So last night we were on the podcast, and I did a little segment on information warfare and how sometimes we exaggerate for effect. On this blog, that doesn’t mean what it does in the conventional sense.
We exaggerate to have an effect—an effect on the Ibrox fans and the Ibrox club, to undermine them wherever we can. And one of the areas in which we’ve been most successful in the last couple of years is in undermining belief—to the extent that their own fans turn on them.
The news that is going around their forums—and which is widely expected to be confirmed sometime over the next week or two—is that their lead striker, Cyriel Dessers, is going to be leaving the club.
This is almost certainly the case, although the fee he’s going to be leaving for has probably been likewise exaggerated—only this time, by the media.
The number matters only inasmuch as a lesser fee will give the manager less money with which to replace him. But even if you take the fee which is widely reported today—around £4 million—I don’t know how they’re going to replace all the goals that guy scores for that kind of money.
For although we give Dessers a lot of stick, he is a very dangerous player, and that scoring record should not be underestimated.
They say he doesn’t score in big games. I don’t know how they could have missed the goal he scored, for example, at Old Trafford—which, on another day, may have gotten them a result in that game.
I don’t know how they missed some of the other goals he scored on their Europa League run. I think he’s blamed an awful lot for collective failure over there, but he has a scoring record which marks him out as a pretty decent finisher. And no Celtic fan should ever be sad to see the back of an Ibrox player with a record like his.
The sale of Dessers is being promoted as some kind of necessary act—an act of strengthening the team. In actual fact, it’s not an act of strengthening at all. Take away your own feelings on the guy—our fans have spent a long time calling him “Diddy Dessers”—and consider that scoring record. Consider how difficult it is for any club to find a player who can consistently put the ball in the net. Then consider that he is their top scorer over the time he’s been at the club.
Once you recognise that—and then you consider some of the clubs he scored against—it becomes more obvious that this is the first act of asset stripping. And that’s exactly what that club is now in the midst of. We know because the media never tires of telling us that they’re shopping around other players in the squad. We know that at least two other high-profile players—Raskin and Diomande—have people out busily trying to drum up interest in them.
I think they’ll have less luck on that front than with the sale of Dessers, because it’s never difficult to get rid of a goalscorer. There will always be someone out there who wants to take him off your hands. It’s a lot harder to get rid of midfielders who you’ve spectacularly overvalued.
But whether their fans recognise it or not, or whether they want to believe it or not, this is the start of the cutting. This is the start of the austerity we’ve been talking about, and which they didn’t believe was coming when the Americans rolled in the door with all their many millions. That club is now a week away from the EGM, where the so-called £20 million will be raised—although how much of that the manager is actually getting remains to be seen.
But it’s not inconceivable that we’ll spend more on one player in this window than they will spend rebuilding their shattered team.
But the cuts come first—and they’re underway. And Raskin and Diomande are two of the guys they regard as saleable assets.
It’s not impossible that we’ll see those guys up for sale before the season starts—at cut-rate prices, or what the media and the fanbase over there would regard as cut-rate prices—simply because they need to get people out the door. Dessers is only the start of that. But as far as we’re concerned, it’s a good start.
I didn’t think that Morelos was a particularly good footballer, but he had that same ability, and I was happy when he was gone.
And for those reasons, I will not mourn the passing of Dessers from our game. I will applaud it. I will welcome it. And I will hope that the crazy people over there get their way and bring in Lawrence Shankland to replace him.
That, among other possible acts of self-harm, will make me very happy indeed.
Because you don’t have to sabotage an enemy who is busily going down the road of self-sabotage. You only have to sit back and watch as the chaos unfolds.
A Greek tragedy for them indeed James, although many won’t see it like that until they realise what they had and are now missing. They just wanted him gone. Like they berated their Board and may live to regret that too if this new lot do what we suspect they might.
You are spot on about the usual exaggeration of the media around the price tag. Joe has already highlighted the Greek reporter who states that the DR assertions to do not reflect the reality.
A potentially massive Greek tragedy is now looming given they have drawn Panathhanaikos in the UCL. That could have massive ramifications on any asset stripping.
If they fail to qualify then more than Dessers will be on their way as they try to cover the very real possibility of no European Income whatsoever. They might not get the asset valus they may have hoped for if they now have to sell pronto.
Some of their players may want to leave if there is no European football. The targets they say who are almost signed, they’re not, may call off and attracting others will be very difficult. What will be left to sell?
So Dessers could be the least of their worries
Somehow, to them, because Dessers is the guy that misses the most chances, that makes them overlook the fact he’s the guy that scores the most goals. He’s no world beater but his numbers are good and he’s scored some good goals in terms of ability. I’ll be surprised if they adequately replace him but they weren’t good enough with him and they’ll be even worse without him.
I for one will be glad to see the back of him when he goes !