Rangers have announced a March 4 date for the general meeting prompted by shareholder Dave King's requisition to remove the board.

The club confirmed to the Stock Exchange that the meeting would be held in a London hotel.

The announcement was contained within a lengthy statement which highlighted King's tax offences in South Africa.

The Rangers plc board - chairman David Somers, James Easdale, managing director Derek Llambias and Barry Leach - each face removal in separate votes.

King has proposed himself and fellow former oldco Rangers director Paul Murray as directors, along with John Gilligan.

The board statement urged shareholders to vote against all seven proposals and launched an attack on King's suitability for the role.

And it warned that the appointment of King would lead to the resignation of the club's nominated advisor, WH Ireland, and the consequent suspension of trading in Rangers shares.

The statement quickly brought up King's convictions of 41 counts of income tax offences, which resulted in a fine of about £40million, and highlighted excerpts from a written judgement from a similar court case in which King was described as a "mendacious witness" and a "glib and shameless liar".

The board statement also highlighted King's presence on the oldco Rangers board during Craig Whyte's reign, which ended with the club being liquidated.

It added: "Noting the above and WH Ireland's obligations as a nomad (nominated advisor), WH Ireland have informed the board that, should Mr King be appointed to the board, WH Ireland will resign as nomad and broker to the company with immediate effect.

"In the event that the nomad resigns, the company's shares will be suspended from trading immediately. Under the AIM (stock market) rules, the company will then have one month to replace the nomad. The board is of the view that in the circumstances, there can be no guarantee that a new nomad will be appointed.

"In the event that a nomad is not appointed within a month of the suspension of trading, the company's admission to trading will be cancelled. Accordingly, if this were to occur, the company would no longer be traded on any stock exchange. In the judgement of the board this is likely to make raising capital both more difficult and more expensive."

In response, King told Press Association Sport: "I dealt with the nomad on Wednesday. I stated that Paul Shackleton's historic role in governance failure rendered the nomad unfit to continue - hence they will not need to resign, they will be replaced. Hence nothing new there.

"I think choosing London is to ensure that fans can't attend. They are running scared!"

Shackleton previously worked with Rangers for Daniel Stewart, which lost its licence to act as a nomad.

The board also claimed it had legal advice that King and Murray would be unlikely to pass the Scottish Football Association's 'fit and proper' test because of their previous association with oldco Rangers, despite Murray's attempts to stop Whyte's takeover. The decision will be at the discretion of the SFA.

The board also declared concern that King's appointment would be in breach of section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986, which is related to people joining boards of companies with the same or similar name to a liquidated company in which they previously held a directorship.

The statement added: "The directors are not aware of any similar reason which might preclude the appointment of Mr John Gilligan. However, the priority for the board is to appoint independent directors with capital markets experience and, so far as they know, Mr Gilligan does not possess that experience. The directors do not rule out the appointment of Mr Gilligan in the future."

The board also claimed it had offered representation on the board to a representative of both King and the Three Bears - shareholders George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park - but that was rejected.

And, 24 hours after caretaker manager Kenny McDowall revealed he had been ordered to start five on-loan Newcastle players, the board stated that "neither Mr Mike Ashley nor Sports Direct International plc controls the company" as it defended its decision to take a £10million loan from the Newcastle owner's retail firm ahead of an offer from the Three Bears.

Shareholders who cannot attend the meeting at the 500-capacity Orchard Suite at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel & Conference Centre in the affluent Kensington area of south London can vote by proxy.

The Rangers First fan shareholder group soon announced it would help small shareholders cast their votes.

A spokesman said: "The board of Rangers FC and the nomad WH Ireland appear to have set this up to make voting as awkward as possible - especially for the small shareholders, many of who are Rangers fans.

"Rangers First are pleased to announce that we will have a number of drop-in centres available for people who need help in completing voting forms, or if they would like to proxy their shares to Rangers First.

"We will be delighted to help any shareholders be they Rangers First members or not as it is important that as many votes are cast in this process as possible, you can also email shares@rangersfirst.com for info.

"Drop-in centres will be available in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirlingshire and north-west England, with other venues to be announced. If any member is struggling to attend then we will do our best to arrange a home visit.

"This is a critical vote for the future of our club and we encourage everyone to find a way to exercise their vote."