment.
"King and the board will admit there have been mistakes in terms of appointments. There was definitely time that was wasted. I completely backed the strategy of bringing in Mark Warburton in 2015; I bought into his ideas and the club did too, but there have been strategy issues with regards to a director of football that I'm sure the board would admit they got wrong.
"I think the philosophy was correct under Warburton, and I think he had the right ideas, but I also think he underestimated how tough the Scottish game is. He's since spoken about it, saying his concept was that it would take several years to bridge the gap to Celtic.
"It's very easy in hindsight to criticise, but the one major failing the board made was the Pedro Caixinha/Graeme Murty era. Those years were the biggest football failing of the board. Undoubtedly, we wasted a year, and set ourselves back another year on top.
"When Steven Gerrard took over in 2018, we were getting beaten 4-0, 5-0 and drawing 5-5 with Hibernian, so that shows the position that we were in. We actually had to remove Murty from an interim position and put Jimmy Nicholl in charge for the end of that season.
"I think the board have made mistakes, but I think the legacy issues and the things they've had to deal with have been horrendous. The Caixinha and Murty appointments have been their major footballing downfall and has cost them years."
King's time as chairman has been dominated by legal wrangling with Ashley's company Sports Direct and the courts over the terms of the club's retail agreement. These disputes have cost time and money and are not yet resolved, while King was also sanctioned by the Takeover Panel for the way in which he took control of the club.
Financially, Rangers have been wholly reliant on his investors, with losses of more than £20m in the past two years alone. Meanwhile, £30m has been spent on the playing squad, alongside money put into improving the club's training ground and Ibrox Stadium itself.
The Rangers Women's team has committed to full-time professionalism, while the club's youth structure and scouting network has been resurrected. Across many areas, there has been slow but steady growth, but where it matters - in the first-team - there is still a gaping hole in silverware.
King announced in November that he would soon be stepping down and said he expected a fresh share issue to be approved, as he vowed to continue fighting the club's corner against Sports Direct. He also claimed Rangers would no longer be funded on "an ad-hoc basis", and would need to become self-sufficient.
Little more has been said since but his departure could come this month, with director Douglas Park mooted to be his replacement. King will remain Rangers' majority shareholder, but is now turning his attention towards his businesses in South Africa.
"Dave King made a very bold statement when he said that when he stepped down as chairman, he would leave the club in the best financial position it has been in 40 years," says Clifford.
"The obvious assumption is that the upcoming share issue will bring investment. Now, when it comes, the club will have to be sensible with it; if there's "X" amount in the bank, they don't just go and spend "X" amount this summer.
"It needs to be used to properly make the club grow, improve the facilities, and to improve the squad, but within reason. We need to learn the lessons of what happened before, because we can't have a share issue every year. They need to use this money wisely.
"I don't see uncertainty lying ahead, to be honest. I don't have any fears with regards to the stability or the direction the club are moving in; my fear is they might not be doing it quick enough.
"(And I don't have any fears about Dave King stepping down. He might not be chairman anymore, but he's still the major shareholder in the club, so I don't think him stepping back means things will fall apart - I don't think that's possible.
"I would like to see a more proactive hierarchy in terms of what we do from a media standpoint, but that's a common opinion among the support. We need to be more proactive in getting the commercial side of things sorted out. There's a new commercial manager, James Bisgrove, so we need to give him time and hope it works, but I don't think there's any fears about the stability of the club with King walking away. I think whether he's on the board or chairman is pretty immaterial at the moment to be honest."
This season - Gerrard's second as manager - Rangers' form has collapsed after a strong first half of the campaign. Since the winter break, they' have dropped 11 points to Celtic, including three defeats. Another season without a domestic trophy looks likely, with Gerrard seemingly unable to turn fortunes around.
Contracted until 2024, Gerrard this week pledged he was "all-in" to arrest the slide, but with Celtic's dominance looking set to continue, do supporters fear he might walk away? If so, where would this leave Rangers?
"Gerrard picked up a completely dead squad and had to turn it around, so it's not all doom and gloom, although it may feel like it at the moment because of the recent results and the way we're playing," Clifford says.
"In terms of strategy, and in terms of Steven Gerrard and the director of football, how we perform in Europe is clearly key in where we want to be. The issue we have just now is we've got a very good side based for Europe, but not so domestically, where there's a whole host of different challenges in the Scottish game.
"I don't think - as bad as it is currently - that we are miles away from where we need to be, but there does need to be recruitment. I don't think there's too many people who questioned Steven Gerrard with regards to the signings he brought in during the summer, but sometimes signings don't work out.
"It's very easy to be overcritical at the moment, but if you had asked us at Christmas time about recruitment, it would be 100% positive. I do think Rangers lack a strength within the team; a resolve and a certain mentality in some players. There's not enough Allan McGregors' in the team, in my opinion.
"I don't think anybody fears Steven Gerrard walking away - I don't think that's in his makeup. If he decided that this job was too big for him, then he'd be doing the right thing in walking away, but I don't think for one second he will.
"In terms of where the fanbase are with it - this is Rangers Football Club and we are bigger than any player or manager. Bigger and better people than Steven Gerrard have been shown the door in the past, so if he decided tomorrow that he would walk away, there would be a fair bit of upset in the supporter base and there would be worry, but ultimately we would continue on with someone else.
"That person might not be the stature or the name of someone like him, but we cannot be held to ransom by a falseness of the stardom of Steven Gerrard. He's the manager of the club, but that's where it ends. I would say most feel he can deliver a league title, but ultimately it would be wrong to say there isn't now a degree of doubt within the support; I think that's fair.
"What he does now is very important for his Rangers future. There's not much left domestically to play for; by making changes and dropping people that need to be dropped, he'll get a lot of leeway from the support. By continuing with guys who are failing them, then the discontent towards to him will grow."
