A London-based City investor who has bought a 1.2 per cent stake in Rangers has vowed to buy even more shares.
Kieran Prior yesterday purchased 785,000 shares in the club at a cost of almost £400,000.
The 34-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader, who is wheelchaair-bound, now hopes to increase his stake and has attempted to reassure worried fans by insisting he has only the club's best interests at heart.
He has now promised to investigate the inner workings of Rangers following weeks of boardroom turmoil.
He said: "I can confirm I've purchased 1.2 per cent of the club and I plan to increase my stake in the next 24 hours, subject to supply.
"I've put my money where my mouth is. I understand the scepticism by fans around my appearance on the scene, given the way they've been mistreated in the past. However, it's my aim to instil a degree of confidence among the supporters and I've done what I said I would do.
"I've heard a lot of good soundbites but no effective planning and education of the fans.
"I'm no knight in shining armour but now I can look inside the club and ask questions to which the fans deserve answers to."
Prior, who has cerebral palsy and has been disabled since birth, is originally from Salford but now based in London. He is now one of the most significant individual shareholders in the club.
He has one of the highest IQs in the world and now runs private equity firm Pri Arc. He joins the list of Rangers shareholders following weeks of uncertainty behind the scenes at Ibrox.
Former Light Blues manager Walter Smith was installed at the club's chairman last month after Malcolm Murray agreed to step down from the role.
Reports in the days before the announcement suggested the 65-year-old, who has also managed Everton and Scotland, was set to quit Ibrox over reported attempts to oust Murray from the board.
And there has been claim and counter-claim as former owner Craig Whyte and former Rangers chief executive argue over the negotiations that led to Charles Green's acquisition of Rangers' business and assets last summer.
But, instead of stepping down from his role as director, Smith was elevated to the post of chairman.
On June 5, Green then agreed to transfer over half a million shares to Laxey Partners Limited.
The deal was struck last October but under the terms of a lock-in agreement, the transfer of Green's 714,285 shares to the Isle of Man-based investment firm cannot take place before December 7.
Green, who was listed as owning more than 5million shares in the latest documentation available on the Rangers website, resigned his position in April following ''negative publicity'' over his consortium's acquisition of the club last summer.
However, the Yorkshireman says he had been vindicated by the outcome of an independent inquiry which found no evidence ex-owner Whyte invested in the current Ibrox set-up.
The probe was commissioned by the Rangers board after Whyte alleged he was involved in the Green-led consortium's purchase of the club's business and assets following liquidation.
The Scottish Football Association says it is now considering its own investigation after it was handed the report into Whyte's claims carried out by legal firm Pinsent Masons.
Prior admits he would be interested in a boardroom role at Rangers but only if he is invited by the club's current directors.
"If I'm offered a board position I would not decline it but directors should be voted on, not placed there or coerced into position. It would be an honour to be offered a non-executive position on the board."
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