KING CAN’T AFFORD TO MAKE THE WRONG CALL
THOSE ill-judged ‘We-Are-The-People’ signs should already be off the walls at Ibrox and heading for the nearest recycling centre — or auctioned off for good causes to a new, altogether more appropriate, life above a dartboard or a well-stocked gantry.
Green boots should no longer be a discussion point either. Same goes for the chairman’s well-worn schtick that Celtic have really won only two straight titles rather than six because Rangers were otherwise engaged with the epic four-year quest to win the Petrofac Training Cup.
In terms of playing it for laughs, it ranks somewhere alongside James Corden’s Harvey Weinstein routine. By the time Celtic cruise to ten-in-a-row, it will generate even less amusement.
The joke has gone on too long at Rangers. The chaotic end to those embarrassing months of rancour and amateurism under Pedro Caixinha — little more than a cartoon character by the end of it all — was surely the final straw.
We are two-and-a-half years on from Dave King’s takeover and still waiting for official confirmation there is a proper scouting structure in place, after all.
It is not just time for a new manager at Ibrox. It is time for a new culture, too. Time for Rangers to get professional and deliver a structured, realistic blueprint for a future rooted in where they are rather than what they once were.
Mark Allen is the only person in the club’s hierarchy untainted by the wasteful, directionless reigns of Caixinha and his predecessor Mark Warburton.
Allen has to emerge from the broom cupboard — even if it means leaving midfielder Jordan Rossiter on his own for a little while — to explain what he has been doing in the four months since accepting the role of director of football and offer assurances that he has a sensible, workable vision.
He also has to be given the final say on the recruitment of the next manager.
This apparent push for Derek McInnes, while King is still in the country, does make you wonder who is driving the bus. If it is not Allen, then there could be more trouble ahead.
The new manager has to fit into an overarching strategy. Designing that is Allen’s remit. He stated on his arrival he wants to ‘make sure the fans are suitably informed’, but has been about as forthcoming as a Trappist monk since.
Caixinha did cough recently that the Welshman is close to pressing the button on a scouting network and has started a re-fit of facilities at Auchenhowie, but we know little more than that.
The fact is that Allen is Rangers’ last hope, because this board — when it comes to football-related matters — simply cannot be trusted any longer.
Rangers were a broken shell when King took over and should have been reconstructed from the ground up.
There has been work done, but the desire to challenge Celtic as quickly as possible has taken much of the focus and the finance from strengthening the underlying infrastructure.
Warburton lost the plot on the club’s return to the Premiership when blowing fortunes on Joey Barton and the clapped-out Niko Kranjcar.
That Caixinha was recruited before a director of football was in place was folly in itself and his scattergun transfer policy, almost inevitable due to there being no scouting database, brought few hits and some extremely costly misses.
Rangers also messed Jamie Walker about, let Barrie McKay leave for buttons, chose Eduardo Herrera over Louis Moult and ended up playing 4-4-2 after buying players to operate in a different system.
A shambles all underpinned by King stating in June that he expected Rangers to give Celtic ‘a run’. In truth, that should never have been the focus. Celtic are streets ahead in terms of structure, squad and finance.
The Ibrox club have to forget about going toe to toe with them for now and lay down foundations — sticking to a defined transfer policy, nurturing a philosophy that runs through the whole club and quickly establishing themselves as the second club in the country.
They have done none of that. All that is left — again — is the empty rhetoric. The usual raging about perceived enemies. Calls for ‘Rangers men’. Ally McCoist saying Graeme Souness and Walter Smith should be brought back in.
It always comes back to the past at Ibrox, to what the old place ought to be. Inevitable, perhaps, when you look at their boardroom and senior management.
King, Paul Murray and Alistair Johnston were all directors as the club imploded under Sir David Murray. Andrew Dickson even stuck around for all the fun and games beyond that.
What King and Paul Murray, in particular, did in rescuing the club from the previous regime will always be appreciated by the fans.
However, while the removal of Mike Ashley was a success that should facilitate a share issue in time, the football side of the business has been going nowhere.
It is crying out for someone capable of convincing the board of the sore truth that the club must be rebuilt incrementally.
McInnes might well be part of a solution under Allen. He would get them into second place and challenging for cups, which is what they need at this stage — but he would have to relinquish a degree of the control enjoyed at Pittodrie.
With McInnes, as with Rangers in general, there are obvious questions. The answers, though, will not be found in dogs, caravans, vampires and ‘We Are The People’.
Rangers may have a managerial target in mind. This time, they also have to prove they have a plan.