For a long while yesterday afternoon it seemed that Rangers’ wonky commercial wing had picked the perfect day to showcase their commemorative all white kit.
If you’re going to surrender a league title then you might as well dress your team up appropriately for the occasion and for 45 minutes or more at Dens Park that’s precisely what appeared to be happening in a game against a side anchored to the bottom of the division.
What was supposed to be a formality - as well as a celebration of 150 years and a nod to the club’s founding fathers - turned into a day of self destruction in Dundee as, off the pitch, fans railed angrily against the Gallant Profiteers inside their own boardroom and, on it, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s players completely forgot how to function amid an avalanche of loo rolls and tennis balls.
That they managed to unscramble their senses and dig themselves out an enormous hole in the second half with goals from Aaron Ramsey and Connor Goldson will serve as a huge relief to Van Bronckhorst who must have been fearing the worst given his side’s lacklustre, error strewn approach.
By half time it did look very much as if Rangers would leave Tayside needing snookers to have any chance of holding onto their cherished title as they flirted with the notion of falling six points behind Celtic at the top of the table with only seven games left and a chasm of a goal difference against them.
But, credit where it is due, at least Van Bronckhorst and his men recognised the urgency of the situation and managed to do something meaningful about fixing it because some of them may have felt as if their work was done for the week in Belgrade on Thursday night when they made it into the quarter finals of the Europa League.
That they showed the hunger and desire - as well as the energy reserves - to get themselves out of trouble back on domestic duty is a sign that they understand the importance of retaining the top flight title which they worked so hard to secure last season.
That should certainly delight the club’s supporters even if they are now at loggerheads with a bungling, hamfisted board which seems determined to shoot itself in the foot at every turn.
The shattering disconnect between this club and its fan base at such a moment in history, is bordering on the extraordinary and it all came spewing out again yesterday with another protest against the controversial plan to stage a lucrative Old Firm friendly in Australia later this year.
A noisy, militant section of the Rangers support is now in full scale revolt and they seemed not to care yesterday that their actions - which caused a series of delays - might distract their own players and do terminal damage to their chances of hanging onto Celtic’s coattails.
They also appear to be revelling in the return of a moronic sectarian song book, regardless of what impact it has on their own club’s reputation or how much offence it may cause some of their own players.
Veteran keeper Allan McGregor gave them both barrels after the third stoppage yesterday, with his team still trying to cancel out Christie Elliott’s early opening goal. ‘F****** a********’ was how he put it and, although crudely put, McGregor had a point.
Those fans will lay the blame for this bewildering mess along with the sandbags outside the barricaded boardroom door but however this stand off is resolved, it does feel as if the relationship has been fractured at a critical moment in a potentially historic campaign.
Record Sport revealed on Friday morning that the Ibrox club’s participation in the Sydney Super Cup is now a matter of considerable doubt, following the tsunami of a backlash against the decision to sign up for a bit part role in Ange Postecoglou's grand homecoming tour.
But while the error prone Rangers hierarchy try to figure out how to extricate themselves from this self inflicted calamity without costing themselves millions of dingo dollars in contractual penalties - despite it all - Van Bronckhorst and his players remain in contention to deliver one of the greatest trophy hauls of all time.
It really is an astonishing contradiction but it should not muddy the waters when it comes to acknowledging the scale of what Rangers achieved in the Serbian capital on Thursday when they made it into the last eight of UEFA’s second biggest tournament.
Friday’s draw then opened up a potential pathway all the way to the final in Seville by keeping the likes of West Ham, Barcelona and Lyon all locked in with each other on the other side.
That’s not to say that Rangers ought to romp through Braga and then take out RB Leipzig or Atalanta in the semis.
In truth, the gulf between Europe’s ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ dictates that no Scottish team should be mixing in this company but, even so, they continue to punch way above their weight in this competition.
Should they manage what is supposed to be impossible and actually get their hands on European silver, then a conversation will have to be had about exactly where such an achievement might rank when compared to the greatest triumphs in the history of the Scottish game.
But, for now, Rangers have a job on their hands simply in trying to keep all their plates spinning and the more they turn on one another the more difficult that task is likely to become.
Yesterday they came close to waving a flag matching the colour of their latest Castore shirts. For a club which should have so much going for it, they’re in danger of engineering their own implosion.
