Mark Warburton is becoming detached from reality.
I think it’s an Ibrox Thing.
You can’t blame him for it, not completely.
People there have grown accustomed to this. The whole club exists outside the zone we call The Real World. From the Survival and Victim Lies to the myths that surround the Scottish Cup Final, to the notion that they should be challenging Celtic and on through fantasies of warchests, Dave King’s pronouncements and the seemingly inexhaustible supply of mad conspiracy theories believed by their support, the whole club constantly dances on a narrow beam of sanity, with the darkness of madness all around them.
I am not surprised that he’s succumbed to this.
I am surprised that it’s taken this long for it happen.
Because something like it was always on the cards.
Today he’s given a press conference which was notable for being completely and utterly barking. He has, again, defended his management and attempted to find reasons for their shocking form. This one is a beauty; he has blamed “the random nature of football.”
Sevco fans must be in despair listening to drivel like this. They have four strikers on the books and numerous attacking midfielders, and not one of them has scored in double digits. He has a huge number of midfielders and defenders, yet they constantly concede goals. Their tactics are predictable, so much so that fans during the Hearts game knew exactly when he would make his first substitution and what position it would be in.
None of that is down to randomness.
It’s down to cluelessness.
Only a manager who either lacks any instinct towards self-preservation – or who knows the money to sack him isn’t there – would come out with such obvious nonsense. He clearly knows his backside is covered, and the board has no choice but to let him stay in post.
It makes you wonder just how bad it will be allowed to get over there before King leans on someone to pony up the cash to do what so clearly has to be done. With Warburton determined not to do walking away, only a fistful of cash will let the club find someone else.
Whether that someone can do any better than him with this ramshackle squad of rejects is another thing entirely. You get the sense that Warburton will be glad when it’s no longer his responsibility.
Because this job is driving him up the wall. You can tell.