RANGERS chairman Dave King has confirmed the Ibrox board will repay the £5million loan to Sports Direct. 

The Light Blues chief announced to shareholders at the RIFC plc AGM yesterday that directors had opted to repay the cash to Mike Ashley at a board meeting last night. 

Ashley agreed the loan deal with the former Gers regime earlier this year and has launched a series of legal moves against Rangers in recent weeks. 

Read more: Live coverage of the Rangers agm 

King said it took "one hour" to get the commitment of funds from investors George Letham, Douglas Park, George Taylor and John Bennett. Ashley, whose Sports Direct firm control Rangers' merchandise streams, will now be paid back the cash he is owed. 

Glasgow Times:

King told around 1,000 shareholders at the Clyde Auditorium: "At the board meeting which we finished in the early hours of last evening, the board made a decision to reverse our previous position regarding the Sports Direct loan.

"I previously felt that loan was something the club was entitled to and shouldn't be repaid. But with the ongoing situation with Sports Direct a decision was made last night that we would endeavour to repay the loan as long as we could raise the funds to do so.

"I'm delighted that once again with the commitment the investors are giving to this club, it took me just one hour to make phone calls and myself, Douglas Park, George Letham, George Taylor, Paul Murray and John Bennett (gave a) commitment for the £5million and we will be advising Sports Direct today we will be repaying that loan."

Referring to the Sports Direct situation, King insisted the board would succeed in gaining more "mutually beneficial" partnerships in the future.

He said the "doom and gloom" at Ibrox and Murray Park had gone and that "positive progress" had been made on the park. 

King reaffirmed his £30million target to help Mark Warburton's team achieve progress on the park, but admitted a lot would depend on Warburton's strategy.

The chairman said he was pleased with value of signings so far and added that promotion to the Premiership was "essential to a positive cash flow going forward".

King also used his speech at the agm to label Charles Green's legal claim 'absurd', after the former Gers chief executive failed in his bid to reclaim legal fees from Rangers at the Court of Session.

Mr Green was forced to resign from his position in April 2013 when allegations of business links with former owner Craig Whyte emerged, although he denied any wrongdoing.

He had also been fined £2,500 by the Scottish FA for making racist remarks in a newspaper interview about his colleague, former Rangers commercial director Imran Ahmad. Green left the club four months later after he had his contract as a paid consultant to the club terminated.

Mr Green and a number of others, including the club’s former owner Whyte, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this month charged in connection with the Sevco takeover.