NO brown brogues.

Dave King joked on his way out of Ibrox last night that one thing Rangers will not be returning to is the quite awful practice of having its office-bearers wearing shoes that do not sit well with a smart, dark suit.

In fairness, there are many things from the Sir David Murray era, a spell which saw King lose £20m of his own money as a director and ended with the wholly discredited Craig Whyte paying a pound for the business, that will not be resurrected.

King's vision of a bright, new dawn, however, does remain rooted in a past he has often feared would be lost forever.

He believes Rangers must go back to the future to recover from the damage created by Murray's latter years at the helm and the collection of individuals who have sullied the marble staircase since.

He desires a revolution built upon the principles that he grew up with as a child, a club with exacting standards on and off the park, traditions established by the late Bill Struth in the years just before his birth. He wants to see a stadium full of fathers passing down the joy of the supporting the club to their children rather than the empty seats that have made Ibrox such a soulless, desperate place of late.

In many ways, his coronation, if you can call it that, summed up the club at the moment.

He made his victory speech to the supporters from the steps of Argyle House rather than from the front door at Edmiston Drive. His media responsibilities were carried out in the Press Room, situated beside the tunnel and the dressing-room in the bowels of the ground, rather than the Blue Room.

That part of the stadium was unavailable as a result of a wedding taking place. It could be argued that attending to the closing rites at the previous board's effective funeral was the most important issue of the day anyway.

Supporters will celebrate long and hard over the removal of Derek Llambias and Barry Leach, the last remnants of a poisoned bloodline leading back to Whyte's takeover. John Brown, an arch-critic of those who have been tearing the heart from his club, claimed their departure and King's accession would mean as much as the winning of the European Cup Winners' Cup in Barcelona in 1972.

King is unsure of such a claim, but, as he reflected on his triumph, he made no secret of sharing his view that this is, indeed, a hugely significant moment in a story now 143 years old to the month.

"To compare it to Barcelona '72 is difficult, but, as a day in Rangers' history, it's got the potential to be a watershed event," he remarked. "I'm confident it will turn out to be that.

"People ask when we will take the club forward. To take the club forward, we need to go back to the past.

"Rangers has been a club with traditional values. It's had generational support and has been passed on from father to son.

There's been a consistency, an integrity and a loyalty.

"Paul Murray has referred to the fact the club has only had 13 managers in its history and that tells you there is a stickability about this club.

"What we have seen over the last few years has been turbulence, change, lack of loyalty, lack of integrity.

"What has happened is the exact opposite to the values I associate with my club.

"I have grown up with Rangers and the traditions of the club. I always believed that would always be there.

"I picked that up from my father who picked it up from his father.

"There was a real danger if this was allowed to continue that you would be left with a lost generation. You would have had a whole bunch of kids who never had the fun or the opportunity to go with their parents and develop the same love of this great club.

"We want this club back to what it was in Scottish football. It is absolutely vital we take it back to the value system and ethos that we grew up with."

One thing King's rise to power illustrated, however, is that the Rangers support, so often fractured and incapable of mobilising itself in the past, can come good when it matters. Groups such as the Supporters' Trust and Rangers First created such strong momentum going into yesterday's EGM that victory for the Castlemilk-born businessman and his team seemed inevitable.

That kind of backing now looks likely to be rewarded with a place inside the powerbase.

"We need to have a strong fan representation and we need to ensure they grow a meaningful voice in the board," said King, who plans to run the club from his Johannesburg base "unless the weather (in

Scotland) changes substantially".

The 60-year-old has not yet taken his place on the board despite having earned a mandate from his fellow shareholders. He faces 'fit and proper person' tests from the Scottish Football Association, but has been untroubled by the issue of being found guilty on 41 tax charges in South Africa being a constant issue during the past few weeks.

"I was honestly quite chilled about most of that," he said. "All it did was reinforce the need to get them (the previous board) out. They weren't fit and proper people.

"They were engaged in all of the wrong issues. They didn't have much in the way of real argument. It was better to get their spin doctor to do what he does best and engage in nonsense arguments.

"Either I am fit and proper or I am not. I wouldn't have started this process if I didn't think I was fit and proper.

"For me sitting on the board is not critical, but I don't think it will be an issue."

King insists his rebuilding plan does not hinge upon gaining promotion this season. The team is struggling in the Championship and he hopes that the boost from his victory may be enough to galvanise Kenny McDowall, the caretaker manager, and his players and get them over the line.

If not, he will take promotion next term. His priority lies in finding the right kind of person to take the footballing department forward.

"At this stage in Rangers' history, we need less of a manager and much more of a coach," he said. "It is not as if we are going to go out and buy a new team and tell someone to come in and manage them.

"We need someone with a different set of skills who is going to build, develop and bring youngsters through.

"It is going to be a long road ahead and I think that requires a different type of manager. It is not about bringing in a Dick Advocaat and saying: 'We have a team that has been winning the league and you just have to manage them.'

"It is a very different role."

Even so, King believes more than £10m of the £20m he has spoken about investing with his fellow directors will have to go on the footballing budget.

"If you are asking for a rough figure, I would have to say it has to be more than 50 per cent," he said.

King, who states that a proposed loan of a further £5m from the Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley, is unlikely to be drawn down, is realistic about where Scottish football lies, though. He knows it will never get back to where it was when Rangers were regularly competing at the sharp end of European competition.

"Not in my lifetime," he conceded. "The only way that can happen is if Sky decide they want Rangers in the Premier League. Would I favour that? Absolutely. Who wouldn't?"

As the dust settled on King's State of the Nation address, the wedding upstairs charged on at full steam. He may be encouraged to hear that the bride and groom enjoyed a spin around the floor to the strains of 'Simply The Best'.

It will take Rangers some considerable time to regain that position in Scottish football's pecking order. It will also be a road travelled in particularly sensible footwear.

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