Davie Provan: Mark Warburton's just trying to buy time with talk of rebuilding club

[ian1964 10,409]

IF Wigan Athletic are genuinely interested in Mark Warburton, the Rangers boss should run down the M74 to speak to them.

 

The DW Stadium is hardly one of football’s great cathedrals but it would offer Warburton a route back into the English game while his reputation is still intact.

 

You can bet that Mark saw Rangers as a good stage to enhance his reputation.

 

With his family still in England he’ll be hoping to get the right opportunity down south eventually.

 

But there is no evidence he’s cutting it in Glasgow.

 

If anything, he’s unravelling in front of our eyes. For such a bright guy he’s been rambling this week.

 

Disregard his post-Old Firm match comment that “the so-called gap is a lot narrower than people think”.

 

Nonsense of course, but there’s nothing wrong with talking up your players when they’re hurting.

 

But his take on things after Gers were booed off the pitch against St Johnstone in midweek was bizarre.

 

He said: “We have spoken to enough genuine Rangers supporters to know we don’t have to listen to the five per cent minority.

 

“We are not listening to them at all.”

 

Treating your critics with contempt in Glasgow is unwise.

 

Compared to previous Rangers managers Warburton has had it easy so far.

 

For all his savvy Mark has failed to grasp how it works in Glasgow — you’re only as good as your next game at the Old Firm.

 

And when managers start talking about the “project” you know they’re in bother.

 

They are trying to buy themselves time.

 

This week he explained Gers need rebuilt from top to bottom.

 

Fine, if you’re the director of football — but he’s not. His job is to win the next game.

 

He’s dreaming if he thinks he’s going to get time to overhaul the entire club.

 

There is a naivety about Warburton that is worrying.

 

In a city that has chewed up better coaches than him he’d better wise up quickly.

 

After his team drew with Saints he questioned the stick some of his younger players took.

 

Reminding us that Josh Windass was at Accrington Stanley last season, Mark reckoned it’ll take the player time to adjust. Trust me, your birth certificate doesn’t buy you any favours in Glasgow, you either sink or swim.

 

If Windass can’t handle criticism at 22, he’s at the wrong club.

 

As for Warburton’s talk of a long-term project? He might be projected out the front door if results don’t pick up sharpish.

 

Other newcomers to Glasgow have worked things out quicker.

 

When I once asked Martin O’Neill how the Celtic youth system was performing, he looked at me as if I was mad, saying: “If I lose my next three games, I’ll be out of here with my P45.”

 

First-team results are all that matter.

 

Warburton’s job is to make Rangers as good as they can be and right now he’s coming up short.

 

I don’t buy the idea that Celtic’s resurgence has made his job more difficult.

 

He’s never been expected to finish above Celtic this season. But with the second-biggest chequebook in the country he should be seeing off Aberdeen and Hearts.

 

Both Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist were batting for Warburton this week.

 

That’s what football people do. They watch each other’s back.

 

But Souey’s claim that Mark’s task is mission impossible doesn’t wash. Most Gers punters would settle for second place and that shouldn’t be beyond a club of Rangers means.

 

Put it this way, Derek McInnes and Robbie Neilson would give their eye teeth for Warburton’s budget.

 

Mind you, both have shown a better feel for the transfer market than the Ibrox gaffer.

 

As the Joey Barton farce drags on you wonder what the Rangers board make now of that signing.

 

Given Barton’s rap sheet you can bet Dave King had reservations over shelling out £1million a year for the midfielder.

 

Now that it’s blown up in Warburton’s face, it brings his judgement into question.

 

In mitigation, King himself has still to step up to the plate.

 

How can he be a proper chairman of Rangers living in South Africa?

 

And if Sir David Murray’s fiver-tenner boast came back to haunt him, King’s promise of £30m investment looks equally hollow.

 

Not good news for Warburton who should be regarded as a failure if Rangers don’t finish second this season.

 

At the moment he looks odds-against to pull it off.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/columnists/davieprovan/7254315/Davie-Provan-Mark-Warburtons-just-trying-to-buy-time-with-talk-of-rebuilding-club.html

[boabie 230]

The hatred is dripping from that jump-the-dyke bassa.

[TheWee BlueDevil 0]

I have no desire whatsoever to bump this but I have to say to Ian - If you have to post our detractor's BS then please post a link so we have a choice of whether to click/read or not. Provan?? Oh, come on!

 

No offence intended mate.

[gisabeer 409]

what a prick.

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,473]

"Not good news for Warburton who should be regarded as a failure if Rangers don’t finish second this season.

 

At the moment he looks odds-against to pull it off."

 

Wait a minute. 11 games in and we currently sit in second place without having really kicked a ball yet.

[26th of foot 5,829]

Davie is the proud possessor of a PHd in sanctimonious piety. Regularly plays golf with Dermot Desmond, counts Paul Cooney as an all time bestest mate, and grasps a wedge weekly from Rupert Murdoch.

 

Perhaps, he will explain how he tolerated over a decade at a club where he daily celebrated the nickname, 'PROVO'?

 

Don't hold your breath!

[limeburner 0]

Hes a turncoat,its to be expected.Twisted and bitter-----what a way to be remembered.

[ranger_syntax 3,765]

I have no desire whatsoever to bump this but I have to say to Ian - If you have to post our detractor's BS then please post a link so we have a choice of whether to click/read or not. Provan?? Oh, come on!

 

No offence intended mate.

 

Question: Do we make these articles relevant by circulating them and discussing them?

[JFK-1 1,669]

I don't know if Provan truly is a witless wonder or if what these rags require of people is simply to be as odious as possible but it's becoming more than obvious that it doesn't matter what the manager does he will get this abuse. We hammer Kilmarnock 3-0 going on 6-0 and that's a Kilmarnock who have just had a 3 game unbeaten run in which they defeated both St Johnstone and Hearts and this is how Provan responds?

 

And when managers start talking about the “project” you know they’re in bother. They are trying to buy themselves time.

 

Where has Provan been for the past 18 months? Mark Warburton has been using that term since day one even before a ball was kicked back when he first signed and has continued to use it. And unlike Provan everyone else understood that in the circumstances it perfectly fitted a unique situation for the club and the manager has continued using that term all through the halcyon days of last season and the opening 11 league games which saw us register 11 straight wins and effectively almost secure that league in the first quarter. Was he "buying time" in that period Davie?

 

As for Warburton’s talk of a long-term project? He might be projected out the front door if results don’t pick up sharpish.

 

Results pick up sharpish? As far as I can see this was published little more than an hour after the Kilmarnock match and at this stage Provan thinks results "need to "pick up sharpish" for a team sitting second in the league?

 

Most Gers punters would settle for second place and that shouldn’t be beyond a club of Rangers means.

 

You mean where they're sitting right now Davie even after a period of not killing teams off after dominating?

 

As the Joey Barton farce drags on you wonder what the Rangers board make now of that signing. Given Barton’s rap sheet you can bet Dave King had reservations over shelling out £1million a year for the midfielder. Now that it’s blown up in Warburton’s face, it brings his judgement into question.

 

The Joey Barton saga is out of the managers hands in the circumstances and since we have people around here who take a great deal more interest in the activities at Rangers than Davie Provan ever has and they don't know the details of who, how, or why Barton was signed i'm more than sure Provan doesn't know either and seems to be in an anti Warburton crusade along with Keith Jackson.

 

Not good news for Warburton who should be regarded as a failure if Rangers don’t finish second this season. At the moment he looks odds-against to pull it off.

 

Actually he's not 'odds against' Davie, he's currently evens at best and odds on with some bookmakers to finish second and I suspect the aforementioned Joey Barton would take Davies odds in a flash. I get the feeling that Provan may have written this pile of waffle before Saturdays game despite the fact it was published after it which may be making him feel like a real arse right now but surely he had the IQ to figure out Rangers could mathematically go second on Saturday?

 

And one more quote.

 

Put it this way, Derek McInnes and Robbie Neilson would give their eye teeth for Warburton’s budget.

 

I'm sure they would but do any of us seriously think that long ball McInnes and beaten at home by Maltese minnows Neilson would be superior to Mark Warburton? Because that's very possibly exactly the type of thing you will get if these yahoos managed to separate us from a manager being touted for jobs in England all the time.

 

Anyone see the English forming a line to squabble over Derek McInnes and Robbie Neilson? No you don't it's our manager all the interest is being shown in and we need to get behind him as he continues with the 'project' Provan so clearly has issues with for reasons unknown. Actually some may argue the reasons are known but that's another topic.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Badly times article from Provan that makes him look daft.

 

Only as good as you last game. Well we are superb then.

 

Not looking good for second as we move into second

 

Provan looks a right diddy here