Rangers ace reacts to Ethan Ampadu as Paraag Marathe’s Leeds seal promotion
Ethan Ampadu has well-wishers at Rangers after leading Leeds United to Premier League promotion.
Leeds sealed their return to the Premier League after Sheffield United lost 2-1 against Burnley on Easter Monday (21 April), thus falling seven points behind the Whites with only two games left.
The Elland Road outfit had done their own bit earlier, having thrashed Stoke City 6-0 at home, courtesy of a four-goal haul from Joel Piroe.
With that, Paraag Marathe has ended remaining concerns about his ownership of an EFL club affecting his takeover plans at Rangers.
Rangers man sends message to Ampadu
As the Leeds captain, Ampadu has played a key role in the Whites’ road to promotion despite suffering injury setbacks at different stages of the season.
Therefore, the Wales international was front and centre of celebrations, as the West Yorkshire outfit kicked off a party in the wake of their promotion on Monday.
He later took to social media to express his delight, sharing pictures of himself from the celebration, including one of him placing a pyro flare between his lips like a cigar.
This drew a reaction from Rabbi Matondo, who has shared the dressing room with Ampadu for Wales.
“Love it skip”, Matondo wrote on Instagram (21 April) along with a heart emoji.
Marathe to push forward with takeover after Leeds promotion
There have been suggestions that Leeds possibly failing to earn promotion may jeopardise Marathe and Andrew Cavenagh’s plans to buy a 51 per cent stake in Rangers.
The EFL rules deny someone owning a club in one of their divisions from being involved in a similar role elsewhere, including in the Scottish Premiership.
| Rangers shareholders | Shares (rounded) |
| Dave King | 13% |
| Douglas Park | 12% |
| George Taylor | 10% |
| Stuart Gibson | 9.5% |
| John Bennett | 7% |
| Julian Wolhardt | 6.7% |
| John Halstead | 6% |
However, those concerns have already been dismissed, with the structure of the takeover at Ibrox unlikely to put Marathe in trouble.
Nevertheless, Leeds’ promotion will have put any remaining doubts to bed, allowing the US consortium to push forward with their plans.
It recently emerged that the consortium involving 49ers Enterprises has found a breakthrough in talks with the existing shareholders at Rangers.