RANGERS chief Charles Green today pledged to give Ibrox fans the chance to own up to 50% of the club.

Green also acted to quash speculation that former chairman Craig Whyte is involved in his Sevco consortium.

The new Ibrox chief executive has come under intense scrutiny from the Light Blue legions since completing his purchase of Rangers' assets and moving them to his newco, Sevco Scotland Ltd, but the Englishman feels he is starting to win over the doubters.

Craig Mathers, a Nottingham-based businessman, has become the latest investor to pledge money to Green's project after ploughing more than £1 million into Rangers, and the Ibrox chief is keen for fans to come on board and control their club.

Green said: "We want fans to own part of this. This is not Charles Green, I do not own the club.

"I keep being misquoted in the newspapers as 'Charles Green owner', I am not the owner, I am the CEO. I am trying to do a job and rescue Rangers for the fans and for the people who own this club.

"We have got people who have got shares but they are not the owners. The owners of Rangers are the fans.

"I have said they can own up to 50% of this. If fans choose not to buy the shares that is their right.

"We cannot force them to do that. I have said all along, the opportunity is there.

"The next step is that we need to get the season tickets sorted, we need to get Alistair [McCoist] playing football because there is a cup game in less than 14 days and then, following that, we want to move on with the share issue."

Green has proven a divisive figure since arriving at Ibrox, with former Gers hero John Brown urging supporters not to buy season tickets for the coming campaign as he makes his own move to gain control of the club.

Sevco chairman Malcom Murray will lead a three-man delegation to Hampden today as the newco attempts to gain an SFA licence to allow them to play in the Irn-Bru Third Division next season.

Green knows he still has some way to go to win over disillusioned fans but he hopes the tide is now turning in his favour as Rangers' future takes shape.

He said: "I think over the last few weeks there has definitely been a movement.

"The fact that I am now living in a flat in Glasgow, as opposed to moving from safehouse to safehouse, is vindication of it.

"Indeed, I had my first meal out in the city since May 13, where a lady was having a 16th birthday and invited me across to join her group.

"That was, to me, the first Glasgow welcome and says to me that fans now are understanding better.

"We knew this wouldn't be an overnight thing. We knew fans had been let down. There is huge mistrust because of the history of Craig Whyte and to some extent David Murray. We haven't tried to push people where they didn't feel comfortable."

In a bid to move on, Green added: "I think the sensible fans now see through this rubbish that has been fed to them over the last three months and see that we have delivered everything we said."

Key to Murray's Hampden remit today will be to prove to the governing body who owns and runs Rangers, allowing the SFA to see all of Green's investors and his plans for the club.

Fans' fears have grown that disgraced former owner Craig Whyte is involved in the new regime but Green has shot down those claims.

He said: "I have met Craig Whyte four times. The last time I spoke to him he called me to say 'well done', after we had done the deal.

"Craig is a guy who, I think, had the right intentions but didn't have the resource to deliver. Unfortunately for Rangers fans, the club got into a mess.

"I don't speak to Craig and he is not part of the consortium, which is what my board colleagues will be telling and showing and proving to the SFA today."