I had a rough outline within the week of the article I had hoped this would be; a brief summary of Alastair Johnston's first month at the helm, a collection of press statements and maybe an overview of any new direction or energy the man would be bringing to the table. Well, that summary is fairly straightforward as it turns out. You have already read more here than I have read about the new man in the hotseat and the direction he wants to move. My single biggest gripe over the summer was simply that by standing by a point blank refusal to address the support on the matters of a squad cull never before seen, the then chairman had left the fans with nothing more than blind speculation. That speculation, backed up by the evidence, both real and imaginary, bred a mounting level of panic amongst sections of the Rangers support. Normally calm and level headed posters were beginning to fear the worst, and mischievous journalists fanned the flames with scaremongers given free rein to print any speculative piece that sprang to mind.
The collective minds of the support could have been put somewhat at ease by a carefully worded press release: the speculation could have been cut short and the rising panic could have been quelled. Instead of this simple measure Murray decided that Walter Smith's 'we have no money' and 'we are not now in a position to buy' were sufficient information. Obviously a statement from Murray would have been taken with a pinch of salt by many amongst the FF loyal, but even that would have been far better than an almost disrespectful silence on matters fiscal from the club.
I had held a very real hope that the support would be given at least some tidbits of information with the changing of the chairman, with a release or two clearing up the obvious confusion over our finances: not whether we are in debt or not, we all know the truth of that, but whether the banks are pulling the strings; whether administration was nearly as close as some would have us believe; whether Weir was playing under a 'gentleman's agreement' and whether we had any plan other than 'sell sell sell' to ease the burden of a faltering economy? I am not naivé enough to expect Rangers to conduct all of its daily business in full view of the watching world, but neither do I think that a little sensible bean-spilling would do any harm, and indeed could do a world of good.
As it stands we know very little. We know that Johnston is US based and appears to be happy with that arrangement. We know also that he sees Bain at the very least as a capable deputy, able to carry out his orders as required and possibly sees him as a man capable of running the Club in a very real sense on a day to day basis. We know nothing else for fact, and that dearth of knowledge is continuing to confound supporters and provide a fertile ground for rumourmongers and mischief makers.
The longer this status quo remains in place the more likely it will appear that Johnston is simply filling a vacant chair until a new owner is found. Whether you are a supporter who simply wanted shot of the man who used to hold that position or not, this no man's land we seemingly inhabit at the moment is doing neither the Club nor the support any favours at all. All it would take to ease minds is a simple and concise statement from Johnston, telling us perhaps little, but enough to assuage some of the nagging doubts that surround every facet of life supporting Rangers.