Malcolm Murray ‘loses Ibrox no confidence vote’

THE future of Rangers’ chairman Malcolm Murray was in doubt amid reports he had lost a vote of no confidence at an Ibrox board meeting.

Rangers chairman Malcolm Murray. Picture: Jane Barlow

Murray, 58, was appointed last June after Charles Green’s Sevco vehicle purchased the assets of the liquidated Rangers. The chairman fell out with Green earlier in the season and the pair’s strained relationship has been a major source of ­tension at the club.

Green’s resignation as chief executive last month has failed to alleviate that tension and the Ibrox boardroom remains ­divided over Murray’s future.

The chairman has a supporter in Walter Smith, the former Rangers manager who is now a non-executive director. Smith is understood to be deeply ­unhappy about the move to oust Murray, which took place at a board meeting on Monday.

At close of play last night there was no statement to the Stock Exchange regarding any directorate change at Rangers.

But it has been claimed Murray has been asked to quit once the independent investigation into Green’s links with former Rangers owner Craig Whyte has finished. Whyte claims Green and another former director Imran Ahmad acted as a “front” for him in the purchase of the club’s assets in a £5.5million deal.

Roy Martin QC is to oversee the probe into the links, which is being led by law firm Pinsent Masons with help from forensic accountants from Deloitte.

One report last night claimed Green took part in Monday’s board meeting via telephone.