DAVE KING has hit back at the SPFL and insisted they would ‘welcome’ an independent review if they had ‘behaved properly’.

And he has claimed that Hampden board members were not informed about a potential conflict of interest involving chairman Murdoch MacLennan and Celtic.

On Tuesday, the Rangers chairman called for MacLennan to be suspended from his role whilst claims for a conflict of interest and non-disclosure were probed.

Read more: 5 tasks facing Steven Gerrard as he checks in at Rangers

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 from former boss Martin O’Neill. The pair own around 45 per cent of the shares in INM.

SportTimes reported on Wednesday that Rangers were furious with the latest developments at Hampden and wouldn’t let the matter rest as they seek answers over who knew what, and when, and a potential conflict of interest arising out of MacLennan’s appointment at a company where two influential Celtic shareholders have significant investments.

The SPFL insisted that there was no case to answer as they dismissed King’s calls but the Ibrox chief is unhappy at the way his request has been treated by the Hampden hierarchy.

King said: “I am surprised at the SPFL’s response to my request for an independent investigation into the relationship of its chairman to major shareholders in Celtic FC.

“Any organisation that has behaved properly would welcome an independent and transparent review.

“The SPFL’s response does not even attempt to answer why there was non-disclosure of the conflict that immediately arose when the SPFL chairman accepted this appointment.

“SPFL board members were informed that their chairman was taking up a non-executive directorship with another business but they were not told there was a conflict of interest due to common shareholders with significant influence within that company and Celtic FC.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Celtic remain miles away from European elite

“We need to be told if the SPFL chairman chose not to disclose the conflict. If it transpires that he did in fact make the required disclosure then to whom did he address this and why did that person not relay this critical information to SPFL board members?

“Had the conflict been disclosed the SPFL board members could have carried out their fiduciary obligation by interrogating this conflict of interest and agreeing how the chairman would deal with it going forward.

“The existence of this conflict means that the SPFL chairman must recuse himself from much of the business of the SPFL going forward thereby rendering his present position as being not fit for purpose.

“The SPFL’s rather hurried and inadequate response merely reinforces my personal view that good governance is not a priority for the SPFL executive.

“These questions must be addressed immediately if confidence is to be restored in the SPFL executive and its chairman.”