Patrick Stewart has issued a hardline response to the narrative that Rangers cannot afford to sack Philippe Clement.
Pundits and supporters have questioned why the Belgian manager was allowed to carry on in his position after the Scottish Cup exit to Queen's Park.
Then, speculation grew over the financial consequences of dismissing Clement with some commentators suggesting the Ibrox club could not afford to sack the manager.
However, providing information on the reasons Clement has not been relieved of his duties, Stewart told Rangers TV that decisions are in no way down to financial implications.
"I've said consistently now, we are not refusing to make changes because of finances," Stewart stated. "So all I can do is reiterate that, but that's absolutely not the case.
"To keep somebody in position to avoid a termination payment, that's just a false economy. So that's not a way to run a club and that's not what we're doing.
"Decisions have been made for the long-term interest of the football club, not to save money."
Asked why Clement is still the Rangers manager after the shock loss to Queen's Park, the chief executive added: "Why is he still the manager? Look, I'm going to go back to what I said in January.
"We have been underperforming as a club for several seasons now and that's not down to a manager. We've changed the manager and it's not made a difference.
"But what I'm doing now is I'm looking at the root causes of that and until we sort those root causes then it's akin to trying to fix a broken house and starting with the ceiling instead of starting with the root foundation. So I'm going into the foundations and having a really good look at this. So that's the first reason.
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"Secondly, look, for all the Queen's Park result was disastrous, I think we do also have to give credit to Philippe and the team for the Europa League run.
"We had a really tough draw. Four of the top eight we played against and we finished in the top eight. So they deserve real credit for that. And I don't want to take a step that would put further progress in the Europa League at risk. So that's another reason for why we continue to keep Philippe in his role.
"I've said this before, I am not here to make popular decisions and get quick wins. I do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. I'm not going to do that. I've got to keep real discipline and focus on making sure that we are making the right decisions in the right order for the long benefit of the club and not knee-jerk reacting to what was frankly a disastrous result.
"I'm not trying to duck from that, but we've got to stick to the plan. To be clear though, we're all judged on results, myself, Philippe. So there's no free passes here, but we are sticking to the plan and I'm going to be incredibly disciplined about that because we've not always been that in the past."
