THIS felt like Ibrox again.

Not just the stadium. The area, the pubs, the people. Even the subway ride to the ground was like a trip back in time, a trip back to an era in which the football took precedence over the finances and a NOMAD was nothing more than a journeyman player who had never really settled down at a single club.

For those who have participated in "The Journey" back from the wasteground of the old Third Division, travelling to Rangers' long-established home on matchday has not always been a pilgrimage heady with pure, transcendental joy.

There have been times, spinning round Glasgow on the Clockwork Orange, where you would never have realised there was a match taking place involving the world's most splendidly triumphant football club - or whatever the official title happens to be these days.

You would disembark at Ibrox Station and find only two or three others walking up the stairs towards what had become a hollow shell of a ground. The conversation, rarely uplifting, tended to revolve around whichever group of bus owners or barrow boys happened to be filling the boardroom - and, in some cases, their pockets - at the time.

This was different, though. The train carriage buzzed with anticipation ahead of this most momentous of matches against Motherwell.

"I think we can win 3-0 and finish it," said a young boy, sporting a blue cap and scarf so fresh and clean that it was tempting to think this might be his first-ever match. "Ah'd take a wan-nil," interjected his father, a hangdog expression hinting he has been through this plenty of times before.

It was a pleasure to eavesdrop upon. For those who weren't there, Stuart McCall has got to get the manager's job, Haris Vuckic has to be kept no matter how much money it takes and Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd are off to Kilmarnock. Trust me. You read it here first.

The ground was more upbeat and thunderous than it has been in years, too. The atmosphere created by a sell-out crowd as the teams walked out to the strains of 'Simply The Best' was just as it was when Walter Smith was threatening to get the club into the Champions League final far less the climax of the UEFA Cup.

The problem is that, while Ibrox is ready to welcome back the good old days, Rangers are not. While Ibrox has not lost its essence, Rangers most certainly have.

The current team is a reflection of the chaos of the last three years, a collection of players thrown together on exorbitant wages with no long-term plan. Their seemingly-inevitable failure to win promotion, if nothing else, will allow the history books to offer more accurate guidance on how awful some of the football has been.

This is a collection of players who cannot be depended upon when it comes to the nitty-gritty, as shown in cup defeats to the likes of Raith Rovers, Alloa Athletic and Queen of the South and their failure to make Hearts so much as sweat in the SPFL Championship.

This defeat, if nothing else, confirms most of them must be emptied in the summer. Indeed, McCall's decision to put on the impressive Tom Walsh with 35 minutes to play almost felt like an admission of that.

McCall's hopes of returning as Rangers manager to the level he enjoyed as a player now appear to be fading as well. It is harsh. He did well to get the side to this stage of the campaign. They were in danger of missing the play-offs altogether when he took over in March.

Things might have been different had early efforts from Nicky Law and Kenny Miller hit the net. Had Rangers played the way they did in the last 15 minutes for the full 90, they would have won, but the fact remains Motherwell picked them off at will. With the onus on the Ibrox club to attack at Fir Park, they are likely to do so again.

The visitors' first goal came from a deflection, but Marius Zaliukas was caught sleeping when Stephen McManus headed home the second and you could have driven a bus through the home defence at the third.

Darren McGregor's 82nd minute header, which sparked a late onslaught, offers a flicker of hope, but nothing more.

For Rangers, "The Journey" looks set to be remembered as an embarrassing failure. Amid such a brutal realisation, it is difficult, in retrospect, to figure out where all that pre-match confidence within their followers came from.

They are stuck in a cul-de-sac, facing another year in the second tier. It might end up a blessing.

Rangers really do need rebuilt from the bottom up. Whatever happens at the weekend, the new board have to stop talking about it and do it.