You can say this for Graham Wallace, a Rangers chief executive facing one of the toughest jobs in British football right now:
on those rare occasions when he raises his head, such as yesterday, he looks calm, solid, a man of substance.
Wallace's long-awaited review of Rangers' business was finally published and, within moments of it arriving, the internecine sniping started among supporters about Wallace, the club, the current Rangers season-tickets rumpus and much else.
Wallace surely found his previous role as chief finance officer at Manchester City a serene picnic compared to the hornets' nest of Ibrox. He finds himself in an invidious position.
In his six months at Rangers he has picked up the financial debris left by the post-IPO madness under Charles Green. That's behind him. In front of him, meanwhile, are threats of season-ticket boycotts by rebel Rangers fans, at a very time when the club remains in a kind of financial intensive-care and is crying out for income.
The blunt truth is the Rangers family - for want of a better phrase - is fractured and fractious. Some fans want to back Wallace and give him a chance, while others view him as a puppet of a detested regime.
Wallace himself can only plough on, trying to restore Rangers to health while this vitriolic battle rages around him.
His review made for stark reading. Their position remains "precarious" and Wallace basically argued that the club had squandered tens of millions of pounds of the £70.7m it generated between May 2012 and December 2013.
Redundancies are forthcoming, and the public warring around Rangers has resulted in debit and credit card facilities being unavailable for season-ticket renewals, a consequence, Wallace claimed, of the merchant acquirer needing "extensive security" over Ibrox, which Rangers appear resolutely against.
In truth, it seems that every time Wallace tries to take a step forward, some further, red-ash issue is thrown in his path.
The subject of Rangers fans' loyalty has been debated in recent days, and was aired again yesterday as Wallace faced the media.
This is a thick knot needing to be untangled. Some supporters, led by the Union of Fans, are urging a withholding of season-ticket money, part of their Dave King-led campaign for regime-change.
Season-tickets monies are a weapon for any group of supporters. The problem is, such a boycott can hurt the club you profess to love.
Other Rangers supporters argue the precise opposite of the Union of Fans. They want to renew their tickets, give Wallace and this new Rangers board a fighting chance, and will not tolerate anything that might hinder Rangers reaching the top flight by the summer of 2015.
Wallace's stark view yesterday that the club could not continue trading if there was a substantial decline in season-ticket sales sounded alarm for many supporters. So the argument rages on over what represents the greater good.
Wallace must also know that the Dave King challenge will not go away. The South African-based businessman, barring one of his abrupt U-turns, appears hellbent on acquiring major equity in the club. Right now, that road is blocked, but Wallace once again yesterday suggested that, via a future rights-issue, King might get aboard.
In terms of public performance, Wallace scored well yesterday. He seemed convincing and he exuded authority. But that authority might easily be diluted in time, as it becomes obvious how successful or otherwise he can be in raising fresh capital for Rangers.
Everyone agrees that Rangers need further external cash. Wallace has set out a plan to deliver on that.
But can he?
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