Chairman Andrew Cavenagh says “Rangers occupies 150% of my thoughts” and he has harboured no doubts about his involvement at Ibrox despite a trophyless first year with the Scottish Premiership club.
The Glasgow club announced a year ago on Saturday that a consortium of investors, led by American businessman Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, had purchased a majority stake in the club.
Rangers appointed Russell Martin head coach in June, sacked him in October NS then sacked chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell the following month.
Although new team boss Danny Rohl managed to resurrect Rangers’ title challenge, they slipped to third behind city rivals Celtic and long-time leaders Heart of Midlothian after losing the first four of their final five games.
Cavenagh repeated last week’s admission to BBC Scotland that it had been an “incredibly disappointing” season that “has left a terrible taste in everyone’s mouths”.
Asked whether missing out on a trophy despite spending up to £40m on players had at any time in the last year left him asking himself why he had bothered to get involved, Cavenagh replied: “No, is the answer.
“This club gets into you at the molecular level. And, once it’s done, you’re done. It’s happened to me and a bunch of us.
“I don’t ever want the use the words ‘enjoy’ or ‘fun’ because you can’t have a season like we’ve had and use those words.
“But the challenge is something I relish and Paraag [Marathe, the fellow American who came in as part of the San Francisco 49ers Enterprise consortium last summer and who was vice-chairman for a spell] relishes with the rest of us.
“The disappointment this year is very real for us, but all it’s done is provide motivation for us going forward.”
Cavenagh added that tasting disappointment would “spur us on to where we want to get to” and “make success sweeter”.