If the January signing of Aaron Ramsey upset the equilibrium inside the Ibrox dressing room – arriving as he did on a hefty wage for little application, while those in situ seeking extended contracts faced a boardroom brick wall – the recent return of the Lying King is starting to have just as much of disruptive impact at the top of the marble staircase.
After apparently having far from secluded meetings with Jim Traynor in Glasgow hotel lobbies, Dave King has suddenly found his man of the peepul persona once again, and has found a few friends in the press to assist in making his voice heard – I wonder who helped facilitate that?
First up it was all about the ‘shoddy’ treatment of Club 1872 and the sacking of club legends like Mark Hatley and Derek Johnstone as club ambassadors. That was before the topical decision to accept an inferior financial deal to head to Sydney moved into King’s crosshairs – as the Tribute act assumed the position -ahem- of support act, ahead of Ange Postecoglou’s Sydney homecoming in November.
That of course was too good an opportunity for Dodgy Dave to miss when it came to putting the boot into the used car salesman.
Now another friend of a friend in the media appears to have found some column space, this time for Steven Gerrard’s flit to Aston Villa to have some hitherto missing context attached to it – and it appears rather than the pull of Villa Park, the origins of Stevie G’s discontent lay in budgetary issues – Quelle Surprise!
And it appears Slippy was getting itchy feet as far back as the summer according to a Daily Express report, as a paltry £4m summer transfer kitty – and failed attempts to ensure Gerrard’s decision to blow the lot of it on Hibs Kevin Nisbet – sowed the seeds of scouse discontent.
‘Scottish Express Sport understands he had a budget of £4million – plus the promise of more if Rangers qualified for the group phase of the Champions League. Gerrard, we understand, decided to put all of his eggs in one basket and wanted Hibs striker Nisbet.
In the previous January, the Easter Road side had rejected a bid of £3.2milllion from Birmingham City for the striker that had cost them £300,000.
All summer it seemed Nisbet was a big target of Celtic – but Gerrard had decided he was a player who could make Rangers better in their bid to defend the title. He put his proposal to the Rangers board and wanted to go all in to land Nisbet, who, it is understood, would have been very keen to open up discussions.
However, he was given no encouragement and the seeds were sown’…
Dodgy Dave certainly seems to be manoeuvring himself back into the thoughts of the Ibrox rank and file -oh what a dark place to reside- and the nightmares of a chairman who perhaps thought this season would be a Cinch. As monthly confetti production dilutes King’s share value, perhaps this was always just a matter of time.
And despite the Ibrox club not expecting orange disorder from their worshipful master of a PR man, the media narrative appears to no longer be flowing in a complimentary direction. Instead, those not paying £25k for exclusive media access to the club are requiring only limited encouragement to add buckets of water to the sinking Ibrox ship. I wonder who will head the salvage operation?
From a Celtic perspective this is entertaining viewing, particularly as a title race goes down to single figure matches remaining, and it’s difficult to judge whether the dressing room or the boardroom is the most dysfunctional department at Ibrox.
Shaun Riley
