Rangers finished 2017 on a high as they turned in their best performance in months by drawing 0-0 against Old Firm rivals Celtic at Parkhead.
Graeme Murty’s men went toe to toe with the league leaders and on a luckier day might have snatched a famous victory.
The Ibrox club have been here before since their demotion to League Two in the summer of 2012, though. Highs, such as the Scottish Cup semi-final win over the Hoops in 2016, have often been rapidly followed by letdowns when it counted the most.
Maintaining positive momentum has proven an impossible task. Even after Murty was able to lead the side to three successive league wins when it seemed they might go throughout the whole of 2017 without achieving that modest feat, they subsequently crumbled to back-to-back defeats against St Johnstone and Kilmarnock.
The January transfer window, however, is set to provide further impetus south of the Clyde, despite the Gers not taking to league action again until January 24, when they host Aberdeen in a match that promises to have a profound bearing on the rest of their season.
Midfielder Sean Goss has been signed from QPR on loan, while the big coup is set to arrive on Friday, when Jamie Murphy is expected to complete a medical and sign from Brighton.
His move to Ibrox will represent a major coup, with the 28-year-old offering valuable additional firepower to an attack that is set to be bereft of Kenny Miller for a lengthy period after he ruptured his hamstring.
But despite splashing out significantly on Murphy, doubts over the financial health of the club just cannot be shaken.
Nevertheless, the board and director of football Mark Allen are clearly willing to give their backing to manager Graeme Murty just as they did for Pedro Caixinha, despite showing a reticence to appoint the 43-year-old as their full-time manager.
Even when they did eventually elect to present him the position a full two months after occupying it on a ‘temporary’ basis, it came with the caveat of a contract that runs only until the end of the season, merely glorifying his role as caretaker.
But for all the uncertainty in the dugout, which cannot easily be swept under the carpet, Rangers’ biggest issues over the coming month are now based around who is in the squad – not who isn’t.
A substantial portion of their wage budget is being eaten up by players incapable of pulling their weight.
Veteran Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar is perhaps the greatest example. At 33, the former Tottenham player should on paper be an asset for the Gers, but injury has taken its toll. As the Old Firm game showed, he is no longer able to contribute meaningfully in the matches his side need him most.
Questions must also be asked over the longevity of centre-back Bruno Alves. A fine player when he makes it onto the field, the 36-year-old has proven unable to remain consistently fit and faces another spell on the sidelines after sustaining an injury in the Old Firm match that has left him on crutches.
Indeed, Russell Martin’s anticipated arrival only adds to the sense that the club cannot trust Alves’ body to hold up. After all, why sign another centre-back if they thought the Portugal man would be fit, particularly with Ross McCrorie and David Bates showing some potential in that area?
Given the limited resources that Rangers have at their disposal, they cannot afford for such players to be burning valuable wages. The problem, however, will be finding clubs willing to take them off their hands.
And then, of course, there is the burden of the signings made by Caixinha who have failed to pull their weight. Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio and Carlos Pena did not to Glasgow lightly and only add to the burden.
Pena has already been linked with a move back to Mexico, with Rangers liable to make a hefty loss on his transfer fee.
Such missteps in the transfer market can no longer be afforded, and so it is hard to imagine that much more business will be done at Ibrox in terms of incoming players. The key move for Murphy already made – a transfer that the Gers should be heartily congratulated on – who they can get ship out is of more importance than who they can sign.
A platform for success is steadily being built, but this is a long-term project, the momentum of which must carry onto into the summer and beyond. Rangers fans have been here before.
