King, speaking at the Rangers International Football Club's AGM at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, said: "Unfortunately, Sports Direct has again done its best to interrupt our retail operations by engaging in the type of litigation that they are by now famous for.

"In my opinion, they use urgent and interim proceedings so that they can drown the court in papers that cannot be adequately reviewed in time.

"This allows them to get interim relief pending a full ventilation of the facts.

"In the final analysis Sports Direct has consistently failed with its bullying tactics and I anticipate a similar outcome to the present litigation."

The club's previous arrangement with Sports Direct saw it reportedly earn just seven pence from every pound spend on official club merchandise.

But a High Court judge last month ruled Rangers had breached the terms of a fresh deal struck last year with a company in the Sports Direct group by signing an agreement with a rival firm without giving Ashley's company the chance to match that offer.

Rangers were ordered to pay legal fees which, coupled with a similar defeat in July, are set to cost the club close to £1million.

In the wake of the verdict, Sports Direct urged Rangers to "accept the outcome, move on and put in place commercial arrangements with Sports Direct, for the benefit of the Rangers fans and the club".

King admits the growing legal bill is a worry but the South Africa-based tycoon is ready to dig his heels in.

"Obviously it is of some concern to the club and from the club's perspective that we are spending money on legal fees," he told the meeting when later asked on the Sports Direct situation by shareholders.

"But, having said that, it is litigation initiated by Sports Direct and it is very often of an interim nature and it is something that we have to oppose.

"I don't know the numbers that have been quoted in the media to say whether they are correct or not but what I can say is that there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of orders against us at the moment.

"Having said that, I am optimistic we can get these orders overturned when they are fully ventilated before the courts and this is something that we really must do.

"It is an unwanted situation from our point of view but the alternative is to back down and give Sports Direct what they want and we are never going to do that."

Press Association Sport has contacted Sports Direct for a response to King's comments.

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