RANGERS legend Graeme Souness last night ruled out the possibility of returning to Ibrox under prospective owner Charles Green.
The former Ibrox player and manager had been linked with a role in Green's masterplan for the future as the Englishman attempts to rescue the financially stricken club and end the disastrous Craig Whyte era.
The return of Souness would have been a major coup for Green as he tries to win over the support of a discerning fanbase.
Brian Kennedy revealed he had plans in place to recruit Souness and Walter Smith if he and the Blue Knights consortium had won the race for Rangers.
And the Scottish football legend admits the arrival of Kennedy would be the only way he would consider a sensational return to Ibrox as Green edges closer to control in Govan.
He said: "I was given the opportunity to get involved but I have declined that. It is not for me.
"My friend Brian Kennedy, who was also interested in buying it, asked me should he do it and I said 'most certainly, it is a special football club'.
"Being Scottish himself, he fully understands how special it is to the people up there, the supporters and to Scottish football.
"He said 'would you be prepared to get involved?' and I said 'yes, if you get it, that is something that would interest me'.
"It was certainly not as manager, we have got a very good manager just now in Alistair McCoist. He has done remarkably well last season under extremely difficult conditions.
"It would just be advising Brian on how football clubs work, but that is not to be.
"Charles Green looks like he has now got it and I wish him all the best.
"I met Charles and he ran past me what his intentions were. I have known Brian for a long time, we are friends and from the same part of Edinburgh.
"I was happy to get involved with someone I knew the strength of and completely understood where it was going. Anything other than that, it just wouldn't be for me.
"Whoever controls that football club has a duty to every single supporter, a duty of care to what it means. I can't emphasise what it means to people.
"It is not a football club. It is an institution, it is more than a football club. They have a duty of care, they have to love it, manage it to the best of their ability and hopefully leave it in a better position than they found it."
Despite Green coming to the forefront in the battle to save Rangers from liquidation, many hurdles remain if the club are to exit administration.
The club's financial problems are well documented and Souness reckons former owner Sir David Murray must take his share of the blame for the Gers' predicament.
He said: "Obviously mistakes have been made. David Murray is a friend of mine and I think he would be the first one to hold his hands up.
"Things have gone wrong and not in a small way. It is tragic for everybody, including him, because that is the last thing he'd have wanted."