RANGERS have taken out a fresh £6.5 million loan from associates of club chairman Dave King.
It comes just a week after the club said it had repaid a £5m loan to Mike Ashley's Sports Direct.
Rangers International Football Club plc say the new loan has been provided by existing lenders Mr King's New Oasis Asset Limited, Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor and by three new lenders, director John Bennett and two additional Hong Kong based supporters, Barry Scott and Andy Ross.
RIFC said: "RIFC’s board is delighted to welcome the new lenders who, as long-standing supporters of the club, fit exactly into the profile of investors that RIFC has encouraged during this ongoing rebuilding phase. The new funding has all been provided on the same basis as other recent loans to RIFC.
"The loans to RIFC were primarily utilised to fund repayment of the Sports Direct facility with the balance going towards the group’s working capital requirements."
Paul Murray, identified by Mr King in November, as one of those who would be putting money up to pay off Mr Ashley, was not among those named in the new loan arrangement.
It was also not clear whether the lenders plan to convert the loan into equity - as has been the case with previous arrangements.
The club outlined at their recent AGM that they planned to end the facility with Sports Direct, which gave them security over key club assets.
Rangers' training ground and the rights to the club's trademarks and badges were handed over to Ashley under the deal.
In a short statement just before Christmas Rangers said: "We are pleased to announce that payment has today been sent to Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited of the full amount of the loan facilities provided by that company to The Rangers Football Club Limited."
Sports Direct are yet to comment to confirm the receipt or acceptance of the funds.
Speaking at the club's AGM, chairman Dave King explained the decision to go back on a previous pledge not to return the money to Sports Direct, which was not repayable on demand and had no fixed repayment date.
The Herald understands that any repayment will not have an effect on Mike Ashley's control over the Rangers Retail joint-venture.
In January, last year, Sports Direct were given a further 26 percent of shares in Rangers Retail to add to the 49 percent which was already owned by the English businessman. It was a condition of the £5 million emergency loan to the club.
Even if the loan is paid off and Sports Direct did not have control of the shares, it Mr Ashley would still have control of the company which runs the club's entire retail and merchandise operation, including the club's Rangers Megastore and holds rights under licence to the club's famous crests
That is because only Sports Direct has A shares in the operation and even with 49 per cent of Rangers Retail, they are twice as valuable when it comes to voting. That's because each A share receives two votes instead of just one on "Financial Matters".
In November it emerged Mr Ashley, who is also Newcastle United owner, joined the Rangers Retail board with club chairman Dave King.
The billionaire Sports Direct chief had already been the ultimate controlling party of the division but after his appointment, his people outnumbered King's by three to two.
The Rangers Retail board is made up of four directors, Mr King and Rangers International Football Club plc director Paul Murray alongside Ashley, Sports Direct International chief executive David Forsey. Sports Direct's head of legal Cameron Olsen is both company secretary of Rangers Retail and SDI.
The Rangers Retail registered office remains at Sports Direct International HQ in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.
Mr King has admitted that the speed in which the Sports Direct loan would be paid off would be down to the company. He said they would tell Sports Direct that the funds were available.
Video: Dave King explains in November about the decision to pay off Sports Direct and how they would do it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article