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THE true cost of Mike Ashley’s retail deals with Rangers was laid bare yesterday with the release of a set of accounts which appear to show the club banked almost nothing from kit sales last year.

The Ibrox club may have made as little as £30,000 from strip sales – despite being owed £1.3million after a turnover of £4.2m.

But the annual figures released by Rangers Retail are so full of holes that they had to carry a disclaimer on behalf of the independent auditor.

(Image: Daily Record)

And business experts believe the last three years of the company’s official accounts may now have to be redone after the latest report revealed an astonishing error in the allocation of their shares.

The blunder has only come to light since club directors Dave King and Paul Murray joined the retail board a year ago.

The figures record turnover for strips and merchandise of more than £4.2m for the year ending

April 26, 2015.

And, despite slumping sales, £2.7m worth of dividends were paid out to two shareholders – Ashley’s Sports Direct and the club.

The shares were originally split, with 51 per cent belonging to Rangers and 49 per cent under Ashley’s control. But the Sports Direct holding increased to 75 per cent after Ashley bailed out the previous board with a £5m emergency loan.

And, before King and Murray had taken control and paid off Ashley’s loan, the dividend was triggered.

One expert said last night: “Effectively, a decision was taken to pay Rangers a 25 per cent share of the dividend before the loan was repaid and the shareholding returned to the more even split.

“In other words, Rangers should have banked more than £1.3million but that payout was reduced in half to around £650,000. And from that sum a whole range of other deductions were then made.”

It’s believed at least part of a sum of around £620,000 – for costs incurred when loss-making Rangers stores were closed – may also have been deducted from the final amount paid to the club.

(Image: SNS Group)

But the figures paint a fuzzy financial picture because of a lack of information, which forced the auditors to say: “We have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.”

And the bizarre blunder over the share allocation was also confirmed.

The report said: “During the year it was identified that the issued share capital of the company was 200 shares, not the 100 shares stated in the 2014 and prior financial statements – 100 of these shares were allotted in error.

"The directors of the company, having been alerted to this error, will now take all necessary steps to cancel these shares.”

Sports Direct did not respond to requests for a comment last night.