A Stramash In The Jobs Market And Disaster For Rangers

WERE that my old mate David Francey was alive today. If ever a case was crying out for David's trademark: “Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! Disaster for Rangers;” it was Rangers' ultimately futile pursuit of Derek McInnes; whose decision to remain at Aberdeen is for the Glasgow club – a disaster.

David Francey - A Rangers' Fan Who Would Rightly Have Called the McInnes Case As A Disaster

Rangers' search for a new manager is turning into a richt boorach, a mess, a stramash, as Francey might have said, and, not getting McInnes has made things worse. Because, whoever they go for now will be all too-aware, he's the second choice, only approached because their Number One Target, turned them down.

Also, anyone who is made aware of Rangers' interest in having him as their new gaffer will also know, he only has to lift the telephone and make a discreet call to Derek McInnes, or his agent, and he will find-out exactly what was wrong with the offer McInnes could turn down.

McInnes has been “hot property” for some time now. Earlier this season, Sunderland tried to lure him south. Tellingly, they were given permission to speak to him by Aberdeen, Rangers were not. I have seen other football writers, who are “out of the loop”, of churnalists and stenographers, such as the Lap Top Loyal, who are fed nice pro-Rangers stories, which they duly reprint, suggesting the reason Aberdeen allowed their manager to speak to Sunderland, but not to Rangers, was because, the Dons' board knew, if McInnes went to Sunderland, they (Aberdeen), would receive appropriate compensation, in-full, and on-time.

Derek McInnes - What He Has Has More Appeal Than Rangers

The suggestion is that the same certainty does not apply around Rangers.

I repeat, Rangers is a loss-making club, without a credit line to a bank, reliant for its survival on the largesse of “soft” loans from directors and rich fans. Their stadium requires considerable work on it. They have a bloated, under-achieving squad, and it has been made clear – new recruits have to be hired on a one-out, one-in basis. Unwanted players must be moved-on, before they can be replaced.

And, at the head of things, there sits a Club Chairman, who was famously dubbed: “A glib and shameless liar”, by a leading South African judge; who is involved in a legal case with the Take-Over Panel; who is, at the same time, telling the Take-Over Panel he is skint, while telling the club's share holders he will provide the funds they need. But, he is, apparently: “A Real Ranjerz Man,” whatever that means.

A Real Ranjerz Man

Nobody with a modicum of common sense would go anywhere near this club – it is another disaster waiting to happen.

The Glasgow club's statement, belatedly released on Thursday night, was a snide, pitiful, spiteful example of a poorly-worded press release; the club's sense of entitlement oozed out of the weasel words – there was not a shred of dignity about it. That statement was yet another example of how out of their depth the current club hierarchy is. The club may be named Rangers, they may still play in royal blue, at Ibrox, but, this current lot are a pale shadow of what Rangers ought to be.

What happens now? Well Graeme Murty will carry on, attempting to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear of a squad he has to work with. He will give it everything, but, the team will most-likely stumble through to January, when, perhaps, the board will unearth a manager they think can challenge what Anderlecht showed on Tuesday night is a fairly-average Celtic squad. Meanwhile, Scottish football will continue to stagnate.

What a mess.