DAVE King’s insistence that Rangers gained no unfair sporting advantage from Employee Benefit Trusts has contradicted comments the Ibrox chairman made three years ago.

King yesterday dismissed fresh appeals to strip the Glasgow club of titles as “uninformed ramblings” and also warned anybody who attempted to alter their history would be “held to account”.

There have been widespread calls for Rangers to be investigated over their use of EBTs again after the latest ruling in the so-called "Big Tax Case" last week.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs won the second appeal at the Court of Session in Edinburgh when three judges agreed the oldco broke tax rules between 2001 and 2010.

In a strongly-worded statement on the official Rangers website, King said: “First, irrespective of the final outcome of the tax appeal (which might take several more years) the football team had no advantage from any tax savings from the scheme put in place by the Murray Group.

“Secondly, Lord Nimmo Smith has fully and finally dealt with the legitimacy of the continuity of the club’s history. There is no more to be debated on that issue.

“Finally, it is extraordinary that representatives of other Scottish clubs – who admit the damage done to Scottish football by Rangers’ removal from the Premier League – should even wish to re-engage with this issue.

“It is time those individuals, who represent other clubs, recognise their legal and fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and shareholders rather than submit to the uninformed ramblings of a few outspoken fans to whom attacking Rangers is more important than the wellbeing of their own clubs.

“This is a misguided attempt (that will ultimately fail) to rewrite history and defeat Rangers off the park when their teams could not do so on the park at the time. The history of many other clubs would have to be rewritten if this illogical argument was to be consistently applied.”

However, the statement contradicts comments oldco director King made back in 2012 - when he admitted Rangers owed their own fans and the Scottish footballing public an apology and “probably gained some competitive advantage”.

King had previously said: “I follow the logic of the argument that if we lose the tax case then we probably gained some competitive advantage. I believe that we should apologise for that.

“No one on the board, when I was there, would have had any intention of gaining an advantage. But the fact is that I can understand the perception out there now. It is absolutely appropriate for the previous regime to be sorry.”

King has also claimed that Rangers were “unfairly treated” before they were placed in the Third Division back in 2012 in his latest statement.

He said: “Having reviewed documentation that has become available to me, I believe that Rangers was harshly and, in some instances, unfairly treated in the period leading up to demotion from the Premier League.

“That is now history and I have publicly stated, with the full support of the recently installed board, that we wish to put the past behind us and move on in partnership with all clubs throughout Scotland to improve and restore the image and quality of Scottish football as a whole. This will be to the benefit of all clubs.

“For the avoidance of doubt, however, I wish to make one point clear. If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football.”