THE church minister who helped to set up the Rangers Fans Board has described the group's public bust-up with Ibrox directors as "concerning".

And he has labelled "unhealthy" the SPFL Championship club's hugely controversial business tie-up with Sports Direct magnate Mike Ashley.

Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie was delighted when he was asked to play a prominent role in the formation of the new body following the Ready To Listen survey last year.

The lifelong Gers fan, who conducted the services on the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster and at the funerals of club greats Jim Baxter and Bobby Shearer, chaired the nominations committee.

The University of Glasgow chaplain helped to select supporters to represent a wide cross-section of fans - including ethnic minorities, families and the disabled.

So he was saddened when Rangers Fans Board member Dr Zia Islam posted on Facebook yesterday that the group was certain to be dissolved by the club that launched it, and its representatives sacked.

The Ibrox board was incensed when Rangers Fans Board posted online on Monday night minutes of its meeting at the stadium last week without the club board's permission.

Asked about the gradual breakdown in the relationship between the club and the new organisation, Rev MacQuarrie said: "It is a deep disappointment.

"I was just chairman of the nominations committee. But I was able to look at all of the applications personally and I attended the first couple of meetings.

"All the applications we received, not just those accepted, were from good Rangers supporters who wanted to help the club.

"A lot of work went into establishing the Rangers Fans Board - not just by me but by quite a number of other people.

"The fans offered themselves in good faith for service to the club they love. It is quite concerning if the Rangers Fans Board has to be dispensed with in this way - for expressing opinions.

"I thought they were very reasonable in the way they went about it. They consulted with the wider fanbase in an attempt to get elusive questions answered.

"Many people were wanting to ask those questions at the annual meeting and were prevented from doing so. They were dismissed and discarded at that meeting.

"The comments of the chairman David Somers at the annual meeting were appalling.

"I cannot think of a chairman of a company of the size of Rangers who has come away with comparable comments - except possibly Gerald Ratner, who described his company's products as rubbish. Nobody can behave like that.

"I think if the Rangers Fans Board is closed down or effectively neutralised then it does not bode well for the future of the club."

Rev MacQuarrie, who has been attending matches at Ibrox for more than 50 years, feels the influence of Newcastle United owner Ashley at Rangers is worrying.

He sensed a change in attitude towards Rangers Fans Board when former chief executive Graham Wallace was removed and Ashley associates Derek Llambias and Barry Leach came in.

He questioned how the club, which has agreed a potential £10 million loan with the enigmatic billionaire English businessman, is currently being run.

And he stressed to those involved in the running of the 54-time Scottish champions they need to involve their followers if they hope to reclaim former glories in the future.

He said: "Things changed when Graham Wallace ceased to be chief executive. Graham was very keen on the Rangers Fans Board.

"I think he felt very sincerely that it would be good to have a useful means of two-way communication with the fans. After he left, a different view was taken.

"It was the club that set up the Rangers Fans Board in response to interactions with the fans too. It was not the fans who called for it.

"Since there has been a change of personnel on the board and at senior executive level, the relationship with the Rangers Fans Board has changed."

REV MacQuarrie continued: "Football fans invest their money and much of their life in a football club.

"They deserve to be consulted over how it is run.That is certainly the way things

happen at football clubs up and down the country. Hopefully what you come up with is a merging of interests between the club owner and football fans.

"Football clubs are not a commodity that can be bought and sold on a whim. They cannot slot into a business strategy of some far-off owner.

"If an individual wants to run a business that way there are other companies you can invest in, where you are the principle shareholders, that you can run how you like.

"But it is different with football clubs and football fans. What has happened at Rangers is the customer base has been effectively undermined.

"I find it astonishing. It raises questions for me about the business strategy. Is it a case of the business being run down so that it becomes completely non-viable?

"Llambias has been quoted as saying he cannot understand the fans' hostility to Mike

Ashley given the fact that he is pouring millions of pounds into the club.

"Well, he is not. For every penny that he has put into Rangers he has made sure his own personal interests are looked after.

"What concerns me at Rangers at the moment is the dependency the club has on one individual.

"I do not regard any dependency as healthy."