Keith Jackson has been ranting about David Murray in his column this weekend, in a dummy-spitting frenzy that could only have come from someone nursing deep hurt. There is no doubt whatsoever that this description fits the Daily Record writer like a glove.
Think for a minute on how hard Jackson has it here.
I mean, it would take a heart of stone not to feel real pity for him.
My heart doesn’t bleed often, but it does for him, for this poor downtrodden man who only wanted a job on The Rangers News but had to go down-market. He only ever wanted to serve his team, in some capacity. Now he’s not even allowed inside the ground, banned by the very guy he cheer-led to the door, and then dared to question.
And I admit it, I feel bad for the guy. I feel bad for him because he has been loyal, he has done his bit, and whether I believe his first loyalty should have been to the readers and to giving them good information is irrelevant; he did what he had to. And he deserved more for that than a boot in the stones, which is effectively what he’s got.
Jackson has attacked King since; he has nothing to lose after all. With the way his paper is slabbering over Sevco’s signings – like “The Columbian Harry Kane”, who is set to swap Finland for Poundland – he’s clearly trying to sit on both sides of the fence, but let’s give him credit for the fact he’s actually taken King to task. He may even believe he’s responsible for the spending spree going on over there right now.
Ha! Let’s see if he wants to take the credit when the arse falls out of it and the club is as broke as an alcohol crabber on dock leave.
Anyway, Jackson has attacked Murray in this case, and it’s hilarious and it’s overdue.
This is a true case of “blue on blue”; Murray was once a hero to Jackson and his paper. That might be why, as usual, his thesis is either fundamentally flawed or entirely dishonest; Murray gets the blame only insofar as he sold the club to Whyte. There is no sign that Jackson has twigged or will admit that Murray himself had driven the club to the cliff-face himself and the second the bank was no longer willing to indulge his and his club’s nonsense.
People talk about the debts; they were bad enough, but it was the wage bill, the wage bill, the wage bill that made it all unsustainable. Just like the current one is. Phil has already said Ibrox insiders are deeply troubled by the way it’s currently going up and up, and I think he’s right on the money.
They have to be.
There’s no way for them to get through the season.
Likewise, back in 2012 it would not have mattered who was sitting on the Rangers board; when they went out of Europe, at a time when the bank was no longer prepared to extend them an extra penny in credit, the writing was on the wall for them. Jackson and others have never faced up to that. One bad year was all it was going to take once the financial crash came and Bank of Scotland was no longer willing to sponsor the party.
And the refusal to accept this is dangerous to them; it’s the reason they are heading for the same fate all over again. The Peepul never learn.
Neither do our deplorable hacks.