WARREN Hawke refused to comment after an ex-Morton manager called on him to resign in a scathing attack on the Ton’s chief executive’s role on the SPFL board.

Jim McInally, who was manager of the Cappielow outfit between 2004-08, is now manager of Peterhead and has been a vocal opponent of the Irn-Bru Cup competition.

Hawke is one of the Championship’s representatives on the SPFL board chairing the SPFL’s competitions working group, who are responsible for organising the competition.

It has drawn criticism from some quarters in recent years because of changes made to the competition.

In recent seasons they have introduced Premiership under-20s teams, as well as making it a cross-border competition, bringing in Welsh, English, Northern and Southern Irish sides in the cup.

The latest issue to have arisen is the indefinite postponement of Bohemians’ quarter-final tie with East Fife due to a scheduling problem.

The tie was to take place next month, but because the League of Ireland’s season has finished the Dublin team may struggle to field a team, with the fixture postponed last week by the SPFL. It is likely to take place in 2019 as a 
result.

McInally didn’t hold back on his thoughts of the competition’s organisers, also criticising Morton for fielding a ‘reserve team’ in their tie against Dumbarton which they lost 2-1.

Ray McKinnon was in charge back in August for that first round cup clash, where he changed his entire starting 11, giving several reserve players their debuts.

The Ton host Peterhead next month in the Scottish Cup, and Hawke also played under McInally for eight months before the former striker retired and finished his playing career.

McInally said: “It’s beyond belief really, you don’t think it can get any bigger a joke than it already is and then this happens. If we were still in it and were struggling to field a team we would be fined and kicked out.

“It’s beyond belief that a team from another association can trample all over the cup and nothing gets done about it.

“On Monday there was an SPFL meeting at Hampden and this wasn’t on the agenda.  The problem is that the clubs choose to ignore what’s happening, nobody has the foresight to get together, have a separate meeting and then tell Neil Doncaster this isn’t acceptable anymore.

"There is the competitions working group. Whoever they are on that committee – they should all resign, let themselves be known and resign.

“I know Iain Dougan from Stranraer is on it. So is Warren Hawke from Morton, who played a reserve team in their Irn-Bru Cup tie so that’s how highly they think of the competition.

“Yet he has a big say on the competition. These people should be outed and made to resign, the clubs should get together and put a stop to this.”

The Tele contacted the Morton chief executive but he declined to comment.