Dave King faces a 'challenge' to pass a fit and proper person test, according to the SFA

Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan has warned Dave King he faces a "challenge" as he bids to prove himself fit and proper to run Rangers.

The 60-year-old wants to become the next Ibrox chairman after he, Paul Murray, John Gilligan and their allies ousted the previous regime last month.

However, King has voluntarily delayed assuming control while he attempts to convince the SFA of his suitability for the role which has come under scrutiny.

The Johannesburg-based businessman was convicted of 41 counts of income tax breaches in a South African court two years ago. He agreed to pay £44m as a settlement, and a fine in excess of £200,000, to avoid an 82-year jail term.

We're in discussions with Rangers and their advisers. We are gathering information from the club and Mr King.

King has always maintained his tax history in South Africa would not preclude him from taking up a position on the Rangers board, and, in the past, has cited a written statement from the South African Revenue Service which said the litigation was settled and that he was free to be a director of any company.

However, King also faces questions about his role as a club director when Craig Whyte sank the oldco Ibrox outfit into liquidation in 2012.

The Court of Session has already passed his bid to become a director of the Championship club but Regan said King must now show the SFA why it should view him "positively", warning that the process will not be easy.

"We're in discussions with Rangers and their advisers," he said. "We are gathering information from the club and Mr King.

'Consideration'

"When we have all of that information the board will consider it and then decide whether or not we are prepared to accept Dave King as a fit and proper person to be the chairman of Rangers Football Club.

"We're not in a position to put a time scale on it, when we've got the information we'll decide.

"(We want) any evidence from Mr King that would support why he believes he is fit and proper in consideration to the list of criteria in our article 10, which covers all of the areas regarding track record, background, insolvencies, any convictions etcetera.

"We're seeking evidence and when we've got that evidence we'll deal with it. It's obviously a challenge for him and the club to try and present a case whereby the board can view it positively.

"But that's what the club are seeking to do, they are providing evidence and when we've got that evidence we'll be in a position to comment more fully."

Paul Murray is acting as interim chairman while King sets about passing the SFA tests and Regan has revealed that he, like King a director of oldco Rangers who served briefly during Whyte's time in charge, must also satisfy their 'fit and proper' concerns.

Paul Murray is equally being considered given that he was a director of a football club in an insolvency event in the previous five years.

Regan said: "Paul Murray is equally being considered given that he was a director of a football club in an insolvency event in the previous five years."

King has always maintained he stayed on the Rangers board under Whyte to keep check on the controversial Motherwell-born businessman's activities, while Murray launched a last-ditch effort to buy the club from Sir David Murray before Whyte took control after handing over a token £1 fee back in May 2011.

He was axed as an oldco director just three weeks later.