Rangers chairman Malcolm Murray is clinging to his post as efforts are made at the club to engineer a negotiated departure.

The Ibrox club have posted a notice to shareholders convening an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to consider the removal of Mr Murray and Phil Cartmell, a non-executive director.

However, there are indications that Mr Murray may not survive until such a meeting is convened with disaffected directors keen to bring the situation to an early resolution.

Mr Murray has the support of some investors but faces strong opposition over what his critics describe as a lack of leadership.

While a City source insisted Mr Murray would fight on, there were moves to draw up an agreement that would see him leave the club.

Motions for the EGM also include the appointment of two directors, James Easdale and Chris Morgan.

Mr Easdale owns Greenock-based McGill's buses with his brother Sandy, while Mr Morgan was named by former chief executive Charles Green last year as part of his original consortium that bought the club. He is described as a UK-based businessman representing family trusts.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, former club chairman Alastair Johnston said he believed a "cancer is spreading throughout the club" which will not go away until "self-serving investors" are rooted out.

Mr Johnston, who was ousted in May 2011 by then owner Craig Whyte, "has concerns" about the jockeying for position at the club.

He said : "With so many investors – in quotation marks – trying to play an active role in the guidance of Rangers Football Club, I don't think that is a healthy situation. I don't know the people involved but I really wonder about their agenda. I really wonder in whose best interests are they working."

He added: "A lot of people can say they have the best interests of the club in mind but it is easy to say that. There are people vying for control and influence and they have got to lay down their ambitions and be transparent about finances and investment.

"The board of Rangers –whoever it is and however it is constituted – has to come out and be transparent about the assets and the commitments and what that will mean to investors.

Mr Johnston said there was a "power vacuum" at the club, adding: "Someone has to come out and show guidance. Until the supporters can see a line-up of people that they can get behind then they have a dilemma.

"At some point somebody has to say to the fans we want you to spend money and here is what we're going to do."

He dismissed any suggestion that Rangers would close, saying: "The basic fabric of the club will ensure survival but it will need transparency for that to happen."

l An investigation is under way at the Scottish Premier League (SPL) after it emerged that the Lithuanian parent company of Hearts Football Club has declared itself insolvent.

Investment firm Ukio Banko Investicine Grupe (UGIB), which is thought to own a 79% stake in the Tynecastle club, was yesterday placed by the country's Department of Enterprise Bankruptcy Management on a list of companies "unable or unwilling to meet their obligations".

If breaches of SPL rules over insolvency are found, Hearts may be docked 18 points leading to the club's relegation. Hearts owe in the region of £10m to UBIG, whose shares are currently frozen.