The triumphs of the past still seem a brooding presence at Ibrox.

If there is glory in winning the Irn-Bru Third Division title, it is a diminished, austere kind compared to so much of Rangers' history. Yet the squad and staff deserve to relish the sense of achievement, and for a wider perspective to be maintained.

This success can be measured in separate ways. Compared to 54 top-flight championships or the other trophies Rangers have accumulated, it seems a mundane prize. Yet that is to misunderstand it. The players and the coaching staff managed the dramas of the season and their efforts ought to be recognised.

Opponents were not often swept aside, the games were usually grimly competitive, and Rangers seemed to become increasingly aware of the disconnection between their present and past as the season wore on, but the title was won swiftly enough.

Once a significant lead was established at the top of the table, the team appeared to fall into a distracted mood. The worth of this season needs to take into account the circumstances, though. Only six players were present on day one of preseason training and the psychological turmoil of last summer was deeply felt. Recruitment was haphazard as a consequence of off-field problems, and Rangers have essentially crisis managed their way through this campaign.

The squad was assembled at significant cost – the second highest wage bill in the country – but seldom lived up to that analysis. Manager Ally McCoist seemed permanently exasperated on the touchline, and there were several occasions when it was legitimate to ask why the team could not outplay part-time opponents. Yet he fashioned a title-winning squad out of the only resources he could muster. He will look at his team and see only their deficiencies, because few understand more intimately than McCoist the expectations that need to be lived up to at Ibrox.

He will try to radically alter his squad in the summer, but that will never remove the gratitude he feels. At a time when Rangers – as a team, a club, an institution – were reeling, this group of players found the means to achieve the sole requirement that was demanded of them: promotion.

The progress was uncertain at times, and a few members of the squad might now have a better understanding of their own foibles, but it will count as an important moment in the club's attempts to restore itself. Some will only be fleeting characters on that journey.

Anestis Argyriou, Emilson Cribari, Francisco Sandaza – who has been suspended after revealing in a prank phone call that he would welcome offers from other clubs – and Sebastien Faure have never impressed. Others, such as Dean Shiels and Ian Black, did not reach the same heights of personal form as last season.

There was, at least, promise in the emergence of Lewis Macleod, in particular, Barrie McKay and Fraser Aird, while the likes of Kyle Hutton, Chris Hegarty and Andy Little proved reliable. Lee Wallace, Neil Alexander and Lee McCulloch were generally solid and occasionally led by example.

Few will make it all the way back to the top flight with Rangers. The team need to be rejuvenated, and McCoist said recently that the short and long-term planning required for the football side of the operation will soon be revealed. Expectations never dim at Ibrox, and some players will benefit from the understanding, however brutal it can sometimes seem, that certain standards must be maintained.

Rangers need to sell at least as many season tickets for next term as they did for this campaign. It appears as though they will be competing in the bottom 18 of the proposed three-tier format that league reconstruction is moving towards, which will generate a sense of disillusionment among the fans.

Marquee signings were once enough to keep supporters coming through the turnstiles, but the fanbase is wiser and more cynical now. They want to be sold a vision, the idea that Rangers understand the worth of a proper football strategy, one that values youth development, a fully resourced scouting network and a culture of excellence in every department. In the same way that the commercial operation is bring restored with renewed ambition and creativity, the same is demanded of the football side.

There were disappointments along the way this season, and few will like to look back to this campaign for proof that they possess what it takes to return Rangers to their old place at the pinnacle. Each season until then demands a constant reassertion of worth. It would be churlish to brush aside this trophy as meaningless, though, when there was a time during the summer when some Rangers fans fretted about the very existence of their club.

This was, in its own way, a turning point for Rangers. A year of trauma has been laid down and if some of the players will not live long in the club's history, their feat this season will. This was a campaign when Rangers could focus again on football, in all of its pain and glory.

Lessons will have been learned, and some hearts will have been hardened for the task ahead. It is certain that other individuals will be discarded along the way. Ibrox has not felt triumphant of late, and the season might yet peter out, but this moment is worth a mood of celebration among fans. If it doesn't measure up to past achievements, it does look worthy compared to the trials of last summer. Rangers, in the end, did what they had to do.