We've had the delights of winning the SPL and the lows of seeing our squad savagely cut. We've seen a promising young defender emerge with as good a debut season as we've seen in years only to lose him to the bright lights of the English premiership. We've had our hopes of new ownership crushed (partly) by David Murray's steadfast refusal to sell up for anything less than a price that suits him. If Rangers were a person then with all the highs and lows it would be diagnosed as bi-polar.
The truth is that we're either living on blind faith or suffering from doom and gloom. Log on to Follow Follow and you'll see any number of people telling you that they trust Smith to identify the correct targets, that we're finally turning the financial corner and that bitter Lennon will fail in charge of Celtic. You're just as likely to see threads warning us of the dire consequences of our relationship with our bankers, that we're going to lose even more players and that the only option is for immediate, militant action. That's the nature of supporting Rangers right now – blind faith and eternal optimism or a dark cloud that hovers precariously above us, and whilst both types of fan are genuine Rangers fans, neither are really looking at our current plight with balance and objectivity.
Its probably easiest to deal with the biggest issue first – Andrew Ellis' failed bid for Rangers. Some suggest that he was little more than a shill and that Murray's real intention was to flush out genuine bidders. Others suggest that there are far too many bodies buried within the Rangers accounts and the continuing issue of our HMRC investigation is enough to scupper any deal. What do you get when you buy Rangers? You get a football club that plies its trade in a backwater footballing nation. You get a historical stadium that's looking tired and in need of some care and you get a world-class training complex that has become the administrative hub for the business. What you don't get is the ability to make much money from the club since our major revenue streams outside of ticket sales and sponsorship have both been contracted out. The JJB deal was good at the time but its hard not to argue that it has failed to live up to its potential. The inability to increase revenue and our failure to generate any kind of bonus payments restrict how we can tackle our financial problems. The fact that JJB only recently appointed a brand manager shows just how poorly our club has been treated. What hope of a Tom Hunter stepping in if he can't make money from the one area of our business he'd be hoping to exploit?
Dave King might talk a great game - but would any tax authority settle a multi-million dollar bill for as little as three million? - yet so far no other party has declared a reasonably serious interest. Does that make our club unsellable or merely unsold? Arguing the semantics doesn't change the fact that we tried to find a buyer but failed to do so and that we're stuck as part of a larger, failing business empire, ruled over by a largely impotent emperor. Wherever the solution to our problems may be, it certainly won't ride over the hill on a white charger any time soon.
Then there's the cost-cutting. Lloyds appear to have become more insistent on draconian cutbacks since Murray announced his intention to retain his shareholding, at least for the time being. There are only two ways to tackle debt – you can either increase your income or reduce your expenditure – and since the former seems closed off to us, we're reliant on the latter. D. Muir is a paid employee of Murray International Holdings but it's long been rumoured that he's at Ibrox at the request of our bankers. Muir has been blamed for our inability to renew contracts and has become something of a hate figure to rival his employers. If he's as good at crisis management and business turnaround as his CV claims then surely we're directing our ire at one of the few people at Ibrox with the business talents to rescue us?
We've been in this situation before – mounting debts, selling our best players and requiring wholesale restructuring. It's what prompted Murray to hide in the shadows first time round and install John McLelland as club chairman. We worked our way down to a £6million debt and after barely four years we've spent our way back into trouble. Some of our problems were beyond our control – Setanta's collapse cost us millions. Is it reasonable to blame the credit crunch for our problems? Only to the extent that our ongoing plan seemed to be reliant on acquiring more cheap debt. There was no plan to service our debt, to live within our means and to grow our business but this should come as no surprise because by and large we're still being run by the keystone cops who oversaw our last major financial crisis.
I just cannot understand this belief that we've finally turned the corner and that we're being run on a more sustainable basis. Yet the organisation who insisted on these measures are the hate figure for so many. Martin Bain was at Ibrox during our last financial crisis, as was John McLelland. John Greig has been on our board for years but beyond his talents as a social convenor, it's difficult to work out exactly what he does. Walter Smith? His sides are undoubtedly difficult to break down and he's been successful in difficult circumstances but its impossible to ignore to what extent he's contributed with some truly baffling transfer deals that have not delivered value for money. McCoist is seen as being his heir apparent but its difficult to know what kind of manager he'll be because by and large he's never left Smith's side. How can we have faith in the men who were responsible for getting us into this mess? What lessons have they learned? Why should we put our faith in the men who ridiculed Hugh Adam as little more than a Chicken Licken character, convinced that the sky was falling down?
The most surprising thing of all is that our current financial problems offer us a unique and possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to rebuild Rangers in our image. We know that from 2014 we'll be working within a stricter financial framework and that UEFA will punish clubs who fail to play by their rules. Restructuring our wages now gives us a full four years to bring in players who will be within our wage structure and who will help make us competitive. In order for that to happen we'll need a combination of home-grown gems and a scouting network that identifies the best players we can hope to pursue. Danny Wilson is ground zero and it's up to the likes of Wylde, Bendikson, Ness, Fleck and Campbell to show us that with a combination of hard work and a little luck, we can bring through our own players to represent our team. We may see a short-term reduction in the quality of football on offer but if anything it's the perfect chance for us to address the issue of the match-day experience.
For too long now we've blamed modest, boring football for the lack of atmosphere at games. The trend for limited football looks like it'll continue so the immediate alternative is to keep fans interested by improving the match-day experience from the minute we get out of our cars and buses to the minute we get home from the match. We need atmosphere. We need a level of mutual respect where, in return for our patience and support, our club will value us, protect us and get us involved. The greatest crime Murray has committed isn't his unchecked spending and questionable self-interest, its the division he's driven between Rangers and Rangers fans. We need fresh talent at Ibrox and if that starts at the board level then it certainly extends through to the support. Fans groups have an important part to play – in what other business would you blatantly ignore the needs of your customers – and if we're going to see Rangers trade our way out of trouble then it will only be done through closer co-operation between the club and the support.
There are no quick fixes. There are no white knights waiting to ride to the rescue. The current board of directors have a questionable track record and cannot be entirely trusted to get us out of this mess themselves. What we have now is an opportunity to create a Rangers that's capable of flourishing in the 21st century. We can only achieve that when we stop sitting on the sidelines, either praying for salvation or expecting Armageddon, and realise that if we want a club that has a bright future then it's up to us to help make it happen.