I don’t normally comment on stuff like this, on behalf of other fans, but I think the media’s efforts in trying to paint Ryan Jack as the victim of a cruel club and cruel fans over his move to Sevco is ridiculous to see the least. It is pathetic, in fact.
Jack’s wailing is over the way Aberdeen took the armband from him prior to the Scottish Cup Final. He claims to have been heartbroken over it, and has been pushing this line that it was somehow vindictive of the club and connected to the one he was moving to.
He’s in the door five minutes at Ibrox and already he’s flipped into full-scale “No-one likes us we don’t care.” He claims to have been a fan of Rangers – and presumably Sevco after them – all his life, and that’s exactly what he talks like.
No embrace of the Victim Myth was never swifter.
Ibrox does this to people. It always has. It builds paranoia and resentment against others. But Jack’s whining is particularly amazing given that he’s been at Aberdeen since he was eight and came up through the club’s youth system.
Now, here he is, giving it big licks about how the club’s hatred of Sevco made them do something dreadful to him.
For the record, had I been his manager he wouldn’t even have got on the park. I couldn’t believe that McInnes selected him. He had just recovered from injury and couldn’t have been nearly fit. In the games where he hadn’t played the team had been excellent. The deal at Ibrox was as good as done. His loyalty was not in doubt; it was non-existent.
A club going into a major cup final should be led by someone committed to the cause, someone who’s dedicated to their future. Jack wasn’t, and Shinnie is, so McInnes was perfectly entitled to do what he did, with the club’s long-term goals in mind. Shinnie has proven his loyalty. He sees Aberdeen as his club now, and I thought he was the best player in their team last weekend. He earned his day with the armband.
Jack says his own performance proved he still wanted to win for the team.
Forgive me if I don’t believe that, and express that view with one arse cheek raised and the cutting of a loud fart. Jack wasn’t playing for the club; he was playing for personal glory, for the chance to walk into Ibrox the big man, the hero, the one who stopped the Invincibles.
Those in the Sevco support who delude themselves that he bossed Scott Brown … ha! I’ve watched those two come up against each other over a dozen times in recent years and Jack did not dominate in a single one of those games, which is reflected in the vast disparity in the points total the teams have taken from them, but also in the general fact that no Celtic fan I know ever left one of those games or went online after it and said “that boy would do a job for us.”
Contrast that with the mixed reaction to the rumours about Jonny Hayes earlier in the week; many Celtic fans agreed with me that it would be a mistake to replace Patrick Roberts with such an option, but hardly any disagreed that he would be a good squad player who would do us a turn in domestic football. Celtic fans have noticed Hayes; he scores against us, how could you not? But Jack has remained anonymous, a player who wouldn’t get near our first team.
As Sevco signings go, he’s a decent one. Aberdeen fans will miss him until they sign a replacement; this is not a loss they will mourn like that of Hayes or of a club hero of old. The general consensus is that with guys like McLean and Shinnie still in the team, and some good young talent coming through, the club is well placed to keep moving forward. They may well be right, although a club that takes itself seriously ought not to be selling its best player, and particularly not to a rival, but there’s a good feeling around the club, as it prepares for a new era at a new home.
I would wager that Jack’s future is altogether less certain. He arrives at a time when Sevco is embarking on a signing spree which is simply unbelievable, and completely un-funded. The numbers don’t come close to adding up; they are literally gambling with the future.
If I were him, I would not count on the full three year stay.