Dave King: Rangers could launch new kit if no agreement in Sports Direct stand-off

The South Africa-based businessman also confirmed that manager Mark Warburton would receive the funds he needs to strengthen his squad further before the end of the summer transfer window and again in January despite the ongoing legal wrangle.

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Rangers, who terminated their commercial deal with Sports Direct back in May, were last week upset to discover kit manufacturer Puma had, without their prior knowledge, produced thousands of replica kits themselves and sent them to stores across Scotland to sell.

But King said: “We are in a situation where we have made a lot of progress on the legal and commercial front in terms of our dealings with Sports Direct.

“I would say our position now in terms of what I would call the control and ability to influence the outcome of the commercial situations is far advanced relative to what it was three months ago.

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“So I am feeling very confident about where we are relative to Sports Direct. The complication we have, of course, is Puma. Puma are in the middle of this through no fault of their own.

“So what we are trying to do is get a balance right where we go beyond the mere legal dispute. Puma could be drawn into legal dispute with the club, but that wouldn’t be fair on Puma. The dispute really belongs between ourselves and Sports Direct.

“So what we want to try and do is find a way forward over the next couple of weeks that possibly accommodates Puma. But if we can’t do that then we will proceed on our own.”

King added: “I think it would be very difficult for the club, practically, to go ahead with an alternative to Puma. I say that because as long as there is a dispute out there – whether we believe our legal merits are strong or not – the fact is we are aware there is a dispute.

“I think it would be very, very difficult for us to go to another equivalent of Puma and ask them to come into that dispute. I just think commercially it would awkward, even though legally I think we’d be entitled to do that.

“So I think there might be another alternative where we just perhaps launch our own kit - if we can’t get a way forward with Puma which is clearly our preference. Because Puma really shouldn’t be in the position they find themselves in and we recognise that. We would like to do our best to mitigate their position.”

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Asked directly if fans should buy strips at the moment, King said: “It is a decision supporters will have to make themselves.”

King revealed that Rangers had found negotiations with Sports Direct over the controversial retail agreement which was struck with the nationwide chain of sports retailers by the previous regime more straightforward now that Mike Ashley is no longer involved.

“Mike Ashley went off the board,” he said. “So he kind of cut and ran, I suppose, when the going got tough from their point of view. So he’s disappeared. So we don’t deal with Mike Ashley at all.

“He went on the Rangers board to try and impose himself on Rangers. He failed miserably and he has cut and run. I guess he has bigger problems in life right now than worrying about the retail relationships with Rangers.

“It’s emotionally easier (to deal with Sports Direct) because of the nature of the individual. But commercially we have proceeded on a basis we felt was commercially robust. We have been consistent. I think I have given same message repeatedly and we have continued on that path.

“Mike Ashley being in there or not in there is more about the energy he brings to it. Perhaps that negative energy not being there perhaps makes it easier, but his other guys are also tough as well.”

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Warburton has strengthened his squad with the signing of players like Joey Barton, Clint Hill, Lee Hodson, Niko Kranjcar and Jordan Rossiter this summer and King stated more money would be made available to him despite the lack of income from merchandise.

“It is a huge thing, but we have budgeted for it,” he said. “If you take what we have done this year, the investment we have made in the squad, we have invested substantially.

“All of the numbers we have got and the investment we have to put into the club this year is based on the fact that we will make nothing out of the retail business. Anything we get is the bonus.

“I don’t think we necessarily need it to compete with Celtic. A lot depends on how Celtic spend the money. In some ways, Celtic’s position might be more awkward than ours in the sense that they have got a large expenditure and they are going to have to figure how to recycle that.

“The focus for us really is about getting back to competing with Celtic year on year, not just season on season, and on getting back into Europe. I want to see us competitive in Europe.

“Celtic haven’t been competitive in Europe even with the budget they’ve got. I don’t think it’s just about money, it’s about how well you spend the money.

“The resources Celtic have got at this point in time are clearly very, very substantial relative to ours in terms of the footballing side. But Celtic have resources to compete in Europe. That is really what they are there to do.

“We are not competing in Europe this season so our standard this year is that we expect to compete with Celtic this season. Last season, I said the non-negotiable was winning the Championship. I would say this year we should at least come second.”

King added: “We have got a squad of players that consisted of a chunk of players who came up last season. While they did well last season they still have to be tested this year. We have added significantly to that.

“Obviously we are hoping that the level of success that Mark and Frank (head of recruitment McParland) had last year in bringing players in who competed repeat again this year. We can’t be certain. We will see how this season goes.

“I certainly anticipate the possibility of more signings before the end of this window. From a financial planning point of view, we have already catered for the fact that we will have to look at the position again in December and probably do some business in January as well.

“The position remains that any net funding of the club still have to come from core investors. That position hasn’t changed.”

Meanwhile, King has admitted he was unhappy with the findings of the independent inquiry into the riot that took place following the Scottish Cup final between Hibs and Rangers at Hampden back in May.

“I think we were very disappointed,” he said. “There are inconsistencies, there are inaccuracies. What we were hoping to get out of this report were, first of all, a recognition of what actually happened on that day, some form of ownership of what happened on the day, and then a way forward to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“If you don’t get the facts of what happened on the day out there and you don’t get ownership of what happened on the day then you’re not going to get a way forward to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We said on Friday that we will engage with the authorities and discuss with them what we consider those inaccuracies to be. It is very important that we do that with them. At the appropriate time, we will release a media statement. But we have to talk to the authorities first.”

“We feel there is a number of issues to be addressed by the board, but it is something we would rather raise with the authorities first. We will discuss specifics with them and then, depending on the result of that, we will comment further at the appropriate time.

“But we are not going to comment any further beyond the report that we have already made until we have engaged with the authorities. We think that’s the right thing to do.”