Paul Le Gone!

Scotland's #2 club has plunged into their biggest crisis of 134 years with a non-stop period of embarrassment and humiliation at the hands of individuals who have caused infighting on a level never before seen in this country.

Even at the bleakest period in Celtic's history when John Barnes was thrown from the revolving door at Paradise and landed in the car park doesn't compare to the constant aggravation a club which can't be at peace with itself continues to portray.

Rangers have been in bother since Sir David Murray failed to back Alex McLeash this time last year with the 48m raised from giving away the retail outlet to JJB Sports. Had Big Eck been given that cash then he would have taken Rangers further than the last 16 place in the Champions League. Indeed, it isn't unreasonable to assume that they could have reached at least the semi-final given they were undefeated against the Spanish team Villareal, who themselves were unlucky not to be Finalists.

It's against that backdrop that the entry of Paul Le Guen, with a treble of French league trophies, breezed into Ibrox. According to the daily comics, Le Guen was a much-lusted after coach who could have chosen any team to go to on the Continent. They argued that he snubbed Real Madrid when he got the Rangers Calling. Well, there's not a lot you can do to chose between those two.

After all, Celtic have the same ability to bring talent like Roy Keane, who snubbed Madrid for Paradise, and Thomas Gravesen who we swooped for from Spain in August, so who are we to disbelieve that Rangers are Celtic's equal in this regard?

So we were set up with the most desired manager ever at the Rangers helm to build on McLeash's success and we started to see this with the amazing signings that Le Guen brought in.

Moonbeams aside, the ability to recruit first team players from Austria Vienna is not something that every club has an ability to do. That each and every signing made by Le Guen turned out to be a class one dud is of no surprise to many tims who looked, shook their head, and then laughed.

Le Guen's record basically speaks for itself. He won less that 50% of his games and was gone in a shorter time span than Barnes but has been met with friction, resistance, and downright insubordination to his rules and regulations.

If you look closely at Rangers you will see that Le Guen is the victim of a cancer which is growing within Rangers F.C. This club once was the biggest in Scotland and their fans still demand the same level of spending to try to be Celtic's equal. Rangers fans hate Murray for what he did to the club through the wasted Advocaat years. Then his refusal to back Big Eck by putting money into the club like those hard working bears have is the final straw for many.

Add to this, you now have an ex-captain who has never been accepted for fleeing Ibrox for the first EPL club which came calling and his sheepish return after that flop and his inability to match his level of play before he left has made him the hated figure some see him as.

Then you've got the same player who has consistently undermined his new boss by trying to create unrest in the dressing room and on the field of play by telling players what to do and how to play counter to his manager's instructions. Barry Ferguson is a disruptive influence who has gotten his manager into bother causing the Chairman to have to chose between him and his manager.

By backing his former captain, Murray has made Le Guen's position untenable and forced him out of the club. For somebody who claims to not sack managers, it's hard to tell with the third occupant to the managerial chair in less than a year - or 4 if you count Durrant taking temporary charge.

So what of the current situation. Manager-less Rangers are now trying to sign Webster and the Hibs duo. Who is making these decisions by meddling in team affairs? How can you buy players without a manager? If this was any other club, such as Hearts with Romanov or Celtic, then the hypocritical press poodles would be going ballistic. But even in the darkest hour at Ibrox you see a restrained adherence to the natural order. Some will speak out of line and get whipped in the long term, but the majority will meekly applaud as Murray is seen as a hero for righting wrongs at the club.

So who to be the successor by drinking from the poison chalice at Ibrox? The front runners are the "Dream Team" of Sally McCoist and Walter Smith, with some combination of Stuart McCall and John Broon to give the back room some "muscle."

This is totally flabbergasting. McCoist is being groomed as the successor, they claim, with Smith being Director of Football "upstairs." Now, tapping of the Scotland management team aside, what credentials does Sally have to think he could manage Rangers where Le Guen failed? He's never been a manager before and the jovial and laugh a minute McCoist isn't the personality nor the tactician to pick Rangers out of the sewer.

Appointing McCoist and Smith is doomed to failure and generally suggests a mark of desperation given the French Revolution ended with Rangers getting their head chopped off. A total shambles doesn't even begin to describe it and it's only the fourth day of 2007.

Happy New Year, Rangers!