Outgoing chairman Dave King has rightly received a lot of praise for his overall stewardship of Rangers but as we alluded to it’s two other men who have accelerated Rangers’ rise over the past 18 months, and while King’s captaincy has steered us safely, it didn’t strictly progress the club.

That was mostly down to one man’s decision, and another man’s work.

While Steven Gerrard has bloomed into a superb manager, and the man we needed in the hotseat without even knowing it (more on that later), it’s Mark Allen who took the staggering and frankly bizarre left-field gamble of appointing him 4-year manager who deserves the most praise.

This massive risk of appointing a rookie who was barely out of his coaching nappies as the manager of the most demanding football institution in the UK could have cost Rangers so much – and Mark Allen decided it was a gamble worth taking.

Let’s face it, as a player Gerrard was a legend – arguably the finest British player of his generation and while hated by rivals, his ability and leadership qualities were admired and respected universally.

And his Liverpool U18s were only modestly successful – a good home record but not so impressive away – but Allen decided this was the route forward. Take a huge icon of English and British football, throw him into a huge icon of Scottish and British football, and go on faith that he would swim.

Of course, Allen’s judgement isn’t genius. He gave us Aaron Nemane after all. But with the Gerrard call, he may just have given Rangers fans their club back, with the thing we needed the most but didn’t realise.

Steven Gerrard.