Dave King's attempt to become either the chairman or a director on the Rangers plc board is just the latest Ibrox saga to split Scottish football opinion down the middle.

For some, it is a non-issue, scarcely worthy of address. King will pass both the Alternative Investments Market (AIM) rules, as well as those of the SFA, and be deemed fit and proper for a Rangers role. Those who hold this position actually find the so-called "controversy" scarcely worthy of comment.

The counter view is that King, due to his recent court conviction in South Africa, has two very major obstacles to overcome, at both AIM and SFA level, and that he is in danger of failing one or both.

This view is one that, it has to be said, King breezily dismisses to any reporter who cares to get in touch with him.

The whole issue is felt acutely by diehard Rangers fans, who see in King a possible saviour, utterly awash with money, unlike any other on the horizon.

Actually, that statement is not quite true. Jim McColl, a Glasgow businessman, has greater credentials than King, and is also fabulously wealthy. But he is not available. McColl would be a coveted Rangers chairman but, on all recent evidence, appears to have no appetite for the role.

The controversy surrounding King is mired in his recently concluded High Court tax case in South Africa, where he pled guilty on 41 counts. As he confessed himself, the saga has cost him both business and reputation.

King was originally being pursued on over 300 charges, including fraud, tax evasion and money-laundering, and the dispute was taking years and quite a toll on both the state and the accused.

He at first faced unpaid income tax obligations of 2.7 billion SA rand (over £175 million). In return for other charges being dropped he eventually entered 41 guilty pleas in court, costing him fines and back-dated tax dues of over 700 million SA rand (around £45 million).

In the context of Rangers, here's the question…does any of this matter? Does any Rangers fan care if their new, de facto boardroom boss has such a High Court conviction and guilty sentences hanging over him?

The short, sharp answer to that appears to be…no, not really.

If you take the cyberspace Rangers' fans view of this - and this might be quite misleading - hardly any of them appear to care about King's conviction. Those who do have reservations are silent, notably reserving all comment.

But, almost certainly, both the Rangers nominated adviser (Nomad), Daniel Stewart, and the SFA will have a heated decision to make. Applying their not dissimilar criteria, both have to decide if King is fit and proper to enter their respective spheres.

One of the jobs of the Nomad at Rangers is to ensure that the company complies with AIM rules, in terms of directors' suitability. The pressure on Paul Shackleton, who looks after Rangers at Daniel Stewart, is not so much to meet Rangers' desires, but to ensure that the London Stock Exchange regulations are met by the club's boardroom business.

Shackleton, in short, will make a decision himself on whether King is fit and proper.

Meanwhile, the SFA are about to come under enormous pressure, given the heartfelt desire among Rangers fans for King to be put in place.

Once Rangers apply for King's installation at boardroom level - if it comes to that - then the SFA will have to make a decision, based on its own infamous "fit and proper" criteria.

Stewart Regan, the SFA chief executive, has already cited Article 10 of the SFA rulebook, where guideline criteria for "fit and proper" persons are laid out.

Unfortunately for King, a court conviction is cited as one of the red-flag issues in Article 10 which may deter him.

When the SFA finally adjudicates on this, there will be hell to pay. Scottish football is riven with bitterness on all sides due to the recent liquidation of Rangers and, come the hour of this next decision, there is going to be conspiracy and counter-conspiracy doing the rounds.

Some believe King doesn't have a leg to stand on, either within the AIM or SFA sphere. But he might have.

His best hope at SFA level, despite the blatant wording of Article 10, is that he finally sought to conclude his tax wrangles, and pled guilty, and paid up, and asked for the case to be closed. Which it now is.

The SFA might actually try to be lenient towards King, though the price for that would be further wrath across the Scottish game.

As usual, the people who might actually gain most from this are the lawyers.