Chris Graham resigns from Rangers board

Rangers non-executive director Chris Graham has resigned from his position. Picture: SNS

Chris Graham, a financial adviser from Kirkintilloch, was appointed as a non-executive director at the Ibrox club on Tuesday.

However, he soon came under fire following an offensive tweet sent to radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary on the day of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

It is alleged that, on 7 January, shortly after two gunmen had shot dead 12 people at the offices of the French satirical magazine in Paris, the radical preacher sent a message on Twitter.

This message read “freedom of expression does not extend to insulting the prophets of Allah, whatever your views on the events in Paris today!”

Mr Graham is understood to have replied by sending a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed engaged in a sexual act with a message reading: “You probably won’t like this one then.”

The 38-year-old is known among fans for representing the Rangers Supporters Trust and running the Rangers Standard website and was appointed to the board after Dave King took control last week.

He was a keen and outspoken supporter of King and Paul Murray during their efforts to gain control of the club at its EGM.

However, he has since offered his resignation and the board have duly accepted.

In a short statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon, the club said: “Chris Graham has tendered his resignation as a director of Rangers International Football Club. This has been accepted by the board.”

The club has launched its own “robust investigation” into the matter and Police Scotland are also investigating the tweet.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “We are aware of the media reports in relation to comments made on a social media site. We are now carrying out inquiries into this matter.”

Meanwhile, Rangers in a previous statement, said: “The club are aware of director Chris Graham’s tweet in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo atrocity and a robust investigation into this matter is under way.

“Rangers would like to stress that we strongly disagree with intolerance of a religious or racist nature.”

Mr Graham has made himself unavailable to comment and his Twitter profile is now restricted from public view.

His tweet swiftly drew criticism from Scottish Muslim leaders. Secretary of the Muslim Council of Scotland, Mazhar Khan, said he hoped Rangers took the matter “very seriously” and probed whether “a line had been crossed” by Graham.

He said: “We reject all types of insulting and offensive behaviour, especially if it is against people’s religious beliefs or identity.

“We would hope that Rangers take the issue very seriously to establish whether a line has been crossed.

“We would hope that they at least look into this.

“However, we would leave it to the judgment of Rangers and their board over what action to take.”