MIKE ASHLEY was today warned Rangers fans will not buckle in their battle over the Light Blues' merchandise deals ahead of another Ibrox showdown.

The Sports Direct tycoon has called for a General Meeting to be held next week in a bid to force the new Gers board to repay the £5million loan he agreed with the former regime earlier this year.

As a condition of the loan, Ashley has security over a number of Rangers' assets, including their registered trademarks, and he further strengthened his hand relating to their merchandise arrangements as his stake in Rangers Retail Limited increased to 75%.

Many Gers fans continue to refuse to buy official goods from the club shop or Sports Direct stores in protest at the deals that chairman Dave King and his fellow directors are keen to renegotiate for Rangers' benefit.

In their response to the billionaire last month, the board proposed they will 'provide shareholders with a breakdown of the income received by Rangers Retail Limited ("RRL") since its incorporation and the payments made by RRL to the club.'

The board have asked shareholders for their backing to a Resolution that could reveal more details about the controversial contracts and a spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Trust told SportTimes: "I don't think there is any question that Ashley has been relying on the goodwill of previous boards to not show the full extent of how bad the Sports Direct deal is.

"We were able to release some information based on analysis of the accounts and how much the club was actually receiving from Sports Direct, which was effectively nothing at that time. That could have been explicit in the accounts but wasn't.

"Even if the board can't release specific contractual terms, by releasing how much money the club has received from Sports Direct is going to be hugely damaging.

"It is one thing for us to release the analysis we did, but another for the board to say 'this is what we are making out of this deal'.

"It is obvious that it is a poor deal and that fans, in their numbers, will not buy merchandise until it is improved.

"It is in Ashley's benefit to do it, Rangers' benefit to do it but we have this antagonistic position where the GM has been called.

"I don't see how Ashley can win this battle. The fans are not going to buckle on this one."

Ashley put forward his General Meeting call to demand answers over Rangers International Football Club plc's stock market de-listing and raised questions over the loan deal agreed with the Three Bears consortium.

Rangers are confident they will be under no obligation to repay Ashley even if his motion is passed next Friday and MASH holdings are still considering whether to send a representative north of the border for the shareholder summit.

The Trust spokesman said: "It just seems like more hassle from Mike Ashley. The board might feel they need to push ahead with it because of the size of shareholding that MASH hold but I think, from the fans' point of view, it seems a pretty spurious reason for holding a GM.

"It is just a waste of money and it all seems a bit unnecessary. I think the approach of MASH and Sports Direct is bizarre.

"It is against a backdrop of people already being extremely reluctant to buy any merchandise because they know that hardly any money is going to the club.

"To further antagonise the support by calling this GM, and the costs associated with it, is alienating what are in effect potential Sports Direct customers. I don't know what he expects to achieve.

"It is disappointing but not surprising given the history with Ashley over the last couple of years."