No New Year’s Resolution at Ibrox

By: Craig | January 2nd, 2007

A very happy new year to all you Scottish football fanatics out there and with 2007 barely 24 hours to the good, here’s a story to wake you up from that hangover.

Those rumblings of discontent between PLG and Bazza surrounding the last Old Firm game a few weeks ago turned seismic yesterday. Against St Mirren on Saturday, the captain was alleged to have disobeyed the gaffer’s tactical instructions. So yesterday he rolled into training to receive his new year present from PLG - the removal of his captaincy for today’s game at Motherwell. Cue much wailing, gnashing of teeth and locker-emptying. Furthermore, he is said to have told his team-mates that this will be his last game for Rangers.

It might not be so straightforward, however. Le Guen has proved himself a disciplinarian with the axing of bad-boys Fernando Ricksen and Phil Bardsley, and he’ll doubtless believe that, captain or not (whatever that is anyway), Bazza must be held up as an example to team-mates that no-one is bigger than the manager. But he does so under very different circumstances this time. Firstly, Rangers chairman David Murray was not consulted over the affair. And secondly, to say that Ferguson is a fans’ favourite is like saying that Stalin was quite into slapping people around a bit. This has been seen by many to be his coming-of-age season in the Rangers side as he has kept his head while all around have been losing theirs - something he was akin to do himself not so long ago. To the supporters, Le Guen has put a bullet to the head of a ‘made’ guy.

The aftermath can only now be fascinating, starting today. If Rangers fail to beat Motherwell without captain Bazza, even the usually unflappable Murray may wilt under some real heat from the fans. And in the longer-term, even if Ferguson reneges on his word, things will never be the same between them. All scenarios considered, there can only be one loser in all of this - and it’s a Frenchman not used to sharing sentences with such a word.