Spiers on Sport: six men with the keys to Rangers' future

Somers is a loathed character, whose smug, self-satisfied appearance momentarily turned the Ibrox AGM into a zoo as the congregants booed and bleated at his arrival.

The Rangers chairman has an unnerving habit of wearing an egregious, oily smile whenever a photographer appears in his face.

He also grossly misjudges the mood around Rangers, as seen in a number of patronising remarks he made to shareholders on Monday.

With the arrival of Derek Llambias, arguably Somers' role and power are much diminished, and he may be gone soon enough. If he is, he might feel even more satisfied.

Derek Llambias (Rangers' new CEO)

This is now a key issue at the club: can Llambias win round supporters by reviving Rangers on and off the park? In a previous life Llambias was detested at Newcastle United, so he is perfectly suited to take on the toxic environment of Ibrox.

But there can be no doubting this: Llambias is a place-man for Mike Ashley, who now has Rangers in his grip. There is deep anxiety among Rangers fans at Ashley's retail monopoly at the club, and so Llambias, if he can, has somehow to prove that the Ashley ticket can be good for Rangers in the long-term. We await the evidence.

This is to say nothing of the SFA's view of Ashley's Rangers involvement. When it comes to "influence" Ashley appears to brazenly flout the governing body's rules about dual ownership. So, enter the lawyers.

Sandy Easdale (Rangers director, club board)

"Big Sandy" is not a popular character, and is routinely disparaged and slandered. Having "done time" in the past for VAT fraud, Easdale's reputation goes before him and, in that way that football supporters often invoke snobbery, he is depicted as a rough-speaking heavy who ain't got no values and no hinterland.

In fact, this is a mite unfair. Easdale appears to take nothing out of the club by way of wages or expenses, and is desperately trying to move Rangers forward.

Crucially, however, he appears central to a shareholding bloc which has thwarted the likes of Dave King from gaining power at Rangers. For that and much else Easdale is deplored.

Dave King (perennial agitator for power)

King is an utter mystery, a businessman who flies solo and is fathomed by few. For two years now he has agitated for power at Rangers, and flown various blustering kites about taking control, and has got nowhere.

Strangely, while insisting on buying not a single Rangers share, he has been out-manoeuvred by Mike Ashley up until now.

There is also his high court conviction in South Africa to the tune of 41 counts on tax breaches, which the court said carried a potential 82-year prison sentence. King settled by stumping up the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds in unpaid back-taxes, but the damage to his reputation was done.

Though not among some Rangers diehards. They couldn't give two hoots for his law-breaking in faraway South Africa. King has money, and they want it, pure and simple. David Somers did at least get one thing right at the AGM: many Rangers fans see King as "the messiah".

Mike Ashley (8.29% Rangers shareholder)

His name looms ever larger in this saga, with Ashley applying an alarming grip on the club, with his potential for good or ill. The jury must remain out on him for the moment.

The Ashley evidence as it stands at Newcastle United, where he is outright owner, is not clear-cut. Many Newcastle fans loath him for the way he has used that club for his own retail purposes and as a civic hoarding for Sports Direct.

Others, though, argue that Ashley has stabilised Newcastle United and actually made it self-sufficient and profit-making, having once been £80 million in debt.

Ashley's meddling in Rangers does seem highly dubious in the context of the SFA's rules. He wields extraordinary power for a minority stakeholder, to the extent of removing board members and putting in place his own CEO in Llambias. Ashley appears to own a coach-and-horses which rides roughshod over everything.

Ally McCoist (ex-manager, gardening leave)

McCoist's position is now thoroughly vexing. He is a legend at Rangers, and that will surely never disappear, but his relative failures as club manager meant his end was coming sooner rather than later.

Now McCoist is in the invidious position of picking up circa £14,000 a week from a stricken club for doing nothing.

It doesn't look good, and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Hopefully, to help Rangers, a more modest pay-off can be agreed by the departed manager.