In the closing acts of 2014 manager Ally McCoist was put on gardening leave, an Isle of Man investment group sold a 16 per cent stake in the club to three well-heeled supporters in an effort to head off the advances of Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, and there was the usual round of musical chairs in the boardroom. Their last outing brought a 4-0 humiliation at Hibernian, after which the club who once aspired to conquer Europe sold Lewis Macleod, their most exciting young player, to Brentford.