THE new men at the helm of Rangers have to make appointing a new manager their No.1 priority once they take over.

You can talk about the need to upgrade Ibrox and other things. But the club is nothing without a good team on the park.

The new board have to sit down for a chat with caretaker manager Kenny McDowall and ask him for his views.

Kenny has handed his notice in and wants to leave. You can't ask somebody who is in charge for a short period of time to decide how Rangers go forward.

The new manager has to have responsibility for deciding who stays and who goes - and there are 12 members of the first team squad out of contract in the summer.

Rangers have to decide what players are needed now because in the summer players will have had their futures decided. Nobody, or very few, will be available.

They have to appoint a manager on a three or four year contract. He needs to be somebody who can come in early and help to get them to the Premiership this season.

He also needs to determine who he wants to keep and who he wants to release and who he wants to target. All of that has to be done quickly.

A new manager would also lift the players and could help them win promotion. That always happens. A new face, a new voice, a new way of training gives a squad a boost.

A player whose nose is out of joint because he isn't getting a game suddenly comes into the reckoning because the new man considers everybody.

It is vital that sorting out the managerial side of things is what the new regime does first.

I am sure that Kenny, who has admitted that he doesn't want to be there, would have no problems stepping aside or even moving on.

This is the most important managerial appointment for Rangers in a long, long time. The new man has to get a sheet of blank white paper out and start from scratch.

But the new people coming in are Rangers men and they know what the team needs. They have seen them in action and know they have to address that are quickly.

I personally don't think appointing a Rangers man, a supporter or a former player, as manager is particularly important.

Ninety five per cent of managers at senior clubs in Britain weren't fans before they were appointed.

What matters is your ability to get players performing, to bring through youngsters into the first team, and identify individuals who can improve the side.

Billy Davies and Stuart McCall seem to be the front runners for the job. But the new board have to sit down and single out the man they want and then sit him down and outine the magnitude of the task ahead.

Ally McCoist didn't bring through too many kids when Rangers went into the Third Division. He relied heavily on older experienced players.

But I could understand why he did that. He had to make sure the club won promotion and he needed seasoned professionals he could rely on. I didn't have a problem with it.

But now the club is hopefully settled financially we need to start building for the future. It is a blank canvas. They need to get the right man in and start looking ahead.