Rangers chairman David Somers claims Mike Ashley's £10million loan is a "great deal" for the club - even though the Ibrox outfit has been left with just 25 per cent of its retail business.

Ashley has been allowed to tighten his grasp on the Light Blues' revenue streams after his Sports Direct firm struck a rescue package with the desperate board.

In return for his loan - which will be paid in two £5million tranches - the cash-strapped Gers have given Ashley another 26 per cent of the Rangers Retail Ltd.

Ashley - who already placed chief executive Derek Llambias and finance director Barry Leach onto the board - will also be allowed to nominate two more directors.

The Newcastle United owner, who owns 8.92 per cent of the Light Blues, has also managed to grab a floating charge on the club as well as Murray Park, Edmiston House, Albion Car Park and the club's registered trademarks - including the Rangers crest - as collateral.

But he has no claim to Ibrox after fan protests forced him to drop his demand for security on the club's historic home.

Somers told Sky Sports News: "I think it is a great deal. I'm really pleased to get some money into the club.

"It is just over 12 months since I became chairman and I had three goals. One was to make sure this great club never, ever goes into administration.

"The second one - there was no money when I joined the club so (I wanted) to get some money into the club. This deal really moves us a long way to getting some decent money into this club.

"The third goal was all about the football. We've got to get this club into the Premiership, into the Champions League and this sort of money will really help us do that."

But Somers ducked questions about how he planned to fund such a resurgence while the club continues to hand over more and more cash to Ashley.

RRL is a joint venture set up by the club and Sports Direct, with Rangers owning 51 per cent and Ashley's company controlling the rest.

However, Sports Direct will now control three-quarters of the business until the first part of the loan is repaid.

Rangers fans were already unhappy with deal, claiming profits were unfairly skewed in Sports Direct's favour.

The club's accounts showed the company took in £7.6million last year - leaving a £1.61million dividend to be split between Rangers and Sports Direct.

Rangers' share was £821,000 but it also owes Sports Direct £833,000 as the result of "onerous leases on unprofitable stores entered into by a previous Rangers management team".

Now as part of the terms on Ashley's loan deal, the club will hand over its dividend share to repay these debts - meaning that for every pound collected by its own retail company, Rangers lost 1.6p.

The terms demanded by Ashley for bailing out the club will also see shirt sponsorship cash from season 2017-18 onwards "benefit" RRL - rather than the club itself - for the duration of the loan.

The first £5million - which has no time-limit on when it must be repaid - will be used to repay the £3million Ashley handed Rangers last October and to cover Thursday's pay cheques. The second £5million chunk must be handed back to Ashley within five years.

The board had a second loan offer on the table from the Three Bears - wealthy fans Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor - but once again put their faith in Ashley, setting them on another collision course with their own supporters.

Ricki Neill of fan ownership group Rangers First said: "We would love to understand how the arrangements with regard to Rangers Retail could work to the benefit of the PLC which owns our club.

"It seems that these arrangements are the effective price for the facility being provided. There may be no interest on the facility but we would ask for full details of the other conditions that had and have to be met in return for the facility. We hope that the directors have been very careful to ensure that their actions comply with their fiduciary duties to shareholders."

Ashley is pulling the strings for now but the balance of power could yet swing away from him in the coming weeks if Dave King succeeds in routing the board at the general meeting he has called. He also faces a hearing with the Scottish Football Association who claim he has breached duel ownership rules.