Advocaat's tenure at Ibrox had been a paradoxical one. On one hand, Advocaat spearheaded the building of Murray Park – a £14m training complex at Auchenhowie which was viewed as essential if the club was to compete with its European peers in nurturing home-grown talent and developing players. On the other hand, with the club deep in financial difficulty, there was no realistic prospect of boosting its fortunes through further expensive player acquisitions. The challenge of restoring the club to supremacy in Scotland looked to be an unenviable one for Alex McLeish.