Derek Johnstone: Golden Graham is the man to unearth silver and bank stability f

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Derek Johnstone: Golden Graham is the man to unearth silver and bank stability for Rangers

SO much has happened on and off the park since Rangers were put into administration by their former owner Craig Whyte two years ago this week.

Derek Johnstone Football columnist

Friday 14/02/2014

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Craig Whyte took Rangers into administration two years ago

The Ibrox club have gone through three different chairmen and three different chief executives.

A great deal of money has been brought into the club. Unfortunately, a great deal of money has gone out of it as well.

Never mind the £22million or so that was raised in the IPO back at the end of 2012. There have been two tranches of season ticket money taken in that I believe were worth in the region of £18m.

With all of the other revenue, from sponsorship deals and other commerical intitiatives, it is scandalous that the club is now running out of money.

A lot of people have walked away with many times what they invested bulging out of their back pockets. They have plundered the club.

I feel sorry for the latest chief executive, Graham Wallace. He is the man charged with sorting out the mess his predecessors made.

But I am and always have been a glass half-full kind of person.

And I do think Rangers have, at long last, got the right person in place to sort out the situation.

For the first time in a long time I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Graham is a football man. He has experience of working at a major club, Manchester City, in the past.

It is the first time in many years that somebody like that has been in a position of authority at Ibrox.

Graham has done and said all the right things since being appointed back in November.

He has asked for 120 days to identify and then address the issues affecting the club. He is currently working 24/7 to do that.

If anybody can turn things around he can.

The most important factor throughout what has, without doubt, been the most difficult two years in the history of the club has been the backing of the supporters.

It is so vital that they remain firmly behind the club now and continue to buy season tickets in numbers and purchase club merchandise.

I would hope the fans can see that in Graham Wallace they have the right man to take the club forward.

He is speaking to a broad cross-section of the support and keeping them informed of what is happening at the club. In the past, they were kept at a distance and that was wrong.

The paying customers can be certain their hard-earned will not - as has, alas, been the case in the past - go right out of the window with Graham at the helm.

He knows what the club can and cannot afford to spend. He knows that there are going to have to be changes. And he will, in time, make them.

I also think that Rangers needs fresh investment. From Glasgow, from London, from the Middle East, from wherever. But I am sure club officials are looking at that.

I would certainly believe what he tells us and not others who delight in trying to run the club down.

Despite the difficulties Rangers is facing, it is still a massive club, with a huge fan base, great facilities and enormous potential.

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So there you have it - Graham Wallace is a good guy and Rangers need financial investment.

Surprised you haven't received that Pulitzer prize yet Derek.