Dave King has opened the door to a sensational Ibrox homecoming and vowed to rebuild Rangers on and off the park within two years if he returns as chairman.

Rangers have started the process of appointing a permanent successor to John Bennett after he stepped down from his position on Saturday due to health issues.

Former director John Gilligan has been named as chairman on an interim basis. But it is the man who guided Rangers for five seasons post-regime change in 2015 who could now return to Ibrox to steer the club through the latest period of uncertainty in both sporting and business senses.

King was replaced by Douglas Park in March 2020 and has laid out his vision for Rangers should the board ask him to make an emotional return to Glasgow to oversee a club that is also in the market for a new chief executive officer.

“I think I might be the best person to do it for two years,” King told the Rangers Review when asked if he would become chairman for a second time. “I don't want to do it for four or five years. But I know the club well enough and I do think it's a two-year job. 

“I wouldn't be looking to invest more money in the club. I don't think that's the way forward for the club. 

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“I think, and I can't talk for the other guys, there's investor fatigue within the existing board members. So I think the way forward is in fact for us to attract additional investment.

“There is some interest in the club at the moment, but I think we've got to get away from the model where we just rely on supporters writing out cheques. There is money out there, but that money is not going to come from Rangers. 

“We need to go and find other investors and bring them into the club. And I think that's what we plan for the next two years. 

“I'd be willing to do it. Yes, I would. I understand what's involved. I'll come in, stabilise it, get the right people in place, get the club working properly, at least give it direction, give it a plan. 

“But part of that will be for me to find new investors who will come in and make a significant investment in the club.”

King remains the largest shareholder in RIFC plc with a 14 per cent stake at Ibrox. He was a vocal critic of Park during his tenure as chairman but offered public and private backing to Bennett - who was promoted to the head of the boardroom last year - before he made the difficult decision to step away for personal reasons.

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Alistair Johnston, Graeme Park, Julian Wolhardt, John Halsted and George Taylor are the remaining directors on the RIFC plc board. King, Park and Bennett have invested tens of millions of pounds in the club in recent seasons but the South Africa-based businessman insists the time for Rangers to be bankrolled by wealthy supporters is coming to an end.

“I believe in chats that I've had there's enough of an investor interest in those areas who are investing,” King said. “Saudi, obviously, where Steven Gerrard is at the moment. There's a lot of interest in football there. 

“There's a lot of interest in America still where they see football and sports generally as being good. Rangers are a far more attractive opposition, a far more attractive opportunity than, say, Sunderland or Brighton. 

“We're going to be in Europe and with the right amount of money, we really should be able to march on and actually dominate in Scotland.

“We need people at this stage that understand the club, understand the operations, are willing to take it on. My thoughts have always been not to do it because I felt I'd done nothing and I'd done my crisis. Quite frankly, I didn't expect a crisis to happen again in my lifetime.

“But a stranger can't come in. There's no point in getting a guy from London and paying him £200,000 a year to be the chairman of the club. So I've rethought it. I've spoken to some other people who I think would like to come back.”

The return of King would be welcomed by large swathes of the Ibrox support that still hold him in the highest regard for his efforts in saving Rangers a decade ago. King also laid the foundations for title 55 with the appointment of Gerrard as manager in 2018.

Rangers find themselves at a crossroads on and off the park. King insists, though, that the club need not endure more long-term pain.

“I don't think we're as bad as we were in 2015, but I think what we need is, let's call it a two-year plan,” King said. “We'll be on a three, four, five-year plan. And I'll say two maximum. 

“One, to get control again of the commercial and operational issues of the club and get the right people actually running the club. I don't think anyone's running the club. 

John Bennett stood down as Rangers chairman on Friday (Image: SNS)

“I can't think of a single person, there are no directors there. There's no one ever at Ibrox. There's no executive team.

“Get control of the commercial contracts that we sign so that when we commit liability to the future, we know what they are and we know what they're based on. 

“Get all the operational procedures and processes so the club is working behind the scenes on things the supporters don't see. And actually come up with a viable way forward, including a funding plan that allows the manager to start to rebuild that squad.”