Date set for Mike Ashley's court challenge of SFA 'fit & proper' support of Rangers' chief Dave King

Mike Ashley's petition for judicial review is now scheduled to be heard at Edinburgh’s Court of Session, over two days beginning on April 28, next year.

The case surrounds the SFA's decision in May 19 to pass Mr King as "fit and proper" allowing him to take his place as chairman of the club.

Two months earlier, Mr King led a successful bid to oust the previous board at Ibrox. But the SFA needed time to assess King's suitability, given his tax convictions in South Africa.

The SFA had originally wanted a one-day hearing provisionally arranged for December, in which they intended to raise certain preliminary arguments, which may have led to the case being dismissed, to go ahead.

But representatives for Mr Ashley's company Mash Holdings suggested that all matters including the petition itself ought to be dealt with together, and that would require a two-day hearing.

Dates were also set for the Newcastle United owner's judicial review against a fine imposed on him by the SFA in March over a breach of their rules on dual interest in football clubs.

The challenge over the fine will be heard on February 4 and 5.

The fine Mr Ashley was asked to pay was cut from £7,500 to £1,000.

The English businessman has a stake in the Scottish Championship club of just under 9%.

Earlier the Mr Ashley managed to block a move by the Rangers board to remove his right to a say in how the Glasgow club is run.

The directors of Rangers International Football Club plc put forward a resolution that demands the removal of the voting rights of any shareholder involved in running another club at the annual general meeting later this month.

Dave King

The action was said to be a result of Rangers being fined by the SFA for breaching so-called dual ownership rules relating to the Sports Direct supremo.

But Mr Ashley through his MASH Holdings vehicle managed to have that resolution removed from the agenda.

There were two hurdles within an 11-point SFA 'fit and proper person' list of 'relevant facts' for officials, office-bearers and board directors that Dave King had to overcome to get his 'fit and proper' status.

The first in the "illustrative and not exhaustive" list concerns whether the person had been convicted in the last 10 years of an offence liable to imprisonment of two years or over. In 2013, Mr King agreed to pay £45m as a settlement after pleading guilty to breaching 41 criminal counts of South Africa's Income Tax Act surrounding non-payment.

The second concerned whether the person had been a director of a club in the five years preceding any insolvency event. Mr King and fellow would-be director Paul Murray were directors within the five years before the liquidation of RFC 2012 plc, the new name given to the original operating company Rangers Football Club plc.

The SFA Articles of Association stated the board "reserves its discretion" as to whether a person is fit and proper after "due consideration of all relevant facts which the board has in its possession and knowledge".

In making it's decision to pass Mr King as 'fit and proper' under its Articles of Association in May, the SFA said it had received specialist legal advice in Scotland and South Africa to confirm it was satisfied he passed the test.

The SFA's decision came a month after Lord Woolman made an order under section 216(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986, giving leave to Mr King to be a director of Rangers International Football Club PLC and to be concerned or take part in the club management.

Mr King has consistently insisted he would prove he would pass any fit and proper person's test to take a position of importance in the boardroom, saying he has a "unique status of credibility".

Mr Ashley's challenge over the SFA fine revolves around an alleged breach of their dual control rules because of his influence over the previous Rangers regime which was led by his right-hand men, Derek Llambias and Barry Leach. He had also offered a credit facility to the club in October.

An SFA judicial panel previously heard that Ashley made cash loans to the cash-strapped Scottish Championship club, held commercial contracts and had Mr Llambias and Mr Leach operating as chief executive and finance director, respectively, on the Ibrox board until they were removed at an extraordinary general meeting called by Dave King.

Derek Llambias (left) and Barry Leach

The grounds of the appeal said that it was clearly established that MASH Holdings Ltd company entered into a credit agreement with Rangers, and not its owner Mr Ashley, with the result that the judicial panel finding was "inconsistent".

Mr Ashley argued there was "no direct evidence" that either he or MASH Holdings Ltd nominated Derek Llambias as a director and a "full and fair reading of all witness statements provided no basis for such an inference".

A June SFA appeal tribunal, in rejecting an appeal that Mr Ashley had breached dual ownership rules, agreed the club's granting of a right for the Newcastle United owner to nominate directors gave rise to the possibility of him influencing the affairs of two clubs.

But they agreed to cut the fine from £7500 to £1000 agreeing that the Judicial Panel "failed to specify clearly the mitigating and aggravating factors on which they relied" to impose their sanction.

Mr Ashley is already embroiled in a separate court action to have Mr King thrown in jail accusing him of breaching a gagging order.

The contempt charge has been set for December 9 at London’s High Court and if convicted a sentence of 30 days in prison could be handed down by the judge.

The issue surrounds Mr King allegedly discussing his relationship with Sports Direct during an interview in July.