Patrick Stewart alienates Rangers fans on brink of rebellion with a hamfisted debut that placates only one man – Keith Jackson

Well, let’s give him his due, that was certainly one way of going about it.

When Patrick Stewart chose to pop his head above the parapet on Saturday, it was widely anticipated the new Rangers chief executive would indulge in the business of attempting to win friends and influence people. But, in fact, by adopting an approach which sailed dangerously close to tipping towards condescending, Stewart managed to placate absolutely no one.

With the notable exception, of course, of Philippe Clement. If anything, his Saturday morning media briefing succeeded only in further antagonising and alienating a fan base which was already on the brink of mounting a full-scale rebellion against the men in charge of their club.

Stewart spoke a great deal while saying almost nothing they actually wanted to hear. It all amounted to a bad start for the man from Manchester United as well as recently appointed chairman Fraser Thornton. It was a surprisingly clumsy intervention which did absolutely nothing to take the sting out of yesterday’s visit from St Johnstone, during which sections of the home fans made their feelings perfectly clear with chants of ‘sack the board’.

By walking out of Ibrox after 55 minutes of an otherwise routine win over an almost certainly doomed St Johnstone, they stuck two fingers up at Stewart and the rest of those in the comfy seats of the directors’ box. Stewart’s biggest mistake was his failure to come across as a man with a plan and a mandate to provide the current regime with some much needed clear, strategic thinking . It all felt a bit too much like – meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Both he and Thornton need to change the perspective and move the dial where the fans are concerned. First, they