This week at Rangers: Positive on the pitch, stagnant off it

Rangers’ long-awaited return to our beloved home, Ibrox Stadium, was a welcome and uplifting relief for those of us who have become mired in the negativity that has surrounded the club since the start of the summer. As the team eased to a comfortable 3-0 victory which ironically earned us a return to Hampden, there was just a sense that perhaps things were beginning to lift with some of our younger players and new signings showing encouraging signs.

That is not to say that suddenly the garden is rosey and we’re going to win the Europa League however it was nice to have at least some positives when often many weeks have elapsed without them. But after enjoying the run-of-the-mill nature of our victory at the weekend the emergence of John Gilligan, our interim chairman, has reminded us that off-the-field there is still some considerable work to be done.

Gilligan’s press conference was never going to be fireworks or rainbows. He was taking responsibility, showing his face and putting himself forward for questions which I think he deserves credit for.

As a retiree I’m sure he could do without the aggravation however he’s a Rangers man and stepped forward when duty called.

Fair play to him.

Nothing much was said of course, other than a professional rebuttal of Dave King’s public challenges, and I don’t think we should have anticipated much else if I’m perfectly honest.

But the press conference just served as a reminder and sucked everyone back into the reality that behind the scenes the club is still a rudderless mess with almost all major senior positions lying vacant at a time when we’re trying to rebuild.

Koppen and Clement are clearly driving the football side of things at present and with any luck this weekend’s mild enjoyment can be continued as a method to distract us all from the wider issues at the club, issues which cannot admittedly be permanently masked by a few wins.

But it’s amazing what a run of good form can do for the mood of the support, even if at the back of our minds we know things are far from perfect.

John Gilligan confirmed that our search for a CEO – arguably our most crucial appointment in years – was extended by the withdrawal of a previous target (which everybody knows was Jim Gillespie) and that this has resulted in the process requiring to re-start.

That raises questions.

Firstly, with the process now starting again when will we actually get someone appointed? And secondly if Jim Gillespie, vice-chairman of St Mirren, was our primary target, what does that say about the rest?

In a later interview with RTV our interim chairman stated that the ‘dream scenario’ would be getting a CEO appointed by Christmas. Yes, Christmas. That’s a full 7 months after James Bisgrove abandoned his position.

Is that really remotely acceptable at a club like Rangers?

Now, don’t get me wrong, getting the right candidate is far more important than getting the first one available however given their intention to appoint Gillespie, why should the fan base have faith in the same people to get the right candidate? Maybe that’s why it has been outsourced to a recruitment agency.

Maybe it has been a valuable lesson learned. The reaction of the fanbase perhaps deterred Gillespie from taking the job and forced him to re-think and maybe this was also time to reflect for our board members. Hopefully this will see our sights set a bit higher, even if this means greater cost, and see a suitable candidate appointed.

Hopefully the second lesson learned is that once they find a suitable candidate, they must empower him to do the job. David Holmes was successful because he not only had the backing of Lawrence Marlborough but he had the authority to do things his way in order to deliver the vision for the club.

Now this is no longer the 1980s and running a football club now is very different, but the principle remains the same.

Recent years have demonstrated that shareholders-come-board members’ involvement in the actual running of the club has not been particularly beneficial.

While we have some wealthy and very shrewd businessmen, John Bennett being an example, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skills to run a football club, even one you know and love and have pumped money into.

We have too often been operating an off-the-cuff approach to running the club. First we had a director of football. Then we didn’t. Then we didn’t need one. Now maybe we do.

We let a rookie manager play fast and loose with the cheque book with no oversight from the board. We let the costs run too high. Then we decided we needed to cut them.

It’s been a mess.

It is the board’s job to set the overarching strategy for the football club. They should know what running Rangers looks like, what roles it requires and the type of people needed to fulfil those roles. And if they don’t they should step back, hire a Director of Football and a CEO and let them get to work. Otherwise we’ll be stuck in this cycle of failure.

Things aren’t all bad though. Despite the problems in the summer the new disabled facilities are top class and we can be proud as a club that we are taking these steps to improve the stadium.

Players like Jefte and Barron are excellent young talents,  both more than holding their own in the team. Igamane too is now emerging and will give us a different and welcome option up top.

Bajrami also looks to have that little bit of quality we will often require to unlock a stubborn defence.

Don’t mistake that for me labelling anyone as a world-beater. They’re not. But this season is about laying the foundations for the future – for I don’t see it being a title-challenging campaign and that a sad indictment in itself. What we must do though is make progress, develop players and lay the groundwork for moving forward and bringing in more quality next summer.

That might seem a strange mix of optimism yet defeatism at the same time, but that’s where I think we are right now.

Gilligan reiterated his support for the manager, something his predecessor also did and followed up by giving him a new contract. So, whether you rate him or not, Clement is here for the long-term and is very much a big part of this ‘project’.

The club has regressed badly and even the current incumbents of the Blue Room would struggle to mount an argument against that but what we cannot do is change the past. We can’t rewind 24 months and rewrite history but what we can do is start making the right decisions in the here and now that can take us forward. That might not be enough to please many fans, and who can blame them, but that’s the reality of the situation.

The next few months are absolutely crucial to Rangers, on and off the park. Clement must deliver the progress we are all desperate to see with his younger squad and above him we must see the structure and people put in place to bring stability, direction and, most importantly, success back to the club.

The fans have suffered through 2012 and the ‘banter years’ that followed. They have launched this club on the path that took us to 55. So please, give us something that we can get behind. Give us a club that is moving forward and improving and learning from its mistakes. Do that and we will be right behind you every step of the way, roaring the team on and ploughing our money in to fund the success we crave.

Right now I think the mood has lurched from anger at the start of last season to apathy at the beginning of this one. There is a tiredness permeating the support at the moment. We are going through the motions, there in body but not in full spirit. And that has to change but it can only be fixed from within the club.

And fix it they must.

John Gilligan stepped in with the club in a mess. I just hope he leaves it in a much better place when he steps down. Good luck, John.