The Rangers shareholding group led by Jim McColl have today issued a lengthy statement, including a claim that a former employee raised concerns with the Serious Fraud Office over payments made at the time of Charles Green's fund-raising IPO.

They also claim that finance director Brian Strockbridge's position is now untenable, and pledge to keep campaigning for change in the Ibrox boardroom.

Rangers chairman David Somers this week wrote to shareholders urging them to vote against the appointments of Malcolm Murray, who is one of his predecessors, as well as Scott Murdoch, Alex Wilson and Paul Murray, who was a director of oldco Rangers before being removed by former owner Craig Whyte.

Somers claimed there was no guarantee any of the four would be found "suitable" to act as a director as stock exchange and Scottish Football Association regulatory consents had not been obtained.

That sparked a lengthy statement from the dissenting group, which also includes Clyde Blowers chairman and Rangers shareholder Jim McColl.

Somers is one of three men appointed to the board since Paul Murray and others secured a court order to reschedule the club's annual general meeting and include a resolution for the election of the four potential board members.

Norman Crighton and newly-appointed chief executive Graham Wallace also joined James Easdale and Stockbridge, who was among the Charles Green-led consortium which took control of Ibrox in June 2012 and has been criticised for claiming a £200,000 bonus for the team's Third Division title win. All five are subject to re-election at the Ibrox meeting on December 19.

The statement pointed out that the requisitioners had already "achieved a lot" since beginning their campaign to prevent former chief executive Green's return to the club and highlighting concerns over corporate governance of the club, which posted operating losses of £14.4million in the first 13 months of business.

The group added that Green had been "banished" from the club, followed by three of his fellow directors.

The statement added: "In the past three weeks there have been three new appointments to the board. On paper these look like credible individuals who appear to be independent of the Green or Whyte regimes.

"They will have the opportunity over the coming weeks to prove this and to gain the trust of the fans which they will have to earn.

"We believe that the position of Brian Stockbridge is completely untenable and he should resign or be voted off the board at the AGM. He has presided over significant outflows of cash from the club since the IPO (initial public offering).

"In addition his personal conduct has fallen a long way short of the standards expected at Rangers Football Club."

The group encouraged shareholders to vote the four candidates on to the board to allow the club to move forward with "stability, integrity and transparency".

The statement continued: "As well as being supporters of the club all four men have had highly successful business careers. To help the club all four men are prepared to waive any director fees until the club is back in the SPL (Scottish Premiership) if they are elected at the AGM.

"All existing directors will be up for re-election on December 19 at the AGM and the shareholders will therefore have a one-off opportunity to select the best board to take the club forward.

"We will continue our campaign to the AGM and we would encourage all fans and shareholders to support the changes we have been fighting for over the past four months."

Last week, Laxey Partners vowed to support the current board after becoming the club's major shareholder with an 11 per cent stake. Sandy Easdale, brother of James, also controls more than 23 per cent of shares through a series of proxy agreements as well as his own shareholding.

Rangers issued their own statement:

The board notes the comments made by a group of businessmen and minor investors led by Mr Jim McColl.

Rangers have not been contacted by the SFO and are completely unaware of any investigation. 

There has been no lack of financial transparency, quite the opposite.  We have been through a full blown IPO with financial due diligence. Interim and full year accounts have been produced earlier than AIM deadlines and in accordance with the rules and we have an unqualified audit report.

Corporate governance under a previous chairman was nowhere near the high quality of corporate governance that is now in place. The club now has a new, professional board who will deliver the highest standards of corporate governance.

The outflows of cash include a large amount of exceptional running and salary costs that were inherited from the previous board , costs that  were initiated by Malcolm Murray  when he was Chairman. 

Despite this, Financial Director Brian Stockbridge has addressed  planned expenditure from facilities, made substantial savings on security by bringing it in-house and making it a revenue generating centre and  saved substantial amounts  from the catering contract this season.

We can only assume that confidential information that an ex employee leaked to the requisitioners was in relation to the payments to certain shareholders that was looked at by two sets of lawyers and the nomad at the time and then subject to an additional specific review. 

It will have escaped nobody's attention that Mr McColl and his colleagues are appearing at a fans forum in Glasgow tomorrow evening and today's statement appears to be a rather crude attempt to garner support for their cause.