HE was the flamboyant vice-chair of Rangers who quit his post at the Ibrox club after a newspaper exposed him singing sectarian songs following an Old Firm match.

But eminent QC Donald Findlay has a lucrative, if not ironic, sideline - he advises executives and professionals on how to deal with the media.

The Sunday Herald can reveal that Findlay has given media training to City of Glasgow College (CGC) principal Paul Little. The sessions, which he helped provide on behalf of PR firm Halogen Communications, cost the college £1,740 a day.

However, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer questioned the wisdom of the payments: “Given the volume of staff grievances against management at City of Glasgow College and the long-running complaints of poor working conditions, it would probably be better for Paul Little to spend his budget on conciliation and communication training to rebuild trust with his staff, rather than PR training in preparation for the next bad headline.”

CGC, which serves around 30,000 students, was set up in 2010 following the merger of various city colleges. The further education body is publicly funded and Little is on a salary of around £165,000 a year.

However, CGC has been criticised for using its budget to fund the “continuous professional development” for the principal, who earns more than the First Minister.

In 2015, CGC turned to Edinburgh-based Halogen, which specialises in PR and public affairs, to provide media training to the principal.

Another session took place 12 months later and the two courses cost the taxpayer £3,480. The two invoices were in the name of the company, not an individual.

It is understood the training was delivered by Halogen director Raymond Robertson, who used to be a Tory minister in John Major’s government, as well as by Findlay.

The QC is regarded as one of the finest lawyers of his generation and is renowned for his forensic courtroom style. However, he has also attracted embarrassing newspaper headlines.

In 1999, Findlay was fined £3,500 by the Faculty of Advocates for professional misconduct after singing sectarian songs at a private party after a Scottish Cup final between Rangers and Celtic. He was punished after a tape of his behaviour was passed to a Scottish newspaper.

He said at the time: "I again wish to tender an unreserved apology to anyone who was offended by my conduct on that occasion. I can only reaffirm that it was not my intention to offend anyone."

In 2007, he was cleared of bringing his profession into disrepute after cracking a joke about the Pope.

He told a Faculty of Advocates tribunal: "To the best of my recollection the way I told the joke was to blow clouds of smoke about the place, cough, splutter and say f*** sake, has another Pope died?"

Findlay is listed on the Halogen website as the lead for media training and business ethics: “Donald leads on Halogen’s media training activities and comes with an excellent pedigree having trained many top executives and professionals on how to conduct themselves during encounters with the media.

“Donald provides the full range of skills for someone preparing to face the media for the first time, as well as providing further tuition for the more experienced on how further to improve performance."

It adds: “These can include, but are not limited to, press release writing, on camera work, personal presentation, business ethics training and oratory skills. Donald has one of the highest legal profiles in Scotland and is widely considered to be Scotland’s premier criminal law advocate. He is also a noted after-dinner speaker and media commentator.”

Asked whether Halogen, in light of past media scrutiny, believed Findlay was best placed to deliver the training, a company spokesperson said: “Given we make no secret about utilising Donald’s services, the answer is an emphatic yes with regard to the CPD work we did with City of Glasgow College. Also, that incident was 20 years ago?”

The firm added that Findlay would not be commenting.

A CGC spokesperson said: “As part of Principal Little's continuous professional development, Halogen Communications, City of Glasgow College's PR partner, provided focused media and public speaking training, once in 2015 and once in 2016. At these times the Principal was about to publicly launch each site of the College's new £228 million super campus to a global audience.”