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DAVE KING didn’t have to dive under the bonnet of the car wreck he’d just inherited to see the state it was in back in March.

The evidence was right there in front of his eyes as he sat in the directors’ box watching his first home match since getting rid of the hated former regime.

Watching Rangers’ overpaid, underperforming players having to settle for a 1-1 against Queen of the South at Ibrox on March 11 told him all he needed to know. Yes, the finances of the club would need forensic examination, but on the pitch, there had to be clearout whether Rangers eventually crawled over the line to the Premiership or not.

The fact that 11 players were out of contract at the end of the season has made that task easier and yesterday King was in no mood to hand out tea and sympathy to those who had not been offered new deals. Which was all of them.

Players like Lee McCulloch, Jon Daly, Kris Boyd, Bilel Mohsni, Seb Faure, Stevie Smith and Richard Foster have gone and won’t be back. You get the impression if the others weren't under the contract, they’d be in the same boat.

He said: “I watched the team play Queen of the South at Ibrox just after the general meeting in March. Queen of the South’s total wage bill for players and management was around £7000 a week. We had more than that in players sitting on the bench we chose not to play.

(Image: SNS)

“So I think there wasn’t investment in the squad, there was just an expenditure pattern.

“I don’t know who was making those decisions on players in the Charles Green era or in the Easdales era.

“But what I can say is that it speaks for itself, if you look at the wage bill last season and look at the performance of the team.

“Not winning the Championship, with the wage bill of the team, was unthinkable at the beginning of the season.

“Then we struggled to get through against Queen of the South and Hibs in the play-offs. I was at both Hibs games and we certainly weren’t the better team. In fact, we were fortunate to get through against Hibs.

“You wouldn’t have expected us to be struggling for the level of wages we were paying.

“What struck me that day was the extent of the wage bill and the fact that what I saw on the park was a fair fight. It wasn’t as if it was a draw but we’d dominated the game and didn’t score.

“The teams looked quite even – even from a fitness point of view. Queen of the South actually looked fitter than we did over the last 15 minutes.

“Some of these things just made no sense to me. We just looked completely out of sorts, and although I hadn’t seen Rangers play for quite some time, it was completely disproportionate to what I recognised as Rangers Football Club.

“We are looking at players who can come in and make a contribution over the next three years and represent value to the club.

“I don’t know how they went about buying and selling in the Charles Green era, but it hasn’t worked for the club over that period of time.

“None of those out of contract will be staying. I think they’ve all gone and there’s no intention of extending any of these contracts.

“If the managers comes in and wants to keep any, we’d have to have a discussion around that. But it would be surprising.

“I’d be very, very surprised if a manager was coming in with a budget he’ll have available to him, would then want to go back and hire some players who failed miserably last season.

“The fact 11 players have gone out is an opportunity to bring players in, so I think it’s a great opportunity for the manager. If those 11 were still in contract, we’d still have a new manager but we don’t have to increase the squad to 35 players now.

Watch as Dave King outlines his plans for Rangers future..

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“It’s awkward but it’s also wonderful timing for the chap coming in.”

King was speaking as he outlined the need for tens of thousands of Rangers fans to buy season tickets for another term in the Championship.

But he accepts there may be a reluctance until the name of the new manager is known and new players start to arrive.

He added: “ The fact is we don’t have a team and it’s not ideal but it is where we’re at at the moment and we have to deal with it.”

“Rangers have never been in the situation they are in now. So in that sense it is the managerial appointment is most important.

“Each change of manager is a risk. I think the particular risk that we have right now is the timing, where a number of things have come together. And it’s because of the history – we know why we are here.

“You’ve got a complete change in executive, you’ve got a complete change in the football management and the need to bring in a new team.

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“We will be very careful at looking at player recruitment. We’ll be taking a three-year view on the players we are signing up on contracts and trying to create assets as well. We have to be far more disciplined in getting players who can also be assets for the club.

“Nothing meaningful on the managerial side could be done until we found out what league we were playing in.

“We knew there were certain candidates we had a level of interest in, who could have been the right choice for the way we see the club going forward, whom any further level of engagement with was fully dependent on us getting into the Premiership. That’s completely understandable.

“We need to make sure that while we are willing to spend the money, I use the word ‘invest’ deliberately. We are going to make an investment.

“If we invest wisely in the right squad, do what we have to do this year and go forward with the nucleus of a strong team, that’s far preferable to shuffling along and doing the minimum to win the Championship then having to rebuild again for the Premiership. So it makes business sense to accelerate that level of investment.”

In Pictures: Rangers chairman Dave King launches season tickets at Ibrox..

And King is adamant that a strong Rangers back in the top flight – he has targetted a title challenge with Celtic in the next three years – will be beneficial to the Parkhead club.

He said: “Celtic have lost 12,000 in attendances and I don’t think their fans doubt their ability to win the league. They are just not buying the product at the moment for other reasons, the main one being Rangers are not there.

“I think the biggest boost to Celtic would be Rangers going up because Celtic season tickets would go up by about 12,000.

“Fans have their own reasons for buying season tickets. Even if you look at the Rangers nine in a row years, we weren’t always selling the season tickets. It’s not always the case.

“So what I’m saying to the fans is to try and make a special effort this time round. Try and go back to where you were three years ago when we went into the third division and the fans went out of their way to support the club. I’m asking for that spirit again.

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“But ultimately, I’m going to be judged – and quite rightly so – by whether I deliver on my statement of intent. It’s not a promise because one cannot make a promise like that. “But the statement of intent is that we are taking it very seriously and going to provide the funds. If I stop providing the funds then the fans can come and say: ‘You let me down.’

“But providing the funds does not necessarily guarantee success. When Rangers were the richest club in Scotland by a mile, we weren’t guaranteed to win the league every year against Celtic. There is no guarantee.

“But in three years, I see us playing in Europe and challenging Celtic for the title.”

* Rangers’ season tickets are now on sale and renewal forms will be posted out to supporters this week. Prices have been increased by 5% and start from £53 for juveniles, £312 for adults and £210 for concessions. Credit and debit payment options are available.

Fans can use the ticket hotline on 0871 702 1972, go online at www.rangers.co.uk or return forms by post to the Rangers Ticket Office.

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