KING HAS A FEELING OF DEJA VU WITH THE CLUB IN THE MIDST OF A MAJOR TRANSITION 06:00, 29 May 2025Updated 19:37, 29 May 2025 Dave King has seen this movie before. A Rangers team on its knees,

quivering in the shadow of a Celtic side sweeping up trophy after trophy. If it sounds familiar, it’s because this year’s horror show is an almost exact remake of the nightmare the club

experienced back in the summer of 2018. With the long-suffering Ibrox faithful desperate for a saviour, King knew just the man to cast back then. The South African tycoon was directing

productions at Ibrox as chairman at that time when he decided to place his trust in an inexperienced Steven Gerrard as boss. What followed was a three-year epic, with the Liverpool icon

Ancelotti is the favourite to land the starring role. But King isn’t so sure the stage is set this time round for a rookie actor like the Real Madrid assistant coach to take over as Rangers’

leading man. “It is kind of deja vu,” said King as he surveyed the Ibrox scene ahead of the deal that will soon see Andrew Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers assume power. “I really think

we're so short that we're back to the discussion I had with Steven in 2018. I don't know the position regarding Ancelotti, whether he's a serious candidate or not.

“Could a gamble like him work? Yeah it could. But he's untested and I think it's more difficult this time having an untested manager than it was at the point when Steven came in.

“We’ve gone backwards. We're not even a close second, quite frankly. “The person taking over as manager is possibly even more critical than it was at that time in 2018. “If you're

going to inject a lot of money into the club like the new owners, what we can't have is another reset where a manager comes in, ships nine players out, brings seven in, then the

manager's not there in six month’s time because he didn't have what it takes or couldn't manage the Glasgow factor. “Even someone like Steven will admit that coming from

Liverpool, which is closer to the Glasgow culture than Madrid or other European cities, it was still a culture shock for him to come in and understand that whole Glasgow thing. “You've

got to be here. You can't really explain it until you live through it. “So I think the appointment of the manager in this case is very, very important.” Former skipper Barry Ferguson

saw his chances of landing the job as Philippe Clement’s permanent replacement falter during a rollercoaster stint as caretaker. King has sympathy for a man he holds in the highest esteem -

not something you could say about the spineless squad he accused of failing the interim boss. The Castlemilk-born millionaire said: “I actually sent a note to Barry to say how heartwarming

it was to see someone on the sidelines that was so emotional and passionate. You could see in his face how much he wanted it. “I was delighted to see how important it was to him to do well.

“It wasn’t just because he might have had a shot at the job, you could see his passion for the club and the standards he set. “Unfortunately, the squad let him down. We all accept that the

quality of the squad has gone down — but they're still better than they produced. “Once you cross that white line and you're playing for the fans, I think every player should be

playing at his best. “It doesn't always happen, but the team looked like they weren’t trying sometimes. It was really, really disappointing. “It came down to a lack of backbone, I

think, and them not trying their heart out.” King decided to sell his 13 percent stake in the club - the largest tranche held by any single investor - after meeting with the US consortium

late last year. Cavenagh and Co will also buy out the shares held by John Bennett and Barry Scott plus portions held by others like ex-chairman Douglas Park. A future share issue will then

take the Americans past the 51 percent mark needed for outright control. King has no doubt the new owners will make good on promises they gave him when it comes to providing the new boss

with funds. But he cautioned fans against a huge summer splurge. “The money being invested can't all be spent immediately - but a big chunk has got to come first. “If we're talking

about X amount of money, I’d say 40-50 percent has to go in the first window. If we get that wrong, that's going to be a huge setback. “But when I was chatting to Andrew when I met him

initially, my top criteria based on previous discussions with parties who were interested in investing was proof of funds. “When I asked Andrew and his consortium for proof, my basis for

the calculation was the amount of funds required for a number of transfer windows. "It wasn't about getting it done in the first window because I really think it’s going to take

time again. "The discussion with Andrew and the 49ers back in November was around me knowing they had the funds available. “I wanted to know that once they got a manager, they were

going to back him and slowly bridge the gap, because I think we've gone backwards over the last couple of seasons. “The whole transfer policy has been so wrong. I look at the quality of

the players, the amount of money spent on them. “I get some of the guys maybe getting a bit overawed by Ibrox. But sometimes the lack of effort, the lack of character and temperament was

something I wouldn’t expect of a Rangers player. Article continues below “I do think the rebuild will be an awful lot slower and longer than we'd like. But it's going to be

necessary to do it on a phased basis.”