RANGERS is a family. And that family suffered when the club went through such a difficult and distressing time seven years ago.

It has taken a long time, and a lot of money and effort, to get the club back on the right track because the damage that was inflicted on Rangers was severe.

Through it all, the supporters and the people at Ibrox and the training ground have acted properly and done what they could to help the football club that they love. So you can only feel for them when you see the details that emerged this week about the HMRC claim for the use of EBTs during Sir David Murray’s reign at Ibrox.

Many people thought this was all behind us, that it was done and dusted. But this news brings it all back into focus and the anger from the Rangers fans is completely understandable.

This is one of the biggest stories we have seen in Scotland, never mind Scottish football. This shouldn’t have happened and that is the bottom line.

Think of how different the last few years could have been for Rangers. Think of how different Scottish football could have been.

It is shocking, it is sad. And everyone associated with Rangers is right to demand answers as to how and why this situation unfolded. It is the very least that they deserve.

Everyone that plays for Rangers, works for Rangers or supports Rangers is part of that family that I speak about. There is a bond between them and the people at Rangers make it a special club.

The players will know the chefs and the cleaners, they will build up a rapport with the people that do the laundry or that greet them at the door every day. There is a camaraderie.

The manager and the players are the most high profile staff at a club, but there are ladies and gents around Rangers, that have been there for many years, that have suffered greatly.

There are countless members of backroom staff that lost their jobs and their livelihoods during Rangers’ troubles and they will be thinking that it was all in vain, that they were the victims.

The thing that hit me on Thursday morning was the thought of the people that lost their job and that had to suffer and the efforts that so many put in to help Rangers when the club needed them.

So many people have been let down badly here and I, once again, have to pay tribute to the Rangers fans. They have been magnificent through all of this and have handled themselves superbly.

They will be looking back and thinking ‘if only’. It doesn’t bear thinking about and for this to come up years and years later, there will be a lot of angry people, and rightly so. Everyone at Rangers went through so much during that time and the recovery certainly wasn’t straightforward. It was hard, but they stuck by their club.

As events were unfolding over the years, I always came back to the Rangers fans and gave them the praise that they deserved for they way they stuck by their club and kept coming back week after week, year after year.

They have shown why they are, for me, the best supporters in the world and I feel for them right now because the memories of everything that they have gone through will have come flooding back over the last couple of days.

They will think about what has happened and think that it didn’t need to happen, that it shouldn’t have happened.

It has and did and we can’t do anything about it unfortunately but that won’t reduce the levels of anger amongst the support.

Other clubs decided Rangers’ fate for them and there is still an animosity from some Rangers fans towards those very people.

They are not happy with certain clubs and certain individuals and that will never change, no matter what happens.

The fans will always defend their club when they feel Rangers have been hard done by. That is the case now I can’t fault any of them if they come out and say how they feel because they are right to do so.

In time, I hope they get the answers that they deserve and I know the board will be considering their options over the coming days, weeks and months. It has sadly come too late for many, though.