NO matter what you think about Mark Warburton, whether he was a good, bad or an average Rangers manager, he was a dead man walking for some time.

It wasn’t entirely his fault. Indeed, he will argue sometime in the perhaps not too distant future that for months and months there were more than a few waiting to stab him in the back.

And that always leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Alas for him, he did not get to conquer; however, he was hardly a failure. Not really. But he was pushed into a corner he was never going to fight his way out of. As they say in Glasgow, ‘Aye, too brutal.’ Rangers were in a mess before Warburton left. They are no cleaner now. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess.

The 1200-word piece which was supposed to be in this newspaper before everything happened late last night hinted, actually more than hinted, that there were people inside the football club, and a few on the fringes, who seem to have a lot of influence for some reason; who either briefed, whispered or said plainly that the manager wasn’t up to it.

Which he wasn’t. Neither were his coaching staff. Nor Frank McParland, the scout who couldn’t find a decent player within the budget. However, how can any one person do their best work when they know for certain the shadows don’t fancy you.

This is why he tried to leave at the start of the week. After the Ross County game, it was all over.

What has to be said is this. Warburton should never have been in the job – he didn’t like Glasgow, Scotland, the attention and the pressure. Even the adulation seemed to rest heavy on him. And at Friday’s press conference, hours before he was no more, Warburton made a fist, of sorts, about what he had been doing over the past 18 months.

It didn’t convince. He never has. However, in my original piece I did express sympathy because he made it clear, and he was right, that he wasn’t supported, trusted or backed by directors and the like inside Ibrox who, and this has to be posited, are arguably working to their own agenda.

Anyway. For another day.

The most important thing for Rangers and their supporters is where the club goes now.

Here is the million-pound poser. Does Dave King, the absent landlord, or those beneath him, know what happens next? They don’t know.

What those who sit in the posh seats at Ibrox have to realise is that they are not punters. Important decisions have to be made. Choices which don’t tick boxes but are the right thing to do.

Warburton fled down south whenever he could. Rangers managers do not do that. He was given the green light to sign Joey Barton, someone who should never have been allowed anywhere close to the club.

Too many patted him on the shoulder – supporters as well, let’s be honest – and told him it was an amazing thing that Rangers won the Championship. The same league Gretna once won.

Too few got the message through that winning the second tier of Scottish football was really no big deal, and everything had to be stepped up.

Getting back to Warburton, as recent as yesterday, he defended the signing policy (quite badly). He defended McParland, without any great conviction, and admitted he didn’t have any communication with Dave King.

It went something like this.

Do you still have a sense that you retain total confidence from King and the directors?

“I don’t speak to the chairman because of where he is located – in South Africa. We go about our jobs every single day, David, Frank and I, and our only focus is Rangers Football Club.”

Do you have a sense that they still believe in you?

“I don’t know anything otherwise. If you guys know otherwise then please tell me. From my point of view, we go about our job. Our job is to get into Europe. In fact, if we get into Europe we will be ahead of the target we were set. We all want to get this club into Europe, every player in our squad wants to get into Europe. The fans deserve it.”

You have no idea how Dave King feels? “That is not unusual. The chairman is based in South Africa. As I have said many times, the reporting lines are to Stewart and Andrew and they go on as board members. There is nothing unusual in that whatsoever.”

A club this size and the chairman and manager don’t have a working relationship . . .

“I’m not sure what Rangers have had in the past. I don’t know. Every club is different.”

It was put to him that Sir Alex Ferguson always insisted that the most important relationship was between manager and chairman.

“The chairman, I presume at the time, was based in Manchester or the UK. We have a different structure here, I guess, and the chairman is a very busy man. There is nothing in the last 10, 12, 14, 21 days that has changed from six, eight, nine months ago.”

Does that not unsettle you?

“No. It is what it is. You deal with that. You just go about your business. That is the structure of the club and the nature of the reporting lines. They have been made clear so that is the communication we have.”

Wouldn’t it have been nice to get a call?

“It is not about that. We are all thick skinned. You wouldn’t be involved in football if you weren’t thick skinned. Sometimes you can listen too much and read too much.

“That is the truth of it. If you read the papers every day you would go and hang yourself, wouldn’t you?

“If you sit and listen to every radio show . . . Some of it, you just have to laugh. If you take it too seriously you would go and hang yourself.”

You have no idea what Dave King thinks?

“That is nothing different. I will be very clear on this, nothing has changed in the last few weeks that didn’t happen this time last year. Our focus, 100 per cent, is here and that is what we have to do.”

Rangers should never be in such a state. For me, the supporters are due a lot of explanations. We shall see.

It does appear that King was keeping an eye on things after all. But he needs to do more. A lot more.

Warburton wasn’t good enough but neither is the owner. He has the power and money to sort this. It’s now over to him.