Rangers' flatlining fatigue sees the mood only darkened by snarly-faced busted flush - Keith Jackson

Rangers thought their luck was in as Celtic looked to be heading out

For well over an hour on Sunday afternoon a spring was threatening to return to the step of Rangers and their supporters.

They’ll take their breaks anywhere they can get them these days, even if that place is behind enemy lines at Celtic Park. So when Falkirk took the lead in Glasgow’s east end not once but twice in the quarter final of the Premier Sports Cup, for the first time in a long time, they might have been hoping for the best. While, deep down, bracing themselves for another dollop of bad news.

They were spared from the very worst case scenario because, from the moment Brendan Rodgers turned to his bench to help his players dig themselves out of trouble, across the other side of the city they probably thought they knew what was coming at them down the pipe. Celtic in the semis. And right now the very idea of another Old Firm showdown is an ordeal they could do without at a time when Philippe Clement and his players are struggling to discover their own identity.

So they dodged a bullet in the draw which pairs them with Motherwell instead - and buys some much needed room to grow as well as a bit of breathing space for the time being. On the face of it, Rangers had plenty to be pleased about on Saturday night, even if it didn’t really feel like it after a 3-0 win over Dundee.

A potentially awkward quarter final had been comfortably negotiated, back on home soil inside their own stadium. Their No.9 took his tally for the season to seven already, with a delightfully taken double.

New signings Connor Barron, Nedim Bajrami and Jefte all looked the part, Jack Butland kept a clean sheet and even skipper James Tavernier weighed in again with an assist and another goal from the penalty spot. But the fact is there’s a gloomy malaise about this club right now which is going to take some time to lift. And the lack of enthusiasm for a tidy, two goal contribution from Cyriel Dessers almost sums up the general mood of dissatisfaction.

These fans have seen it all before. They have long since made their mind up on Dessers and come to the unshiftable conclusion that the Nigerian international simply will not cut it as their club’s first choice striker. Fairly or not, no matter how hard he tries - and his level of effort has never really been in any doubt - Dessers will remain the poster boy for a summer rebuild which went spectacularly wrong under former manager Michael Beale.

He is a permanent, regularly misfiring reminder of why Rangers currently lag so far behind their old rivals from across town that it’s starting to feel as if there may be no catching up, at least until such times as the entire club is given a thorough reboot from top to bottom. It’s a shame for Dessers who, more often than not, continues to go about his work with a smile on his face and attitude which suggests he is genuinely pleased to be here.

He really does come across as a lovely big fella and, after netting 23 times in his first season at the club, he must be wondering why seven from nine this time around hasn’t moved the dial in terms of his relationship with the club’s supporters. They don’t laud him for his numbers. On the contrary they lament him for not scoring double the amount. And it all adds up to a frostiness which means the very best Dessers can hope for is that his continued presence in Philippe Clement’s frontline can be tolerated rather than fully appreciated for what it’s worth.

The same can be said for more than a few of his team mates - and his captain in particular - but this feeling of flat-lining fatigue extends all the way up to the boardroom from the pitch. The Rangers support has become weary of seeing the same old faces with the same old failings and the sight and sounds of Dave King kicking up a fuss all the way from his bunker in Johannesburg, has done little to lighten the mood.

Over the course of the last week, King has kicked off his latest pied piper routine, attempting to rabble rouse and agitate the supporters who willed him into power almost a decade ago in the hope that history might repeat itself. He says he wants to return to the chairman’s seat as if these fans ought to be thrilled at the prospect of another absent landlord but the truth is that the bombastic King is no less of a busted flush than those he seeks to oust from control.

He’s a snarly faced reminder of all that’s gone wrong with this club since he first rescued it from the clutches of Mike Ashley and his henchmen back in 2015. King had his chance to make a lasting difference back then and he blew it up with a bazooka - then blamed everyone but himself for the chaos and carnage it created inside the Blue Room.

If anything, he’s even more divisive and less credible than the current crop of incumbents given the manner with which he fled and headed for the hills the first time around, having forked out a small fortune of other people’s money before leaving those same men in the lurch.

As a consequence, his hubristic outpourings simply don’t carry the clout they once did with a support which has grown tired of hearing his vitriolic, angry soundbites. They’re certainly not hanging on his every word, the way they once did.

While the vast majority know that regime change is now absolutely essential to meeting the club’s ambitions, they have heard enough of this mean-spirited empty rhetoric to last a lifetime. All of which means they are no more excited about the prospect of seeing King pose in the directors’ box with a scarf above his head than they will be on Thursday night when they see some of the names on Clement’s next team sheet.

King is the directorial equivalent of Dessers. Minus the big man’s good nature. Of course, to his credit, Dessers continues to give his all in the hope of doing some good for the club and its supporters.

If he can come up with a winner in Malmo where Rangers open up their Europa League campaign later this week, then perhaps he will make some headway in his seemingly never ending battle to win over the hearts and minds of a reluctant support.

Right now Rangers are in need of a shot in the arm from somewhere even if it only raises spirits for the short term. Sunday's draw for the last four of the League Cup affords them some time to make their own people start believing in them again.

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