Having avoided the need to explain in public their decision to grant Dave King as fit and proper to be a director in a football club the SFA should have breathed a sigh of relief.
For reasons best known to themselves yesterday’s reprieve was followed by a statement from an SFA spokesman that is bound to have been noted by the Ashley camp.
After dropping their claim for a judicial review the Ashley camp claimed: “We are delighted that the wall of secrecy surrounding the SFA’s decision to declare Dave King a ‘fit and proper person’ is finally crumbling.”
Following that comment STV reported an SFA spokesman saying: “Ordinarily, we would be loath to respond to such a disingenuous statement but in the interests of transparency and accuracy, it should be made abundantly clear it was MASH who today chose to abandon their ill-founded litigation.
“We have been consistent all along that the process of determining Mr Dave King’s Fit and Proper request, submitted via an amendment to Rangers FC’s Official Return, was conducted in the correct and appropriate manner.
“Indeed, at the time, we outlined the unprecedented scale of the due diligence undertaken, befitting the complexities of the consideration placed before our Board.
“This was released to the media and stated that this diligence involved communication with the relevant authorities in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“As part of the recent litigation process we elected – with the consent of Mr King – to provide certain confidential information expanding on our statement.
“There was never any obligation for us to do so and we were certainly never ‘forced’ to do so. This is a matter of fact and legal record.
“It is regrettable that we found ourselves in an unnecessary Judicial Review process in the first place: one that serves only to absorb Scottish football’s time, money and human resource which could otherwise have been utilised for the good of the game. The same applies to responding to these unedifying comments.”
After the wall of secrecy comment the spokesperson for MASH added: “This represents a significant victory for MASH and we believe there is a strong public interest in this information now also being made available by the SFA to all football fans.
“We therefore urge the SFA to come clean with the public about all its dealings in relation to Dave King.”
“MASH notes that the SFA did not approve Dave King to be a director of the football club (The Rangers Football Club Limited, the body which has membership of the SFA), but instead only approved him as a director of the club’s holding company (Rangers International Football Club plc).
“We find it astonishing that Mr King talks and acts as if he runs Rangers, whilst at the same time his lawyers claim he is not a de facto director of The Rangers Football Club Limited.”
