STUART McCall described the prospect of playing his former club Motherwell in the SPFL Premiership play-off final as a "nightmare scenario" when he was appointed Rangers interim manager in March.
Now the Ibrox club has been soundly defeated by its Fir Park rivals in both legs of that double header to miss out promotion to the top flight, it is facing an unappealing prospect of its own.
Whether McCall, whose short-term contract has now expired, is around to meet the challenge faced will be determined at talks with senior club officials in the coming days, but after such a disappointing end to his short stint in charge it is debatable.
Remaining in the second tier of Scottish football next season will present the new regime at the troubled Glasgow institution, which is already wrestling with the complex historical issues, with difficulties.
Dave King stressed before seizing control back in February that getting up this season wasn't essential. "For me, that would be more disappointing as a fan," he said. "It wouldn't affect the financial plan. For us, there will be no financial reliance on promotion this season."
Rangers, though, won't be able to charge supporters as much for season books in the 2015/16 campaign as they would have if they had joined Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and, most importantly, their Old Firm rivals Celtic in the elite division.
They will almost certainly not sell as many when fans who have grown increasingly weary of the novelty of the lower leagues in recent months will have to endure outings against the likes of Alloa, Dumbarton and Livingston once again next term.
More people will undoubtedly part with their hard-earned in the weeks ahead than did so last summer when escalating disaffection with those who occupied the boardroom and deep concern for the future resulted in many opting to buy tickets on a game-by-game basis instead. However, the appeal of the Championship will be nowhere as great as the Premiership.
Income from advertising, broadcasting rights, corporate hospitality, match day tickets and sponsorship will also be less as a consequence of the 6-1 aggregate defeat McCall's team suffered to Ian Baraclough's in the play-off final.
Rangers have been able to reduce their prohibitive players' wage bill. Many of the bigger earners, who were handed deals their employers subsequently could not afford to pay during the Charles Green era, will not return.
Apart from Jon Daly and Bilel Mohsni, none of the free agents have been informed whether they will be offered new contracts or not. The manager will be allowed to make that decision when he is appointed. Ian Black, Kris Boyd, Richard Foster, Lee McCulloch, Sebastien Faure, Kyle Hutton, Steve Simonsen and Stevie Smith could all be moved on. If any of them are retained it will be on a far lower salary.
Rangers continues to operate at a loss and has needed to agree three loan deals worth a total of £8 million since January . Mike Ashley (£5m), The Three Bears consortium which comprises George Letham, Douglas Park and George Taylor (£1.5m) and major shareholder King (£1.5m) have all provided vital working capital.
The day when the Ibrox club is self-sufficient - a stated objective of the latest custodians of the club - remains some distance away despite the departure of a large chunk of the first team squad.
Ken Pattullo, a partner with leading accountancy firm Begbies, believes its wealthy benefactors will be called on again in the months ahead. "They will have to carry on investing," said Pattullo. "But, certainly, they have publicly pronounced they will continue to do that.
"Losing all of those highly-paid players will help substantially reduce the players' wage bill. At the moment, it is still the second highest in Scotland. That is farcical given the level they are still playing at.
"This is the legacy of the decisions which were made several years ago, long before the present board and the present owners came in. They are paying a high price for the actions of their predecessors.
"The Rangers supporters now have people in charge who have the best interests of the club at heart. But I think there is still a lot of water to flow under the Mike Ashley bridge. It will be far from plain sailing."
Pattullo believes the failure to win promotion will be costly but not necessarily catastrophic. "The main benefit of promotion would have been four games against Celtic every season," he said. "Only two of them would have been at home. But there would have been increased revenue on top of that.
"Rangers will obviously want to go up next season. Will it be the end of the world if they don't? No, it won't be. They will still be able to bring in pretty big crowds if they are at the top of near the top of the Championship."
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