DAVE KING insists Mike Ashley can't be given 'preferential treatment' in the three-way battle for Rangers after Brian Kennedy joined the fight at Ibrox.

In a dramatic day of events, Ashley tabled an offer to provide emergency funding for the Light Blues hours after King returned to South Africa having failed to reach an agreement over his £16m investment package.

Ashley demanded chief executive Graham Wallace and finance director Philip Nash were removed from the board as part of his deal but, before any offer had been accepted, Nash sensationally quit the club to leave Wallace isolated in a fractured boardroom.

That move was followed by the return of Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks who attempted to buy Rangers two years ago in a joint move with Paul Murray, the former Gers director who is now part of the King alliance.

The proposals from Newcastle United owner Ashley and Kennedy would provide Rangers with much-needed short-term funding but the money, likely to be several million pounds, will need to be paid back at a time when cash is tight at Ibrox and the future extremely uncertain.

It is understood Rangers have sufficient funds to meet the wage bill that is due next week but despite raising £3m in a share option just several weeks ago, they will require urgent investment to see them through to the end of the year.

The Gers board held crunch talks last night to mull over the two new offers on the table and King insists Ashley is not the answer to Rangers' problems.

King said: "Mr Ashley's involvement (and recently-announced continued commitment) with Newcastle precludes him from making a similar offer of long term permanent equity.

"What Mr Ashley can do is attempt to increase his vice-like grip on the Rangers brand by improving his retail position as a condition for supplying short term debt to tide the club over until our permanent funding is in place.

"But I know that there are other investors also willing to provide bridging finance.

"The board will therefore not have to accept punitive terms even if Ashley attempts to oppose them.

"We must remember that the board is ethically and legally bound to act in the best interest of the company and all shareholders. Ashley cannot expect preferential treatment and will not get it."

The whirlwind developments at Ibrox came shortly after King left Scotland to return home after failing to clinch a deal with the board over a multi-million pound investment.

The proposal would have seen the businessman plough £8m into his boyhood heroes, with a group, includingf Murray and George Letham, putting in a similar amount in a bid to control 51% of the shares in RIFC plc after a new share issue.

King and Letham met with chairman David Somers and Wallace last week, with the chief executive and Nash thought to be keen on doing a deal with the former Ibrox director.

Wallace's future was thrown into doubt last night after Rangers confirmed to the Stock Exchange that Nash had stepped down, with King saying he "probably resigned as a matter of principle against something that is going on".

With two loan offers now on the table alongside King's big money package, the Rangers board must act quickly as cash reserves dwindle at an alarming rate.

The major stumbling block for King is the fact that Sandy Easdale has, including proxy votes for the likes of Blue Pitch Holdings and Margarita Holdings, control for around 26% of the shares in RIFC plc.

That gives him the power to veto any proposal at the AGM that would pave the way for King's investment, but the 59-year-old insists he is still at the heart of the fight for Rangers.

King said: "I don't see the offer of a short-term loan by Mr Ashley affecting me in any way.

"Our offer is for a long-term permanent solution that can take the club forward and unite the fans and the board for the first time in many years.

"The board is in the final stages of reviewing our offer and I expect a definitive answer early next week.

"It doesn't seem possible that the board can do anything other than recommend it to shareholders given the dire financial circumstances and the fact that no other long-term solution is on offer."