Richard Gough on the Rangers crisis

AM I scared for the future of my old club Rangers?

All I can say is if someone owed me £30million I would want it back pretty smartish!

Should anyone really be surprised at the appearance of Donald Muir from Lloyds Banking Group on the Rangers board?

My old gaffer Walter Smith stirred up a real hornet's nest when he brought the controversial issue of who is in charge at Ibrox into the public domain last week.

There then followed a flurry of activity as the bank vehemently denied it was running Rangers.

But the more I hear and read about the situation, the more it seems there is a lot of smoke and mirrors involved here and no one's quite sure what is happening at Rangers as everyone tries to protect their particular patch.

One thing is certain. The gaffer wouldn't have come out with his statement unless he was looking to provoke a reaction or else felt that what he was saying would bring some kind of a benefit to the club.

Walter Smith is not a naive young manager letting off steam.

He is a shrewd operator who knew exactly what to say and when to say it.

According to Walter, the bank is running the club. According to the club's official statement, the club is running the club. If that's correct and Rangers remain in full charge of their own affairs, why is there a guy from Lloyds suddenly sitting on the board?

That can't be a good situation for Rangers because whatever they plan to do, there's going to be a Lloyds "doctor" on site reporting back to the bank and informing them about their patient's health.

That's the bottom line isn't it? It's their money and they want to have a major say in what happens to it from now on. Fair enough, I think most people understand that. It doesn't take a financial genius to come to the conclusion that

further investment in Rangers is not an option for Lloyds right now. They want to start clawing back as much of that £30m as they possibly can as quickly as they can.

The only way they can achieve that is by reducing costs and selling off some of the club's assets. Expect to see top players being sold and it will be kids coming in to replace whoever leaves.

The danger for the bank is they could make the situation worse if they blood too many youngsters too quickly.

If the team start to struggle and Rangers slide down the table we all know what happens. We could return to the dark days of the early 1980s when there were crowds of 8,000 turning up for some games.

Sounds too pessimistic? Just take a look at Celtic's 18,000 crowd against Hearts the other night.

Celtic Park was only one third full and they were top of the league going into that game.

Sure the diehards will always turn up but there must be 30,000 fans who could take it or leave it if there are no big names to entice them into the ground. It's been proved in the past. Times are hard and the majority of fans won't pay top dollar to watch a team with no big names.

People will go and watch talents like Gazza or Laudrup or Di Canio and Larsson, who can put a smile on their faces. Look around now and there aren't many players in either squad with genuine quality.

The quality at Ibrox right now is concentrated in the manager's office, with Walter Smith in charge of a bright young coaching team.

However, the noises coming from that office do not suggest Walter is by any means certain to hang around to oversee the great Ibrox sell-off.

Therefore the sooner a buyer or a consortium can be found for Rangers, the better.

I've been taking it in the neck from my Celtic-supporting pals who keep texting me and asking if I plan to bid for the club on eBay! As far as I can see, there are three ways in which Rangers can get back on course.

1. A knight in shining armour arrives on the scene and chucks money at the club in the same way Roman Abramovich did at Chelsea.

2. Someone closer to home - such as Douglas Park or Dave King - tries to follow in David Murray's footsteps and invests in Rangers.

3. The fans come up with the cash in a Barcelona-style membership scheme which makes ordinary punters shareholders, who then appoint a chairman or president to look after their company.

Obviously option one would provide the most cash but I really wonder if the clock can ever be turned back to the heady days of 1986 when Lawrence Marlborough and David Holmes recruited Graeme Souness to turn Scottish football on its head.

England goalie Chris Woods came in for £600,000 closely followed by England skipper Terry Butcher for £750,000.

Two years later David Murray took up the baton.

By then, yours truly had arrived at Ibrox as the first Scottish player with a £1million-plus price tag.

I was actually the man who got the Murray era off to a winning start when I scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Aberdeen in November 1988.

Rangers were easily the dominant force in Scottish football then as we went into football folklore with our nine-in-a-row achievements.

But how does anyone top what David Murray achieved?

How can anyone make the same kind of massive strides the club made back then? Even if fresh cash was poured into the club, who are the big names who would be attracted to the SPL?

Douglas Park and Dave King are two names who have been mentioned as possible buyers.

I've known both guys personally for years now and they are good people who have the best interests of Rangers at heart.

But even if they pile millions in it's unlikely they are going to be able to turn the clock back to the days when the Laudrups, Gascoignes, De Boers and Van Bronckhorsts rolled up at Ibrox.

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