Ibrox’s loses its first CEO choice … and immediately releases the squirrels.

The other night, while watching the Trump debate, one of the most obvious standouts was that Trump is surprisingly easy to rile up. Far more so than I would have expected for someone who’s been navigating the rough waters of professional politics for over a decade.

This isn’t just an observation from one debate; it’s something numerous prominent journalists have noted in their books about his first term. Trump is not only easy to anger but also easy to flatter. And this flattery, they say, is the very weapon wielded by people like Putin to manipulate him into doing their bidding.

This is what autocrats, dictators, and other unsavoury characters look for and exploit – individuals who are easily manipulated. And speaking of easily manipulated, no one fits that description better than the Scottish sporting media, especially when it comes to presenting flattering pictures of events across town.

Yesterday, the media was filled with stories about Adrian Bevington and his supposed interest in the job at Ibrox. The media wasted no time in putting words in the man’s mouth. Bevington never actually said he wanted the job. He didn’t even say anything close to it. The closest he came was expressing interest in a conversation about the role.

That’s hardly a declaration of intent or a hat being thrown into the ring, as some hacks eagerly reported. It’s a prime example of seeing what they want to see and believing what they want to believe. But there’s more to it than that.

Bevington, although not officially in the running for the job, willingly sat down with the Daily Record podcasters to discuss the matter. This is classic self-promotion, and they lapped it up because he was saying things they wanted to hear.

Do I think Adrian Bevington would take the job at Ibrox? Unlikely if I’m being generous. He has better options than that. It’s the same reason I never believed Adam Crozier would take the job at Celtic, despite that rumour circulating umpteen times over the years.

There are already hints in the media that even if Bevington were genuinely interested – and not just in getting his name in the papers – the club wouldn’t approach him due to his alleged involvement in an attempt by an American consortium to take over at Ibrox last year. Whatever the truth of that story, his name was linked to it, and that alone would put certain people at Ibrox off.

The Bevington saga is as transparent as the Emperor’s new clothes. It is a complete deflection from a deeply embarrassing situation at Ibrox, raising serious questions about how the club is perceived by the outside world.

If Bevington were a leading candidate for the job, he would have been approached before the vice-chairman of St Mirren, who is a known Ibrox fan. This raises questions of its own, but let’s leave those aside for now. Gillepsie was approached, long talks were held, and according to several national newspapers, the deal was nearly done.

But it didn’t get done, and even the media won’t try to spin what actually happened: it was Gillespie himself who walked away from the deal.

For someone in his position and with his allegiances, the CEO job at Ibrox should have been too good to turn down. It should have been too big a job to walk away from. The Ibrox board likely thought the same as talks progressed – that there was no way this guy wasn’t going to be the next CEO.

So why did he see the role as a non-starter? Why was the job, for this candidate, considered unworthy? It makes you wonder if the situation inside the club is much worse than it appears or if the toxic environment surrounding the club right now was enough for him to say, “I don’t think I’ll bother.” When a local candidate with the club in his heart doesn’t want the job, what does that say about its attractiveness to anyone else?

It’s not just a major embarrassment on its own; it signals to the wider world to stay away. Yet, someone will take it. They always find someone willing to go for the money, and the reason the media is so excited about Bevington is that he talks a good game. But when you listen closely, he doesn’t have a plan. He offers the outline of a scheme, and yes, to build something cohesive, you need that outline. You need to roughly plot out where your foundation will be.

But anyone can speak in the broad terms Bevington used in front of the Daily Record crew. They’re susceptible to hearing only what they want to hear, which is why they were quick to run stories about his supposed desire for the job when he never actually said that. And now, some of them are talking about his “blueprint for the future,” which he also didn’t provide.

How nice for Bevington that he got so much free publicity. How nice that he was painted as a visionary, despite offering no real vision. How nice that they linked him to a high-profile role, and all he had to do was express interest in a conversation. The flaws in this story are so glaring that only a complete idiot could write it without seeing them. Unfortunately, we do have such people in our sporting press.

So what’s really happening here is the media is getting a double using. Bevington has used them to promote himself and advertise his availability for future roles elsewhere. Meanwhile, the club has used them to deflect from an embarrassing snub by a guy no one expected would turn the job down.

As usual, the story that should be told isn’t being told. The questions that should be asked aren’t being asked, and the scrutiny that should be applied to Ibrox for not sealing this deal won’t be. It’s a win-win for everyone – except for the readers who wanted facts, hard questions, and proper journalism instead of a boot-licking softball session with a guy who has no stake in Scottish football and was merely promoting his own interests.

Buried deep in those stories is a much more realistic scenario.

After failing to secure the St Mirren vice-chairman, the club is now reportedly interested in Andrew McKinlay, the chief executive at Hearts. Hearts – a club with its own managerial crises and decisions looming over its boss. McKinlay is a far more likely appointment than Bevington, a much more realistic target.

Yet, instead of facing an outcry over the Gillespie snub, the media has run with this garbage for days. Meanwhile, the club tests the waters to gauge how the fans would feel about McKinlay … all the while hinting that as good as Bevington is that they might not even bother to make the call that he says he’d be willing to take. It’s blatant, and yet the hacks don’t see it.

This is as transparent as the traps Kamala Harris set for Trump during the debate, which he blundered into like a clown in a minefield. Rejected by one candidate, the club throws up a smokescreen and, under its cover, aims for another cheap alternative. Their excuse? “Yes, Bevington would have taken it, but we didn’t want him anyway.”

Credit where it’s due; they know their audience and how to manipulate the media to do their bidding. As I always say, there are people who think it’s the “useful” part that makes organisations prize the “useful idiot” above all other tools in PR spin.

But it’s not the “useful” part; it’s the “idiot” part that makes them so valuable, and as per usual the Scottish sporting press is happy to play the role of the fool.