Rangers director James Easdale has resigned from the board ahead of a meeting that could have seen him voted off.
The club announced to the stock exchange that Easdale had left both the plc and football club boards.
A statement read: “Rangers announces that James Easdale has resigned from the boards of the company and Rangers Football Club Limited with immediate effect.
“He leaves Rangers having never received any remuneration, bonus or compromise payment during his time at the club.
“He would like to thank all the fans and shareholders who supported him and wishes the club a speedy return to the top flight of Scottish football and beyond.”
The announcement came hours after the Rangers Supporters Trust revealed it hadbought a chunk of shares previously controlled by Sandy Easdale, the brother ofJames.
The fan-ownership campaign group announced on Tuesday purchased an 450,000 shares from Beaufort Nominees, which had previously proxied its shares to Sandy Easdale, who is chairman of the club board but is not on the PLC board.
That took the RST’s block of proxies and owned shares to 3.8 per cent and increased the pressure on the Rangers board ahead of a general meeting on March 6. Another fan group, Rangers First, has a 2.5 per cent block and both are voting against the board.
Major shareholder Dave King is seeking to remove the board, which now consists of Barry Leach, Derek Llambias and David Somers, and install himself, Paul Murray and John Gilligan.
Sandy Easdale has 6.45 per cent of shares but also controlled a proxy block of more than 19 per cent, which includes the stakes of Blue Pitch and Margarita holdings. Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, whose close associates Llambias and Leach face removal, has an 8.9 per cent stake.
King has a 14.6 per cent stake and the Three Bears, who will also vote against the board, have a combined holding of nearly 20 per cent.