Now is the time for dose of perspective
SHAME game. Quickly followed by Armageddon II — or is it III? — coming soon to a ground near you. This time, it’s the Apocalypse. As three red cards and a mouthful of blood bring a rather fitting end to the Scottish domestic season, it’s time for everyone to calm the heck down. And we’re not just talking to Bilel Mohsni, that walking embarrassment who will haunt the dreams of every Rangers fan unfortunate to have lived through his time at the club.
All you doom mongers reprising your old nonsense about our football dying a lingering death without the Ibrox side’s presence in the top division, catch a hold of yourselves, wipe the foam from your mouths and try not to choke on your warnings of impending annihilation.
And, as an aside, all the Rangers supporters hurting so badly this morning could do worse than gain a li ttle perspective. Of all the indignities heaped upon your club in recent years, failing to win promotion from the second tier at the first attempt barely scrapes into the top 10.
So yes, over the course of two games, your boys conceded six goals to a Motherwell side who looked suddenly brilliant, magnificently efficient, brutally clinical … basically everything they hadn’t been over the course of the regular season.
But your club at least appears to be in better ownership now than it was just a f ew short weeks ago. A l ot of the no- marks responsible for the most unconvincing play in this damp squib of a Premiership Play-Off Final are on their way out of Murray Park, one way or another.
All that needs to happen for Rangers to ‘do a Hearts’ and run away with the Championship next year, then, is for Dave King and his board to appoint an entire scouting department, preferably guys who have a couple of dozen targets in mind already, replace pretty much an entire squad — oh, and appoint a manager.
Stuart McCall made a pretty good pitch for carrying on in the aftermath of yesterday’s 3- 0 hammering, proving at least that he’s lost none of the chutzpah he displayed as a player.
But really the McCall conundrum ceased to be a proper question some time ago. The word from within is that he’s not the man to carry out a rebuilding job that cannot afford to be botched. Not a second time.
All going well in the few weeks remaining before the leagues kick off again, Rangers will probably be favourites to win the Championship title at the second time of asking. There has even a case been made, with increasing frequency, that spending another campaign out of the top flight will benefit the Light Blues.
Whether t hat’s a genuine assessment of the case or not, it’s hard to say. What is beyond doubt is that, had Rangers gone up via s ome miraculous comeback yesterday, their presence among the elite would have done nothing to change the foregone conclusion of a Celtic title procession.
They’re not ready, and couldn’t be ready in the time that would have been available, to challenge the champions. Aberdeen would have finished ahead of them, probably a few other teams, too.
So, unless you’re one of the one-eyed loons who believe that four guaranteed Old Firm games a season are the only thing Scottish football has to offer, you’re unlikely to be sharing in Rangers’ pain this morning.
Naturally, they’ll be stinging a bit for some time. What happened to them, even before Mohsni’s descent into undignified brawling, must have been embarrassing.
And that’s before singling out Cammy Bell, who will surely be receiving a crate of champagne from Falkirk’s Jamie MacDonald as thanks for making his own goalkeeping howler seem less howling.
To Motherwell goes the admiration of all who doubted them. Yep, that’s pretty much all of us. Ian Baraclough and his men were miles ahead of the opposition where and when it counted.
To Rangers, commiserations. No, not you Bilel. Off you pop — and we’ll hopefully never hear from, or of, you again.