So Frank De Boer is “out of the running” to be the next Sevco boss. Artfully put by our media, who have made it sound a lot like his career thus far was reviewed and a decision was taken not to bother pursuing him.
“Thanks for your interest, Frank, but we’ve decided to go another way entirely.”
Anyone who believes that is a mug.
One newspaper named “the four leading candidates” last night; it was a hilariously low-ball list, the sort that makes a mockery of Sevco’s alleged hunt for a name with the “wow” factor. I did, actually, express myself with a “wow” when I saw the names though.
“Wow. That’s a really terrible shortlist,” was my thinking. Then I laughed.
I would still be laughing at that even if I hadn’t subsequently read The Daily Record’s report of this morning, which took some of the names on that list and threw in two more.
So the shortlist of four is actually a shortlist of six, with Alex Neil and the manager of Santos Laguna thrown in for good measure. Jesus wept.
Two flights of fancy there; both would cost a fortune just to get out of their current contracts, and both would want more than just vague promises about money to spend.
Ditto Garry Monk at Leeds and Derek McInnes of Aberdeen, two of the other shortlist names, as well as the jobless Gary Rowett and Alex McLeish, who’s management career prospects without interest from Ibrox would qualify him for the appellation “Unemployed as f@@@” as made famous by Kevin Bridges.
The Record’s piece was especially hilarious as it contained a quite magnificent account of how Sevco hopes to lure one of these second raters to Ibrox on the promise of providing “a path to the EPL.” I mean, just when you think IQ’s couldn’t drop lower in the Scottish media along comes a moment like this, written either in total ignorance or in the hope we are ignorant ourselves.
This was the paper that screamed what treachery it was when King accused Warburton of that self same thing, which is to say nothing of what it means for the so-called “long term plan” which it reveals as the utter delusion it always was.
Sevco is a hand-to-mouth club ruled by short-term thinking, with fans who have no patience for the long game. It is filled with people who want instant answers and supported by fans who think they are entitled to them, not to mention that there’s a media in this country which has bought whole into the Survival Myth and can’t image an Ibrox team which isn’t competitive.
Their own tolerance for the status quo can be measured in the way they’re demanding an appointment although it shoots holes in the club’s own stated policy of taking its time.
But that’s already a busted flush and has been since full-time at Dens Park where a plan outlined only 36 hours before was tossed aside like an empty beer can on the back of a single setback. Celtic Park looms in eleven days and this club is paralysed with fright by the very prospect of their rookie stand-in boss rolling into town at the helm for that one.
The Record’s piece, which flatly contradicts every word King said a few weeks ago, and which this paper and all the rest stood up as holy writ, ignored a couple of facts above and beyond those we’ve already talked about; first, any manager in a job is going to cost money.
More money than Sevco can afford to spend in a single splurge.
Secondly, the “path to the EPL” is already open to two of them – to Alex Neil and to Garry Monk and both have a far better chance of reaching that Promised Land from their current jobs than they would at Ibrox.
Brendan Rodgers could go to an EPL club tomorrow; he is the exception to the rule in years gone by. Who was the last manager to go into a Premier League job from Scotland?
It was Martin O’Neill, on the back of beating a well financed Rangers team and some tremendous European performances including getting to a final.
Even with that record, he wound up at Villa.
Not exactly the biggest job down there.
The next manager of Sevco is a dead man walking from his first day in the job.
If winning SPL titles can’t get you a top gig in England – ask Neil Lennon. Ask Gordon Strachan – then finishing second at best isn’t going to get you anywhere. That job is going to wreck careers, not enhance them. Ally McCoist hasn’t worked since being fired from it and Mark Warburton’s best case scenario is to take the youth job at Arsenal they were talking about this week.
The delusions people had about some continental whizz-kid coming in over there are a joke and they have been exposed as a joke. If it’s not one of the Real Rangers Men it’ll be a punt, and whatever way the media drools over Garry Monk and his ilk that’s all one of these guys will ever be.
I would argue that Warburton had a better CV than Monk, the candidate Sevco fans seem most “excited” about. So too did Tony Mowbray.
I don’t know that the Sevco job would be any more appealing if there was money to spend and a genuine shot at the title. They aren’t the club Rangers was once, not even close, and never will be. No club from Ibrox has played in Europe for five years, and it’s been longer since one was actually feared by other clubs instead of viewed as a minor irritant.
Mark Warburton was the best it was going to get when they sacked McCoist. He had no pedigree to speak of, but he was liked and admired in England. That gave license to all sorts of happy nonsense about him being a developer of talent and a great coach.
None of it was true. His “eye for a player” was expressed in arrogance that a bunch of lower league rejects from down there would be good enough for the SPL, ignoring the fact clubs like Motherwell have done nothing but sign those kind of players for years, to no gain whatsoever.
Their next boss, whether Monk or McLeish or one of the others, has a shelf life of about 18 months.
After that, panic will strike when the board realises it’s bring in someone new or not sell any season tickets. If the club lasts that long they’ll be right back where they are now; nothing is surer in this world. His grave is already dug and the marker picked out.
When Rangers hired Advocaat, Scottish football was stunned.
When they were able to unveil Paul Le Guen it was viewed – rightly – as a sign of tremendous ambition and a real coup.
When McLeish was appointed the first time it was a progressive move, appointing a good manager with a decent skill-set and who over-achieved to a fare-thee-well.
It’s incredible to see the fans who cheered those appointments on getting so excited about re-treads and no-marks.
One of the great delusions – that they are a big club capable of appointing a big name – is about to be demolished. When the Great Unveiling takes place the best they can hope for is a speculative punt, similar to what Ronny represented for us.
The Norwegian arrived here having already won a title and a cup in his domestic league, not that you would have known that, and he came to a title winning team already established as top dogs.
The pressure damned near broke him anyway.
Whoever steps into Warburton’s brown brogues knows that the pressure will be intense from day one. Factor that in, along with zero budget and directors who spend their days playing Russian Roulette with the finances, and that’s a job for only the chronically unemployable, a dyed in the wool Real Rangers Man or someone crazy brave and reckless to a fault.
In the meantime, at Celtic, we’re showing them what long term planning really looks like, and from a position of strength and in a sustainable way.
Their problems are just starting, and as we fade into the distance they are only going to grow.