DAVE KING has called for SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan to be suspended pending an independent investigation.

MacLennan has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Independent News and Media PLC – a Dublin-based firm which is part-owned by Dermot Desmond and his long-term associate Denis O’Brien.

Desmond is the majority shareholder at Celtic, while O’Brien bought a minor stake in the club in 2006. The pair own around 45 per cent of the shares in INM.

Questions have now been raised over what information was disclosed by MacLennan to Neil Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, and what League board members were told about the new position of the man that became chairman 11 months ago.

It is understood Rangers are furious with the latest development at Hampden and won’t let the matter rest as they seek answers over who knew what, and when, and a potential conflict of interest.

The furore over MacLennan comes a week after King demanded a probe into comments made by Scottish FA director Gary Hughes. Speaking in an interview 12 years ago, Hughes allegedly referred to Rangers fans as ‘the great unwashed’.

“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,” King said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

“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.”

In response to King's statement, a spokesman for the SPFL said: “It’s not surprising that Murdoch, having stepped down as deputy chairman of Telegraph Media Group, should be approached by other businesses in that sector. 

“The members of the SPFL board were each informed of Murdoch’s appointment on January 19th 2018, the same day it was publicly announced in a press release from Independent News & Media PLC. That release was also circulated to the entire SPFL board that day. The appointment was widely reported in the national media at the time, including in the Sunday Times, Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Independent. No director raised this issue subsequently and it was not the subject of any board discussions.

“To be definitive, a non-executive position on a PLC does not constitute a business relationship between that individual and a minority shareholder in the company and therefore no investigation is warranted.”