'I like decent people' - latest in Rangers CEO search as club sets out key skills for role

The Ibrox club has been searching for CEO after James Bisgrove left for Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia during the summer. A number of names have been linked with the vacancy, including St Mirren’s Jim Gillespie, and with Gilligan now in post to replace John Bennett as chairman in a caretaker capacity, the 72-year-old hopes progress can be made on filling a substantial void in the Rangers board room.

“We are well on,” said Gilligan on the CEO search. “We have quite a number of people around it who we can pick up with again. We are moving quickly on it.

“They need to have a strong business acumen, experience, they need to have ran businesses where there’s pressure and ned to deliver. It can’t be a comfortable business because the stress and pressure of being CEO of a football club is pretty big.

“They need to be a good communicator and getting to people. And they need a tremendous work ethic because it goes without saying it’s unbelievably difficult. They need to be a good person. I like decent people.”

Given the time that elapsed since Bisgrove vacated Ibrox, it was put to Gilligan that finding a suitable candidate is proving tricky. Both the Scottish Rugby Union and Scottish Golf have struggled to fill their own CEO positions of late. Gilligan denied that was the case.

"This is Rangers Football Club and with respect to the other sports [rugby and golf], football is the dominant sport in the country and much more attractive,” said Gilligan. “As a golfer - certainly not a rugby player! - I accept that. We would expect to attract a top-level candidate.

Gilligan also believes the ideal candidates must have a football background. “It would need to be someone exceptional,” he said of someone away from the sport. “When you are recruiting you are looking at four or five must haves. That’s not really a must have. But it’s pretty close. If someone exceptional appeared ...

“If he didn’t have an interest or understanding of football then it would be a bit like me asking to be chief exec of a technology company. It’s difficult. Without the knowledge of the product and business it would be difficult.”