Davie Provan makes big Mike Ashley claim, this is what he wanted to do at Rangers
By Alex Stevens
Mike Ashley wanted to sell Newcastle and take Rangers into the Champions League, according to Davie Provan.
The Celtic legend made the huge claim about the Magpies owner as he assessed the wreckage of Mark Warburton’s farcical departure from Ibrox.
The Rangers board announced on Friday night they had accepted the resignation of Warburton only for the manager to claim he had not quit following a week of behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings.
Nevertheless, the former Brentford manager’s reign at Ibrox is over after being dismissed by email and Provan aimed his fire at the board, chaired by South Africa-based businessman Dave King.
The former Scotland international insisted King has made a huge mess of his two-year reign and Rangers are paying the price for failing to sanction the bid by Sports Direct tycoon Ashley to buy the club.
“Ashley’s plan was to sell Newcastle and take Rangers into the Champions League,” Provan wrote in his weekly Scottish Sun column. “He knew that was impossible with the Magpies.
“But Scotland is a different ball game, where Celtic present the only serious opposition. The Sports Direct tycoon could have solved Gers financial problems overnight.
“Rangers should have rolled the red Axminster down the marble staircase for the London billionaire. Instead, it’s taking donations to keep the Ibrox lights on.
“You can bet Hoops’ directors had the cigars out when King won control. Ashley was the only threat to Celtic’s dominance. But King’s boardroom victory took the pressure off.
“Right now, Dermot Desmond can expect to hoover up millions in Champions League cash for years to come. It could have been different.
“Be in no doubt, Ashley was up for that challenge and had the money to take on Desmond.
“But instead of bankrolling Gers back into rude health, he’s currently shafting them for every replica strip sold. A guy who could have changed Rangers fortunes overnight, is now their nemesis.
“When the charlatans were finally flushed from the Ibrox boardroom, Rangers were in a bad way.
“In Ashley, they had a multi-billionaire wanting control of the club. And they told him to do one?
“Logic has no place in football, but the rejection of Ashley beggared belief.”
Ashley has been the owner of Newcastle since buying a majority stake in the club in May 2007, although his time at the north-east giants has been marked by a series of controversies.
He acquired a minority stake in Rangers in October 2014 and attempted to increase this to the 30 per cent threshold but was rejected by the Scottish Football Association.
Newcastle got relegated from the Premier League for the second time under Ashley’s ownership last season but are top of the Championship and strong favourites to earn instant promotion under manager Rafael Benitez.
In other Rangers news, this is the huge sum lost by Mark Warburton after his behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings horribly backfired.
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