Daily Record

DAVE GETS SFA

Hampden chief Maxwell tells Gers owner there’s no need for an independen­t inquiry after row over axed director Hughes

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IAN MAXWELL last night booted out Dave King’s demands for the SFA to order a probe into the Gary Hughes affair.

But the SFA’s new chief executive revealed he would be willing to meet in person with King in order to end the feud BY KEITH JACKSON between the Ibrox club and the game’s governing body.

King got his man on Monday when Hughes effectivel­y quit his post on the SFA board on the back of a derogatory remark he made about Rangers fans in a magazine article in 2006. But Rangers upped the ante again on Tuesday by insisting they do not consider the matter to be over now Hughes has stepped down.

Rather, they have called on a review of the procedure which saw Hughes given the role in the first

place and demanded to know if the self-confessed Celtic fan played any part in the decision to hit the club with Notice of Complaint over non-disclosure of a historic dispute with the tax man in 2011.

But when asked yesterday if Maxwell had any intention to oversee an investigat­ion he said: “No. There is no need.

“The way the Notice of Complaint works is that the board instruct the compliance officer to review an incident and the compliance officer is then completely independen­t from that point and decides whether there is a case to answer or not.

“Obviously, he decided, yes, there was a case to answer and that is now going through the process.

“I have seen nothing other than total independen­ce from both the independen­ts on the board. That’s not to say the other board members aren’t but obviously because that is in their title.”

Maxwell confirmed the process will now begin to find a replacemen­t for Hughes but shows no signs of being brow beaten by a deliberate­ly public and unmistakab­ly aggressive Rangers strategy.

He insisted yesterday that, despite the latest statement being fired out on Tuesday night, the Ibrox club had not made any official contact yesterday with the SFA in order to formalise their grievances.

Maxwell said: “Rangers can deal with it the way they think is right.

“They know they can pick up the phone and I will have the conversati­on with them. I’ve not had a chance to go and meet anybody yet.

“That is going to be a big part of the job, getting out and about and building relationsh­ips, whether that is Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Annan, Kelty Hearts or whoever. They all need to know they can pick up the phone.”

And Maxwell – who has stressed his desire to unify the Scottish game following Stewart Regan’s divisive leadership of the SFA – then confirmed he is willing to sit down for face-to-face talks with King, who is also demanding the head of SPFL suspend chairman Murdoch MacLennan over alleged links with Celtic.

Maxwell said: “I didn’t think we were going to get

unity in two weeks. I know it is a bit of a long game and that it will take time to build those relationsh­ips.

“As I said, the first two weeks have been a lot of time in the office and getting my head around things here.

“But as chief executive of the SFA, my job is to have a relationsh­ip with all the chairmen. That is a fundamenta­l part.

“Regardless of club, it should be about being open, going and meeting them.

“We will not always agree on things and that is part of the territory.

“It is about not focusing on one individual club but the whole of Scottish football needs to know that open dialogue is available.

“I wouldn’t say this is a difficult moment. When you are part of a governing body, things will happen that people aren’t overly enamoured about.

“It’s just about everyone knowing that we can pick up the phone at any point.”

Asked if he was disappoint­ed by King’s high-profile approach he said: “In an ideal world you would have a different type of dialogue. It would be more personal, more like picking up the phone and having the conversati­on, rather than the way it has been played out. “But, listen, that’s fine. “It’s going to take a bit of time to get to that point. But we’re not at that point yet.”

Maxwell though is adamant the furore will not deter others from stepping forward to fill the position that Hughes has left vacant.

And he says they will not be vetted on what team they support. Maxwell said: “Gary made no secret of the fact he has been a Celtic supporter for a long time. Listen, that was a decision made.

“He was given the position. Now though he doesn’t want to stand for re-election so that’s down to him.

“You need to take each individual on their merits.”

 ??  ?? TALK TIME King and Maxwell
TALK TIME King and Maxwell
 ??  ?? NO PROBE Gary Hughes
NO PROBE Gary Hughes

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