It is a measure of the dysfunctional way that Rangers have been run in recent times that Ally McCoist is now working under his fourth chairman in two years.

He hopes to meet David Somers, the club's new acting chairman, at Ibrox this morning before preparing for the visit of Airdrieonians, but the Rangers manager can have no certainty about how long his working relationship with Somers will last.

Craig Whyte's chairmanship lasted less than one year and his predecessors, Malcolm Murray and Walter Smith, were in place for shorter periods of time. McCoist had different relationships with each of them, with the mood quickly becoming strained with Whyte, while Murray was a source of support and enthusiasm and the friendship and loyalty of Smith endured the difficult political circumstances of the Rangers board beginning to fall apart.

Somers has been appointed as a non-executive director six weeks before the annual meeting, when every board member will be up for re-election, and four new nominees proposed in Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson. At the shareholder, boardroom and executive management level - Rangers have no chief executive - the club remains in a state of turmoil. McCoist is hopeful that the agm will provide an opportunity for stability to assert itself in the boardroom, but his first meeting with Somers will mostly be about beginning the process of getting to know the new man, who is not a Rangers supporter.

"I will look to find out his views on club moving forward," McCoist said. "He looks as though he has an idea of the size of club and the job. He should be given the chance to do the job and I don't believe you have to be a Rangers fan to be chairman, chief executive or even the manager, as long as you are good at the job.

"I will meet David early, before the game. We will have a cup of coffee and a chat. We missed each other earlier in the week with phone calls and leaving messages on answer machines. I hope we will be able to work together for the benefit of the club and for both of us. It's a start."

McCoist is aware of how some of his predecessors felt supported by David Murray, at least in terms of issues with the team. He is not even operating under a chief executive just now, while his relationships with Ali Russell, Charles Green and Craig Mather veered from one extreme to another. His team is performing consistently, despite the uncertainty above the manager, and a win over Airdrie would be a 12th straight victory in the league and maintain the last 100% record in British football. Nonetheless, McCoist appreciates how a functioning hierarchy would improve the club.

"I've spoken to David [Murray] on numerous occasions," the Rangers manager said. "I have known for years the relationship he had with Walter, Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and it would be nice to have a similar relationship. David Murray was always there for his managers, they didn't always agree, but he was always there. I couldn't tell you how much of a hindrance it has been, as I have not had that relationship long enough."

McCoist now has a dressing room that contains some walking, or even limping, wounded. Andy Little is likely to undergo surgery on damage to his eye socket on Monday, Richard Foster is still on crutches following an injury to his foot, Lee McCulloch has stitches above his eye and Bilel Mohsni has a black eye and a suspected broken nose. The latter two are, at least, available to face Airdrie.

Rangers are encountering familiar opponents, since this is their third meeting with Airdrie this season, having won emphatically at The Excelsior in SPFL League 1 earlier in the season, then knocking them out of the William Hill Scottish Cup last weekend. The latter was Gary Bollan's first match in charge, but it is their own quirks that will fill the minds of the home players. Most games this season, Rangers have started slowly and not established a strong advantage until late on.

"The two games [against Airdrie] were hugely different in terms of the performances and results," said Lee Wallace, the Rangers full-back. "We need to match their enthusiasm and we need to try to start games better. We've not done that the last couple of games, we need to try and get a few goals to try and ease the pressure a wee bit. But we've been finishing games strongly, so that's a positive."