RANGERS could launch legal action against former manager Mark Warburton following his controversial Ibrox exit last month.
The 54-year-old left the club alongside assistant David Weir and Head of Recruitment Frank McParland and subsequently completed a move to Nottingham Forest.
In an exclusive interview with Herald Sport last week, Warburton insisted details about his departure would emerge ‘when the time is right’ after he enlisted the help of the League Managers Association in England. But Light Blues chairman Dave King has refused to rule out the prospect of Rangers making their own financial claim as the row rumbles on.
He said: “I’m going to have a legal discussion (about whether we could pursue Nottingham Forest for compensation). On the face of it, whether it’s Nottingham Forest or the management team, it’s a possibility but we just have to see how we feel about that.
“It’s difficult to say (whether we pursue Mark or the club). We need to know more.
“What I can say for sure is that I got a direct approach saying that they were in discussion with Nottingham Forest and that there was a problem with the compensation – would we waive it if they went? And I said no. It was a direct approach but I said off the record that we wouldn’t. It was an indirect approach but directed to me in terms that I had the conversation, but it wasn’t officially from Nottingham Forest.
“What was clear at the time was that there were discussions with Nottingham Forest and that’s been confirmed, quite frankly, since then that they were in discussions. Whether these discussions were through the proper protocol – you’d normally expect clubs to talk to each other and say ‘Is it all right if we approach your manager?’ – there were a lot of things that didn’t happen.”
Warburton left Rangers third in the Premiership standings after a poor domestic campaign that saw his side fall well off the pace being set by Old Firm rivals Celtic. The Englishman repeatedly denied any links to Forest just hours before Rangers released a statement saying that he, Weir and McParland had resigned from their posts.
King has reaffirmed his confidence in the position that Rangers have taken after an agent approached the club to broker an exit deal for the trio before they moved to the City Ground earlier this month.
He said: “I think there is no case. The case really is what Rangers now do. It certainly appears to me that what you’ve got now is an engineered outcome, to the benefit of Nottingham Forest.
“I was approached directly, when they were in negotiation with Nottingham Forest to ask if Rangers would waive compensation and that was first I was aware they were even talking to Forest. My response is what I am saying today, that we would not waive the compensation because if the management team does walk out and we have to replace them, we might have to pay compensation.
“But I said I’d be flexible in how they paid the compensation. They might not have to pay it all up front but maybe spread it over a period of time. That was taken out of our hands with the whole resignation debacle and they’ve all ended up at Nottingham Forest without us getting compensation and we’ve had to pay compensation. That’s exactly where I didn’t want to be.”
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