Murdoch MacLennan

He is chairman of the Press Association Group,[1] Independent News & Media,[2] and also of the Scottish Professional Football League.

[3] From 2004 until 2017 he was CEO of the Telegraph Media Group after which he served as Deputy Chairman until March 2018, and remains a Non-Executive Director.

MacLennan began his career as a graduate trainee at The Scotsman in Edinburgh, then worked for titles in Newcastle and South Wales before moving to Reading as production manager for a regional evening paper.

He is a member of the European Publishers' Council (EPC) and a director of the International News Media Association (INMA).

MacLennan was accused of covering up any negative stories about the banking giant HSBC within the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Peter Oborne, former chief political correspondent at the Telegraph, quit the paper stating that MacLennan in particular was "determined" not to allow negative stories about HSBC to appear.

Oborne claimed this was a "form of fraud" as HSBC were a lucrative advertising customer[10] In 2010 MacLennan faced criticism for attending an undisclosed thank you dinner for major donors to the Conservative party which was hosted by then prime minister David Cameron .

MacLennan has shown his hatred and loathing of Rangers FC, having been quoted as saying "Ah cannae stand the bastards".

This statement was contradicted by the fact that both Motherwell and Partick Thistle had received payouts totaling £300,000 from the SPFL to keep both clubs solvent in 2017.

The cinch deal was also controversial, in that SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster spent significant sums of money on consultancy fees.

As part of the process MacLennan and the SPFL board faced criticism for underselling the league through sponsorship and TV deals.