I was amused today to read the stories in the media about how Tony Mowbray has had to sit Patrick Roberts down and tell him that he’s being dropped from the Sunderland team, although the ex-Celtic boss rates the ex-Celtic winger as the best player in the league. The reason? Ex-Ibrox loanee Amad Diallo is just playing too well to drop.
Who is this story actually for? Ibrox fans who want to believe that Ross Wilson is a genius after all, and that he signed the right guy just at the wrong time? Those who want to believe that his failure at the club was simply about Van Bronckhorst not knowing where to play the guy? Or Celtic fans who want a laugh at Ibrox missing out on a real talent?
Honestly, I’m in two minds. I don’t particularly care either way, but I do think that the Diallo deal was one of the more interesting things to happen at Ibrox last season, and in a way that brings no comfort to the Ibrox club whatsoever.
Diallo was clearly not a well thought out piece of business. He arrived in England from Italy for a huge fee having played only a handful of games, and he had made no impact at Manchester United whatsoever. Had Ibrox even done a little bit of its own homework on the deal they’d have realised that numerous Italian journalists were astounded at the signing and could not believe United had spent so much money on an unproven talent.
When the managerial team at Old Trafford changed he was considered surplus to requirements even at a club which has long prided itself in developing young players and giving them a chance.
There was no due diligence in the Ibrox loan deal at all … just an arrogant expectation that if he had been good enough to sign for United in the first place that he’d find this league a walk in the park. The shock at Ibrox when they found out otherwise must have been profound.
Estimates vary as to how much they spent on their two disastrous loan signings. But it was more than it cost us to acquire Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate on permanent deals. Both of those players have already become amongst our most bankable assets.
Ross Wilson would have been fired for the Diallo and Ramsey deals at another club. His record is awful, and yet yesterday the board praised him as doing “an outstanding job” because he’s now managed to sell on some of their players for profit.
There was no question about this at Ibrox’s AGM yesterday but there should have been. That guy was handed a list of players who were available and went through it and picked who he thought were the two biggest names he could entice to Scotland … and it was a disaster for the club and for his credibility as a serious individual.
Celtic’s signings, meanwhile, helped us to the title.
That’s why I laughed at the story today, because other than being another example of Patrick Roberts finding himself out of a team there’s nothing in it of value, except to remind us of how bad the Ibrox transfer policy is.
Complete failure of management was accepted at the Rangers AGM yesterday ! Small criticisms , but ‘attaboys ‘ all-round . It was such a dense meeting ,that not one bear thought to ask ,if the finances of the clumpany are in the pink of health with alleged tens of millions for sold players banked ,turnover booming and everything Hunky Dory ,why do they need an overdraft / loan facility from deputy chairman John Bennett of £23million ? Dum de dum dum ……Dum de dum dum dummmm…..
A non-story, who really cares? I wish him well, but Paddy is but a distant memory.