RANGERS fans showed their emphatic backing for Dave King with a blue card protest during the SPFL League One game against Dunfermline yesterday.

The overwhelming majority of supporters in the 44,110-strong crowd at Ibrox held up blue placards in the 18th and 72nd minutes of the match.

There were also chants of "sack the board" and "greedy b******s get out of our club" aimed at the the directors' box in the main stand.

Around 30,000 leaflets had been distributed to spectators by the Union of Fans - an umbrella group comprising six supporters' organisations - outside the stadium before kick-off.

The Union opened talks with former director King about setting up a trust to pool season ticket money in this summer after he arrived in Glasgow on Friday.

The leaflets asked fans to "support Dave King's attempts to invest much-needed money into Rangers" in the first and second half of the third-tier game.

King, the South Africa-based businessman who once invested £20 million of his fortune in Rangers, also met with the club board on Friday evening.

The 58-year-old, who did not attend the match yesterday, is in Scotland until next week and is set to hold more discussions with senior Rangers officials and the Union of Fans.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist, whose side won the game 2-0 to remain unbeaten in League One, declined to comment on the threat to withhold season ticket money or the board's meetings with King.

But he admitted: "Of course, you would have had to have your eyes shut not to see the blue card protest.

"I haven't spoken to anybody from the board regarding their meeting (with King) but I will see Graham (Wallace, chief executive) and we will have a chat. I would imagine that will be one of the topics of conversation."

Meanwhile, McCoist was bemused to learn Dundee United had asked the SFA to change the venue for the Scottish Cup semi-final if their opponents are Rangers. The governing body turned down the request.

He said: "I will play them wherever they want. But that is not a decision I will have anything to do with."

Matthew Lindsay