OUTWITH the thunderous words and bewildering promises of resurrecting “oldco”, there was one quieter moment last week, wrapped up within the minutiae of a board meeting, which showed Dave King that the culture change he has been looking for within Rangers is now beginning to take effect.

From the moment the Johannesburg-based businessman seized control of Ibrox in March, he stated his desire to establish a “value system and ethos” closer to that espoused by the Rangers he followed as a boy rather than the chaotic regime he ousted by way of an EGM.

That extended to the football department as well as the boardroom. One statistic brought to his attention on Wednesday, while conducting a formal meeting with his fellow directors at Ibrox Stadium, offered welcome, concrete evidence of an organisation beginning to rediscover its self-respect from the bottom up.

“It is just a minor point, perhaps, but it was reported that, for the first time in ages in the academy, there have been no fines paid out for being late for training or any of these little things,” revealed King. “There’s a level of discipline, but it’s self-initiated. It’s about doing the right things and enjoying it. It really is a more recognisable Rangers. Creating that is one of the things we said we would try to do. We are well on track.

“The impact of Mark Warburton has been felt across the whole club. I think he’s a great fit for ‘The Rangers Way’. He’s come in with that mindset and asked for a level of respect.”

Warburton, the first-team manager, has also asked for finance to strengthen his side ahead of the prospective challenges of the Ladbrokes Premiership next season. He will certainly need it to match the chairman’s exacting demands.

Amid other explosive remarks, King made it clear last week that he expects Rangers to be challenging Celtic for the title next season, but he is keen to point out his targets are being influenced by messages from his football department.

“It’s really coming from Mark,” he said. “He said to me that if we’re going up a league, he wants to win that league.”

King reports that the rehabilitation of Rangers is also beginning to gain traction in foreign fields as he works on putting corporate governance in place.

“I have seen Rangers feature twice on South African news,” he said. “That hasn’t happened for five years. We are getting back to some level of recognition and people are buying into it.

“We have the club at heart and, with the best wishes in the world, you couldn’t say that about Charles Green. It doesn’t mean he is a bad guy, but you could never argue Charles Green was interested in the future of Rangers.

“There’s still a long way to go to bring us back to where we want to be, which is full crowds on Wednesday nights in Europe.”

Green, the former chief executive, is, of course, back in the spotlight having been charged with serious organised crime offences in addition to the former Rangers owner, Craig Whyte. Investigations into both men have centred on the purchase of Rangers’ assets from administrators, Duff and Phelps, by Green’s Sevco consortium in 2012.

“If one looks at the legal experience – and I have some experience of lengthy, complex litigation – I think this can run for quite a few years yet,” warned King. “When you get into conspiracy, you are into a number of people and it starts to get complicated. I’d imagine a lot of the parties will be looking at potential civil litigation claims as well.

“They would want to see the criminal case run because of the ability to get evidence. I don’t think it could possibly be resolved in two years. I would say it would be closer to five years than two.”

If it is shown that Rangers have been the victims of criminality, King believes there will be conversations to be had with the Scottish football authorities over the way the club was ordered to begin again in the old Third Division.

“I think that would be awkward due to the way Rangers were dealt with by the authorities in terms of the initial relegation,” he said. “That could possibly come up as an issue again.”

King has reached an agreement to end former manager Ally McCoist’s period of gardening leave following his resignation last December, but he admits he will continue to pay McCoist’s assistant Kenny McDowall.

“I feel the circumstances with Kenny are different,” said King. “I don’t feel he has the alternative opportunities that Ally perhaps has in the marketplace.”