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Soccer-King and his consortium win control of Rangers

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By Neil Maidment

LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - South Africa-based businessman Dave King won the battle for control of Scottish soccer club Rangers on Friday, winning a vote to oust the board and appoint himself and others to the helm of the 54-times league champions.

Rangers, which re-formed as a fourth-tier club in 2012 after being wound up and now play in the Scottish second tier, have been blighted by financial troubles, problematic takeovers and boardroom infighting and the latest drama came to a head at a short meeting.

Rangers chairman David Somers and director James Easdale had resigned before the Ibrox meeting.

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Shareholders then voted to remove CEO Derek Llambias and finance chief Barry Leach and appoint King, fellow former director of the old Rangers company Paul Murray and businessman John Gilligan to the board.

King, who put 20 million pounds ($30 million) into Rangers in his first stint and owns 14.57 percent of the club, has said he will not yet take up the appointment. King, who has faced tax issues in South Africa, will wait until he has passed a fit-and-proper person test with the Scottish Football Association.

He has stated that some of the first acts of the new board will be to appoint more directors to the club and to name a new nominated advisor following the resignation of WH Ireland (LSE: WHI.L - news) on Wednesday, which resulted in Rangers' shares being suspended.

Llambias and Leach were allies of Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, who owns almost nine percent of Rangers and has provided a 10 million pound loan lifeline to the club through the British retailer. Ashley has refused to speak with King.

King, who has told British media that Rangers need over 20 million pounds in investment to become competitive, has said he will provide half the funding with other businessmen including Murray putting up the rest.

Rangers are third in the Scottish second tier.

($1 = 0.6628 pounds) (Editing by Ed Osmond)