Hampden chiefs give Rangers takeover thumbs-up as key figure’s Ibrox boardroom place and dual ownership cleared

Scotland’s football authorities will not stand in the way of San Francisco 49ers and their attempted Rangers takeover.

Record Sport understands the SFA have ‘no issues’ with the sensational buy out proposal, details of which we revealed exclusively on Wednesday night both on line and in our agenda-setting show Hotline Live. And that includes the potential for Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe to take a seat on a new-look Ibrox board.

Hampden top brass have already cleared a similar appointment to clear the way for billionaire Bournemouth owner Bill Foley to become part of the current regime at Hibs, following an investment in the Easter Road club from the American’s Black Knight firm. And that precedent all but guarantees that Marathe – who heads up 49ers Enterprises – would be officially cleared to take on a similar position if his US based consortium does sweep into power now that negotiations to buy out Rangers have entered advanced stages.

A source said: “There would be no reason for the authorities to put an obstacle in anyone’s path because Leeds and Rangers play in two different leagues and in two different countries. The SFA would only have an issue with dual ownership if it impacted on the integrity of football in this country. In more general terms, rather than look to block someone with such a proven track record coming into the Scottish game, we should be actively trying to encourage it.”

We dropped the bombshell news that Marathe is involved in these discussions as part of an American consortium which includes at least one other high net worth individual from across The Pond. They plan to pull off a multi-million pound deal which would transform the powerbase at Ibrox and pump significant funds into the