Rangers: John Gilligan on Dave King, Celtic and foreign investment

John Gilligan is a lifelong Rangers supporter and his natural habitat at Ibrox is his seat in the stands watching his team play. He also works quietly behind the scenes, donating time and money to the club for many years.

Facing the media isn’t really his thing, but as interim chairman in the midst of what his former buddy Dave King calls a crisis, he felt it was something he had to do. And he did it on Monday.

It was an honour to be appointed to this role, he said. No one could doubt his sincerity for a second, but with that privilege comes pressure and there is no end to that at Ibrox at the moment.

No CEO, a caretaker chairman, a former chairman who is vilified in the media and causing unrest, a squad with big holes in it and at the same time a Celtic full of money and momentum that seems to be disappearing.

When asked about the gap between Rangers and Celtic, Gilligan said these things happen. “Sometimes we’re ahead, sometimes Celtic are ahead,” he suggested.

The reality is that Celtic have won 12 of the last 13 Scottish Premierships and are the heavy favourites to finish 13th in the 14 games.

Former chairman John Bennett is a cautionary tale of the stresses of life at Rangers at the moment. A man who spent most of his professional career in the cutthroat world of high finance, he was a senior figure in companies with investment portfolios worth billions of pounds.

Bennett thrived in asset management, but much of what he learned there did not prepare him for the brutality of the Rangers’ guard role in an age of strife.

Even before it was announced that he would step down for health reasons, he spoke about the complexity of life in football. It was challenging and all-consuming, especially when things went wrong and the support was in turmoil.

And now Gilligan, another proud Rangers man and another Rangers investor, has stuck his head above the parapet. Well, someone had to.