New Rangers dawn as far away as ever in European Groundhog Day

May 30 was meant to be the day of a new beginning for Rangers.

New investment. New regime. New manager en route. A new outlook, all triggered by the arrival of a US-based consortium vowing to get the club "back to the top".

Already the Trumpesque "Make Rangers Great Again" merchandise seen back then has been parked. The star-spangled banners in the Ibrox stands now replaced with statements of protest, accompanied by howls of dissatisfaction.

Five harrowing months on from when the group led by Andrew Cavenagh walked in the big door in the Bill Struth Stand, the feel-good has been has been banished amid interminable disappointment.

It's been catastrophic so far. A new head coach, Russell Martin, has been and gone - smuggled away in the back of a car - after 123 days.

The process of appointing his replacement garnered ridicule as candidates were in and out like a managerial Hokey Cokey, all before Danny Rohl re-emerged to take charge after earlier withdrawing from the race.

Fans have been seen accosting board members in hotel lobbies and airports, while on the pitch the team languish 14 points off the Premiership summit as Europe continues to to be a traumatic experience.

The latest torturous episode came courtesy of a Roma team who played most of their 2-0 Europa League victory at Ibrox in second gear.

In truth, there was no real need to reach for a third against a Rangers team which was again complicit to stay anchored on zero points.

There have been flickers of improvement under German Rohl, who has won two of his first five games.

Some Rangers fans will be willing for a January window to come quickly, but is there any real faith that it will be their saving grace?

A seventh successive European defeat in a row was meted out on Thursday, achieving an embarassing club record.

Giant tifo displays of Rangers' Roman warriors pre-match made way for banners reading "This is not a hobby this is our lives" as the game followed a similar European pattern founded on self destruction.

An unmarked Matias Soule nodded Roma into the lead after 13 minutes. The killer second came through a sumptuous Lorenzo Pellegrini finish, assisted by Artem Dovbyk and a gawping Rangers defence. There was no need for a third.

Rohl, who already seems more popular than the man he replaced ever was, shuffled the hand his predecessor had dealt him. Five substitutes - one at half-time - were made and the system changed more than once.

To an extent, he got a reaction. Rangers got into good areas but far too often the final ball was poor. You got the impression Roma could have upped it if need be.

"It was uninspiring," said former Rangers striker Steven Thompson on Sportsound. "They huffed and puffed in the second half. It was improved, but not good enough."

He added: "You can see he's forward thinking, willing to try things and take baby steps, and they might improve. But they're not going to improve to the level that will satisfy the supporters."

That latter point is perhaps the key one for the Rangers support, the head coach, and Cavenagh. A squad which has already undergone major work requires further surgery.

In June, the American businessman spoke of the club being "impatient" in their thirst for success as £20m of investment was announced.

A lot of the narrative at the time surrounded whether that would be enough to narrow the gap to Celtic and would there be more coming?

It's safe to say plenty of money has been poured into this Rangers squad - whether it's been done wisely or not is open to great debate.

A reported fee of £8m was given to Everton for Youssef Chermiti, who had not scored for 28 months prior to joning. Twelve Rangers appearances later, only one goal has followed.

Oliver Antman, Oscar Cortes, Thelo Aasgaard, Emmanuel Fernandez and Djeidi Gassama have also come in for reported significant fees. But to what impact?

Hamza Igamane left for a fee reported to be north of £10m. The maligned Cyriel Dessers also left for big money after scoring 29 goals last season. Vaclav Cerny and his 19 goals departed upon completion of his loan deal.

"Have Rangers signed anyone better than who they've let go?" Rangers legend Ally McCoist asked on TNT Sports. "Forget one transfer window for Rangers, it might be three. It's a big job. A big, big job."

"Rangers are crying out for help," added Alan Hutton, referring to reinforcements in this January window.

For Rangers to bring players in, you'd expect some will need to go out in what is traditionally a harder transfer window to manoeuvre in. Especially when supporters are so critical of what they've already seen under this regime.

Chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell have been the subjects of protest from the club's support. Banners protesting against them returned on Thursday, as did more cries from the crowd.

There's no hiding place for either, particularly now Martin is no longer there to be the primary target for the ire. They removed him, but it has not been enough to alleviate the pressure mounting on them. Only wins will do that, and quickly.

Rangers' priority will be the domestic scene, and it should be.

On Sunday, they competed with 10 men for a large spell of their extra-time League Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic. There's positives they can take from clinging to a win at Easter Road, and also shaking off a Kilmarnock resurgence to ease to victory.

Rohl spoke post-match about seeing a team "willing to turn things around" and being "totally convinced" the tanker can be turned.

Remarkably they are only five points adrift of Celtic, albeit a long way further back from Hearts. The season is far from a lost cause.

But that is a long way off right now. Five months on from that new dawn, better days seem further away than they did that day in May.

In that impatient pursuit to the top, there may well be more testing days ahead.