The fragile peace between Graeme Murty and Dave King has been fatally fractured in the build up to the Scottish Cup semi-final with Celtic.
King got the first move in when he promised supporters a new manager to bring instant success in a letter sent out to season ticket holders.
Murty has bailed the Ibrox board out this season after the Pedro Caixinha experiment ended in tears followed by Derek McInnes’ decision to snub a move to Ibrox.
Gratitude is as common as honesty from King who disposed of Mark Warburton and Caixinha despite both men shifting three lots of season tickets to the gullible.
While King steers clear of the flack at home in South Africa it’s left to Murty to front things up by pretending that all is well behind the scenes while his current employers attempt to recruit his replacement.
While remaining diplomatic, Murty highlighted the communications gulf at Ibrox telling The Sun: “I haven’t had a conversation with the chairman but as far as I read it my situation hasn’t changed.
“It was just a reiteration of the current situation — a manager will be appointed at the end of the season.
“Regardless of whether that’s me or someone else that’s what has to happen.
“You have to deal with it. It was just a clarification to season ticket holders who have come out and backed us fantastically well, that someone will be appointed in the summer.”
Despite being in the spotlight at Ibrox the only other job that Murty was linked with was at his old club Reading but within 48 hours of sacking Jaap Stam the Championship side appointed Paul Clement as their new boss.