PAUL MURRAY is nothing if not persistent.

"Some people have called me obsessed," he says, the accompanying smile a clear sign that his was a dogged determination that had finally paid off. Sitting inside Ibrox yesterday afternoon, the new interim chairman of Rangers had every right to feel vindicated for never letting sight of his goals. The hard work starts now for him, Dave King, and John Gilligan - all voted in overwhelmingly at yesterday's general meeting - and Douglas Park, appointed to the board immediately afterwards, but Murray could be excused for allowing himself a small celebration last night. His has been a tale of perseverance to rival Robert the Bruce's apocryphal web-spinning spider.

Murray, a chartered accountant to trade, was first elected on to David Murray's board back in 2007. Two years later he would have his first attempt to gain control of the club, joining forces with King and Park to make an offer that was rejected by Lloyds Bank, protecting the £18m owed to them, who felt it was too low. Unbowed, Murray came again. This time it was two years later, his offer turned down by David Murray in favour of Craig Whyte's £1 bid, with Paul Murray's sustained criticism of Whyte leading to him being removed from the board of directors not long after.

The next two offers came from the outside looking in. When Rangers went into administration on Whyte's watch in 2012, Murray put together the Blue Knights consortium - a group of like-minded individuals and businesses - who hoped to gain control of the club. Instead administrators Duff & Phelps looked elsewhere, favouring the offer from Charles Green. Eighteen months later and Murray tried again, naming himself as one of the four "requisitioners" who hoped to be elected at the 2013 annual general meeting. They failed, however, to oust the incumbent board. Now, at the fifth attempt, Murray has finally made the breakthrough. It should come as some relief.

"Were there times when I thought I couldn't carry on? Hundreds!" he revealed. "Some people have called me obsessed. John [Gilligan] has actually been one of my biggest supporters and also one of my biggest critics, which has been good as well. He challenges you and that is healthy. The way I look at things is just because something is difficult doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. If it is right you have got to try and do it.

"In my view, from May 6, 2011, it has been all wrong here. The minute the club was sold to Craig Whyte it was the wrong decision. I said that at the time and unfortunately I was proven to be right. I don't take any credit for that. I don't feel good about that. But that is what happened. It has just been a succession of issues since then. You have got to do what's right. I have made mistakes, but hopefully people will recognise that I tried to do the right thing every time. I have certainly put Rangers' interests ahead of my own interests."

Now finally back operating from the inside, Murray knows he has his work cut out. Rangers remain a club in desperate need of being overhauled in all departments, and it will take time and a lot of money to get it back on an even keel. Murray, though, is well aware of the size of the challenge facing the new regime and hopes to bring supporters on board to help ease the transition.

"The club is broken and as directors we have to repair it and rebuild it brick by brick," he admitted. "So we have to do what we think is right for all the stakeholders at the club. One thing we will do is have fan ownership and representation so that they will be part of the decision-making process. They ought to be on the same side - we're all pulling in the same direction now. The supporters are the customers and biggest stakeholders in the club and getting them back supporting the club is priority number one along with stabilising the staff and giving them leadership and confidence.

"In business, one of the most important things is to have everyone pushing in the same direction. There will be tough times. It's not going to be easy. I've read the newspapers in the last couple of days and the list of things to do is pretty long, but we're going to do things the right way -not make snap decisions - and build for the long term."

Murray plans on being involved at executive level from day one. "John [Gilligan] and I have given a commitment to our partners to spend a good deal of time here in the short term because there's obviously a lot to do and it will take time to rebuild the board and to put the plan in place. We now have the mandate - and we're all delighted that it's an 85% mandate, which is a tremendous vote of confidence - and we now have to get on with the job in hand.

"We will be taking our time to look at the constitutional make-up of the board. We will meet the staff first and they need to be aware of our leadership because that hasn't been there in recent years. We will take time to fill the board out. We will do the right thing."