THE prospect of an EGM being called in a bid to remove the current Rangers board is looking increasingly likely.

 

Despite a weekend of negotiations between The Three Bears consortium and senior Ibrox officials no agreement has been reached.

Wealthy supporters George Letham, Douglas Park and George Taylor are hoping to install two directors in return for loans.

The trio of Light Blues supporters also intend to invest millions of pounds at a future share issue.

Despite needing a substantial injection of cash to remain afloat beyond this month, the club has not responded to the requests.

It is believed they are only willing to agree to one director coming onto the board.

The longer the impasse continues the greater the likelihood of an extraordinary general meeting being called to remove the board.

The Three Bears, who jointly own over 20 per cent of the club, are expected to side with Dave King, who has snapped up a 15 per cent stake, at an EGM.

And they would have significant support from fellow shareholders, including, it is believed, former managers Ally McCoist and Walter Smith.

Over 51 per cent of the shareholders need to support a move to topple the current regime - and former director King is being tipped to make the move.

The Requisitioners decided not to hold an EGM when they were seeking election to the board in 2013 to save Rangers money - and they paid the price for doing so.

By the time the AGM was held at the end of the year the directors had turned institutional investors who had previously supported The Requisitioners and they clung on to power.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based banker Taylor has publicly declared that Rangers should eventually be controlled by the Ibrox support.

The Morgan Stanley managing director has now signed up to a lifetime membership with fan-ownership group Rangers First.

He said: "My hope is that direct fan ownership would become the biggest individual owner of Rangers."

Rangers First have made a number of significant strides in recent days.

Wealthy supporter Jim McColl recently handed the group his 10,000 shares last week and they have signed up around 700 new members since the Three Bears and King bought up around 34 per cent of the club.

The scheme - which is similar to the one used to rescue Hearts from administration - is now collecting thousands of pounds a month from contributors and using that to buy up shares.

On Saturday night, they announced another 60,000 shares had been purchased, giving them control of 0.8 per cent of the club.

The Rangers Supporters Trust has also recently increased its stake to just over one per cent through its Buy Rangers scheme.

Rangers First director Ricki Neill said: "With our monthly contributors donating amounts from £5 upwards, Rangers First have the income to buy an increasing number of shares every month.

"The more members we get the faster we grow and the bigger our shareholding becomes.

"We also have the Club 1872 membership which George Taylor has recently joined, this costs £500 and was designed originally to help us reach our target in as short a period as possible.

"George Taylor is one of many true Rangers fans that have joined Club 1872, we look forward to meeting up with George in the near future."