The after-effects will be felt for some considerable time. There are memorable nights and there are significant nights. There are disappointing nights that deserve to be quickly forgotten, and usually easily are amid the relentless schedule of fixtures. Rangers have known them all. All clubs have.

And then there are historically bad ones. Ones that make you gawk and gulp. Ones from which it is so, so hard to move on. The kind of night when people pat the pocket of their coat to double-check that the match programme is still in their possession. They know it will be worth something in years to come. Rangers v Liverpool, 12 October 2022. For the committed Ibrox hoarder at least, some good might yet spring from this now notorious date.

An illustration of a charged-up John Lundstram stared out from the front of said programme. The achievements page inside has no place for biggest-ever defeat, of course. But if it did, it would now require an amendment.

Mo Salah, far right, scored a rapid hat-trick for Liverpool.

Ibrox under a waning hunter’s moon is a world and over 60 years away from Hampden in the sun, which is how Celtic fans of a certain age fondly refer to Rangers’ previous on-pitch nadir.

This was a League Cup final of all things. A bright afternoon in October, Rangers' cruellest month. 1957. A long, long time ago.

Two-nil down at half-time, Rangers conceded another five after the interval. There was a hat-trick for Billy McPhail, though the Celtic striker at least had the good grace to take his time over it: 27 minutes to be accurate. Rangers' consolation goal made it 3-1 and was scored by Billy Simpson. Willie Fernie scored Celtic's seventh from the penalty spot in the last minute.

An invisible string of shared shame now connects the two events and those such as Bobby Shearer and Eric Caldow to the likes of Scott Arfield and James Tavernier.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst cuts a dejected figure in the Rangers dugout.

Fine men, great players; more than simply great in the case of the first two. But they have all known how it feels to take part in a worst-ever defeat with Rangers. This latest result goes deep to the heart of the Ibrox club’s history. There were repercussions after the Hampden humiliation and there will be repercussions after this debacle. There has to be.

Legendary manager Scot Symon survived the Celtic drubbing. Centre-half John Valentine, however, did not. He was quickly made the scapegoat. Rangers went out and bought a replacement from St Mirren. Willie Telfer helped stabilise the defence although Rangers could only finish second behind Hearts in that season's championship, with Celtic third.

Even if there was someone at St Mirren, or anywhere else, who might fit the bill, that option is not open to current Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who must persevere with what he has until January – if it is still his responsibility then. Confirmation that influential centre-half Connor Goldson will now miss a significant portion of the season is a fresh, grim blow.

His absence from the past-match inquest on Wednesday night was understandable. But some eyebrows were raised at why Tavernier, the captain, had not faced reporters. He is usually reliably available, whatever the circumstances. Borna Barisic fronted up instead.

Rangers captain James Tavernier missed press duties to a UEFA drugs test.

It’s now emerged that Tavernier was selected by Uefa to take a drugs test – which as well as being an invitation to insert your own jokes, meant the skipper was otherwise engaged in the aftermath.

“It was one of those, where you obviously want to come out and speak to the press,” the full-back explained yesterday. “But with Uefa, you have to go straight to the doping room and wait until you give the sample."

Tavernier apologised to supporters for the result. He firmly refuted the charge from some quarters that he and his teammates had given up long before the end. Rangers were guilty only of being outclassed.

“Never once would I look at any team-mate in my team and know that they'd chuck in the towel,” said Tavernier.

"It's simple. Liverpool made three substitutions in Jota, Salah and Thiago, all world-class players, and they caught us trying to play football in the wrong areas. They capitalised on it and that's the difference."

Rangers have never conceded six goals in one half of football before. It is unprecedented. Talented teenager Leon King’s fledgling Rangers career could now be in jeopardy after he was sent on to replace Goldson in a back four alongside Ben Davies and against some of the most feared attackers in world football.

It was a foolhardy decision at best, although blame should be backdated to the summer. Rangers' recruitment has been exposed as completely inadequate.

Might it have become double figures? Perhaps. It could certainly very easily have stood alone as Rangers' worst-ever defeat.

Allan McGregor made one good block from Salah and there were a couple of other near misses. The Egyptian ended up completing a hat-trick in roughly the time it takes Kirk Broadfoot to boil an egg.

So seven is bad enough. Particularly on the back of two 4-0 hammerings (one of which was against Celtic) and a 3-0 loss at home – with only ten men, admittedly - already this season.

Not so long ago we were flicking through the Rangers record books trying to establish the last time they had lost four matches in a row. Turned out it was 1985.

A narrow and at times nervy win over Dundee United last month meant the Ibrox side managed to avoid a repeat. But there’s now cause to delve even further into the history of the club for another inglorious reference point. And that's not a good sign for anybody currently involved at Rangers, least of all Van Bronckhorst.

Invisible string of shared shame now connects two Rangers events - Celtic horror, Tavernier explains press absence and makes 'chucked towel' statement