IF there was one statement which summed up Dave King’s era as chairman of Rangers yesterday it was this. “I have got an almost inverted sense of pride about the extent to which we lost money,” he said at one point. “I think we lost our money very, very well and very, very strategically.”

You can almost imagine Lord Sugar rolling his eyebrows, making some wisecrack and extending an index finger in the direction of one his young apprentice hopefuls had they come out with such a line in his boardroom.

While there can be no question this kid from Castlemilk who found fame and fortune out in South Africa put his money where his mouth is during his five-year tour of duty at the Ibrox club, Alastair Campbell would struggle to put a more favourable spin to put on the cash needlessly splurged on Pedro Caixinha and his pet projects like Carlos Pena.

Having said all that, King was probably precisely what Rangers needed at the time, someone willing and able to roll up their sleeves and pick up the debris from the anarchy of the Charles Green, Craig Whyte and even late David Murray eras.

By the standards of those predecessors, his stewardship of the club feels like a beacon of calm stewardship. By the standards of almost everybody else, though, say a middle-of-the-road English Premier League club like Burnley, it appears more like a bewildering series of court cases, cold shoulders, take-over panels and short-term loans.

At times a high-stakes gambler - the man who brought you Caixinha was also the man who produced Steven Gerrard out of a hat – King has also made sound investments in the fundamentals, upgrading the stadium and the training ground.

But as the 64-year-old was perhaps alluding to here, his true legacy at Ibrox remains unwritten. He will be back in Johannesburg by the time the summer ticks round, getting to grips with his businesses and his golf swing when the title race is concluded. Only then will it become crystal clear exactly how successful he was in burning a hole in his family fortune.

While he claimed yesterday that it was never about the title for him, for everyone else it was – and still is. Claim it back from Celtic, and all the ‘ad hoc’ investments of the last five years will seem worthwhile.

Lessons have certainly been learned - Rangers suddenly have a squad capable of challenging Celtic for the Ladbrokes Premiership title and making strides on the European stage.

It is populated with saleable assets such as James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack, Ryan Kent and the daddy of them all, Alfredo Morelos.

But there is just one problem. Right now, they can’t afford to sell them. Yet they can’t afford not to. This is still Scottish football after all.

So for all the glitz and the glamour, the “what now” for Rangers seems remarkably like déjà vu all over again - a high-wire balancing act which requires the club to live the high life whilst racking up large losses.

What can we expect in the new year? Just “one more major fundraise” to raise further fresh capital and stem the flow of a club still haemorrhaging tens of millions of pounds a year.

Just one more search for a new figurehead willing to take on the burden of one of the hottest seats in Scottish public life.

Just one or two more court cases – the club’s twin wrangles against Mike Ashley and perhaps HMRC remain on-going.

And just one more transfer window to get through, keeping the squad intact for a proper tilt at the title and the game-changing lure of Champions League cash.

But what Rangers really need next is an end to this short-termism, all this gambling with the club’s future. They need a proper ‘normalisation’ of their affairs as a modern football club, a way to break even or even make a profit, year in, year out.

The appointment of Ross Wilson as sporting director was a firm step forward on the journey the club needs to go on.

But where is their Kieran Tierney, a man who can generate seasons of high-end first team play then earn them a nice £25m bonus at the end of it?

The players might be in the academy this time around. Wilson and Gerrard simply have to find the right ones. And get them into the first team. Without skipping a beat.

Dave King did lose his money, as all investors in football – save perhaps canny little Fergus McCann at Celtic – eventually do. He may well have played his part too in saving his club. But his legacy may ultimately be defined by his successor.