Ever since Charles Green cracked his crass, racist gags in an interview, I've had little time for this erratic figure at the heart of the Rangers saga.

Green suffers the ultimate in foot-in-mouth disease. Again and again he appears to verbally erupt before his brain has the chance to fully engage.

This past weekend both Ally McCoist and Walter Smith were the latest to be enraged by Green's Rangers rhetoric. In McCoist's case, after an excruciating defeat at Forfar, rage proved a timely diversion.

I don't defend Green one bit. He is an embarrassing loose cannon around Rangers. Today, over his millions of shares which he picked up for buttons, he was once again mouthing off - and even goading - in bombastic fashion.

The trouble is, Green is viewed by some able men inside Ibrox as having the potential to serve Rangers well, especially in terms of raising capital.

Some analysts expect Rangers to post an operating loss in excess of £11m for the recent financial year. In fact, the club might well be doomed to three successive years of losses, until it gets back into the top flight in Scotland.

With their huge costs around Ibrox, the Rangers directors believe they simply cannot get into profit during their period of purdah in the lower divisions, save for making swingeing cuts. The club needs a fresh investment - from somewhere, from someone - to counter its three lean years.

Can Paul Murray do that? Can Jim McColl, a man seemingly with the wealth of kings? Neither so far has done so.

McColl is proving an infuriating figure for Rangers supporters, given his financial means, but also his disinclination. He happily flirts with Rangers without desiring any consummation. Through his own impressive prowess McColl has made himself super-rich…and consistently vowed never to go near football.

There is a growing tide of anti-Green feeling among the Rangers support, fed fresh momentum by Walter Smith's resignation and subsequent comments. In this context it must be hoped for Rangers' sake that Smith's isn't just a populist ticket, but also a wise one.

Smith is adored by the club's support. He has written his name indelibly in the Rangers story. Intriguingly, Smith's business instincts, which he himself says are negligible, are simply ignored. He is the legendary Walter, "the only man the fans can trust".

Yet is Smith correct in his analysis about Rangers' boardroom needs? In this specific context the strict relevance of him being a "Rangers legend" seems tangential at best.

The Rangers board - with Smith demurring - last week voted to bring Green back as a "consultant". It was a nebulous term, born of compromise, but for at least two current Rangers directors Green's return was down to one thing only: the club needs fresh investment and Green has a track-record for being able to provide that.

Paul Murray, a genuine Rangers man, has had the chance in the past to "put up" - but couldn't. McColl certainly has the wherewithal to "put up" - but won't.

Rangers FC is currently awash with emotion and sentiment. But what the club will need soon enough is not legends loitering or pin-ups of the past, but fresh cash injections.

To the cynics it is little wonder Green is back at Ibrox. In terms of the club's board, in figures like Craig Mather, Bryan Smart, Brian Stockbridge and James Easdale, it almost resembles a Green puppet show.

The Yorkshireman owns around 7.5% of Rangers but his influence by proxy goes much further. Green can also smell the waft of profit for himself.

This carnage at Rangers is strewn with personality clashes. The main trigger, and most vehement, was Malcolm Murray falling out with Green. But then came Stockbridge crossing Murray, then Smith's growing disenchantment with Green, and much more.

Beyond the confines of boardroom, there has been tension between Ian Hart and Paul Murray, and even between Murray and Smith - two men who had previously worked together at Rangers.

Meanwhile, Bryan Smart, a man spoken of highly inside Ibrox - decent, likeable, and with a wealth of plc experience - is also now a target of this projected coup via an extraordinary general meeting. What a mess it all is.

There are many lessons to be gleaned from this Ibrox farce. Principal among these is, where various men are on the make, there is trouble.