The eighteenth Rangers manager is almost upon us.

All the information available to us at this moment suggests a name we all know so well.

Almost a year to the day that Giovanni van Bronckhorst arrived in Govan and said familiar face departed, the roles are now reversed as Michael Beale gets set to return. 

For this board, and especially this director of football, he has to be the correct man and the beginning of normality returning.

We have lurched from one disaster to the next for far too long. One frustrating episode to the next. One on-field calamity to the next. It has to stop. Rangers must return the club to a situation where we set the level of expectation and are not lagging behind. 

The off-field dramas that seem to be cleared one minute and come roaring back the next, have to stop. The bickering, court cases, the off field pettiness from everyone - it has to stop. For the good of Rangers we have to pull our socks up and put the badge first. Park the egos, lead by example and start to act in a way this club deserves.

It’s almost become like a pantomime at Rangers and the new manager must demand that standards are lifted everywhere around him. This boardroom have a massive part to play. The ongoing silence can't continue and one interview in six months doesn’t make a difference to that. The club shouldn't have a chairman who is happy to be in the shadows - it's always been a front-facing leadership role and that should be what it returns to.

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It can’t have a sporting director who oversees a mess without consequence or meaningful communication. The culture that everyone is doing great and bubbling themselves away from criticism - it all needs to stop. 

Now you can sit and say this isn’t what is happening. The board will tell me I simply don’t have a clue what I am talking about. Fair enough. But the truth is if you stand with the fans on a match day that’s exactly what many think. There's a disconnect.

For the new manager, he must demand top standards from everyone around him. He must demand that he is the main man and have every final say in everything he does. It has to be more than a coaching role. This job requires a level of leadership that has been missing. Like Steven Gerrard or not, he had a presence and arrogance. You can rewrite everything in any way you want - when he left he had turned the club around and demanded we kick on. 

Rangers must always strive to be the best and this isn’t an attempt to be ‘staunch’ or look like ‘Mr Rangers’ - it’s simply what I believe. The journey finished long ago and we all understood it was a long road. This is different now, we need to start acting like the club we claim to be. 

For Beale, he knows the club, he knows the demands and he knows what is required. He also understands where this squad is and more importantly comes with a wealth of experience of the Scottish game. He isn’t a yes man, he isn’t a weakling to a squad that suddenly gets a pass and their failings forgotten. 

Of course, there is a risk. I see and hear the trepidation surrounding his appointment. I’m not naive enough to dismiss that. But I also have faith in the appointment and the person that is Michael Beale. 

He has to be the figurehead and he has to demand greatness from every aspect of this club. It’s a big ask and everyone realises the task at hand. If it is to be Michael Beale then I wish him good luck.

May the number 18 be the man we have all been waiting for. 

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