Right on cue Dave King has produced his follow up statement calling for a full investigation into the Daily Record’s conspiracy theory.
SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan’s decision to take up a non executive directorship with an Irish firm in which Dermot Desmond has a 15% stake is the latest source of fury as King gets closer to justice from the Takeover Appeal Panel and the Court of Session. Jail.
Blue chip non-executive directors tend to be in demand, they may have a dozen such posts with their experience and know-how adding credibility to any company that they work with.
The non-executive directors at Ibrox promised shareholders an offer from King by April 26 at the latest. A month later not even the printing costs of a prospectus has been raised.
Reading uncannily like last week’s Gary Hughes statement today King stated:
THE Club notes with concern the latest disclosure through the media regarding a business relationship which the Chairman of the SPFL has with leading shareholders of a fellow SPFL club.
This has given rise to allegations of non-disclosure and it is now imperative that we discover exactly the nature of the information supplied to the SPFL regarding this relationship.
It is equally important that any conflicts of interest, or even the perception of such, whereby positions within the Scottish football authorities could be undermined, or abused, must be aggressively rooted out of our game.
The SPFL, therefore, must immediately suspend its Chairman pending an independent investigation by a senior QC into the allegations and into the extent that other parties within the SPFL may have cooperated in this alleged non-disclosure. There is a clear prima facie case for this investigation.
Unfortunately for Scottish football, this incident immediately follows a similar call by myself for an independent non-executive director of the SFA to be suspended under similar circumstances. The credibility of Scottish Football in the minds of supporters and sponsors is at stake and urgent action is required. Transparency will be key to recovering the confidence of key stakeholders in Scottish football and this cannot be achieved if the SFA and/or the SPFL conduct internal investigations.
The SPFL and SFA must now appoint independent investigators. Scottish football is an important national asset and must have levels of probity and governance that are beyond reproach and that are transparently so.
Despite promising a June share issue to raise £6m for Steven Gerrard’s war-chest no formal statement has been made.
If King wants a full scale investigation the SFA and SPFL might want to take a closer look at Sevco’s application to play in next season’s Europa League qualifiers, on Thursday all applications must be submitted to UEFA.
