3 Bears Want Leach Out Of Ibrox

The Three Bears consortium has told the Rangers board to sack finance director Barry Leach.

Wealthy fans Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor have hit back at what they claim were "disreputable'' and "dishonest'' comments made by the former Sports Direct executive to the club's now-defunct Fan Board.

The investors, who collectively own 19.5 per cent of the club, made a £10million loan offer last month but were rebuffed when chairman David Somers and his fellow directors chose to take up another loan put forward by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

But minutes released by the club's own in-house supporter representatives following a meeting with managing director Derek Llambias and Leach claim that the finance director said in unflettering language that the Three Bears had been shaken up when they thought the board were ready to accept their offer.

Now in a statement given to Press Association Sport, the Three Bears group says: We read with astonishment the recently published minutes of the meeting between Derek Llambias, Barry Leach and the Rangers Fan Board.

The insulting and uncomplimentary language used by Barry Leach towards our group, consisting of three major shareholders, defies belief on so many levels.

Barry Leach is in no position whatsoever to make any comment on our behaviour since he has not at any time had any contact with Douglas Park or George Taylor and has only had brief contact with George Letham on one occasion.''

The Rangers board rejected the Park consortium's offer on January 27 and instead took up Sports Direct tycoon Ashley's loan, which was to be paid in two £5million tranches.

However, the terms of Ashley's deal allowed him to take control of 75 per cent of the club's retail income, as well as security on the Murray Park training facility and other club property.

Leach had ordered his comments on the Three Bears to be struck from the official records of the Fan Board meeting but when the supporters published them anyway, Llambias dissolved the group.

Now the Three Bears consortium - backing Dave King's attempt to oust the board at next month's crucial general meeting - has called on Leach to be sacked immediately for gross misconduct''.

The Three Bears statement said: During the negotiations to provide a funding package, we hoped the board would view our proposal on its merits when compared to the alternatives and indeed improved our offer on three separate occasions to try to convince them to accept our proposal. We were extremely disappointed when our offer was rejected as we believe it would have been much better for the company than the Sports Direct loans in particular, relating to the loss of commercial revenues to the club which were an integral part of the SD package.

The minutes of the fan board meeting show the comments of both Llambias and Leach to be littered with untruths and or inaccuracies in relation to the funding offers as well as several other matters.

Although we have yet to speak to one person who believes the nonsense offered by Leach we find his comments to the Rangers Fans Board fall well below the standard we would expect from a senior employee.

Barry Leach has engaged in grossly unprofessional conduct by falsely and maliciously attempting to undermine the reputation of our shareholder group.

His comments were clearly aimed at damaging the character and stature of that group. This disreputable behaviour was compounded by an unsuccessful attempt to have his remarks struck from the minutes of the meeting. The fact that he attempted to have these remarks concealed clearly evidences that he knew his comments were dishonest.

It is our view that he has brought the club into disrepute as a consequence of his damaging and unprofessional behaviour and as such should become subject to his employers' disciplinary processes and ultimately dismissed for gross misconduct.''

Leach, one of Ashley's closet advisers, was appointed to the Rangers board on January 5.

Press Association Sport contacted the Rangers press office and Ashley's spokesman on numerous occasions for a response on Saturday, but no-one was available for comment.