THE SFA Board's decision to pass Dave King as a "fit and proper person" will not bring an end to the incessant slurs on his character.

The nature of the Old Firm rivalry is such that the Scot's well-publicised tax issues in South Africa will, despite being settled two years ago, always be raised.

The Johannesburg-based businessman reached an agreement with the South African Revenue Service in 2013 after a lengthy court battle.

King paid £44million - a huge sum, but still significantly less than the authorities had wanted - after being found guilty of no fewer than 41 offences.

And the description of him as "a mendacious witness" and a "glib and shameless liar" during that case will not be forgotten by many in this country.

Even the former Gers board honed in on those comments, made by a High Court judge in 2011, in a desperate, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to discredit him before the EGM in March.

However, the Castlemilk-born financier has developed a thick skin during the course of his protracted struggles with both Sars and the old regime at Rangers.

He is delighted and relieved that Scottish football's governing body has, as he consistently predicted they would, cleared him to take up a place on the Rangers board.

It means the major shareholder can now, as he had hoped, be appointed chairman and focus his attentions on returning the Glasgow giants to the forefront of our national game.

Progress has, much to the frustration of the Rangers support, been painfully slow since King and his associates, John Gilligan and Paul Murray, seized control.

There is still a lengthy list of historical issues to be addressed and overcoming them will not be easy for the Light Blues' new custodians.

However, now that the eight-man SFA Board has given him the OK to take office, the process of change should accelerate considerably.

Shareholder Sandy Easdale was previously able to play a significant part in the club's day-to-day business despite not being a member of the plc board.

But if King had been turned down it would have been a public relations disaster for an institution wrestling with serious financial problems and would have caused considerable difficulties going forward.

Receiving the public backing of figures like John Greig and Walter Smith was welcome, but would not have mattered hugely if he had been rejected.

How could Rangers possibly have moved forward when one of the main players behind the scenes had been declined a place on the board by the SFA over past tax convictions?

Given the questionable actions of some of those to have climbed the marble staircase in the last few years, it was important their successors got it right.

King, who ploughed £20m of his personal fortune into his boyhood heroes during Sir David Murray's spell in charge, was cleared by the Court of Session to become a director last month.

But that ruling related to the fact he had been involved with the oldco around the time of its liquidation back in 2012 - and not his tax convictions.

"I wanted access to accounts," he said of his involvement with the Govan club during the ill-fated tenure of Craig Whyte.

"I was trying to get transparency. They were hiding things from me as well and I refused to go off the board. I hung in there as long as I could."

This latest development finally brings to an end an ongoing saga and could herald the opening of a new chapter in the history of Rangers.

He complied with the lengthy and rigorous procedure conducted by an organisation which was heavily criticised for allowing Whyte, who had been banned as a director, to assume control of one of the country's two biggest clubs.

"If you trawl the internet you could pick up 50 quotes where Sars were hugely criticised and you can do the same against me," he said. "You are left with what really happened at the end of the day, which is what the final settlement was. It was settled in my favour with no fraud charges.

"South Africa is no different to the UK, our companies' act is directly based on the UK's. I can be a director in South Africa. But do I have to be interrogated? Of course I do."

HIS supporters' argument was that if he was allowed to sit on the board of businesses in South Africa, where he had been convicted, then why couldn't he do the same thing in Scotland?

That would seem to have been borne out. Now King, along with Gilligan, Murray, George Letham, Douglas Park, George Taylor and others, can concentrate on other matters.

There is certainly a huge job to be done. The squad will need to be overhauled, a full-time manager appointed, a scouting system put in place and the assets recovered.

Getting up into the SPFL Premiership, where their Old Firm rivals Celtic await, via the play-offs this month will aid their cause considerably.

So, too, will the passing of Dave King as a fit and proper person by the SFA.

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here