More questions than answers over Mike Ashley

What exactly is the Newcastle owner’s motivation in the continuing Ibrox drama?

The latest developments concerning Mike Ashley and Rangers leave more questions than answers.

It was yet another interesting twist in the off-the-field drama at Ibrox when the Newcastle United owner called for an EGM to try to remove chief-executive Graham Wallace and director Philip Nash.

Now the first thing you have to ask yourself is why has he made such a move? What are the motives behind that action?

From the outside looking in you have to presume Ashley believes they aren’t in favour of him becoming more involved in Rangers.

If that is the case then why? And you then take it on a stage further and ask yourself if they don’t want Ashley involved at Ibrox then why? Have the pair of them made it known within the boardroom they’d like to see Dave King take over?

These are the questions the Rangers supporters will be asking in light of this week’s revelations.

Not for the first time in recent years, they are left wondering what is really going on behind the scenes at the club. And I’m not so sure they’ll find the answers any time soon, if I’m being honest.

The battle to seize control of the club and believe me that’s exactly what it is, a battle will continue to be fought out for quite some time.

But let’s take a closer look at Ashley. As things stand he currently owns 9% of the football club. He can’t own any more than 10% whilst still owning a club in the English Premier League.

I’d imagine there are still ways around that. He might be able to own shares in a company which buys more shares in Rangers.

However, I think he’d sell Newcastle United in a heartbeat if he can get out. He clearly sees Rangers as a more-interesting prospect which leads me to another question.

Why are the Rangers supporters so against this guy taking over their club? Whenever I’ve been talking to supporters just about all of them are very much against having him at the helm at Ibrox.

Now when I ask why I’m told they believe he is only interested in Rangers to try and promote his SportsDirect brand. Maybe that is true. But Rangers would still benefit massively if that was the case.

Ashley looks as though he believes there is an opportunity to sort the problems out at Rangers and get the club back into the Champions League providing a much bigger marketing profile than he can get with Newcastle United.

If that is his ambition and he is willing to spend to get Rangers to that level then why not? Surely that is what every single Rangers fan wants to get back to the top.

Ashley might not be a Rangers supporter but what he most certainly is without any doubt is a fantastic businessman. He has pots of money and could easily afford to sign the players required to reach that level.