DAVE King's coronation as chairman of Rangers remains up in the air after the club's limited company was delisted from the Aim stock market.
It comes after the company failed to get a nominated adviser in time for yesterday's stock market deadline.
Rangers now hope to list on the ISDX market, once called the Plus Stock Exchange, which insiders say would cost the club less in fees and make it easier to win investment. Arsenal are listed on the market.
There is still no indication that Mr King would have legal clearance to to sit on the Ibrox board despite his application to the Court of Session last month.
The statutory notice period for objections to him being on the board is over but that the Rangers International Football Club plc were awaiting news of the request.
The process was started under section 216 of the Insolvency Act, as Mr King was a former director of the oldco under Craig Whyte which went into administration and is now going through liquidation.
The South African businessman still requires a mandate from the Scottish Football Association (SFA) under the governing body's fit and proper person test.
A club source said Mr King was more concerned about passing that test to take control of Rangers.
The board in declaring the Aim delisting referred to prior issues which had "resulted in AIM receiving more complaints about the company than any other company on its exchange over the last year".
Mr King had condemned the move by former nominated adviser WH Ireland to quit over concerns he was taking control.
He eventually placed former director Paul Murray in as interim chairman after winning the Ibrox shareholder vote to remove the old board and bring in his new directors.
The move was intimated as a temporary one until a new nominated adviser could be found.
WH Ireland had raised concern that there could be a "material adverse impact" on the company's listing on Aim if King was appointed to the company's board.
It came after noting Mr King's 2013 conviction in relation to breaching 41 criminal counts of South Africa's Income Tax Act.
Mr King was sentenced to a fine totalling 3.28 million South African Rand (£180,000) in relation to those counts or face 82 years in prison. He avoided the jail sentence by paying the fine.
He also agreed to pay a £45 million settlement in relation to his personal income tax and the tax liability of Ben Nevis, a King trust company managed out of Guernsey.
Before winning an extraordinary general meeting vote, King had said there was a Nomad lined up to retain stock market continuity.
After the won he said delisting was "completely unimportant" adding: "My personal preference for the rebuilding process would be for it not to be listed, but it is listed - unfortunately."
Sandy Easdale, the former Rangers Football Club Ltd operating company chairman and his brother, James, who quit the plc board ahead of King's victory said they were considering legal action saying the delisting is a "blow to all serious shareholders"
Easdales' spokesman Jack Irvine said delisting was "in direct contradiction to the promises Mr Dave King made in the lead up to the EGM regarding appointment of a nomad".
He said the plc statement was "a masterpiece in obfuscation, presumably with the intention of disguising the fact that the shares will trade at a massive discount."
But Rangers hit back, questioning whether Sandy Easdale and James Easdale "weren't in any way responsible for the problems the new board has inherited?"
"It is absurd," the club added. "They are forgetting the result of the recent extraordinary general meeting. The directors were routed, shareholders voted overwhelmingly, 85 per cent for change."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article