The power struggle at Rangers showed no signs of nearing a resolution, as Charles Green challenged Jim McColl to show him the colour of his money, while the Scottish tycoon revealed he is not looking to lead a takeover.
The Glasgow giants are in the grip of a bitter boardroom battle after former oldco director Paul Murray and accountant Frank Blin, who is believed to be close to McColl, made a bid for power at the club.
A requisition for a general meeting aims to see the removal of Green associates Brian Stockbridge and Bryan Smart from the board, along with chief executive Craig Mather.
Green who quit as chief executive in April and has now returned as club consultant said: “What I would say to Jim McColl the world’s richest Scotsman is put £14 million in a bank account by Friday of this week and me and my consortium will deliver to you 20 million shares, which is about 28% of this club.
“Then I know you are serious about it. You’ve then invested some cash into the club that you want to run but you’re not going to do it without putting some money on the table.”
However, Green’s comments came as McColl issued a statement in which the Clyde Blowers chairman insisted he was not interested in a seat on the board or increasing his shareholding but was determined to see boardroom change.
McColl, whose personal wealth was estimated at £1 billion in last year’s Sunday Times Rich List, was involved in an unsuccessful bid to buy Rangers from Green’s consortium immediately after it bought the liquidation-bound club’s assets and business for £5.5 million in June last year.
However, his involvement now is as a member of a group of disgruntled shareholders, albeit an influential one, who last week called for former PricewaterhouseCoopers Scotland executive chairman Blin and Murray to join the board.
McColl said: “Let me make it very clear, I am not seeking to join the board or to increase my shareholding in the club.
“I am a small shareholder like many of the club’s fans and have no intention of increasing my position in the short to medium term.
“I am 100 per cent focused on my own businesses and the strategy which I have agreed with the investors in my funds. I am duty bound to honour that agreement.
“This is not because I don’t believe investing in Rangers would be a good investment. It is because of the commitment I have made to my own businesses and to my partners.
“On the contrary, I believe that with a strong reconstructed, effective and highly competent board to restore financial transparency, stability and success to the club, it is a very attractive investment opportunity.
“This requisition for change is not about any one person or group of people trying to gain a controlling position. This is a demand for change by some very concerned investors, fans and other stakeholders.
“Things have to change to allow the club to move forward with ambition and confidence.
“The board needs to be constructed to reflect balance, independence and experience to operate in the best long-term interests of the club, fans and shareholders, rather than the interests of a small clique.”
The off-field turmoil took a fresh twist when former manager Walter Smith quit as chairman, before urging fans to back the proposed boardroom changes.
McColl said: “I would support Walter’s call and urge the board to do the right thing and accept the changes proposed in the requisition recently received from a group of concerned investors.
“Acceptance will avoid the unnecessary expense, disruption and delay of a general meeting. This is an important step towards building a strong, effective, highly competent board to restore financial transparency, stability and success to the club.”
Smith returned to Rangers as a non-executive director last November, before being appointed as chairman at the end of May.
Asked why he believes Smith had to step down, Green said: “I think Walter had issues three or four times. He actually came to see me in the first week in April and said to me ‘Look Charles, I’m going to step down.’
“He said ‘I don’t enjoy being on the board because of the way Charles Green does things bull at a gate’ and we laughed about it.
“It’s sad for the club but it has to move forward and not look backwards.”