STATES OF THE UNION

Cavenagh's first address to Gers support was reason for them to get excited as new marriage between Ámerica and Govan can spark an outbreak of giddy behaviour among fans who have been under thumb for so long

- KEITH JACKSON

IT might finally be the time for Rangers supporters to take the handbrake off their own levels of excitement.

To give it a good old Yank, so to speak, and then sit back and enjoy the ride for once.

It's only natural there will be fans of the Ibrox club who would prefer to proceed with caution. And, really, who could blame them?

After suffering years of trauma inflicted upon them by unrelenting disappointment and disingenuous leadership, they have more than earned the right to adopt a glass-half-empty approach to any kind of good news.

Perhaps some of the painful lessons learned have helped to change the mindset and to slash back on the hubris which built up during their own period of domestic supremacy from the mid to late 80s all the way into the turn of the century.

But which, just lately, has started to feel like a very long time ago.

They have gone from the dominators of all they could survey to the downtrodden in their own back yard. Their collective spirit crushed over time by a succession of dysfunctional regimes - and individuals varying from the incompetent to the incorrigible.

What's that saying, once bitten twice shy? This is a support which has been emotionally mauled over and over by the people who they were supposed to be able to trust.

And, for that reason, new owner Andrew Cavenagh and his vice chairman Paraag Marathe may have a job on their hands in order to convince the support en masse that they really do have its best interest at heart.

Quite rightly, this will require actions rather than words but, even though there is much for them to do, the manner with which this pair announced themselves on Monday morning may already have gone some distance to allaying any lingering legacy suspicions.

Cavenagh does not consider himself to be a natural communicator.