Advocaat should show contrition
FEW in the foyer at Ibrox on the day Marcus Gayle signed from Wimbledon for a million quid in March 2001 will forget it.
‘It was Chester,’ bellowed Dick Advocaat when asked why this particular forward had been signed so soon after £12m Tore Andre Flo.
That’s Ewan Chester, the chief scout, he was talking about.
It left the impression the manager did not know much at all about this seven-figure arrival who would go on to make four appearances. For many, it also confirmed the wheels were right off the cart.
Martin O’Neill blew Advocaat away with a Treble in his first season at Celtic. By 2002, Rangers were almost £80m in debt.
While Sir David Murray must take the blame for the club’s collapse, Advocaat was more than just an innocent bystander.
He will be back in Scotland with the Dutch national side during the week, facing questions about Rangers as they look for their latest manager while staying afloat through soft loans from shareholders.
It will be interesting to see if he breaks with tradition and shows any sense of contrition over his time in charge, which brought two titles and a Treble, but failed to see Rangers get beyond the group stage of the Champions League.
Rarely has so much been spent for so little. The cost is still being felt to this day.