The race for Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership title has been one-horse, with Celtic clearly running away with the title. The Bhoys have an uncatchable 27-point lead, as they sit firm and tight at the summit of the league table. However, before the season kicked off, one expected a side like Rangers to have a serious go at the silverware this term under the tutelage of Mark Warburton; but that wasn’t supposed to be.
The Gers have had to satisfy themselves by merely 43 points after 24 games, which must have left them with immense suffering from inferiority complex. They are placed third in the league table with a miserable run of form and in no manner whatsoever have they resembled a side good enough to fight for the bragging rights, as a result of which they scrapped Warburton of his managerial badge.
What made the situation worse was the way his relationship with the club was terminated, followed by Rangers’ chairman taking a slaughtering dig at 54-year-old. Dave King has stated that Warburton was using Rangers just to cement his pedestal and boost his CV in order to make sure that he gets a phone call from an elite side, maybe from the English Premier League. Did the board go a bit over the line by being obnoxious about their former manager?
Credit where it is due, Warburton did do a decent job during his tenure at the Ibrox Stadium. The Englishman pulled the Teddy Bears from the Scottish Championship by getting them promoted, reclaimed their footballing philosophy and classified them as a side capable enough to aspire for a lucrative European spot. The problem started to take shape when the disparity between them and the Celts started to rise and the fans getting a tinker of disaffection towards their former manager as they felt that their side wasn’t clicking in the perfect manner.
Another point worth debatable upon is the stinging conundrum with respect to the notion Warburton has developed over the Light Blues’ transfer policies and this where the ball lands in the court of the chairman. Frankly speaking, with a decent spending spree he was licensed with, the former Brentford manager squandered them to fill duds and unproductive new faces which definitely have a hand in the recent downfall of the club.
Marquee signing Joey Barton failed miserably and his fallout with Warburton didn’t help the case of the latter, followed by insignificant output from the likes of Phillipe Senderos, Niko Kranjcar, Josh Windass, Matt Crooks and Jordan Rossiter. To blame the boardroom entirely would not be prudent, for Warburton could have, or rather should have done much better than the scenario he has left Rangers in.
Moreover, the curious case Warburton and the Scottish Premiership outfit was mainly a story that lacked the ingredients to prosper to the zenith. It would not be biased to blame both the parties involved in the heated up debacle which led to the shocking departure of the gaffer during the business end of the season. But then, it is now time to move on and cherish their reintroduction to the Premiership, having a shy at the second spot on the league table, that magnificent Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic, for which he does deserve a pat on his back.
