Rangers missed their turning at the crossroads last week and lost out on promotion.
Now they’re at Spaghetti Junction and can’t afford to lose their way any further.
They must find someone like Graeme Souness or Walter Smith to lead a revival, otherwise they’ll never recover.
Today’s situation is reminiscent of 1983. The man voted The Greatest-Ever Ranger, John Greig, had been unable to lead the Ibrox club back to the top after five-and-a-half years as manager, and the Light Blues aimed high for his replacement.
The Ibrox club thought they’d lured Alex Ferguson away from Aberdeen, only for an eleventh hour about turn by their target.
Then Dundee United boss Jim McLean was offered the position, only for him to also renege as the deal was about to be done.
Eventually Jock Wallace, who had won two Trebles before leaving Ibrox in acrimonious circumstances, returned but never scaled the heights of his first spell in charge.
I’ve often wondered what Rangers would have achieved had they landed either Fergie or wee Jim.
Not only did the club’s hierarchy think they’d landed Ferguson, Aberdeen chairman Dick Donald also thought he’d lost his man.
Thinking it was a purely football decision, he was astonished he’d chosen to stay.
A few days after Fergie’s decision had become public, Donald aware of my friendship with his manager asked me if I knew the real reason for it.
I advised the chairman Fergie had told me he was about to accept Rangers’ offer when he read a diary article in a Glasgow-based daily newspaper.
It had stated things were so bad at Ibrox, the club and their fans would welcome him and his wife, Cathy, back with open arms even though she was Catholic.
That reference to the club’s controversial signing policy of the time had riled Fergie, and he wanted no part of it.
Donald, a wise and considered man, was flabbergasted when I told him.
Jim McLean also decided to remain at Tannadice, despite an offer from Rangers to double his wages with a house thrown in!
He was sorely tempted but in the end decided not to expose his family to the goldfish-bowl existence that came with the job.
Today the situation is far graver for Rangers than it was back then.
And it’s not overstating things to suggest appointing the right manager has become the most-important decision in their history.
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