The Rangers Supporters Trust has announced it now holds over half a million shares in the Ibrox club after buying a further 200,000 this week.

The fan group's long-term ambition is to hand control of Ibrox to the supporters, and they now hold 557,856 shares after spending £52,000 donated by fans using the BuyRangers direct debit scheme to make their latest investment. However, their stake still only equates to 0.86% of the SPFL League 1 leaders' total shareholding, and Trust chairman Gordon Dinnie admits ownership is a long way off.

"There is still a long way to go," he acknowledged. "We started our direct debit scheme just before Christmas. If we can get enough interest going in that then we can buy shares on a monthly basis and build up our stake. We can also borrow against that money coming in and use it to buy more. However, the big issue is availability of the shares. With the current price being so low, when you try to buy them on the market, folk are asking for a few pence more.

"But we don't need to aim for anything like a 50% stake in the club. Because of the fractious nature of the shareholding, a 10% stake could give you a major say in how the club is run. James Easdale had just one more share in the club than the RST following the IPO [initial public offering], yet he was appointed to the board.

"If we get to 5%, we would hold the right to call an agm, and the things you are able to do increases as your stake goes up from that point.

"If we can generate enough interest then hopefully we can then look towards taking our holding past 1%, then five, then as our stake grows we can think about getting a director on to the board of the club that has been elected by the fans."

The RST invested £250,000 into Rangers when it was floated on the stock market in December 2012. The shares were then priced at 70p each, but the off-field turmoil surrounding the club since has seen that price fall to just 25.75p per share.

The RST was able to buy its latest tranche at 26p per share after negotiating the seller down from 29p.