King & Co Voted in at Rangers
Dave King, Paul Murray and John Gilligan have been handed the keys to Ibrox after the Rangers shareholders overwhelmingly voted to remove Derek Llambias and Barry Leach from the club's board. Just 15 per cent of the club's shareholders voted to keep Mike Ashley's placemen in power, with almost 86 per cent backing King's bid to claim the throne. The results come after around 800 fans turned out for Friday morning's decisive 12-minute general meeting.
King claimed last week that he was headed for a "landslide victory'' and that was proved correct as the motion to appoint the former oldco director - who called the meeting back in January - to the board received 85.59 per cent of the vote, while Murray got 85.45 and Gilligan 85.89. They will now start the process of rebuilding a club which has been beset by turmoil in the four years of turmoil since it was plunged into administration and then liquidation. The vote also saw 84.64 per cent of the shareholders back King's call for Llambias to be chased out of the club, with 84.75 per cent agreeing Leach should be removed. The duo were the club's last two remaining board members following the resignation of chairman David Somers and director James Easdale. The board's last stand lasted just 12 minutes after chief executive Llambias and finance director Leach both failed to show up. Around 800 shareholders squeezed into the corner between the Govan ands Broomloan Road stands ahead of the vote and applauded King as he arrived for the meeting five minutes before its 11am kick-off. Unlike December's rowdy AGM, there was no tent and only a small table covered in a blue sheet for the directors to sit at. Five chairs were laid out but when it became apparent Llambias and Leach were not coming, three were removed and it fell to club secretary Matt Wood to open proceedings, before Andrew Dickson, the club's head of football administration, was elected chairman of the meeting. King was flanked by Murray and Gilligan as well as James Blair of fans group Rangers First. There were also cheers for former boss Ally McCoist - put on garden leave by Llambias three months ago - as he arrived to vote. The angry shouts which marred the AGM were replaced by polite applause as the votes got under way, while one fan shouted: "Long live the King.''