PAUL MURRAY, the Rangers director, is confident Rangers International Football Club plc will be able to trade on the ISDX stock exchange and feels the board have an 'obligation' to shareholders to restore the listing following their removal from the AIM market earlier this year.

 

Mike Ashley, who has a nine per cent stake in RIFC plc, called a General Meeting at Ibrox today to seek clarity over why the company was delisted from the AIM in the aftermath of a boardroom coup by Murray, Dave King and John Gilligan in March. The Sports Direct owner did not make the trip to Glasgow, however, and nor did he send a representative for MASH holdings.

With chairman King in London 'on club business', Murray chaired the GM and addressed the events that saw RIFC plc delisted after they failed to appoint a new Nominated Advisor within 30 days of WH Ireland resigning on the eve of the EGM that saw Ashley allies Derek Llambias and Barry Leach removed from the board in March.

King and the Three Bears, a consortium comprising of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, are likely to provide the majority of the funds required for the rebuilding job at Ibrox but Murray is keen for Rangers to have a Stock Exchange presence once again.

"We don't have to do that, the shareholders who are interested in investing in the club don't need to have a listing to do that," he said. "But we feel an obligation to the 5000 shareholders we have got to provide a mechanism by which they can buy and sell shares so that is why we are going through the process.

"What is really frustrating for us, is that the chief executive of ISDX personally wrote to the AIM regulatory team asking for a five business day extension to the 30 day clock, and we could then have transitioned the shares across within five business days to ISDX three months ago. They refused to do that.

"We are now having to go through a full prospectus and a full reapplication process, which is costing time and money. We are prepared to do that as a board because we feel supportive of the 5000 shareholders to allow them to buy and sell shares. We are confident of listing the shares on ISDX."

The relationship between Rangers and Ashley has become increasingly fraught in recent months and tensions were escalated once again on Wednesday after the businessman won a High Court case in London. Ashley also launched action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh as he was successful in silencing the board over the details of the contractual arrangements between the club and Sports Direct.

Rangers had hoped to inform fans, many of whom are boycotting official merchandise, about the deals and sought shareholder approval to look to renegotiate the contracts. The results of the vote this morning will be released on Monday but there were few details available for the concerned supporters in attendance.

"We planned to come today to talk about some of these issues, that is why we put it into the notice," Murray said. "There have been legal proceedings taken against us corporately, individually, we just cannot comment. I am sorry if that sounds a bit difficult."