FORMER Rangers chief executive Charles Green is expected to be cleared of being in collusion with former owner Craig Whyte, but is unlikely to return to Ibrox.

An internal investigation by Rangers will find that Whyte was not the driver behind Mr Green's consortium bid to buy the club's assets and is not a part of the business, either directly or indirectly.

The probe followed allegations by Whyte that Mr Green and his group were acting as a front for him during Sevco 5088's £5.5 million deal for the club's assets last summer.

The deal came after Whyte led Rangers into administration in February last year before eventually being liquidated when HMRC rejected a Company Voluntary Arrangement over an outstanding tax bill.

The allegations were a major factor in Mr Green's decision to step down last month and leave by the end of this month. He remains the largest individual shareholder with a 7.68% stake.

Mr Green has not denied teaming up with Whyte in the early stages of the buyout and admitted that, when the disgraced owner wanted to invest he was asked to come up with £6m, which apparently did not materialise.

Mr Green insists his associate Imran Ahmad fed Whyte what he wanted to hear in order to secure his shares.

The report – by law firm Pinsent Masons, forensic investigators Deloitte and aided by Roy Martin, QC, due to be published next week – is expected to support much of Mr Green's story.

Whyte has said he is pursuing legal cases against Mr Green and his group and insists he has a valid security over the club's assets.

The Motherwell-born venture capitalist made secret recordings that appear to reveal Mr Green told him while discussing a takeover: "You are Sevco, that's what we are saying."

Meanwhile, a board meeting at Ibrox yesterday did not reach any conclusion about the future of club chairman Malcolm Murray.

The pension fund manager has been chairman since June but has been caught in the middle of a fractious boardroom battle.