Former chairman Dave King backing Rangers to thrive as he values squad at £200m

Rangers v Celtic – Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership – Ibrox Stadium
(Image credit: Jeff Holmes)

Former Rangers chairman Dave King has valued the Ibrox squad at £200million as he claimed they were on their way to establishing themselves as Scotland’s dominant team.

King this week unveiled a plan to sell his major shareholding in Rangers to the Club 1872 supporters’ group after stepping down from the board earlier this year.

Rangers are 11 points clear in the Scottish Premiership and King believes they will soon rack up the trophies once they end their long wait for major silverware.

King told STV: “When we came back we clearly didn’t have the resources to compete. We’ve slowly built that up and narrowed the gap, certainly on playing terms.

“We’re top of the league on merit and if we can win the league this year, I don’t think that will be a one-off.

“I think Rangers can get back to being the dominant team in Scotland.”

King claims the investment by directors and others to build up Steven Gerrard’s squad means selling players will be “essential” come next summer.

But he feels there are plenty of assets with the likes of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos attracting interest in recent months.

“The last couple of years, we were not a successful club, we were a catch-up club,” he said.

“We were investing – I stated this at each AGM – in resources way beyond the expected return to bridge the gap.

“But once you get back up there you can’t continue doing that so we have to become a trading company.

“I think we do have assets – for the first time – that we can trade. That’s going to become a key part of the manager’s job going forward, how to get resources out for value, bring resources in and not weaken the competitive spirit of the team.”

When asked how he would value the squad, he said: “If you were to give me a figure, I’d say it could even be as high as £200million, if you take the total squad.”