IAN Maxwell, the SFA chief executive, last night rebuffed Rangers chairman Dave King’s demands for an investigation into Gary Hughes’ involvement or otherwise in the issuing of a notice of complaint in relation to the Ibrox side’s licence to play European football in 2011 but offered to meet up if King wants a chat.

The former Partick Thistle chairman, presiding over his first SFA AGM since replacing Stewart Regan in the association’s top job, said there was no need to examine the role of the independent non-executive director Hughes nor had the Ibrox side even formally asked for an investigation despite a statement to that effect a few days ago.

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Hughes, a self-confessed Celtic fan and former director at Scottish Media Group, stepped down from the association yesterday, days after another Ibrox statement questioned his independence in the light of a historic pub review which referred to Rangers supporters as ‘the great unwashed’.

“No, there won’t be [an investigation],” said Maxwell. “There is no need. The way the Notice of Complaint works is that the board instruct the compliance officer to review an incident, and the compliance officer is then completely independent from that point and decides whether there is a case to answer or there’s not. Obviously, he decided there was a case to answer and that is now going through the process. But I have seen nothing other than total independence from both the independents on the board. Not to say the other board members aren’t either.”

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Maxwell insists he had a good relationship with Rangers but his door was always open to King – as it is with all his member clubs. “I think as chief exec of the Scottish FA, my job is to have a relationship with all the chairmen,” said Maxwell. “Regardless of club, it should be about being open, going and meeting them. We will not always agree on things and that is part of the territory. It is about not focusing on one individual club, but the whole of Scottish football needs to know open dialogue is available. I am obviously very early in the job. I’ve got a good relationship with Stewart Robertson and Andrew Dickson, I’ve spoken to Stewart since I got the job a few times about different things.”

With the other independent non-exec on the board, Ana Stewart, re-elected, the association will look to recruit a replacement in the coming months. The association posted a group turnover of £38.4m for 2017, which was a 7.5% increase.