The Focus On Celtic’s Transfer Spending Is Another Sign Of Ibrox’s Civil War.

What a wonderful headline greets us from Football Scotland today, “Rangers and Celtic summer transfers compared as Brendan Rodgers spending dwarfs Ibrox rebuild.” I laughed when I read that, because it’s so obviously the first part of the alibi now being proffered for what many believe will be a season of utter failure at our rivals.

We’re four games into the league campaign. Four.

But our four point lead and the manner in which we won at Ibrox has shattered what fragile confidence these people had, and so the excuses are now being trotted out. It’s giving The Mooch his on a silver plate. It’s putting the pressure on the board. What we are watching, and I admit to my rising glee, is the early stages of an Ibrox civil war.

Another one. Christ. They come along more often than the 75 bus.

On one hand are those who want to blame the manager and the mess he’s made of this window. Whilst nobody can deny that his tactics and his signings appear to be ridiculous, there are others who point the finger elsewhere; at the director’s box, and the briefing insiders gave to Chris Jack last week, to put more pressure on The Mooch, didn’t help any.

These people really aren’t geniuses, are they? They thought that their little story about how they had given him everything he asked for would help cast all the blame onto him. In fact, in highlighting a “net spend” of £6 million they have opened up a whole other can of worms. Now, incredulous pro-Ibrox journalists are wondering if he wasn’t entitled to more.

The article today, about what the two clubs have spent and which claims that ours “dwarfs” theirs is pretty ridiculous. It actually has us spending a mere £4 million more than them, which hardly justifies that preposterous headline. Furthermore, it shows them with that fabled £6 million “net spend” whereas it has us on an £11 million transfer surplus.

Neither figure is accurate, by the way. They are happy to put in the £25 million receivable for Jota without accounting for the £7 million of that which flowed to Benfica. Those numbers don’t suggest to me that their club has been left behind by our own spending; what it does suggest is that we’re much more attractive as a club to buy players from.

I think this narrative is astonishing and it is pretty desperate for them to be playing this card. Their manager actually has no cause for complaint. The £6 million “net spend” isn’t actually that bad … if had spent the money more wisely the conversation would not be taking place. But that it is being wheeled out as Celtic having the advantage because we’ve spent more money – although in fact we’ve made a transfer trading profit – is ludicrous.

And this comes on the same day that The Sun is running a reporter that their club actually did make an approach to Graham Potter, which he (not surprisingly) turned down without hearing the fine points. If that’s even close to true then they are fitting The Mooch up with the concrete waistcoat even as they are pretending that everything is normal.

Things over there are most definitely not normal. Its media chums are contradicting one another, the club is telling some of them that the manager is safe in his job but there are leaks springing up all over the place about them contacting alternative candidates.

In the meantime, you know what the two trending stories are on one of their most prominent forums? Ally McCoist slagging the Tartan Army and the one I highlighted earlier and scorned; Alex Ferguson’s “I have a point but I forget the finer details” stuff which they are loving because of what it doesn’t actually do. You have to hand it to these Peepul.

Talking about fiddling whilst Ibrox burns. Their club is in meltdown and this is what these muppets choose to focus their attention on. No wonder their club is in bother.