DAVE King, the soon-to-be chairman of Rangers said he hoped to get a commercial and retail set up at Ibrox the fans "can buy into" after he was cleared by the SFA as 'fit and proper' to be on the board.

Mr King has said fans are critical and central to the regeneration of the club which he hoped would be able to compete with Celtic and play European football again.

Mr King said: "I'm hoping now we've got the change, and now the fans have a board that I at least believe they can trust in terms of we are taking nothing out of the company.

"We're only putting money into the company and they know we are all working in the same direction so it really is absolutely vital that the fans come back and start supporting the club in the way that we know that they want to do and that they have done historically."

And he indicated that he hoped concerns about the control Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley has over the club's retail operation was being sorted out.

The Herald revealed in February that from January 27, the Ashley, who is also Newcastle United owner has been the "ultimate controlling party" of Rangers Retail, which handles the club's merchandising and stores. Papers confirmed the switch has been made from the previous controllers, the club holding company The Rangers International Football Club plc.

Accounts reveal that while Rangers Retail turnover quadrupled from £1.2 million in the year to April 2013 to £4.8m in the year to April 2014, profits only doubled from £434,312 to £877,662. That is because the costs of the sales soared by eight times that of the previous year from £546,656 to £4.2m.

It is understood most of that money has gone to Sports Direct as Rangers Retail is buying Rangers merchandise, including replica kits, gifts, polo shirts and track suits from the Ashley-controlled firm for use in club outlets.

Sports Direct confirmed to the Herald that Rangers Retail has provided over £3.8m to Sports Direct in the year through such sales.

Mr Ashley's control over retail and trademarks comes as a by-product of his £5 million emergency loan to Rangers.

At the end of last year Rangers Supporters Trust launched an alternative shirt for fans as they took on Mr Ashley in the war over Rangers retail - and said all profits would be ploughed back into an increased shareholding in their club.

Mr King said: "Hopefully we'll get a commercial and retail situation where the fans can buy into it and start supporting the retail operation.

"We've gone from being number two in the UK not so long ago to being probably not in the top fifty.

"That's the result, partly from what's been going on so it is important we get the fans back on board both in terms of atmosphere and support for the team but also we need the fans to start contributing in terms of income generation because if that doesn't happen, then the deficit becomes larger and the funding plan just becomes far more complicated.

"So I'm really looking for the fans and the shareholders to do our bit. The Rangers fans have always supported the team when times have been difficult, so I'm hoping that the fact that there was a stay away during a situation where the fans felt polarised from Board, there was a reason to stay away to try and bring about change."

When Rangers Retail, a joint venture with Sports Direct, was confirmed by the club under then chief executive Charles Green in August 2012, it was promoted as enabling Rangers "to once again control its retail operation and give supporters the chance to buy direct from the club and in doing so, continue to invest in its future".

Rangers Retail runs the club's entire retail operation, including the Rangers Megastore, and hold the rights under licence to the club's famous crests.

Speaking on Rangers TV, Mr King added: "The fans are critical for the obvious reasons. The club really is about the fans, it's not a normal business.

"If you are running a certain type of business you can change your customers, if you are running Rangers Football Club your customers are your customers and they don't change and you can't change them.

"So they are absolutely critical and for us to be successful with the vision I've outlined about getting back within a reasonably sharp period of time to compete with Celtic and playing European football, we can't do that without the fans coming back.

"We need the fans to come back and we need to sell the season tickets. We need the atmosphere of the fans as well so I'm looking for a combination when I talk about the funding plan and the deficit. I'm looking to an environment where the fans show their support for the team, where the fans turn up and the fans buy their season tickets."

Mr King indicated that the club would need to raise around £30 million from shareholders to be competing with Celtic for the Scottish Premiership and get into Europe. He said that could rise to £37 million or £40 million if they were to miss a year in the Premiership.

And he said Rangers needed to take a "holistic view" of its relationship with Sports Direct before making any decisions for the future.

"You can't look at the loan, the retail agreement, the Newcastle arrangements in isolation. I see it as all being part of a grander scheme of relationships with Sports Direct that must be looked at in its entirety," he said.

He also said that he was "very confident" that they would find an alternative listed market to Aim "sooner rather than later".

Rangers International Football Club plc was delisted from Aim on April 2 and at the time Rangers interim chairman Paul Murray had said that the ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange market were "keen to take us".

Mr King, who described himself as "probably the most interrogated director of a football club in the country" said if the same level of scurtiny had applied to Craig Whyte, he would never have been owner.

He said he will be more involved with the club this year and said hs job is to make sure the club is properly funded.

The South Africa-based businesssman said "in the next six months or going into 2016 I will expect to see a far more stable structure and I can come in four times a year and the rest would be depending on the games."

He expected more additions to the boardroom, "fairly strong, independent executives, but not necessarily Rangers fans"

He said: "It is good in a sense to have Rangers fans on the board of the public company but we also want some independent people who are not purely motivated by the combination of being financial capable but also being fans.

"Then the Rangers Football Club can become more of an operational and executive board."

He said bringing in an executive team "is one of our priorities" and added that it was important there is a "strong executive in place that understands the business".

He also said Rangers will seek to recruit a standard of player capable of competing in the SPFL Premiership regardless of the division the club plays in next season.