Rangers interim chairman John Gilligan urges Dave King to stop criticising

Rangers won the Scottish League Cup last season and finished runners-up to Celtic in the other two domestic competitions. They will extend their defence of this season’s League Cup into the semi-finals with a win over Dundee on Saturday and will play Motherwell at Hampden next month.

However, Philippe Clement’s team are five points behind Celtic and Aberdeen in the Premier League and are playing in the Europa League this season. They start in Malmö on Thursday after being knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Dynamo Kiev.

King said £50m is needed to get Rangers back into a competitive position with three-in-a-row champions Celtic.

“Dave talks about new investment, but he doesn’t want to invest,” Gilligan said. “I’m not sure where he thinks the investment is going to come from.”

The interim chairman said King’s assessment of the state of the club was incorrect and that there was no appetite at board level for his return.

“I think he’s wrong,” the interim president said. “I think it’s unfair. What exactly is he saying that’s wrong? What is he saying that’s wrong?

“Give us a plan and tell me. If Dave has a great plan to tell me where we’re all going wrong, we’ll read that plan and consider it.

“I haven’t spoken to Dave. Dave gave me one of the happiest days of my life when he asked me to join him (on the board) 10 years ago and I’ll never forget it. Since then we’ve socialized when he came over and we’ve played golf, but I haven’t spoken to him, no.”

Gilligan expects to remain in the role for a number of months. He also spoke about the club’s search for a new general manager following the departure of James Bisgrove in the summer, describing it as a “priority”.