One of the funniest developments of the transfer window so far was Gerrard’s attempt at trolling Celtic fans with his cheeky post after completing the signing of Moussa Dembele on a free. I personally don’t know what our former striker is thinking, except about money.
He has shown his utter lack of ambition in moving to the desert. The money will be good, though, but all he’s done is confirm that he doesn’t have the talent for the very elite level.
I found Gerrard’s attempt funny for two reasons.
First, he’s shown his own lack of ambition by moving there and dealt the final death-blow to any hopes he had of a proper managerial career. The only way he’s ever going back to Anfield in a paid capacity now is as one of their in-house Liverpool TV presenters.
He couldn’t get a gig cleaning the coaching staff’s boots.
I said after he spent an entire friendly match trying to wind us up that this is a guy who never achieved his key goals as a player and was realising he was never going to do it as a boss … the final proof of it is that he’s miles from home, and managing in that clown show.
The second reason I found it funny is that Dembele is the second ex-Celt he’s signed over there, and that was why I actually did laugh at his attempt to troll us.
Because in fact, he’s trolling Ibrox and he’s trolling those in particular who were virtually begging him to sign players from their bloated, expensive, squad. That he prefers a guy who didn’t even make it at Celtic over putting in the hoped for bid for Tavernier is especially hilarious to me.
From the moment he was confirmed there, in the aftermath of the Jota move, The Daily Record in particular could not wait to start promoting the idea that he would move for some of Ibrox’s unwanted junk, or even better; that he might “test their resolve” with an eight figure bid for someone like their captain.
The club’s “resolve” wouldn’t have lasted two minutes.
They’d have pushed Tavernier onto the private jet themselves. But it was never, ever going to happen any more than it was going to happen when Gerrard moved to Villa, where the exact same greedy desperation was evident in every report about how he would certainly “raid” their first team squad.
A lot of that of course is simply lazy journalism; Ange was supposed to loot Celtic’s team, just as Rodgers was supposed to when he left for Leicester.
t’s as if the media here lacks the imagination to see things clearly.
But reports about Gerrard was preparing a £4 million move for Scott Wright – easily the daftest story in the press this summer, save for the Tillman “sell-on clause” nonsense – revealed something more than just hacks getting easy clicks. It showed again how they work virtually hand in hand with Ibrox, in promoting these mad ideas.
For I have zero doubt in my mind that reports such as that emerged from certain elements of the mainstream media acting as unofficial sales agents for the club, and they are at it again today in trying to help Ibrox shift the likes of Hagi and Barisic, guys they’d love to get off the wage bill for whatever fees they are able to get. They are still trying to flog Sakala to the Saudi’s, any club which will take him, although nobody is biting.
Beale is so desperate to get shot of people he’s even talking about how next week will see players not registered for the European squad and when their names are known they’ll have decisions to make. But what decisions? Stay and earn big bucks or … what?
No-one is tearing up their contract over there, so unless clubs are willing to come in for them he is stuck with that squad. The media is doing its level best to try and help them flog their garbage, but nobody outside of Scotland is paying a blind bit of notice.
Gerrard dealt their hopes of a quick, easy sale – and for stupid money – a terrible blow, and then he compounded the shock by going out and signing two ex-Celts, one of whom couldn’t even get a game here. Scott Wright is mulling over a move to Turkey instead, for £400,000. It adds insult to injury. It shows how blatant the media’s collusion here has been.
And there are weeks of this to go.
By the end of it, Ibrox needs to have moved on at least a couple of these guys … but unless they’re doing a “buy one, get two free” type deal I don’t see any way that they’re going to get shot of some of them, and certainly not for the money they’re hoping for, which itself is a far cry from what they claimed not long ago these guys were worth.