Green: the real focus is to get Ally and his team out on the pitch

The Ibrox chief executive made his assertion earlier yesterday in an interview on the club's television channel, and said there are "just some minor points to resolve with the SPL" before the application to receive the membership held by the club's previous holding company, The Rangers Football Club plc, is transferred to Sevco Scotland, the company which now owns the club and which Green heads. Although last night's claims cast fresh doubt on that statement.

Discussions continued between the game's governing bodies, with the Scottish Football League assessing the offers made for the television rights of matches involving Rangers. The SPL joined broadcasters in bidding for the rights, to package them together with top-flight games, while the annual settlement payment made to the SFL – now around £2m – was under threat if the SPL's revenue fell below a certain amount. But

Green was certainly claiming that progress was being made in talks. If agreement is reached, then the SFA membership would have to be formally ratified by an appellate tribunal, after Lord Glennie ruled in the Court of Session that a registration ban imposed on Rangers by an independent SFA disciplinary tribunal was unlawful. The club has agreed to accept the embargo, beginning on September 1, rather than run the risk of the appellate tribunal reconvening and choosing to suspend or expel Rangers, but the process still has to be carried out to tally with the court's judgment.

"We are making good progress," Green said. "I spoke to the chief executive of the SFA, Stewart Regan, and that went very well. I have also spoken to Neil Doncaster [the SPL chief executive]. I'm really hopeful now that we can have this thing signed and sealed and Alistair [McCoist] can start loading his players on a team coach to go up and try to win a match on Sunday.

"Most things are now clear to all parties. As far as I am concerned we have no outstanding issues with the SFA. We have no issues with the Football League. It's now purely process and documentation."

Assuming membership is granted, Rangers will move to make a number of signings, with the first arrivals likely to be Ian Black, Craig Beattie and Dean Shiels. As well as preparing for the opening match of the season, away to Brechin City in the Ramsdens Cup on Sunday, the club can also begin to sell season tickets, although it remains to be seen how many supporters are prepared to back the current owners, with many still doubting Green's intentions.

The chief executive had denied any knowledge of the bid Brian Kennedy made three weeks ago for a 51% controlling interest, although Herald Sport understands that senior figures at Ibrox did know about the offer. Kennedy has since sent written copies of the bid, and proof of funding, to the offices of Zeus Capital, which has two directors on the Rangers board, but Green reiterated that the Sevco consortium does not wish to sell more than 15% to one individual, despite having five weeks ago offered 50% to Jim McColl's group, which included the former manager Walter Smith, for £8m.

"I had been away for a couple of days and I came back and saw all the press speculation," Green said. "It's really frustrating. It seems every two weeks we get someone who is going to make an offer for the club. Yesterday it was Brian, last week it was [John] Bomber Brown, a couple of weeks before that it was Walter [Smith] and it's just a big distraction. I'm sure it's just as disruptive for the fans as well. The real focus is to get Ally and his team out on the pitch and to deal with the challenges with the SFA.

"I have never met Brian Kennedy. I have spoken with him twice now. I spoke to him from the lawyer's office when we got the exclusivity and he did ring me to congratulate me after the deal was completed. I said to Brian then, and I have said a number of times to other people, if anyone wants to be part of what we are doing at Rangers, bring a cheque and join the team.

"I don't believe that anyone should own this club entirely or to be able to control it. That's why all of the investors have small shareholdings and when we do the next fund-raising those shareholders will be diluted even further. That's healthy for the club. As I have said from day one, if I can keep everyone between 10% and 15% then that's the best plan. It would be wrong to sell 51% to one person. When you look at the amounts being offered, they are less than what we paid for the club. We have no intention of selling but we definitely wouldn't be selling for less than we paid for it."

Green's assertions do not tally, since Kennedy offered £5.6m for 51%, which is more than the £5.5m Sevco paid for all of the assets and business of Rangers. Green and his associates – he continues to refuse to name all of the shareholders – are also effectively a controlling interest. Blue Pitch Holdings, whose investors are unknown, also own 23% of the club, and are effectively the majority shareholders. Around Rangers just now, nothing is clear.