There has been more turmoil at Rangers after Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley called for a special shareholders’ meeting to remove two senior executives from the board. His targets are chief executive Graham Wallace, a former chief executive of Manchester City who has been in post for less than a year, and Philip Nash, a former finance of director of Liverpool, who has been on the board for less than three months as a consultant director.
There has been more turmoil at Rangers after Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley called for a special shareholders’ meeting to remove two senior executives from the board. His targets are chief executive Graham Wallace, a former chief executive of Manchester City who has been in post for less than a year, and Philip Nash, a former finance of director of Liverpool, who has been on the board for less than three months as a consultant director.
This has led to further speculation that Ashley is planning a takeover bid at Rangers. Ashley now holds a stake of nearly nine per cent in the club, although five per cent of that is through his ‘Mash’ investment vehicle. Fan groups criticised Ashley for increasing his stake without investing the capital directly in the club. He bought his shares on the open market rather than via Rangers’ recent capital raising.
Rangers is in urgent need of further funding after it raised £3m in emergency cash last month, a smaller amount than it hoped for. The funds are only enough to pay its bills for a few weeks.
The club said that it would resist Ashley’s demand for a meeting, referring to the cost and disruption of an ad hoc shareholder meeting. Mr Ashley has the right to call a special meeting and Rangers has 28 days to comply. However, they may try and question a technicality about the size of his holding. No date has been set for the next annual shareholding meeting of the Aim-listed company.