BEFORE the week is out there will be a soundbite or an image which captures the Rangers revolution.

 

Something will be said - by a Dave King or a Paul Murray - which catches the imagination and becomes synonymous with the hose being turned on and a loathed board of directors being washed out of Ibrox.

Legions of Rangers fans know a sweet victory has been reached and they want to see this board not only overthrown, but humiliated. They want their equivalent of Brian Dempsey's "the battle is over, the rebels have won", a phrase to use in hashtags and across t-shirts. They'll want an iconic photograph, too. Maybe David Somers walking out of a side door with a black bin bag over his shoulder.

You would have to assume that King or Murray has thought of a line to deliver on their ascent to power, given that they aren't encumbered by any doubt that control is coming their way. There is a powerful urge among supporters for a swift and clean break - Somers, Derek Llambias and Barry Leach out and King, Murray and John Gilligan in - but dealing with practicalities will complicate things.

Llambias and Leach are Rangers employees as well as directors and discussions over severance packages will have to be held to remove them as chief executive and finance director respectively. Sandy Easdale is not on the plc board but cannot hope to survive on the football board, so time will be taken to engineer his removal unless he follows his brother by resigning. Somers, the most reviled figure of all, faced summary dismissal but has spared himself and his resignation is expected to be announced to the Stock Exchange tomorrow morning. Well, when you get to be chairman of Rangers you get to do it your way.

That will leave only Llambias and Leach, who could accede to King's six resolutions by resigning and appointing the three new men as their replacements. The City convention is that a formal meeting would be held anyway and immediately adjourned without the need for shareholders to turn up. There would be no point in "the board" - the term is now risible in the circumstances - hanging on.

Rangers' NOMAD Paul Shackleton phoning King, trying to cut deals to save some of the board's skin, and James Easdale's decision to quit showed that they know their number is up.

Rangers are about to be run by a new and unproven board but one which - and this is crucial - will be the first since late 2011 to have the support and trust of virtually all of their fans. Craig Whyte, Charles Green, Brian Stockbridge, Craig Mather, Mike Ashley, Somers, Llambias, Leach, the Easdales, and a supporting cast of chancers and spivs: they're seen as a single poisoned bloodline which is about to have control ripped away. Make no mistake, the queues would be a mile long if there was the chance to put these characters in stocks and throw rotten fruit.

For weeks, King has been speaking about the incumbents virtually in the past tense. Even if he is around Rangers for years this is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying spells he will experience. There is the certainty of victory and near-unanimous approval from a fanbase which not only supports him but feels like a tangible part of the winning team because of the growing shareholding held by the Rangers Supporters Trust and Rangers First.

King can expect a long honeymoon period, during which he must start to justify the trust being placed in him by supporters. Along with Douglas Park, George Taylor, George Letham and other wealthy individuals King will quickly look to refinance Rangers by putting the club into debt, creating cashflow until a rights issue can be held.

King has said Rangers may need up to £25 million and Murray has speculated that it may take three to five years for the ambitions to be realised. Even so, there are pressing football issues which must be addressed within weeks. Appointing a proper manager would improve Rangers' promotion prospects, not to mention putting Kenny McDowall out of his misery. Before the start of the new season there must be a massive rebuilding of the squad, at some expense, given that a dozen senior names out of contract and undeserving of new deals. The new manager will have a clean slate.

There is more than one elephant in the room. King's "fit and proper person" suitability will be addressed by the SFA, "onerous" contracts to investigate, and Mike Ashley must be dealt with (Ashley's SFA hearing over dual ownership is due today). But King facing decisions on managers and players would be evidence of the unthinkable: Rangers as a normal, functioning football club again.

And Finally . . .

Here's a sobering statistic now that another European campaign is over for all the Scottish representatives. Our clubs have won one knockout tie in the Champions League or Europa League proper (not qualifiers) in the last seven seasons. Since Rangers reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final the only victory over two legs was by Rangers over Sporting Lisbon in the 2011 Europa League. Celtic haven't beaten a team over two legs since Barcelona in 2004. European football has become about our clubs getting into, and hopefully out of, the group stages. After that? Their glass ceiling.