It is no exaggeration to say that Rangers is going through a second fit of self-destruction, as if the events of the past 12 months have not been bad enough for the club’s supporters.

Malcolm Murray, the Ibrox chairman, will step down. Or, putting it more bluntly, he will be ousted. The independent investigation, commissioned by the club to Pinsent Masons, is causing growing boardroom ill-feeling, an ill-feeling which is spreading to others employed at the club.

Murray finds himself in a remarkable situation – by the quirks of his character he is trusted by just about no-one on the Rangers board to carry out the chairman’s job convincingly. He and Charles Green grew contemptuous of each other and the two men have contrived to secure their mutual demise.

Walter Smith, sooner or later, will step down from the Rangers board, having never fully been at ease in the role, even prior to the current upheaval. Smith often felt disdainful of the way Rangers’ business was done under Charles Green and Imran Ahmad.

Whatever Smith’s mood, when he leaves Ibrox he will be a loss to the club, simply for his presence and ballast as a knowledgeable Rangers figure. Smith, unlike Green or Ahmad, has nothing but the good of Rangers at heart.

Two other key figures at Ibrox, who are less well known to the public at large, are the non-execs, Ian Hart and Bryan Smart. These two men also now have the chance – and maybe the imperative – to stabilise and revive Rangers.

To those who know him, Hart is viewed as a determined, decent man, a lifelong Rangers supporter who does unsung charity work and has a successful business track-record.

Hart certainly has the gift and know-how to lead Rangers forward – it is a question of whether, amid this mess, he also has the inclination.

Some would like to see Hart installed as the next chairman of Rangers, though he himself might baulk at the prospect.

Smart is seen as another "straight up and down guy" with a city/finance background who could help pave a path out of this boardroom mess. A former director with Mercedes Benz, and a man with a penchant for classic cars, he is now viewed along with Hart as an essential, stable presence at Rangers.

More has emerged about the growing disenchantment with Green’s tenure at Ibrox – especially in his war-war rather than jaw-jaw approach to the football authorities in Scotland.

Green’s aggression in this context went down a storm with elements of the Rangers support – but not with men like Walter Smith, who desired a less confrontational and more consensual approach.

In recent months Smith had been lined up on behalf of Rangers to hold peace talks with both the SFA and SPL in the aftermath of Green’s belligerent style – though that has been temporarily shelved until the current Ibrox boardroom turbulence settles.

Ironically, although Green’s uncontrollable tongue, such as his disastrous interview using racist language, eventually brought him down, many inside Rangers still believe he will be largely exonerated by the Pinsent Masons report.

Green played hardball, to a point of misleading Craig Whyte, in the weeks prior to Rangers failing to secure a CVA last May, but he may be measured in the fullness of time as having done far more good than bad for The Rangers International Football Club.

Some Rangers figures remain convinced that Green made a fatal error in resigning when he did two weeks ago. The board were turning on him but, had he chosen, he could have hung in, at least until Rangers’ internal investigation was published.

A further question concerns new Rangers appointments. Martin Bain, the old club’s former CEO, would step back into the role in a whisper, though that scenario might be unlikely. Others hope that Paul Murray, a member of the old Ibrox board, who has been open and eloquent on the issues facing Rangers, can make a boardroom return.

Murray would make a welcome presence in the Ibrox boardroom. More than anything what Rangers require right now is an honest, emotional and intellectual understanding of the club’s needs. These are instincts, strangely, that many seem to lack.