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Newcastle owner Mike Ashley faces another huge week in his battle for Rangers; The Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley shows no sign of concentrating solely on St James' Park as Ibrox battle gets messy.

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Byline: Neil Cameron

Mike Ashley's allies on the Rangers board are ready to fight off shareholders who want to force the Newcastle United owner out of the Scottish club.

South African businessman Dave King, a former director at Ibrox, had revealed plans to hold an EGM that he hoped would begin the end of Ashley's power struggle in Scotland, with former Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias, now chief executive at Rangers, also in their sights.

Ashley and his people will seek to prove that King, who has a criminal record for tax offences, and his backers are unfit to run a football club.

If they are successful it would be difficult to see who else would have the type of money required to do anything about Ashley's grip on Rangers, of which he owns 8.9 per cent.

Ashley is clearly ready to dig in and fight any threat to his growing control of the club, and those Newcastle supporters who are tired of his reign at St James' Park will hope that this is a sign he is ready to sell up on Tyneside. What is obvious is that, for the moment at least, the billionaire remains confident he can retain ownership of Newcastle and continue to exert so much influence on the struggling Glasgow club.

And there are no signs that he is ready to concentrate solely on Newcastle at a time when the club are searching for a new head coach.

King last week called for an EGM when it emerged that the current board, on which Llambias sits, lodged an advanced notice for a charge over Ibrox in favour Sports Direct.

However, King's past -- in 2013 he had to repay [pounds sterling]44m of the [pounds sterling]149m he owed the South African tax authorities -- could prove his downfall.

In a statement released on Monday to the Stock Exchange by the Rangers International Football Club (RIFC), Llambias and his fellow board members made it clear they were ready to fight.

They said: "The...

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