THE Union of Fans have turned up the heat on under-fire Rangers directors to remove Sandy Easdale from his position at the Ibrox club.

The union - an amalgamation of six supporters' organisations - has called on the PLC board to stop football board chairman Easdale "controlling club affairs".

And they have directly asked Gers chairman David Somers and non-executive director Norman Crighton if they approve of his recent conduct.

Greenock businessman and shareholder Easdale was last week photographed with convicted criminal Rafat Rizvi emerging from a restaurant in Glasgow.

A club statement later said Rizvi was an advisor to Malaysian businessman Datuk Faizoull Bin Ahmad and had arrived at the meeting unexpectedly.

However, on Monday Bin Ahmad issued a statement denying he had any connection with a man who is on Interpol's most-wanted list.

Union spokesman Chris Graham said: "The Union of Fans has already called for the Rangers PLC board to remove Sandy Easdale due to his involvement with convicted fraudster, Rafat Rizvi.

"But, instead of acting with the necessary propriety, the board issued a statement denying prior knowledge of any involvement from Rizvi.

"Now, Mr Bin Ahmad of the Malaysian delegation, who the board claimed Rizvi was part of, has also denied all knowledge of him. This further fuels the feeling that the PLC directors are not in fact directing the affairs of the company.

"There are two possibilities if Mr Bin Ahmad is being truthful. The first is that the board was fully aware of Rizvi's meeting with Sandy Easdale and is complicit in involving Rizvi in the affairs of the club.

"The second is that Sandy Easdale misled the board over the reason for Rizvi's involvement. Either way, we repeat our call for the PLC board to disassociate itself from Rizvi by removing Sandy Easdale immediately from his position as a club director."

Graham continued: "Does Norman Crighton, who is also non-executive Chairman of Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund, welcome Rizvi's involvement?

"Does David Somers, who also sits on the board of Ace Europe Life PLC and is a trustee at Fujitsu Technologies, condone the involvement of a fraudster wanted by Interpol in a company of which he is Chairman?

"If the board refuse to remove Mr Easdale then fans and shareholders will be within their rights to assume that they condone the involvement of Mr Rizvi.

"The board may be able to do little about the block of anonymous shareholders who Mr Easdale represents.

"However, they can stop Mr Easdale from controlling the affairs of the club, on behalf of those shareholders, through his directorship."

Rangers protest group Sons of Struth, one of the bodies in the Union of Fans, will this week poll its members on whether to boycott the Ibrox club.

The sighting of Easdale with Rizvi was the final straw for many followers of the SPFL Championship club.

And Graham has warned besieged directors at the financially-stricken club they must address the issue fully. He said: “If the board and Mr Easdale think this issue is going to go away then they are sadly mistaken.”