The pageantry remains in place. The nods to history and tradition stay strong. 

The pipes and drums of the Royal Corps of Signals played loud and proud pre-match in front of a full house on Armed Forces Day.

Barry Ferguson was given the hero’s welcome expected when presented to the stadium he graced so admirably in his playing days and it almost felt like old times. Big club vibes resounded throughout the storied bones of Ibrox.

An outright mess. With a former player who didn’t make it as a lower-league manager and has been three years out of the game in the dugout and a squad of players, incapable of handling the weight of the shirt, that must be absolutely stripped-out when prospective new owners come in to unravel years and years of atrocious decisions from on high.

God knows what some of the figures inside the ground yesterday afternoon made of this loss to Motherwell, hard on the heels of home defeats to Queen’s Park and St Mirren.

Graeme Souness was in the directors’ box. John Greig was on the pitch to present current captain James Tavernier with a commemorative box of decanters to mark his 500th appearance.

The team’s display was bad enough.

Tom Sparrow scores for Motherwell in their 2-1 victory over Rangers at Ibrox

Barry Ferguson (main) and Neil McCann show their frustration over Rangers’ sluggish start 

Graeme Souness (centre) was in the directors’ box as Rangers slumped to another poor defeat

If those legendary figures saw the scenes at the final whistle, they must have wondered where on earth they were. 

Rangers’ players walked round the pitch to applaud those left in the emptying stands to screams telling them to scram – the same way interim boss Barry Ferguson, at least aware of when it is time to exit stage left, shook hands with opposite number Michael Wimmer and went straight up the tunnel when referee Nick Walsh blew for time-up.

When they finally made their way to the ultras section behind the goal, it was hard to figure out quite what was going on. 

Boos rang out. The team just stopped and stared at them, like there was some kind of Mexican stand-off unfolding.

It was bizarre. Embarrassing, really. Scenes from a club that is simply all over the place, where it is hard to figure out what’s going on, where the new owners still carrying out their due diligence need to get in and deliver some order and direction.

There are so many reasons why Rangers have ended up in this dark place, but no excuse for the way these expensively-assembled players played in the first half – in which goals from Luke Armstrong and Tom Sparrow paved the way for a glorious win for the visitors before Cyriel Dessers found the net in the second period.

They were indescribably awful. Leaderless, gutless, a total disgrace. To a man, they looked terrified of the ball. Kept losing it in stupid positions. Didn’t look like they knew what they were doing.

Only one team looked to have a game plan. Only one team showed composure and organisation and a structured approach to going forward. And it most certainly wasn’t the one wearing blue.

Rangers paid tribute to the armed forces but the team’s performance fell flat at Ibrox

Cyriel Dessers rues a missed opportunity as Rangers failed to rescue a point in the second half

Less than nine minutes it took for the warning bells to start clanging all around Ibrox and Motherwell to take the lead. It was a shambles of a goal to kick off a omnishambles of a first 45 from the home side.

Dessers lost the ball midway inside the home half and the ball broke to Dan Casey. 

He took a touch when he could have had a go early and then released a low effort that really shouldn’t have caused any great issues.

Yet, even Jack Butland, a guy regressing at speed the longer he stays at Ibrox, could not escape the collective collywobbles that would steadily infect the whole of Ferguson’s team.

The one-time England goalkeeper, whom Nottingham Forest were willing to pay £5million-plus for last winter, somehow spilled the ball and Armstrong pounced to poke it home.

Linesman David McGeachie raised his flag for an offside, but a delay of almost three minutes sparked by VAR Gavin Duncan ended with the goal being given.

Watching the Rangers dug-out was fascinating. 

On 12 minutes, Ferguson was actively demanding the ball be moved more quickly. Butland had Billy Dodds and Ferguson roaring instructions at him. It made little difference, though.

Motherwell should have doubled their advantage midway through the first half. Jefte, who turned his back on the ball as Queen’s Park dumped Rangers out of the Scottish Cup, was very much at fault.

He totally misjudged a long diagonal, jumped half-heartedly as it sailed over his head and left Callum Slattery in space. 

Tom Sparrow timed his run perfectly and moved onto Slattery’s forward pass, leaving himself one-on-one with Butland from a tight angle on the right.

He had to test the keeper, but slammed his shot into the side netting.

No matter, Wimmer’s side had Rangers rattled and got the goal their general play deserved on the half-hour.

Tavernier was robbed by Lennon Miller, the ball made its way to Slattery and he clocked Sparrow running unchallenged up the right again.

A simple diagonal pass left the former Stoke City prospect clean through and he showed excellent composure this time round by firing his low effort across Butland and into the far corner.

The mood was already turning around the stadium and the boos at half-time felt inevitable after Dessers had slammed a first-time effort into the side netting amid the overarching chaos of Rangers’ attacking strategy.

Ferguson rang the changes at half-time by bringing on Leon Balogun, Tom Lawrence and Nedim Bajrami for Robin Propper, Ianis Hagi and Hamza Igamane and got a break of the ball nine minutes in.

Tavernier played a forward ball that was knocked on by Ridvan Yilmaz. Miller attempted to intervene for Motherwell, but got a touch on the ball that wrongfooted team-mate Casey and allowed it to fall perfectly for Dessers.

Fair play to the Nigerian. His first-time finish was terrific.

Rangers had most of the ball from then on, but Motherwell restricted them to few chances until the closing stages. 

Dessers had the ball in the net 11 minutes from time when dinking the ball over keeper Ellery Balcombe after moving onto a long ball from Yilmaz that had bounced wide of substitute Danilo, on for Diomande.

Linesman McGeachie had raised his flag, though, and, this time, a VAR review concluded he was in the right to do so. It looked a controversial call.

Tavernier then had a golden chance to level four minutes from time when blazing a volley over the bar after Liam Gordon had cleared a Danilo header off the line. It was an effort that summed up his day and that of the team he leads. 

That’s three consecutive losses at Ibrox. Rangers have never lost four straight at home, but that will surely change in the upcoming return leg against Fenerbahce should standards remain as low as this.

The Barry Bounce is over. Hard reality is back in the house.