FORMER Rangers chairman Malcolm Murray has called on new Ibrox chief David Somers to ensure democracy at next month's crunch annual general meeting.

The chartered accountant and investment manager was appointed acting chairman of Rangers International Football Club plc last week and will oversee what is likely to be a stormy shareholder summit on December 19.

Mr Murray, former Blue Knights leader Paul Murray and businessmen Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch are bidding to win seats on the Ibrox board.

They have the backing of fans after high-profile protests by supporters in recent weeks.

Malcolm Murray said: "The worries [the fans have] are very valid but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The penny has dropped.

"As a leading fan said to me this morning, it is as though a plague of locusts have descended on Ibrox in the last five years and they won't leave until they have picked all the flesh off us.

"We won't allow that to happen, we can't.

"The only ones that leave are the ones that go through the revolving doors with a very large cheque. That has got to stop.

"That is why the AGM exists. We have got to hope that the new chairman is totally independent and will make sure that we have democracy to get that done.

"The fans need the money put back in the club, that is not where it is going. We will make sure that happens in the future, when we win at the AGM."

Rangers fans kept up the pressure on the current Ibrox hierarchy with a demonstration ahead of the team's Scottish League One victory over Airdrieonians on Saturday.