Then there is the second test which, whatever the SPL may say, sets an entirely different threshold. The new owner must be considered suitable by those who have so effectively demonstrated the power of veto against Mr Bill Miller.

Any respectable suitor will flee, as Miller has done, in the face of vile threats and on-line abuse. So what the SPL are looking for is not just a buyer who is acceptable to themselves – i.e. anyone on earth – but also to the lowest common denominator of Rangers supporters which is undoubtedly a more demanding jury.

The other option for the SPL is , of course, unthinkable.  They could show some moral courage and draw a line under the fiasco.  They could salvage some self-respect. And in order to do this, they could state clearly and unambiguously that a rotten, corrupt member of their organisation which has transgressed against every rule in their constitution must suffer appropriate penalties.

History tells us that this will not happen because Scottish football and Scottish society suffer from a deep-rooted flaw.

For almost a century, Scottish football tolerated an organisation – Rangers Football Club – which operated a policy of religious discrimination which would have done justice to apartheid South Africa.  It was only when UEFA intervened that they were forced to change their ways.

If the SPL and SFA continue to ignore their own rules and every precept of sporting integrity, then decent people in Scotland must once again look to UEFA for salvation.

The alternative, quite literally,  is for the peddlers of threats and abuse to decide who will be allowed to own Rangers on the SPL’s terms of surrender. Even Alex Salmond might have difficulty in defending that outcome as “vital to the fabric of not just Scottish football, but Scottish society”.