AGMs, unless held in genuine times of crisis, often follow similar patterns. The slightly apprehensive appearance of board members, the reselling of a vision, some pressing questions from concerned supporters and - consistently - several personal complaints to be lodged at the top table of executives.

Rangers’ 2023 version featured a fair whack of the latter. The most dramatic queries largely focused on topics from net zero compliance to unkept guarantees of away tickets. Chief Executive Officer James Bisgrove was even invited on a holiday to Spain next week upon the promise of free accommodation and, in case you were wondering, Rangers ARE committed to doing their part for the planet.

This was the first AGM presided over by John Bennet since he became the club’s Chairman and it was he who was most active from the front. Bennett confirmed that summer spending would not impinge on the money that needs to be available under Philippe Clement to achieve success, with the manager conceding an ‘imbalance’ in the current squad during his Q+A alongside Jo Potter. The Chairman suggested the appointment of a football board instead of an “overarching Sporting Director” was somewhat motivated by the need to get recruitment right. And, when quizzed on concerns that without major sellable assets or Champions League football to boost finances the bottom line may not appear so healthy in next year’s accounts, he pointed to the fact that the new executive team had been tasked with implementing “cultural change” to ensure the pre-player trading loss, which last year stood at -£10.5million, comes in zero at best. “We want to take Rangers to a place where it breaks even or better from that £10.5m and I can tell you right now it's turning. Please don't be concerned about that,” he assured a concerned shareholder.

There was an important update regarding work to improve disabled facilities and extra seats in the Copland which will commence this summer, encouraging updates from Potter who remains unbeaten and more than a few lines from Clement which earned applause.

And yet, the mood was one of apprehension because, as this board would surely concede, not enough has been done on the pitch yet to assure all in attendance that what they truly desire beyond individual aims, a Rangers team that dominates domestic football, is guaranteed. Bennett was keen to point out that a new executive team sat before shareholders for a reason. After the high of 55 and a prolonged journey on the Road to Seville in 2022, Rangers have endured 18 months of flux. No trophies, three managers, a squad that’s been tailored to many styles and therefore has a suitably jumbled complexion. Great hopes for this summer’s rebuild, pioneered by a manager who was sacked before autumn had ended, have not ushered in the great new beginning that was longed for.

READ MORE: Inside the Rangers AGM: What Bennett, Bisgrove and Clement had to say

Bennett insisted that appointing ex-Sporting Director Ross Wilson’s successor has taken so long because of the club’s plan to deploy a football board. His explanation of the theory was sound, even if its absence in the summer looks costly.

“The statement that was made by the club last Friday in relation to Nils Koppen was not just about that appointment,” he said, referencing the club’s new Head of Football Recruitment. “It was very deliberate in terms of the football board. I want all of our fans to know it is a process. It is no longer about backing an individual. It’s about backing the club process, the statement on Friday was very clear about that that’s why you have a football board.”

That statement, in a sense, addressed the criticism levelled at the board regarding the summer - the intentional need to specialise in recruitment and think long-term. Backing an individual manager is a high-risk, short-term strategy and there’s good reason few clubs deploy that method. 

“We were very deliberate in what we wanted and the role was very important,” he continued. “You could say it’s a split role. I talked about the football board being very important and it’s also very important in the board’s view that we’ve actually spread the load.

“You’ll see Nils’ title reflects this. It’s a Director of Football Recruitment, it’s lost on absolutely nobody that it’s recruitment we need to get right systematically, not sporadically. That’s why Nils has come in as a Director of Recruitment. We were clear we didn’t want to go down the road of an overarching Sporting Director. We know what we want to fix, recruitment. That’s why Nils is here. What was much more important for us as a board was getting the right individual for that very specific role, recruitment.”

For all the promises that Clement will have room to manoeuvre in the market and January could see additions, Koppen’s task is a big one. Some transfers are bound to fail and the Ibrox club are working within the limitations of their TV market but there needs to be joined-up thinking over time that ensures money is spent wisely and marginal gains are felt. Well over £10m alone on the likes of Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Ridvan Yilmaz are not moves that corroborate with the “driving through of efficiencies” throughout the club Bennett hopes will surface in months to come. 

The issue, as it always is in football, is time because Rangers always have to win now and, when they’ve not won consistently in so long, such a need is heightened. 

Of course, there is always hope. Kippen comes with a good reputation and Clement looks to have the correct stature and minerals for this job. Bisgrove’s other appointment, Potter, continues to impress. Clement is Bisgrove and Bennett’s first manager but this board still backed Michael Beale too heavily and too specifically concerning the messages delivered at today’s AGM.

Looking at the infrastructure now in place, with new Head of Performance Tom Taylor soon to arrive as Clement assured fans injuries will improve in time, there’s reason to believe that an upturn can be achieved. There’s plenty to play for this season still. It’s clear from Bennett’s tone that he felt root and branch change was required earlier this year and he will hope that before regathering this time next year, some of the benefits of that change behind the scenes are evident in the product produced on the pitch.

The acknowledgement of the need to improve recruitment and the change in the dugout before winter are not the messages Bennett would’ve hoped to deliver at his first AGM, however, because Rangers cannot afford another transitional season. The time to deliver, as always at Ibrox, is now.