RANGERS fans must be careful what they wish for at the moment.

In the middle of a crisis – and boy is this a crisis – the instant reaction is to throw your hands in the air and scream light blue murder.

There will be finger pointing, shouting, protests and enough venomous social media postings to float the Titanic. This of course is nothing new to a support that has watched their club lurch from one ordeal to the next.

Craig Whyte, Charles Green, Mike Ashley all caused consternation and outpouring of fury at the poor leadership that was causing grief and heartache to those within and hilarity to those without.

At various points over the last five years, the lament came in waves, as did the cry to have ‘Rangers men’ at the heart of the club.

How has that worked out?

While the likes of Dave King, Andrew Dickson, Stewart Robertson and Graeme Park are cut from a different cloth to the men named above and they do have the club’s best interests at heart, it’s clear to see that being a ‘Rangers man’ doesn’t mean you are fit to pick a Rangers manager.

In Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha, those in power at Ibrox picked two candidates that were risky at best, reckless at worst. Certainly, in the case of the latter.

Both came from humble and obscure managerial backgrounds with no handle of what life would be like in the Glasgow gold fish bowl. You got the impression Caixinha perhaps grasped the scale of the job more than his predecessor, but behind the bizarre statements and outbursts was an incapability to get the same message through to those on the park that he brought in.

Those at the top of the Ibrox tree have paid a heavy price for their misjudgement and eagerness to pluck a wild card appointment out of the hat. Caixinha’s departure has cost them the best park of £500,000. By the time his assistants go and some of the duds he’s brought in follow, that figure will only rise further.

THE Rangers board have had two attempts at picking a football manager. They can’t be trusted to act alone to pick a third.

In the midst of all this, it’s the anonymous face of Mark Allen which is the key piece to this puzzle, and he should be the man to guide the club through the process of picking a manager fit to clear up the mess left by Caixinha.

The director of football has rarely registered on the radar since being brought in June, a whole four months after Warburton departed and three months on from Caixinha’s appointment. To say it was putting the caravan before the horse is putting it mildly.

In Rangers’ haste to get a permanent replacement, they chose to bring in the Portuguese in without having a solid structure in around him. Would it have been that bad to leave Graeme Murty in charge until a director of football had arrived to lend assistance and give some input into what manager best suits the model he and the board are wishing to implement? Let’s not forget Murty’s last game in charge was a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park.

In terms of Allen, the 54-year-old has more football and coaching experience than the whole of the Rangers hierarchy put together. Not only did he spend seven years at Manchester City overhauling their academy system, he also holds a Uefa A coaching licence.

Speaking to the Rangers website in August, he said of his role: “It’s to make sure the club has a solid base and that each and every area and infrastructure is properly resourced and managed so that we have a future that is solid and bright. I think the overall remit is of stability and planning.”

Stability and the ability to plan out a pathway is just what Rangers needs right now.

Whoever is appointed as the next Rangers manager must fit into the structure that Allen has put in place. He must be the focal point at the top of the Ibrox pyramid. It’s vital for the future of the club both on and off the park that the new man – or woman – buys into what Allen is wanting from the academy all the way up to recruitment policies and scouting networks.

He is based at the Rangers Football Centre on a daily basis and knows what this group are capable of and what it takes to make things work on a football park. It’s clear that for all their business acumen that’s not a guarantee with those in the board room.

Allen still remains an unknown quantity given his low profile. But if he’s the man who has been picked for such a pivotal post at Rangers, those who chose him cannot afford to not have him at the heart of the latest recruitment process.

Rangers men or not, they can’t afford to get this one wrong, and they need all the help they can get.