Bennett notified Rangers of his desire to resign, according to a report published by The Athletic on Saturday. Later on, the club announced that he had resigned for health reasons, effective immediately.
The 61-year-old took over as vice-chairman in March of last year to succeed the departing Douglas Park, but he has determined it is time to stand down due to the demands of the post.
John Gilligan, a former director, will serve as chairman in an interim capacity until a permanent replacement is named.
Due to the delicacy of the situation, The Athletic talked anonymously with senior club sources after contacting Rangers for comment on Friday night. These sources stated they were unable to confirm or reject the report.
As part of the regime upheaval that drove Mike Ashley and his allies out of the club, Bennett joined the board in March 2015.
Along with other fan-investor shareholders, he has invested millions of his own money into the team to help Rangers finance their losses since 2015.
Rangers have made it to the 2022 Europa League final and have won one Premiership, one Scottish Cup, and one League Cup during that span.
However, since he became chairman, the past year has been a challenge as fan unhappiness at the team’s decline and delays in the summer stadium improvements have made Rangers have to pay to use Hampden Park.
Bennett was in charge of firing Michael Beale as manager after just over a year in office while serving as chairman.
The announcement of Philippe Clement’s new deal, which runs until 2028, was made last month. Bennett then outlined his own long-term goals for Rangers.
He remarked, “Philippe and I had a far-reaching conversation at the end of May, as I intimated in my recent RangersTV interview.”
“We all had the same obvious goal in mind: to rebuild the Rangers men’s first team in both the short and long terms.
“We shook hands on this new contract at that meeting, and the board is happy that the formalities are over.”
Changes set to continue at Rangers
Jordan Campbell’s analysis
Of the two directors, Bennett is the only one who works in Scotland. The transport magnate Douglas Park’s son, Graeme Park, is still on the board even though his father resigned last year due to a power struggle in which previous chairman Dave King voted against his reelection.
King resides in South Africa, Stuart Gibson, George Taylor, and Julian Wolhardt are based in Hong Kong, while John Halsted and Alastair Johnston are based in the United States.
Bennett has been trying to find a replacement chief executive following the departure of Stewart Robertson last summer, when he was moved to the position of chief executive at Al Qadsiah, a Saudi Pro League team.
Since the end of May, the position has been unfilled as ties to Jim Gillespie, the vice-chairman of St. Mirren, were severed.
During Bennett’s leadership, Rangers abandoned the sporting director model, although in the previous two years, the team has undergone significant upheaval. An academy director is one of the positions that has not yet been filled.
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