Billy Walker will take his seat in the Govan Stand tomorrow afternoon to cheer on his beloved Rangers, just as he has done for almost three-quarters of a century.

But the legendary Scotch Whisky figure is willing to offer more support than just backing the team from the terraces.

The GlenAllachie Master Distiller is synonymous with the industry having made a huge impact in the growth of the sector over the last 50 years. After graduating from the University of Glasgow with an Honours degree in Chemistry in 1967, he embarked on his long and remarkable journey learning the art of whisky making.

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He developed a number of distilleries - namely Ballantines, Inver House and Burn Stewart - before he formed the BenRiach Distillery Company in 2003, which was later sold to Jack Daniels’ owners Brown-Forman for £285m in 2016.

In 2020 he was honoured with a place in the prestigious Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame and in 2023, GlenAllachie surpassed the £23m turnover mark.

But while he is a grand master of the whisky game, he loves nothing more than switching his attention to the beautiful game whenever Rangers are in action and he’s revealed he would be open to investing in the club he’s followed for the vast majority of his life.

“I’ve been a fan for 74 years,” Walker told the Rangers Review. “Following Rangers over the years has been full of ups and downs. I still have a season ticket in the Govan Stand along with my son. My first game was Rangers against Hearts in 1950.

“I remember going on the Dumbarton Rangers Supporters bus. In those days there were 80,000 people at Ibrox and as a wee boy you were pushed down to the front and hopefully, you would find the adult that would take you to the games at some point later in the day.

“As a wee boy, you see your favourite team through quite a different lens. The players were gods and I was lucky enough that our gym teacher when I was about 10 was Johnny Little, the left-back at Rangers.”

Walker is acutely aware of the present situation the Ibrox club finds itself in and he believes interim chairman John Gilligan is the right man to steer the ship through the current predicament.

“Running a football club must be extremely difficult as there is so much uncertainty,” he said. “You have to put a lot of trust into the managerial team and you have to oversee the inside of the business and make sure the club is on the right track.

“You’ve got to have people with a football knowledge and you’ve got to trust the manager that he’s going in the right direction.

“The reality is the board has the fiscal responsibility to make sure all the correct financial levers are in the right places and they can see a future, that’s very important. It’s really important to see past the next week and certainly the next five years and determine where the club is going.

“In reality, would I like to invest? Yes, if the circumstances were right. Would I be the principal investor? No. That would be for somebody else.

“I’ve had conversations in the past but in parallel with what’s happening in the football world, there’s also what’s happening in my own business world. There’s always demand. You’re always asked questions when opportunities come up and that’s life.

“I wouldn’t be against investing in the club. John Gilligan is an excellent man, he’s a top businessman. Any time there is a call to arms, John has been prepared to step up.

“But sure, I’m a Rangers fan, if the environment’s right, probably yes why not? But if I was investing I would want to have a say about the direction of where the club is going.”

On the pitch, Walker feels there is a key factor missing from the squad Philippe Clement has at his disposal.

“I think the team is missing some Scottish warriors,” he said. “I was talking to my son about it last week and said, ‘What would you do now for a Stuart McCall or an Ian Ferguson?’

“We have to win the battle early on and then let the most skilful players impact the game. I think we’re missing that a wee bit. 

“I feel a little bit sorry for the manager in a sense that I think he’s built a team that is probably relatively comfortable playing in a European environment but Scottish football is different. You need to build a team equipped for Scottish football and take it from there.”

As for the future, Walker remains upbeat. “I always think Rangers are going to win,” he said.

“Last Sunday was very disappointing, alarmingly disappointing. But you know what, you wake up in the morning and you’re still a Rangers supporter and there’s always the next game.

"You’re always optimistic. I’m the eternal optimist. Let’s see where the journey goes.”