IN CASE you haven't noticed, the King was ower here rather than ower the watter last week. It was difficult to miss his flying visit, after all, the media spin was turned up to Level 5, so the Lap Top Loyal would dutifully take his pronouncements and spread the news abroad.
If the Rangers Tribute Act was doing as well off the field, as they currently are on the park, there would be no need for such blatant spinning. Phil the Donegal dissenter may indeed be an anti-Rangers obsessive, and a third-rate journalist, but, when it comes to what has been going on down Edmiston Drive, he has been consistently ahead of the game and of the MSM since Sir David Murray rashly accepted the £1 offer for the club from yon "billionaire" with "wealth off the radar", all those years ago.
Downfall didn't mean the institution had stopped falling; it hasn't bottomed-out yet and, as I have repeatedly said on here, the school fees and trust incomes of several children of leading lawyers will be getting topped-up for a few years yet.
Mr Warburton's management style thus far, with its heavy reliance on English imports and more-particularly, loan deals involving promising young FA Premiership talent is not the answer when it comes to converting the current Tribute Act into a re-born Rangers.
It is a fairly safe bet, at the moment, that the RTA will win the Championship and be in the Premiership next season. IF the imported youngsters, particularly those up here on-loan, continue to perform as they have thus far, there is every chance they will be re-called by their English clubs for next season.
If, for instance, James Tavernier, continues as he has started, he will be a transfer target for Premiership clubs come the end of the season. Rangers will probably make a profit on him, but, there is no way I can see him still being at Ibrox next season - or, if he is, watch for a move during the January 2017 transfer window at the latest. Rangers, could keep their stars; the RTA cannot hold-out when a big English club comes for any Englishman playing for the RTA.
Goings-on around Ibrox will continue to entertain, but not inform, us, for a wee while yet.
AND what of recent events across the city. Celtic posting a loss demonstrates the mutual inter-dependance of the Bigot Brothers. Certainly, the Matthews and van Dijk transfer fees will help next year's accounts, but, the simple fact is - these two clubs NEED each other more perhaps than any other rival clubs in world football.
You still have to fancy the Hoops to win another League title this season. By the law of averages, Aberdeen were about due to beat Celtic. But, beating Celtic - even if they only win the two home games - is not the key to winning the title.
As I have long held, any other Premiership club can get itself up for the challenge of beating Celtic (or a resurgent Ibrox team) at home twice a season. Just as any one of a couple of hundred professional golfers is capable of putting together four very good rounds in a row, to win one of the "Majors"; the secret is winning CONSISTENTLY.
Motivating your team to beat Celtic, in front of a Pittodrie full house, should be fairly simple - if players cannot get up for that, they are not fit to be described as "professionals". Motivating them to travel to a flat Rugby Park, lacking atmosphere, on a mid-winter midweek, is a challenges which, if not met properly, can derail championship aspirations.
Derek McInnes needs to keep his men motivated and focussed. He also needs Robbie Neilson's Hearts to put the weekend's loss at Inverness behind them and get back to keeping pressure on Celtic, and Aberdeen.
Mind you, given the long history of Scottish football, we could well see Aberdeen losing at Hamilton this midweek, to undo most of the good work they did against Celtic. If they can avoid this loitering banana skin and pull-out a five-point gap, this early in the season, who knows what might happen come May.
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