Perhaps I have a suspicious mind.
Perhaps I’m just naturally a cynical person.
But amidst all this talk about Gerrard being “on the brink” an odd occurrence has taken place.
Two newspapers – The Express and The Scotsman – are suddenly talking Murty’s sacking opening up a “managerial race” at Ibrox. All of a sudden, this is a post whose “lure” is attracting “more than one candidate.” As if there were that many crazy people walking around in the world.
And to me, this is emblematic of a media that’s all at sea over this story.
It also reeks of a PR operation shamelessly backtracking in anticipation of bad news.
Hey, I could be wrong; indeed, to put another element into the mix, The Express has just published a story that claims Gerrard has signed the deal … but look a little closer and this isn’t journalism but laziness. They are taking that from The Daily Star and they announced the same thing three days ago and here we still are.
The Star’s article says he has been “promised significant funds” … and how likely does that sound to you?
Even so, Gerrard could be mad enough to put the poisoned chalice to his lips.
But something tells me he’s got more savvy than that. Something tells me he’s better advised than some of the eejits who’ve been in the papers lately, selling this as a great career move. It isn’t. It’s toxic. It’s potentially destructive to a manager’s reputation.
More credible reports today suggest that Gerrard suspects this.
He is alleged to have asked for specific guarantees, and is not content to take the word of any old glib and shameless liar as if it were an unbreakable bond. Talk abounds of him wanting it signed, sealed and delivered, in the form of a contract. As we all know, that’s clearly not going to happen.
Phil has already written of the gap between what people expect and what Ibrox can deliver; According to the man himself, McAllister’s contractual demands have already set alarm bells ringing and there appears, on the surface of it, to be an unbridgeable chasm between what he thinks he’s worth and what the club has available to offer … that, alone, casts a serious doubt over all this, and it’s only one of several major obstacles that stand in the way.
Perhaps the McAllister story offers an explanation for why Mark Guidi was saying he would not be part of the Gerrard backroom team. Bizarrely, he slated Gregory Vignal as his replacement, something to take with a huge pinch of salt along with his ludicrous assertion that the deal would be accompanied by the fabled “huge investment.” Nevertheless, the idea that McAllister has issues is out there, and some people are well aware of it.
Danny Murphy, a man who has a good claim to know Gerrard’s mind, clearly spoke to his friend on this matter, and whilst he claimed his former midfield counterpart was “excited” by the offer he said that there were still issues to be resolved, including what the budget would be.
Forsyth, over at the Telegraph, had said three hurdles had to be overcome, although he offered the quite barmy caveat that none were to do with money … I find that very hard to believe.
Even The Sun, which carried this story forward, was backtracking on it, with a story published a moment ago repeating their assertion of Friday that sources in England have put the chances at “no more than 50/50.” And gosh, kind of a lot has happened since then, hasn’t it?
Had he been watching on Sunday, Gerrard would have been petrified.
If he’s following events today, he ought to be appalled.
It is not impossible that Gerrard is surrounded by people who are completely ignorant as to the state of the Ibrox basket case. But anyone with a modicum of sense would know you have to look beyond the hype at the underlying structures. Sunday’s walloping at our hands was broadcast to the whole of this island and beyond; he cannot have missed that or what it means. He cannot have failed to see the significance of the grotesque way Graeme Murty met his end or what the media up here is writing about it this evening.
I have rarely seen such a clear convergence of opinion amongst our hacks.
Would I be surprised if Gerrard signed for them?
No, I wouldn’t be.
It could well be that he’s just arrogant enough to believe the job amounts to “beating Celtic” and no more than that.
But ask Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha, both of whom believed that nonsense, how that particular fairy-tale turned out. Gordon Strachan has already spoken as a manager who came up here having thought he’d seen and done it all … and he succeeded at Celtic, don’t forget.
Life is so, so, so much harder and tougher for those who fail.
If I’m being honest, I don’t believe Gerrard will do it.
I think we’re in the final stages of yet another total calamity at Ibrox, and that the next few days are going to expose that board of theirs for the complete charlatans and amateurs we already know them to be … the difference is, this time there will be spinning that in the eyes of the Sevco support.
Even the language of the reports is interesting to me; they’ve gone from saying “Sevco is confident” to “Sevco remains hopeful.” That’s a change in the mood music right there. And so yes, I think a little game of media management is playing out here, and that people inside Ibrox are already preparing their fans for their worst.
Except it’s not the worst, is it? Gerrard saying no means there’s one last chance for sanity to prevail over there and for them to offer the job to someone with experience and who won’t be swayed by supremacist nonsense from the stands.
From the standpoint of being a Celtic fan who thoroughly enjoys laughing at the shit-show I still hope this deal goes through.
Some of the stupidest stuff ever written by football fans – imagine the completion for that accolade – has been pumped out over the Sevco fan forums these last few days … and the chance to watch it all go south would be too great to miss out on.
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