Club 1872 request meeting with Rangers chairman as Dave King set to intervene amid Ibrox concerns

Rangers supporter group Club 1872 have invited Ibrox chairman Douglas Park for a face-to-face meeting to discuss concerns over various aspects about the day-to-day running of the club.

With performances and results on the pitch causing real concern, fan tension continues to mount among the Light Blues faithful, with their latest 1-1 draw at home to Livingston in the Scottish Premiership at the weekend leaving Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side four points behind rivals Celtic at the top of the table.

The club’s return to the Champions League group stage for the first time in over a decade has also been calamitous, with several directors quitting their posts. Rangers summer recruitment has also been questioned in recent weeks, with only Croatian striker Antonio Colak proving a success story so far.

Club 1872 have spoken openly regarding concerns about the overall trajectory of the football club, but have yet to receive any communication from the club’s board of directors since former chairman Dave King stepped down from his role.

King has since committed to finalising a multi-million pound deal with the group that will see Gers supporters increase their shareholding in RIFC plc and they have now have written a new open letter to current presider Park.

A deadline of December has been set for Park to respond to their request and answer any questions related to fans worries about what is going on behind the scenes.

The statement read: “Our view has not changed and it is clear that concerns about the club’s current trajectory are growing within the Rangers support. Since our statement we have engaged privately and constructively with a number of other major shareholders regarding our concerns and those of our Contributors.

“As a major shareholder we have also attempted again to engage privately with the RIFC Board on behalf of our Contributors. The RIFC Board continues to refuse to engage with Club 1872 as it has done since the moment Dave King departed as Chairman over two and half years ago. We would welcome a reversal of that policy.

“Club 1872 functions, in part, to facilitate dialogue between the custodians of Rangers Football Club and the support. We strive to seek answers on behalf of our Contributors and the wider support and will continue to do so.

“We recently met with Dave King, who has a number of concerns of his own about the way in which the club is being managed. He has articulated some of those concerns publicly but he has also informed us that they have increased following conversations he has had in recent weeks. He has indicated a willingness to speak directly to our Contributors, as he did last year, about those concerns, his insight into the running of the club and any other areas of interest to supporters.

“We believe it would be valuable for our Contributors to hear from Mr King and have the opportunity to question him directly on his views. In the interests of fairness, and to provide as many opportunities as possible for our Contributors to hear different perspectives on the current position, we have also extended an invitation to Rangers Chairman, Douglas Park to meet with our Contributors.

“We have informed Mr Park that we will hold a Contributor meeting at a time and date of his choosing between now and December, where he can engage with our Contributors on the same basis as Dave King. As soon as we have set a date, or dates, for these meetings we will inform Contributors.

“The meetings will be recorded and made publicly available to all of our Contributors and the wider support. We will also shortly be holding our Annual Contributor Meeting with details to follow.”

Meanwhile, all twelve Scottish Premiership clubs will meet at Hampden Park on November 28 to hold crisis talks over the long-running cinch sponsorship row with Rangers.

The Ibrox side requested to share the events leading up to the unforeseen deal with the online car firm in June last year. It comes after managing director Stewart Robertson warned all 42 SPFL clubs that the £150,000 of lawyer costs from the dispute are likely to rise even higher if the club and Park’s of Hamilton receive an apology from the league and their legal costs are covered.

Addressing the figures at an online meeting earlier this week, Robertson claimed those fees only covered the short period leading up to the end of last season. It is understood the final bill paid to Rangers is set to come from SPFL income.