Madcap Rangers claim emerges as Man City 'feeder club' attempt and definitive answer to Ibrox club revealed

Former Man City chairman David Bernstein has claimed Rangers tried to make the Citizens their feeder club before big-money investment.

Back in 1998, Bernstein was taking over a club far removed from the riches and success it currently has enjoyed over the last decade. The current Champions League holders trailed Gillingham 2-0 heading into injury time of the Second Division play-off final, before Kevin Horlock and Paul Dickov goals bailed them out.

They won on penalties and was an important milestone on the way to investment from the middle-east in 2008. City have won the Premier League seven times since.

But in an interview with The People, Bernstein claims then-Rangers chairman David Murray wanted to incorporate Man City into his Ibrox plans. He said: "I'm not sure too many of City's younger fans understand the significance of Paul Dickov's equaliser - or, for that matter, Kevin Horlock's goal.

"Manchester City wouldn't have died if we hadn't been promoted, but it would have been a long way back because I would have had to oversee huge spending cuts. The move to the new stadium probably wouldn't have happened - and that was a key element in Sheikh Mansour's decision to buy the club in 2008.

"It was a tough time to be a City fan. The club was extremely vulnerable. There was an offer to take a shortcut back to the Premier League by merging with Wimbledon. A month after we beat Gillingham came a letter from Rangers chairman David Murray that would have turned us into their feeder club. Both proposals got short shrift, of course. City fans would have torn Maine Road down!

"I understood that, because I was one of them. Looking back, perhaps it was fortunate I was chairman because someone who didn't understand the club may have been tempted."