John Bennett in significant pickle as Rangers lose major target | OneFootball

As has been widely-reported, Rangers will not be appointing St Mirren’s Jim Gillespie as CEO, following on from Hearts’ Andrew McKinlay also not making it into Govan.

It leaves Chairman John Bennett in an absolute pickle – not only was he making moves towards questionable individuals who hadn’t dealt with the pressure of being the lead boss at Ibrox, but all those overtures have gone south putting the Chairman in the unenviable position of continuing to do the CEO’s job himself in the meantime.

Rangers’ search for a CEO has been a shambles – caught completely blindsided by former CEO James Bisgrove’s resignation, the board has been struggling to find the right man (or woman) to fill the role, and just when it was felt one or two appropriate candidates were found, they fell by the wayside.

Bisgrove quit in late May, and here we are deep into September without either a CEO or Managing Director, and it goes more or less without saying that Rangers (and Celtic) need a CEO to run things.

It’s a job that typically pays about £700,000 a year, not a bad number, and has done so since the days of Martin Bain, and it’s a position that is well-paid for a very good reason.

And Rangers’ position is vacant now for approaching three and a half months.

Gillespie’s candidacy falling through, John Bennett and Rangers now find themselves searching again, and whether we agreed with either him or McKinlay, Rangers need someone in that role ASAP.

The club (and board) are currently rudderless – Rangers need a boss strategising, scheming, managing and configuring the club at the highest levels – Rangers do not have that skill at all, and it’s probably thanks to the lack of CEO that Bennett naively gave Philippe Clement an extension.

Whether you liked Stewart Robertson or not (we didn’t) he was at least someone in the job, albeit his competence was another matter.

But the club lacks leadership right now, and with Gillespie pulling out, that situation remains for a while longer, unfortunately.