Only a few months ago, Interim Chairman John Gilligan promised a new CEO before Christmas. On Monday, fans woke up to an early Christmas present as Patrick Stewart was announced as the new Chief Executive starting December 16th. 

He replaces James Bisgrove, who left this past summer for a role in the Saudi League. The club released a statement describing Stewart as “an excellent fit for his new role at Rangers.” 

Rangers Interim Chairman, John Gilligan stated: 

“On behalf of the Board, I’m delighted to welcome Patrick to the club as CEO. Patrick comes with an excellent reputation and background, bringing extensive experience of operating at senior levels during his 20-plus years in Football”. 

The Aberdeen native served in various positions at Manchester United during his 18-year tenure. He joined in 2006 from UEFA. He became the Club’s first general and head of the in-house legal department. This had him leading commercial and operational duties like licensing, merchandising, digital media sourcing, and commercial rights. He was also co-leader on the creation of the women’s team. In 2019, he became a board member. He quickly worked his way up through several roles like the executive director and deputy CEO before getting the top job of Chief Executive Officer in 2023. 

But in 2023 he became one of the casualties of new Manchester United owner Jim Ratcliffe’s clear-out as he was axed from his position. 

His time there can only really be described as up and down. He oversaw Five Premier League titles, a Champions League title, a Europa League title, and a host of other domestic trophies. 

Despite a promising start to his career at United, it was around the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure and following that they haven’t been as successful. For this reason, he is associated with a largely negative and poor period for United. Especially while he served as Chief Executive at the club. His time as Chief executive is also remembered as a time when fans were blaming the decisions of the board and higher-ups on the lack of good results on the park. 

While there he also held various roles within the Football Association, Premier League and European Club Association. Due to his role as a lawyer at United, he also worked closely with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in dealings with International Sport. 

So, what does this all mean for Gers fans and what has the reaction been? 

For a long time, Gers fans solely blamed results and performances on the board and believed Philipe Clement was the man to rebuild Rangers if appropriately backed. However, the Club now find themselves 11 points behind Celtic and nine points behind Aberdeen in the league. This has led to a sourer opinion of the Manager with most believing now he is not the man to take Rangers forward. 

Most fans of the club are united in that the club needs a rebuild from top to bottom. Maybe Stewart is the first puzzle piece in a larger jigsaw.  

With things not looking so positive performance-wise and the fans not having much to celebrate it can’t be forgotten how the fans feel about the lack of leadership at the club. And while in recent times they haven’t had much success with their CEO’s this has to be looked at as a bigger picture appointment. 

As for the reaction from Gers fans, it’s fair to say it has been downplayed. With all football fans, when things are not going well on the pitch it’s easy to not get as excited or positive about appointments like this. And particularly with Gers fans, they feel the club needs serious investment if they are to catch up to their city rivals, Celtic. Right now, that seems to be the only announcement that would excite the fanbase. 

Only time will tell but Stewart certainly has his work cut out if he is to stabilise things at the club. 

With regards to the ongoings on the pitch and negativity amongst the fan base, Rangers Football Club still has many things to be optimistic about.  

In just under three weeks, they face off against their Glasgow rivals Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final in a bid for the first cup of the season. Despite not being the favourite for this encounter, it is a derby and a cup final, so anything can happen. 

They are also still in a promising position in the Europa League standings. They sit in a Knockout playoff position just outside the Auto-Qualification. But with away ties against Nice and Tottenham before Christmas it looks to be a tough ask for the Gers.