It's hard to see how CEO Patrick Stewart survives at Rangers after disastrous start to the season

In a meeting with Rangers’ Fan Advisory Board last Wednesday, Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart ‘acknowledged the need for the board and leadership to share accountability, noting that responsibility could not rest solely with the head coach’.

When the grave error of appointing Russell Martin ends with the one-time Southampton boss being emptied onto Edmiston Drive with a binbag – as it must – that means he has to accept the torchlight of truth being shone in his direction.

And, right now, it’s hard to see how his first nine months in charge stands up to scrutiny.

Fan groups have him in their sights. His mugshot is on the banners demanding change alongside Martin’s. And, it has to be said, he doesn’t really have an awful lot of credit in the bank.

Right from the get-go, after taking the reins last December, he announced he would be staging a ‘root-and-branch’ review of the football department. It took weeks for the leadership to offer up the admission they should maybe appoint a sporting director.

Apart from that, did anyone outside the tent ever find out what the exact findings of this strategic investigation were? Were final conclusions ever spoken about at any length?

There has been a lot of change behind the scenes since, to be fair, but shouldn’t the fanbase be taken along on that journey rather than finding themselves kicking off the season watching a team that looks like it has never seen a football before and can’t beat St Mirren, Motherwell or Dundee?

Stewart, of course, was also big on backing Philippe Clement when everyone could see he was running out of road as boss. After the side had been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Queen’s Park, he doubled down, stating that the club’s underperformance over several seasons was ‘not down to a manager’.

He even went as far as to state that he wasn’t prepared to put further progress in the Europa League at risk, with the side having made it to the knockout stages, by replacing the Belgian.

So what happened? He binned him before the last-16 meeting with Fenerbahce and replaced him with Barry Ferguson, who had not been involved in management for three years following a mixed time in the dugout encompassing spells at Clyde, Kelty Hearts and Alloa.

Not exactly the actions of someone working to a defined strategy. Or even seeing through what he’d been saying in public.

In the end, Ferguson’s time at the helm worked out much as you would have expected, wins over the Turks and Celtic at Parkhead notwithstanding.

Along the way, Stewart took aim at the Ultras behind the goal over a banner flown at an Old Firm that had Graeme Souness pointing a rifle towards the Celtic end. There is a conversation to be had over how far is too far within fan culture – although it is worth pointing out the police took no action over the display – but strongly-worded criticism on the Rangers website just nudged him even further into the crosshairs of the support.

He has nowhere to hide now, that’s for sure. It is difficult to describe to people who do not watch Rangers just how bad things have been with Martin as boss. The team is indescribably awful. They are genuinely fortunate to be sitting 10th in the Premiership, considering Motherwell and Dundee were unlucky not to beat them.

They don’t create chances and can’t keep goals out at the back. And that’s with a heck of a lot of money being spent on the project.

Stewart told the FAB that stepping aside ‘would not resolve underlying issues and that he has a responsibility to work through the issues’. Sporting director Kevin Thelwell, whose transfers are under real examination in the wake of Martin’s admission that his players are scared of Ibrox, conceded that ‘being under threat is part of the responsibility of senior leadership in football’ – but said he wasn’t planning to go anywhere either.

Thelwell has plenty of questions to answer, but is still early in his stay. Stewart, however, really isn’t showing an awful lot to suggest he is the kind of strong leader Rangers need at the top.

When chairman Andrew Cavenagh does get round to putting Martin out of his misery, there is a fair case to be made for looking for a new chief executive too. Like the head coach, it’s hard to see any way Stewart wins round his detractors now.