THE TRADITIONAL sign of insanity is doing the same failing thing in the hope of a different outcome. Methinks there is an even-clearer present-day sign of insanity – taking on a managerial role at Rangers FC.
A history lesson, back almost 50 years ago, a young man named David Murray, lost both his legs in a car crash. Part of his recovery got him into Basketball, where he started his own side – Murray International Metals, MIM, named after his company. MIM became Scotland's most-successful club, based on a management model of recruiting the best Scottish players, hiring top American coaching talent and funding this via OPM – Other People's Money.
Murray's Basketball dream was for MIM to win that game's equivalent of the European Cup; sadly, it never happened. Then, he had the chance to purchase Rangers – after he had failed to buy Ayr United. He tried to replicate the Basketball management model – except there was a distinct lack of available Scottish Talent – plentiful in the 1980s and 1990s – in the 21st century.
It didn't help that Murray appeared to lose the confidence of the influential money men around him in Edinburgh's financial quarter, just as the cost of running a trophy-chasing Football Club went through the roof. Murray had had enough, so he got out, selling the club to Craig Whyte, the rest is now a sorry episode in history. BTW, just when is my old miucker Graham Spiers going to sit down and write the definitive story of all this malarky?
When things went tits-up under Whyte, the club ought to have put their faith in the good, young Scots they had on the books back then – but they didn't. They stuck with the recent Rangers way of buying-in third or fourth-rate non-Scots and where they were once pulling clear of Celtic, they are now languishing in the other club's slipstream.
In the club's first 100 years, they employed just six managers: William Wilton, Bill Struth, Scot Symon, David White, Willie Waddell and Jock Wallace – who led them to 61 domestic trophies, an average of 10 trophies per manager.
From the club's centenary to liquidation, in 2012, they employed eight managers: Wallace, John Greig, Graeme Souness, Walter Smith (twice), Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish, Paul Le Guen and Ally McCoist – winning 53 trophies, an average of nearly seven trophies per boss.
The re-born Rangers has, in 13 years, had eight managers: McCoist, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, Philippe Clement and Barry Ferguson, who have between them won just three domestic trophies (I don't count the minor trophies won during the climb back to the top flight). Clearly, frequent changes of Manager doesn't mean continued trophy successes.
To look at it another way:
From 1873 until 1986 (113 years) the traditional Rangers way of doing things garnered 73 trophies – an average of 1.55 trophies per season
In the “Spend, spend, spend” Murray Years – from 1986 until 2012 (26 years), Rangers won 40 trophies – an average of 1.54 trophies per season
“New Rangers” “Sevco”, whatever, since 2012 the club has won just 3 trophies in 13 years – an average of 0.23 trophies per season.
I am MOST DEFINITELY NOT suggesting Rangers go back to the old days of “nae Papes etc” but, for all the non-Scottish “Stars” they have recruited both on and off the park since “The Souness Revolution” of 1986, results have gone downhill, slowly at first, but faster than Santa Claus on a toboggan since the money tap was turned off.
Received wisdom in the 21st century tells us, players get bored being told the same thing by the same voice every day – I never heard that one when long-serving managers such as Struth, Symon, or elsewhere Busby, Shankly, Paisley or Ferguson were proving to be serial winners – certainly successful top commercial companies don't feel the need to change bosses as often as supposed top football clubs.
Now Russell Martin is the club's new Manager. Martin does have the advantage of having, albeit for a very-short spell, worn the jersey, well, at least he has a notion of what he will be getting into. He also has the advantagre of being seen as a “journeyman” rather than a great player – since ordinary players apparently make the best managers!!
But, have those few weeks as a player, and his time within the Scotland squad equipped him to deal with the cess-pit that is domestic Scottish Fitba? Will he be any better than Barry Ferguson, and who and how good will his back-room team be? Well, if nothing else, it will keep the Lap-Top Loyal and the fan base on their toes for a few weeks/months.
Before Martin can think of success in Europe, he firstly has to win the domestic battle: put the other lot in what the Rangers' fan base thinks is their place – at best second behind Ra Peepul.
However, while wishing Martin well, I have no great confidence in the High Heid Yins down Edmiston Drive way making good decisions, far less the correct ones – experience teaches you that. Believe in the power of madness.
A final thought in the eternal game of one-upmanship and whitabootery which is the Glasgow football scene. Back in the day, when Rangers were about to claim the back pages with a big announcement, Jock Stein always seemed to find a way to pull the rug from under them, grab back the initiative with a counter announcement – has the ruling junta in the East End become complacent in not having something up their sleeve to stymie the Martin announcement?
After all, Scotland will be the main story for the next week, they need to come up with something.
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