If it hadn't been so pathetic, it would have been funny. Wasn't it priceless to see Bain getting all high and mighty and talking about 'no man is bigger than the club' when Rangers stepped into the McGregor-Ferguson row? I don't know how that clown managed to keep a straight face.
For years he and his arrogant gaffer have acted like our club is no more than their personal plaything. Our traditions have been rubbished, our songs outlawed, our players bad-mouthed and our supporters demonized without the Custodian or his well-tanned lackey uttering a single word of protest.
Yet suddenly they want us to believe they are big on standards and principles.
Let me state here and now that both McGregor and Ferguson have brought all their troubles upon themselves. In a different time, with a regular disciplinary code being applied, I would wholeheartedly approve of the decision to show them the door.
Their misdemeanours may well have occurred while they were on Scotland duty but playing for Rangers, especially as captain of our great club, is a 24/7 responsibility. If they felt the need to unwind, they should have disappeared to a hotel room with a carry-out, instead of sitting in full view of 'astonished onlookers', 'Tartan Army members' and 'shocked hotel guests' whose anonymous quotes were splashed across the papers for the next few days.
They were Scotland players for a few short days, they are Rangers players by profession and it is Rangers, more than any other body, they let down with their behaviour. But it must have been hard to listen to a lecture on standards and principles from a sneak like Martin Bain.
This is the same Martin Bain who tried to sell a player (Daniel Cousin to Fulham) when the rules stated quite clearly that he could not be sold and, having banked on getting the money before the deal went through, he fecked up the club's cash-flow situation; this is the same Martin Bain who enabled our best signing in recent times (Carlos Cuellar) to have a tuppence ha'penny get-out clause written into his contract and didn't think about renegotiating the deal when it became clear we had unearthed a real gem; this is the same Martin Bain who haggled over finalizing the signing of Steven Davis and left the team without any meaningful midfield for the vital Champions League qualifier in Kaunas.
The Davis issue and the obvious consequences of Bain's inability to close the deal should have been enough to merit his immediate dismissal for incompetence but, like his Lord and Master, Martin Bain knows no shame. I'll bet he felt pretty pleased with himself prattling on in front of the TV cameras last week, he might even get himself a tidy wee bonus for nudging Greegs and Baz through the exit door, then he and Murray will return to their ivory towers and keep their fingers crossed that Rangers might, despite all their behind-the-scenes meddling, actually manage to win this SPL title.
But even in my most optimistic frame of mind, I just can't see it happening and the long-term prognosis is that, if Septic win it this time around, they'll be very well placed to keep their winning run going for at least another few years. Remembering that, if not for two dramatic grand finales, the Scum Of would be on course for nine-in-a-row right here and now, what does this tell you about the principles and standards being applied to the Rangers of today?
A lot of real Rangers men must be turning in their graves…and those of us who can still muster a pulse are getting pissed off too!!!
..........
Tartan Army Trumpets
They have really surpassed themselves lately, haven't they? The Sunday Liam set the ball rolling with that walloper Guidi blaming McGregor for Scotland's defeat in Amsterdam so, when Greegs and Baz decided to overindulge at Cameron House, they presented the Jockobites with an open goal.
The Tartan Army has long since been infested by a poisonous anti-Rangers element so they were queuing up to whinge to the newspaper and radio hotlines with their predictable 'we're better off without them' rants.
Perhaps it would have been better if Burley had dropped them altogether from the Iceland game, denying them a place on the bench and the opportunity to indulge in their childish V-sign gestures, which then had all sorts of self-appointed spokesmen creeping out of the woodwork to have their tuppence worth. Ah well, I suppose it beats belting out 'doh a deer'.
And with these sensitive wee souls having jumped aboard the offended bus to decry the behaviour of two Rangers players, one numpty decided they were on a roll and had a pop at a recruiting poster for the Royal Scottish Regiment which invited recruits to Join The Real Tartan Army.
Suddenly they were gibbering about further damage being done to the reputation of Scottish football. Would that be the reputation which is regularly 'enhanced' by boozed up kilted figures puking, pishing and flashing wherever the national team plays?
Methinks the Real Tartan Army would do well to distance themselves from these self-deluding losers.
……….
Never Go Back!
Nobody could fail to be impressed by Alan Hutton's performance for Scotland against Iceland and, inevitably, in the wake of much speculation about imminent changes at Ibrox, there was talk about Hutts returning to the Rangers, possibly even as captain.
Take a few words of advice from one who has been a regular at Ibrox for close to 50 years now. Don't do it, Alan!
Baxter, Stein, Johnston, Smith, Wallace, Johnstone, Hateley and Gough all tried and failed to rekindle the memories of yesteryear and we need look no further than the turmoil currently being suffered by Walter Smith and Barry Ferguson for evidence that it is best to savour the fond memories, rather than put a good reputation on the line by going back for more.
We all know the circumstances surrounding Alan Hutton's departure from Ibrox and we'll continue to be tortured by visions of what might have been but I'd much prefer to live with those thoughts than discover that Hutts played out of his skin in his final year as a Rangers player, Spurs paid over the odds last January and the weight of expectation loads the dice against the player reproducing his best form second time around.
Mind you, I wouldn't mind being proved wrong.
ERWIN G.