DAVE KING insists he won't walk away from Rangers' battle with Sports Direct after announcing his intention to step down as Ibrox chairman.

The businessman will remain a director of Rangers Retail Ltd once he leaves his boardroom post next March.

And the legal wrangle with Mike Ashley will be his main focus going forward as he seeks a favourable outcome in the long-running merchandise row.

King said: “By and large, I have achieved what I set out to achieve when I came in five years ago. Sports Direct remains a source of huge frustration because it’s been the one, big failure.

“I thought we were on top of it, I thought we had nailed it. I thought the second agreement was workable, but they are persistent chaps.

“They look for angles and they find angles and we obviously don’t agree with them all.

“I’ll certainly be sticking around as director of Rangers Retail Ltd because I want to see a conclusion to this.

“It would not be fair for me to hand that on to someone else. I am determined to see this through and it’s important I do not walk away.

“Once we have the funding in place following the share issue I don’t need to be involved, but I do need to be involved where Sports Direct is concerned. I will take responsibility for that.”