9. Learn not to let short term results sway your mood too much – we all knew we were a mess of a club before the Unirea game. And we have little expectation or ambition for Europe this year – if we were going to get humped in the CL, this was the year. And another home draw? – well it’s just a by-product of the bigger picture. Who can clear the debt and run the club in a careful yet confidently ambitious manner?
8. Realise that Walter is doing a good job OFF the park. On the park we may bitch and moan about his decisions, tactics and formations but none of us can ever prove Walter was wrong in his decisions. Just think how split we are on Kris Boyd; if he plays he’s often a waste of a jersey; if he’s on the bench he’s a match winner. By and large football managers are vain, temperamental and short sighted – if they don’t get funds, then they are offski. Walter accepts he is more or less an indefinite caretaker manager and he gets on with it. We could do worse – and we cannot afford better.
7. Appreciate that Rangers financial situation is complex – there are several third parties who own parts of our brand and our day to day operation, whether part of MIH, JJB or ESPN/Sky. Any new owner will be taking on a huge due diligence task, with several possible blind alleys. You can understand why there might not be a queue forming at Charlotte Square. Our desperation for a new way may also add to their anxieties. Be patient.
6. We have been on a bread and water diet for close to 7 years (since the start of the 03/04 season). Our horizons have been narrowed for this length of time due to the prior spending . During this time we’ve seen the emergence of serious money in central and Eastern Europe. And the complete money orgy that is England meaning Championship clubs make more from TV than we do. The playing field has been flooded, and we can't afford the armbands anymore.
5. Youth development isn’t a mathematical equation, a la 'invest £x produces £2x of talent.' The raw materials are born only by God’s good grace (or sheer luck if you don’t believe in the bearded fella). Look at the Scottish national side – it's not just Rangers failing, the nation is failing – solve that riddle and you deserve an honorary gong from Holyrood.
4. The banks are not the bad guys here. Our pain is entirely self-inflicted. We spent 15 years, from 88 to 03, being too arrogant to insist on value and quality for our spend. We bought so much expensive belly button fluff it was frightening. All the banks have done is call a halt to us helping ourselves to more overdraft: as they should. Whether they have a man on the board or not should not matter – we should have figured out that our structure was unsustainable and taken on the housekeeping role ourselves years and years ago.
3. Celtic are £25m healthier than us and are rank rotten. Pint glass half empty, the SPL is on a long term sabbatical; pint half full, and we only need 2 or 3 players to leave them trailing us again.
2. Despite the turmoil we are champions of our country, have won 4 of the last 6 domestic trophies, are in the CL and only last year competed in a European final. Sure we cant be relied on to beat Dundee this coming week but silverware and Euro nights does give us just about enough fixes of how it should be to keep us coming for more.
1. Rangers Forever – many of us will have had a sew on patch on our scarves with these two words. I am Rangers – you are Rangers – we are Rangers. Don't let the glee club bait us, don’t let them get easy wins from us: because no other club on this planet has a better and more consistent record of turning round adversity and being the nation’s premier club. And when that happens, we will have deserved it.