Rangers need fresh start NOT a throwback - why Ibrox club should tread carefully with Dave King return - Keith Jackson

Let's start by wishing John Bennett a full and speedy recovery now that he’s stepped back out of the cauldron of chaos at Rangers.

At his core, Bennett is a fundamentally decent man who was so desperate to do the right thing for his football club that he was willing to plough something in the region of £24m of his own personal wealth into its coffers. And yet the outgoing chairman ended up being vilified and eventually even demonised by angry swathes of his fellow supporters, which was the most unedifying travesty of it all.

The truth is Bennett acted with entirely the best of intentions even though the last few months of his time in charge were fraught and utterly exasperating. He was both blindsided and betrayed at crucial moments over the last 12 months which is why he was left carrying the can and taking personal responsibility for the carnage which was being created all around. Of course, he made mistakes too along the way but Bennett’s biggest failing was very probably being too trusting and going about his business in the belief that those around him wanted Rangers to succeed every bit as fervently as he did.

He positively willed the likes of Michael Beale and James Bisgrove to do well in their respective roles without recognising that this B team was doing more harm than good. And it was only after Bisgrove had jumped ship to Saudi Arabia that the unsuspecting Bennett was forced to look under the bonnet to discover - to his absolute horror - the full extent of the damage.

It was when he first realised that Rangers would be locked out of Ibrox for the first few months of the campaign that the stress levels began to soar to intolerable heights and from that moment Bennett was locked into a losing battle. Having