This is not a column about the job Ross Wilson has been doing at Rangers since arriving in October 2019. There has been enough written already, people have fixed positions and the arguments are now largely irrelevant. This is instead about perception and how it shapes reality.

It's now abundantly clear Wilson is not a popular figure amongst the Rangers fanbase. Hearts and minds have most definitely been lost. Just look at social media every time the club hit stormy weather. There he is in the eye of the hurricane being hurled around in the metaphorical crosswinds like a kid's trampoline. 

It's understandable. If you are looking for blame to dish out, Michael Beale is just through the door, Gio van Bronckhorst is still well-liked despite his flaws and most of the fan base understand the board are supporters who have ploughed their own money in for little gain. Wilson is always going to be the one clutching the parcel when the music stops.

Is that fair? His detractors will point to a list of 29 signings over his tenure as sporting director and ask how many have been a judicious use of precious funds. The unvarnished truth is; not too many. 

Wilson will bristle at such criticism, as he did at the AGM, and put up a robust response about taking calculated gambles, the inherent difficulties in making project signings and note the low financial level of the market he's operating in. He'd also point out that Calvin Bassey was signed for £300k and sold for £25m while Nathan Patterson's move to Everton also brought in another huge wedge.

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He'd say his job is about far more than recruitment, point to major improvements in professionalism across the club and upgrades to facilities at both Ibrox and the training centre. On his list of achievements will be building a squad that won its first title in a decade against a wealthier opponent and overseeing a level of European progress that led to a coin toss for a major European trophy.

The response? It. Doesn't. Matter.

The fans aren't buying it. And at that point, where have you left to go? That's the realpolitik.

His job may not just be about recruitment. He may not buy the players. Somebody though has to take responsibility for narratives being allowed to grow arms and legs over the years and Wilson hasn't exactly been a free and open presence in the media since arriving.

And that's been a mistake because I've been fortunate enough to visit the training centre and see in detail the changes that have been made to turn a dated, two-decade-old facility into an elite sporting environment. I've seen first-hand Wilson's attention to fine detail and perfectionism. He's vaunted his "one club philosophy", which sounds a touch Brentian, but is more than just bluster in the way it has brought the women's team and academy under one umbrella with the men. Without having seen it though? You can understand why people might be unconvinced.

More should have been done to explain his role, a little-understood one within the culture of Scottish football still largely framed through the lens of battles for control by drama-thirsty red-tops. That should be a lesson for the future because a sporting director is a position the club should be employing. 

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When it comes to criticism, we all know the scattergun is out right now. Everyone is in the firing line, not least the manager and the players who feel the brunt of it. As is the standard format after an Old Firm defeat, everything is magnified. The pressure has already started to shift to the board.

The strain on Wilson both has and hasn't built as part of that. The loss to Celtic has questions about his role come to the fore once again but such talk is much longer in the making and more sustained than from a single distressing result. 

Introspection is required and the board would be well advised to have a long think about their football operation and how it's perceived. There's no doubt Rangers have been left in their rival's slipstream despite a significant head start when last season kicked off.  Two years later and the summer will see another rebuild. People will double-take at that statement - "another"? But NINE players have been brought in this season. That represents a significant influx. If so many new arrivals don't herald some sort of rebuild then what does that say about recruitment? 

READ MORE: The 1 from 9 injury and fitness fact that shows Rangers transfer woe

Of the permanent summer signings, not one has yet made themselves a Rangers star - although injury has to be mentioned as a significant factor. Across the city, the difference is stark and transfers have been conducted with a level of success that defies normal Scottish standards. Time and again, they have hit the target. That's not easy to go up against but it's the reality of the test. Rangers can't be a club that raises its hands in dismay. It must rise again, as it has always done, to meet that head-on.

This challenge will require everyone to come together, as they did during the Europa League run last year, from the board to the support, from the team to the sporting director. This is a sentiment Beale agrees with. I will leave you with words I noted down from his first press conference when he was asked what success might look like this season.

He said: "Aligning the ideas of the board through myself and the management team to the players and ultimately to the fans. It's got to be aligned, we've got to be together because when we are it's a very strong club."