RICHARD GOUGH is confident things will only get better for Rangers ...

if Dave King assumes the Ibrox throne.

He fears they will go from bad to worse if he is once again blocked and the Light Blue status quo remains, however.

The nine-in-a-row legend was back in Glasgow this week to again lend his support to King as the South Africa-based businessman edges closer to control of Rangers.

King was confident about his chances of overthrowing the beleaguered board and bullish about his plans for a bright future for his boyhood heroes.

If all goes to plan, the current incumbents will be removed, the regime will be taken apart and King, Paul Murray and John Gilligan will be the new power-brokers at Ibrox.

It is a moment Rangers fans have waited several years for, and Gough reckons it can't come a moment too soon after seeing the soul ripped out of the club he served with distinction.

He said: "Dave King and the people who are on board with him all have Rangers at heart. It's pretty evident that the people who have been in charge for the last few years have not been in it for Rangers Football Club.

"The club is in as bad a state as I've ever seen it. I'm not sure the supporters actually know how bad it is. I hear rumours all the time that there is now just one guy looking after the maintenance at Ibrox. It's changed, it's unrecognisable from what it was 10 years ago.

"I think we are bang in trouble if Dave doesn't win the day. I would fear for the club. In a lot of ways, it is the last chance to save it.

"I might be completely wrong, but I just look at the evidence of the last three or four years and it's getting worse and worse."

The battle for the keys to Ibrox is likely to be fought at a General Meeting in the coming weeks as shareholders get set to decide Rangers' future.

King is certain he has gathered enough support to remove the under-fire board and see chairman David Somers, chief executive Derek Llambias, Barry Leach and James Easdale removed from the Ibrox top table.

If he is successful, it will only be the start of a long, expensive journey and extensive period of rebuilding, with every area of the club in need of cash and urgent attention.

Gough said: "It's going to be a long process, it's not going to be a quick fix. What has happened in the last three years had drained the resources. By all accounts, Murray Park and Ibrox both need £10million of work done.

"I spoke to Laura Tarbet, who had been at Rangers as secretary for 44 years, the other night, just to see how she was doing.

"That's what's been happening at the club, losing great people like her. It should never have been allowed to happen.

"It will take a while to get the club back to how it should be. If Dave gets in and the Three Bears also invest, I think the club will be able to get other money from elsewhere, maybe from Mr Sarver as well.

"There are a lot of big investors out there who would come in if they saw the right people on the Rangers board."

King may be confident about his chances of defeating the current board, but there are still roadblocks in his path before he can lead Rangers on the right track.

The businessman has brushed aside concerns over the so-called 'fit and proper person' criteria that will need to be met with both the AIM in the City and the Scottish FA.

Gough said: "First things first, let's make sure Dave and the others get on to the board, get control of the club and then go from there. I don't think the SFA should put any blocks on Dave's involvement.

"When I look at the SFA, I wonder if they could have done more to protect Rangers who, after all, are one of their main assets.

"It has had a huge effect on Scottish football over the last three years, Rangers going down to the Third Division."