The desert’s all very well and the World Cup is fine in its own way. But enough’s enough. The enforced break because of a bout of Qatar has now started to produce audible and visible signs of withdrawal symptoms.
We’re in danger of disappearing up our own narrative very soon unless we get some actual Premiership football to watch in this country. We’ve turned into the kind of place where the annual general meeting of a club’s shareholders becomes a daily topic of conversation.
And the only thing that’s missing is the introduction of VAR to see if Rangers chairman Douglas Park crossed the line between accuracy and acrimony when he said some contractual negotiations ended with agreement being “unattainable”. If Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent have been as bad as the majority of Rangers fans seem to think they have been for some considerable period of time, then why would you want to pay them even more to have them hanging about the place?
So if the Rangers board comes to the conclusion the players’ demands are unrealistic then they’re to be commended for chasing them and their representatives from the negotiating table. Right?
And if the club’s chief executive Stewart Robertson says the sporting director is doing an “outstanding” job while the team – with or without Ross Wilson’s signings – sits nine points behind Celtic in the league table then you’re entitled to think for yourself and arrive at your own conclusions. Right again?
What the Rangers fans really need is for Hibs boss Lee Johnson to put Aiden McGeady straight back in the team after his unfortunately long absence through injury. That will take the supporters out of themselves once again.
We’ll all know where we stand and feel back to normal when Aiden gets it tight the whole night long for once
having played for the team across the road on the other side of the city. The World Cup has distanced us from the things that really matter.
Things like going on to the radio and suggesting to me that Michael Beale is the saviour that Rangers have been
looking for because he ended Neil Lennon ’s career at the club across the road on the other side of the city when Rangers stopped 10-in-a-row in 2021. I could have sworn that happened partly because the team across the road on the other side of the city were rank rotten for an entire season.
But, as a multitude will tell you, what do I know? Incidentally, I thought Mark Warburton, late of Rangers’ parish and once in charge of QPR, was a bit naughty with his public warning to Beale about the difference between standing on the touchline and sitting in the dugout at Ibrox.
“When you’re their No.1 it’s a different ball game,” Warburton said, referring to the fans. What are these guys like?
If they’re not turning up in the directors’ box and doing selfies in the pub around the corner – while another manager is still in charge of the team – they’re sending subliminal messages to each other. We’ve talked ourselves into a standstill. Now we need to come out of the desert and back into the built-up areas.
St Mirren’s Keanu Baccus can play for Australia against Lionel Messi – but can he handle Kevin van Veen when he takes him on against Motherwell? Will fans allow Andy Halliday’s hair-weave to pass without comment when the season resumes or will they be unable to resist a tonsorial barb or several? And if Rangers beat Hibs on Thursday night – and most clubs do, let’s be honest – will the team from across the road on the other side of the city be able to live with the pressure when they go to Aberdeen on Saturday with their lead shrunk to six points?
I’ve no idea ... and that’s where the fun comes in and arguments start for real. It feels appropriate to channel my inner FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Today I feel Scottish. Today I feel argumentative. Today I feel intolerant. Today I can say black is really white. Today I can return to going from one mistake to another with no loss of enthusiasm. We’re back. Almost.
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