Problems begin with the board
IN many respects, the world of football can often appear distant from the rules which govern everyday life but there is one truism from which it cannot escape.
When matters are less than perfect in the boardroom, it is highly unlikely — if not impossible — that success will follow on the shop floor.
Three years after Dave King and the Three Bears swept to power at Rangers, the waters around the Ibrox hierarchy remain distinctly choppy. The direct consequence of this has left the doors to the trophy cabinet firmly closed.
This is certainly not how the Light Blue legions who descended on Ibrox that March day in 2015 envisaged it.
The myriad dubious characters to have darkened the marble staircase over the four previous years had rendered the club an emaciated wreck. The recovery would assuredly take time.
But after all these long months and all the money selflessly handed over by the rank and file, surely the team should have improved to an appreciable degree?
Against Celtic on Sunday, it had a deathly pallor.
‘The club is pretty much broken. Pretty much everything has to be looked at,’ King stated that 2015 day. Worryingly, his words seem as true today as they were then. For what has changed?
An interim manager out of his depth and unable to arrest the decline and no clear illustration of a decision-making process to plot the way forward.
The big calls that had to be spot on, the appointment of a permanent manager chief among them, instead turned up a series of expensive errors.
Mark Warburton arrived with David Weir in tow. Rebuilding the team with an influx of young English players, he did all that was asked of him in the league but concerns about his suitability to take the next step in the top flight crystallised with defeat to Hibs in the 2016 Scottish Cup final. His response — signing what he felt were dependable, experienced hands such as Niko Kranjcar, Philippe Senderos and Joey Barton — proved catastrophic.
When Warburton slipped away to Nottingham Forest, managing director Stewart Robertson outlined a new vision of a fresh continental structure built on a head coach working under a director of football.
It was the only way forward, we were told. At least until top target Ross Wilson, Southampton’s head of scouting, pulled out of the race and the issue was promptly put on the back burner.
What followed next was the moment the decision-makers at Ibrox took leave of their senses. While Derek McInnes’ endeavours at Aberdeen made him the obvious choice, instead the three-man recruitment panel — Robertson, Andrew Dickson and Graeme Park — took themselves to Qatar and fell for Pedro Caixinha’s natural charms. His less than glittering CV was ignored.
A 5-1 home hammering by Celtic, coming a week after defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final to their city rivals, ought to have been all the evidence this Rangers board needed that they had backed the wrong horse.
Instead, they indulged Caixinha’s every wish. Carlos Pena, Fabio Cardoso and Bruno Alves all arrived. Eduardo Herrera and Dalcio joined them. Huge money was spent for next to no return.
By the time Caixinha was seen ranting in the shrubbery of Luxembourg’s Stade Josy Barthel after the humiliation of losing to part-time Progres Niederkorn, it was clear the experiment was a gross mistake. The only surprise was it took until October for time to be called.
The same three-man panel took the rap. But what of King’s rubberstamping of the deal? What of the board’s involvement in another flawed decision process?
What of the most recent figures which showed losses of around £1million and ‘soft’ loans extending beyond £17m?
Little wonder McInnes rejected Rangers’ advances when they eventually came and, again, Graeme Murty was thrust into a position for which he seems so unsuited.
Following Sunday’s defeat to Celtic, he looked close to tears as players around him lost the plot. Mercifully, his pain will soon come to an end in the wake of the most abject display from a side in an Old Firm game in living memory.
For Murty, gentleman though he may be, is in no way the future.
News of David Bates’ impending departure to Hamburg was a blow for morale, but nothing compared to King’s breathtaking public utterance which stopped just short of handing Murty his P45.
‘Whoever is appointed must be able to meet the unique challenges of managing Rangers and ensuring immediate success,’ King said of the managerial situation as part of a release designed to spark season-ticket sales.
Murty will depart the scene soon enough, a little bruised by the experience but probably none the worse for it in the longer term.
It is the identity of his successor that is already a matter of fierce debate — as is the competence of those charged with making the decision.