BLACK Friday was preceded by Red Thursday.

Shoppers across the country may have got bargain deals during a mad 24 hours at the tills but Rangers have certainly not got value for money in the last 12 months.

The men who have walked up the marble staircase and left through the back door with their wallets bulging wouldn't have needed to join the queues to snap up cut-price TVs or discounted mobile phones.

Money has been flowing at an alarming rate at Ibrox but not enough of it has been spent wisely or in the right areas.

An article on the Rangers website yesterday advertised a Christmas experience at the stadium and proclaimed that Santa was coming.

Unless he has a bag of cash on the back of his sleigh, festive cheer will be in short supply at Rangers this winter.

The accounts for Rangers International Football Club plc released on Thursday night hardly raised the spirits of supporters or shareholders.

It is all about the numbers at Ibrox and the latest ones to come out from behind the famous red brick facade don't make pleasant reading.

Rangers are in the red and the warnings were clear.

Chairman David Somers spoke of "testing times" ahead while auditors Deloitte stated that there was a "material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt over the Group's ability to continue as a going concern".

For the second successive year, Rangers have burned through all the millions that they had, and many millions more.

Losses were reduced from around £14million to £8million this time around but that was hardly something to shout about for a regime that lost the trust and support of punters a long time ago. The board will come face to face with fans, or their customers, on December 22 at Ibrox, with this AGM likely to be as stormy and fraught as the last one that saw the men in suits shuffle on to the stage and leave with the discontent still ringing in their ears.

Two of those men, Graham Wallace and Brian Stockbridge, will not have to go through the ordeal again after leaving with around £480,000 and £433,000 respectively from the last year.

In Wallace's case, that included a £100,000 pay-off when he quit Rangers as Mike Ashley bulldozed his way to power and agreed a £2million loan that was needed to keep the lights on at Ibrox.

Yet that was nothing compared to his predecessor Craig Mather, who lasted just a couple of months as chief executive but left with a £350,000 golden handshake.

For the ten members of staff who have recently left Rangers weeks before Christmas, it would surely have left a sour taste in the mouth.

If those figures were eyewatering, it was the revelation that another £8million is needed early next year just to pay the bills and remain in business that stood out.

Somers stated there were "several options" open to Rangers as they attempt to meet this target, with shareholders now set to be asked to approve the issue of yet more new shares at the AGM next month.

The immediate assumption is that Ashley will have to dig deep once again.

But, having stumped up £3million in loans already, does underwriting the share issue to the tune of £8million make sense for him?

Will the Newcastle United owner step up and pay? Ashley's interest at Ibrox is cash. It is not a love of the club or a dream to see them return to the top of Scottish football.

It is the bottom line, merchandise sales, image rights, shirts, badges and profits.

But there must come a cut-off point where the billionaire is ploughing in more money than he will make out of Rangers, especially when cash is heading out of Ibrox as quickly as it is at present.

Ashley's influence runs deep at Rangers and he has already installed Derek Llambis and Barry Leach in Glasgow.

But little is known about his plans, his vision for Rangers not just as a money-making tool but a football club. It should become clear soon.

The delivery of another significant tranche of cash would show he is at Rangers for the long haul.

But, if Ashley does indeed decide that the Light Blue money pit is too big a dark hole to keep putting his cash in, it would leave the board with few ways to turn.

There is not a queue of people lining up to throw tens of millions of pounds into a business that has as many problems, "onerous" contracts and all, as this one.

Which makes the decision to knock back the bail-out from Dave King this month - a call that infuriated many fans and which Somers again tried to justify - all the more baffling.

When Ashley won the last Ibrox power battle, many supporters feared the war was over too.

The momentum behind King and his consortium reached a crescendo when the former Gers director jetted in from South Africa to, he hoped, finally do a deal.

That optimism evaporated when his £16million offer was kicked into touch and the war of words was reignited.

But King is never really out of the picture when it comes to Rangers and he remains the last, and seemingly only, hope for fans eager to finally see the back of a regime that has left them disillusioned and their club once again on its knees.

Rangers need money and, unless a mystery man has been keeping a signed cheque in his top pocket for the last few years, there are, it seems, only two sources of it.

Ashley holds the cards but King can still be top trumps.

The time will soon come for any bluffing to stop and for his hand to be played, though.

Ally McCoist's side are due to face their Championship title rivals Hearts and Old Firm foes Celtic in the first month of 2015.

On the park, it is a period to look forward to, a defining few weeks for the manager and players.

But it will be in the boardroom at Ibrox where the biggest battles will be fought once again.