A fortnight ago, he used his unveiling as SFA chief executive to speak of his hopes of unifying the disparate parts of Scottish football.

Yesterday, having presided over his first AGM, Ian Maxwell was simply insisting that ambition remained on course.

To be fair, the two weeks since haven’t exactly been peace in our time. Since taking office, Maxwell has lost one of his independent non-executive directors, Gary Hughes, who stepped down yesterday after Rangers claimed that a historic article referring to the Ibrox club’s fans as ‘the great unwashed’ meant that he wasn’t as independent as he might have been.

Read more: Ian Maxwell: No SFA probe over Gary Hughes affair but I'll sit down with Dave King any time he wants

Ibrox chairman Dave King didn’t stop there, though, promptly issuing another statement calling for an investigation into whether this self-confessed Celtic fan had any influence or otherwise in the issuing of a notice of complaint in relation to the granting of a European licence for the Ibrox side in 2011.

There were sundry other matters to be broached too, though. Here Sport Times lets the former Partick Thistle chief executive have his say.

Q. Were you sad to lose Gary and what happens now?

“The constitution of the board is that we have two independent non-execs, so the process will be started with a view to replacing Gary. I hadn’t known him for long. I had been on the board for a few months with him and got as close as you can in that environment. Listen, he was a really good director with a lot of really good business experience. He had a lot of credentials, had worked at a high level and his input was good. The board just functions as normal. We’re just a director down until as such times we get Gary replaced.”

Q. Could digging through the past like this deter future candidates?

“I think it is the type of independent directorship that a lot of people will want to be involved in. I think it is really attractive position. Whether it would deter people would be down to the individual but I don’t see why it would.

Q. It has hardly been a unifying picture, though, has it?

“I didn’t think we were going to get that [unity] in two weeks. I know it is a bit of a long game and that it will take time to build those relationship.

Q. Have we reached the stage when interviewing that we have to ask non execs what team they support? We don't ask referees ...

“I don’t think that’s necessarily relevant. If we’re going down an independent director road, and we’re trying to get a person that has never been to a football match, that severely limits the options open to us.

Q. The insinuation is that Hughes, a Celtic fan, was anti-Rangers

“Gary made no secret of the fact he has been a Celtic supporter for a long, long time. He was given the position. Now, though, he doesn’t want to stand for re-election, so that’s down to him. You just need to take each individual on their merits.”

Read more: Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can succeed as bosses, says former Rangers and Derby winger Ted McMinn​

Q. The inference is that the SFA are covering something up. Anything in it?

“Not as far as I’m aware. It was a previous regime that dealt with it. There was an appointment panel at the time that dealt with it and they’ve continued with the appointment. I think in an ideal world you would have a different type of dialogue. It would be more personal, more like picking up the phone and having the conversation, rather than the way it’s been played out. It’s going to take a bit of time to get to that point.”

Q. Does the £38.4m turnover figure mask problems ahead?

“An AGM, traditionally, is a review of what’s gone on over the last year. We know it’s a slightly different landscape financially in terms of is it’s a football business and a lot of the revenues are driven by attendances and that also is dictated by the amount of games you have - home internationals, who you are playing."

Q. Was the Americas tour a purely financial decision?

"Listen it was a previous regime who took that decision, I am not entirely sure of the financial imperative around doing it. I think it was a good trip, anyone who I have spoken to, the management, the support staff, said it was a good experience, incredible. We got through it relatively unscathed, the performances were okay and everybody seems relatively happy with it."

Q. Any thoughts on away allocations in the Scottish Cup?

“I think it is important that supporters get a chance to go and support their team. The SFA rules on crowd percentage have been in place for a while and there is no desire as far as I am aware to look at them.”

Q. Could the SFA be streamlined in future?

"I think that is a process that we need to go through. We do a lot. Are we getting value from everything we do?"

Q. Will we get a broadcast deal for the Scottish Cup and could that see the kick-off time change?

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“Yes I think we will. Chris Rawlings and his guys have been working really hard up stairs over the summer on renewals on the deals that have lapsed. I don’t think anything is off the table.

Q. Any updates on the Murrayfield/Hampden decision.

“No, the decision is late August."

Q. Any concern about a quarter of top flight teams having artificial pitches?

“I don’t have concerns. Even the guys who have artificial pitches would say they would prefer to play on a good grass surface every week. It’s an SPFL decision in terms of what clubs have what surfaces. We had a look at it in my first season at Thistle. We decided at the time it wasn’t right for us.”

Q. Argentina pulled out of a match against Israel, any concerns about our visit in September?

“Nothing has been flagged up here.."