Charles Green slipped away before the end of this game.

Few would have noticed, but his arrival in the directors' box was the focus of attention. The chief executive remains in his role at Ibrox, but he is vulnerable after the board's announcement on Saturday that they will commission an independent examination of "recent allegations concerning Charles Green and the commercial director Imran Ahmad, and their management of the club".

That followed a three-hour board meeting at Murray Park attended by Green, chairman Malcolm Murray, finance director Brian Stockbridge and three of the non-executive directors: Walter Smith, Ian Hart and Bryan Smart. The seventh member of the board, Philip Cartmell, took part by conference call.

There is concern among several directors about Craig Whyte's allegations of his involvement in the consortium, fronted by Green, that bought the club out of liquidation last summer, even though Whyte is an unreliable witness given his previous deceitful behaviour.

There is a power struggle, certainly, with Murray and Green on opposite sides, with differing views on how the club should be run. Smith is also concerned by the links to Whyte. The examination, likely to be carried out by legal and accounting experts and starting as quickly as possible, will either compel the board to act or exonerate Green and Ahmad. The latter two are adamant they merely strung along Whyte while pursuing a company voluntary arrangement to take the club out of administration, which would have required Whyte's shareholding. In Green's own words, they "shafted him".

But the chief executive looks to be in an uncomfortable position, since the other interpretation of the board's decision is that the directors do not take his explanations at face value and are concerned enough to seek an independent view. The outcome of the examination will be delivered to the non-executive directors, but it seems unlikely that maintaining the status quo will be possible. Certainly, among the most vociferous Rangers fans, there was an immediate response. During the game, the Union Bears sang, "We don't care about Charles, he don't care about us. All we care about is Rangers FC".

Before the end, they chanted for Green to "tell us the truth", but added that he "disnae know it".

Green has won them over in the past, of course, but his relationship with Ally McCoist is also strained. The manager said he was "delighted" with the result of the board meeting, and seemed genuinely pleased.

Green was reportedly planning to remove the manager's two assistants, and so undermine McCoist, which would also have destabilised the club. McCoisthas already lost his physiotherapist, Pip Yeates, and his chief scout, Neil Murray.

The team was professional and sound against Clyde, without sweeping aside their opponents. Andrew Mitchell was excellent at right-back, Lee Wallace influential and Robbie Crawford tidy in midfield. There remains a reliance on Lee McCulloch, but even in the midst of a frustrating performance, David Templeton still created two goals, crossing for McCulloch to score the first and releasing Kyle Hutton to add a late second.

The game seemed an afterthought given the boardroom developments, but the players still had to perform their duties for a busy Ibrox.

"I don't agree that the football is a sideshow from what's happening off the pitch," said Hutton. "We have been focused and we know we have to sustain a level of performance and make sure we keep taking the three points. I would agree it's been a bizarre [week]. We just want all of that to sort itself out. There has been a slight sense of 'here we go again', but we can only take care of what we have to do."

There are three games left for Rangers this season, but the focus will in all likelihood be firmly on matters off the pitch.