The Ibrox chairman has doomed his own “revolution” before it’s even started.

It seems like the media is somewhat taken aback by the chairman at Ibrox defending himself and even taking a shot at Dave King in the process.

But if you follow this blog, you’d know this was entirely predictable. I pointed out just days ago that King had been on the offensive for over a week, and the board hadn’t retaliated. It was only a matter of time before they did. No board in their right mind would sit there silently while being pummelled like that.

There’s definitely a longer piece to be written on John Gilligan’s comments. His attack on King was pretty well measured. It could have been more forceful, sure, but maybe that wouldn’t have been wise considering the number of fans still backing King, a man who has proven himself a master of the shameless sell. Some of his other remarks were standard fare—nothing to get worked up about.

Gilligan is in a tough spot, and he’s fully aware of it. His club is in an equally tough spot. I’ll delve into the financial side of his comments later this week, as that’s where things got downright absurd, and a dangerously misleading message was preached. But for now, let’s focus on two things he said that deserve closer scrutiny.

Let’s start with the less significant one: Gilligan claiming his club can still win the title. Some are interpreting this as bullish, as if he’s really “coming out swinging.” But really, what else could he say? Is he supposed to stand up there so early in the campaign and admit the race is over? What would that say about his manager, his players, and the entire atmosphere within the club?

He had to project confidence, even if he doesn’t believe a word of it. And frankly, he didn’t sound particularly confident to me—more like a guy going through the motions.

Tom English from the BBC picked up on this too. He did a piece on the crisis at Ibrox, and he wasn’t impressed by Gilligan’s bluster. He knows there’s not much substance behind it. Gilligan is desperately trying to keep his head above water.

But even in that dire situation, he can’t outright concede the title. The fallout from that would be catastrophic for everyone involved at the club. It would signal that those at the top had thrown in the towel, and that would be disastrous for ticket sales, fan engagement, and overall morale.

So, all Gilligan did was the bare minimum necessary to keep the troops in line. Nothing more, nothing less. There was nothing remarkable about those comments.

What interested me more was another claim he made: that the manager will have funds in January. He also walked back on the notion that the board is suffering from investor fatigue. Essentially, he’s saying that the current directors are still willing to cover a trading shortfall, despite rumours to the contrary.

Paul Brennan over at CQN did an excellent piece on this today, though it did slightly spoil my afternoon since I’d planned to write something along the same lines.

But both of the topics I was going to write about —Bennett’s comments on money and the need for Ibrox supporters to recalibrate their expectations—deserve more detailed analysis, and I’ll cover them later this week and next.

What I’ll say now is this: Paul’s article mentioned bowing down to the mob, and if the board has reversed itself this quickly, that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’ve caved to pressure. They’ve abandoned a logical, sensible position to pursue madness because a vocal minority demanded it. And that is not leadership.

If they had genuinely made a mistake and reconsidered, that would be one thing.

But for the first time in over a decade, there are people within that club who seemed to want to run it properly. And this is something English misses in his own piece. He once again jumps to the idea that the whole board needs to be replaced and that fresh investment is required. In other words, more money that doesn’t exist, hasn’t been earned, and isn’t sustainable, to fund yet another rebuild. How this isn’t glaringly obvious to people like him is beyond me. If they’re going to have any chance of long-term survival, those days need to be over.

So on one hand, Gilligan is saying something entirely understandable when he talks about not giving up on the title. They can’t afford to say anything else. But on the other hand, he’s indulging in a dangerous crowd-pleasing stunt when he promises funds that aren’t there and claims the board is willing to keep propping up these wild fantasies.

What’s even more astounding about English’s take is that he’s not critiquing these as reckless promises. He simply doubts that Gilligan can keep them. So, in English’s view, it’s fine to make these kinds of absurd claims—as long as you’ve got the cash to back them up.

It’s like dealing with Trump voters, isn’t it? They’ve watched him lie, insult, and rant about everything under the sun, from extreme abortion myths to immigrants supposedly eating people’s pets. Yet, they still think he’s a more credible leader than anyone else. It’s as if there’s a brick wall around them, and no amount of fact, logic, or evidence can break through.

You could show these people the corpse of the old Rangers and say, “This is what happened last time,” and it still wouldn’t sink in. It’s sheer madness.

And that’s why I include people like English, Jackson, and others who keep peddling this lunacy in my criticisms of this mindset. They keep it alive. They’re utterly blind to reality.

The more they do this, the more convinced I am that the club at Ibrox is doomed.

Gilligan should have sat in front of the fans and delivered some hard truths. Instead, he regurgitated the same tired nonsense and made the same empty promises. If ever there was a moment to embrace reality and speak plainly, this was it. But after just a week of pressure from King, they’re back to the same destructive behaviour.

And a club like that has no future.