Stewart Regan, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, last night insisted Charles Green had an "obligation" to be up front about the consortium being put together to buy Rangers.
Regan will meet Green tomorrow or on Friday to find out more about the 20-strong group assembled from Britain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and other countries in the Far East. Mike McDonald, former Sheffield United chairman, and leading football agent Paul Stretford are involved but most of the consortium remains anonymous.
The SFA intends to toughen its rules on the transparency of club ownership at its annual general meeting on June 6, and "fit and proper" criteria remain difficult to apply. But Regan will expect Green to give details when they meet.
"We will sit down and I will get a feel for what his plans are for the club," Regan told Herald Sport. "I do want him to be up front with us on who is in the consortium. I think there's an obligation on him to share that with us. I am keen to understand how he plans to run the club, not just the board but the day-to-day management. It's about giving him the chance to share his vision for the club.
"It is very difficult for the governing bodies to stop people putting money into clubs. It's not our job. We try to govern football but we can try to make it a little more difficult for an outgoing regime to sell a club without taking more care, which is one of the proposals at our AGM."
Graeme Souness, the former Rangers manager, said he had advised Green on aspects of the club but would not join his consortium, although he would have become involved if Brian Kennedy's alternative bid had succeeded. "I certainly met Charles and he ran past me what his intentions were," said Souness. "But I've known Brian Kennedy for a long time, we are from the same part of Edinburgh, and I was very happy to get involved with someone I knew the strength of and completely understood where it was going. Anything other than that, it just wouldn't be for me.
"They [new owners] have to take care of it, love it and manage it to the best of their ability and hopefully leave it in a better position when they go than how they found it."
Rangers' appeal against the year-long transfer embargo imposed by the SFA will begin this evening and may involve for three days of submissions and evidence. Richard Keen QC will lead the appeal against the SFA's Judicial Panel's punishment for bringing the game into disrepute. Sitting on the panel are Lord Carloway, Craig Graham, the Spartans chairman, and Allan Cowan, the former Partick Thistle chairman.
Livingston have written to the SFA warning they could take legal action to recover up to £1.2m in lost revenue if the governing body does not punish Rangers. Livingston were relegated to the third division by the Scottish Football League in 2009 when they were in administration but about to be taken over. The SFA subsequently ruled that the punishment was fair and reasonable. Livingston will consider taking action if they feel there are similarities with Rangers' case but different sanctions for the Ibrox club.
SPL clubs will vote on new punishments for any newco club on May 30. Rod Petrie, the Hibernian chairman, hinted he would place sporting integrity over the financial advantages of Rangers' SPL involvement when it comes to a vote. "It's not a question of any sum of money in return for that integrity, integrity is beyond purchase," said Petrie. "If we are called upon to make any decisions we will try to do the right thing and uphold the integrity of the competition."
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