James Easdale Quits Rangers Board

Photo by Jeff Holmes

Rangers director James Easdale has resigned from the board ahead of a meeting that could have seen him voted off. The club announced to the stock exchange that Easdale had left both the plc and football club boards.

A statement read: "Rangers announces that James Easdale has resigned from the boards of the company and Rangers Football Club Limited with immediate effect.

"He leaves Rangers having never received any remuneration, bonus or compromise payment during his time at the club.

"He would like to thank all the fans and shareholders who supported him and wishes the club a speedy return to the top flight of Scottish football and beyond.''

The announcement came hours after the Rangers Supporters Trust revealed it had bought a chunk of shares previously controlled by Sandy Easdale, the brother of James.

The fan-ownership campaign group announced on Tuesday purchased an 450,000 shares from Beaufort Nominees, which had previously proxied its shares to Sandy Easdale, who is chairman of the club board but is not on the PLC board.

That took the RST's block of proxies and owned shares to 3.8 per cent and increased the pressure on the Rangers board ahead of a general meeting on March 6.

Another fan group, Rangers First, has a 2.5 per cent block and both are voting against the board.

Major shareholder Dave King is seeking to remove the board, which now consists of Barry Leach, Derek Llambias and David Somers, and install himself, Paul Murray and John Gilligan.

Sandy Easdale has 6.45 per cent of shares but also controlled a proxy block of more than 19 per cent, which includes the stakes of Blue Pitch and Margarita holdings.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, whose close associates Llambias and Leach face removal, has an 8.9 per cent stake.

King has a 14.6 per cent stake and the Three Bears, who will also vote against the board, have a combined holding of nearly 20 per cent.

In a statement, James Easdale admitted it would be difficult to continue amid widespread opposition from fans even if he secured enough votes at the general meeting.

He said: "After what the fans have been through with previous owners and managements it is hardly surprising they are heartily sick of the whole affair and they now seek another way forward.

"I drew great comfort from the shareholder votes in my favour at the AGM on December 22 - almost 90 per cent - however it was clear that this cut little ice with the fans who attended Ibrox on that day.

"However, I personally feel to remain on the board even after securing shareholder backing once more, would be a hollow victory for me without the fans' support to help the club go forward.

"If a pragmatic solution is not achieved we will see this endless acrimony continue and it would make the job of attracting fans back to Ibrox even more difficult.

"The club requires big match day attendances and big investment to thrive, or in turn the performance on the pitch will continue to suffer.''

The Greenock-based businessman added: "I also want to dispel any remaining doubt that I received any remuneration from Rangers. I did not. Instead I chose to work for free to benefit the club.

"I want to see Rangers flourish again with both fans and shareholders working in harmony.

"To help achieve that objective, I think it is in the best interests of the club that I step aside and resign from the board of Rangers FC.

"I have formally tendered my resignation to the chairman today and I would like to thank all the shareholders and fans who gave me their support and I look forward to seeing Rangers becoming once again the force it should be in football and supporting them on the journey.''