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Rangers are to commission an independent probe into the behaviour of chief executive Charles Green and commercial director Imran Ahmad.

It follows allegations about the pair's links with former owner Craig Whyte and Green's recent public statements.

Rangers' board held a special meeting ahead of the home game against Clyde to consider the matter.

A statement that followed said Green had apologised for an offensive remark made about Ahmad in a press interview.

It had already led the Scottish FA to charge the chief executive for bringing the game into disrepute by making a comment considered to be "of an offensive and racist nature".

"The chief executive of the club apologised unreservedly to board members and the wider Rangers support for any offence caused by remarks he made in an interview last week regarding Imran Ahmad," said the statement on behalf of the Rangers International Football Club plc's board.

"Mr Green told the board that, in trying to make a point in the interview that, as chief executive, he would not countenance any form of prejudice towards employees or players at the club, he had exercised poor judgement in the words he chose. He apologised.

"The board accepted the explanation that there had been no intention to cause offence and accepted the chief executive's apology.

"The board is satisfied that the chief executive did not act in a racist manner but reminded him of the importance of all office bearers at Rangers upholding the standards expected by the club.

"Mr Green will deal with the pending SFA charge on this matter on a personal basis.

"The board wishes to re-iterate Rangers is a club which is opposed to all forms of prejudice and has a long-established policy of working extensively in the community through a variety of programmes and initiatives to tackle issues such as racism and sectarianism."

Whyte has claimed that he still owns Rangers' assets and that Green had agreed to be his front man before the consortium involving the Englishman and Ahmad bought Rangers' assets last year.

The claims have led to the Scottish businessman and Green threatening one another with legal action.

"Instructions recently given to lawyers in England and Scotland with a view to taking legal action to challenge these recent allegations will form part of the independent examination," added the statement from Rangers' board.

"The decision to commission the examination was taken unanimously by those in attendance at today's meeting, including non-executive and executive directors.

"The independent report will be commissioned and completed as speedily as possible and presented directly to the non-executive directors of the company.

"The chief executive will not be involved in the conduct of the examination.

"The board wishes to make clear that is not prejudging any of the issues involved and that the object of this exercise is to clarify the situation to the satisfaction of shareholders, supporters, staff and board members."

Green had issued a statement the previous evening refuting Whyte's claim that he was involved in the takeover of the club and was the main driver behind the Sevco 5088 company that purchased the assets and business of the company he had put into administration.

The Englishman days later transferred the assets - which were bought for £5.5m in June - to a different company called Sevco Scotland, which then became The Rangers Football Club.

"Mr Green is appalled by this blatant attempt to discredit him," read a statement on the chief executive's behalf, suggesting that documents made public by Whyte were "not correct or valid".