MICHAEL STEWART believes Rangers have acted 'in bad faith' by withholding evidence of the SPFL's handling of the vote to end the season - and insisted that both parties have not 'covered themselves in glory' in their handling of the situation.
Over 80 percent of the 42 SPFL clubs voted in favour of ending the Championship, League One and League Two seasons, with the Premiership's future still to be decided.
However, Scottish football's governing body have faced criticism for their handling of the members' resolution. SPFL chairman Neil Doncaster reportedly told Aberdeen's Dave Cormack not to submit his vote before the 5pm deadline, Dundee's decision to change their ballot from a 'no' to a 'yes' has proved controversial, while Rangers have accused the SPFL of strong-arming clubs into voting through the proposal.
The Ibrox club say they have evidence of wrongdoing that they will disclose next week. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is to be held on 12 May, with Hearts and Stranraer supporting Rangers' position.
Speaking to BT Sport, Stewart says that it is 'incumbent' on Rangers to reveal their evidence - but the BBC pundit conceded that questions need to be asked of the SPFL's handling of the voting process.
"I think it’s quite clear that the SPFL are at the stage where they’re frustrated with the lack of movement from Rangers on this," he said.
"For me, there is grounds for being unhappy with how the SPFL have handled this, undoubtedly. I’ve been saying this for weeks. But to take it to the level that Rangers have taken it, it’s incumbent on them to bring forward the evidence.
"They can’t wait this long. This is acting in bad faith now as far as I’m concerned and the time has been and gone for them to present this evidence. We can talk about the EGM and whether that will come about with regards to getting an independent investigation but both sides are coming out of this and not covering themselves in glory.
"The SPFL have not handled this particularly well, Rangers are making this – as far as I’m concerned – a proxy war against the board and the actual league structure, and it’s not a great way to be going about it.
"One of the biggest clubs in this country should be behaving in a better fashion. It shines everything in a bad light. But to touch on Murdoch MacLennan’s Q&A: powderpuff. You can’t be serious with putting out your own questions and answering them, and not speaking to the media.
"Again, what it does is it raises more questions than answers and it doesn’t do anything to quash the feeling from a number of clubs that this has just not been good enough."
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