Davide Ancelotti to Ibrox: Cannon fodder for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic or a serious threat?

So, the Record is awash with the news that Davide Ancelotti is closing in on becoming the next Ibrox manager.

And while the name he brings is big, Davide Ancelotti is NOT his father.

He has no experience as the no.1 at any club, and has consistently lived in his father’s shadow.

If he chooses to step out of his father’s shadow, and into the limelight of the Glasgow bubble?

Then I commend him.

I commend his courage, and I commend his bravado.

He’ll need every last bit of it!

Because the track record of those who have gone before him at Ibrox suggests that he is about to commit career suicide.

Before his career really even begins.

I would imagine that based on his family background, Ancelotti Junior is not stupid.

Especially when you consider he has his father to guide him in all of this, should it come to pass.

I would imagine he will have done his homework on the Ibrox club.

He will surely know what he’s getting himself into?

And if he’s a smart guy, he’ll be seeking assurances from his new employers when it comes to the minefield that is the Ibrox job.

When I said I admired his courage, I meant it.

To take a job at a club where a draw is a crisis, and a loss a catastrophe, as your first step into management?

Well, that takes courage.

Ancelotti will surely know that he is going to a club with the same success rate as relegation strugglers St. Johnstone?

Yet the fanbase will expect him to immediately challenge Celtic for the title.

Because they are the kind of standards that are expected at a club that has won just three trophies in it’s short existence.

Which, to be fair, is an amazing achievement when you consider this club began it’s journey in 2012.

Ancelotti Junior will also surely be smart enough to know that the standards he’ll be held to by the support of the club he’s considering for his first job, will be the standards of a dead club?

He will surely be fully versed in all of this.

As a result, he will surely seek assurances from his new employers that he will not be held to such ridiculously unrealistic expectations?

Moreover, I’m sure Ancelotti’s new employers will give him a 4 year contract, and set out realistic KPI’s in that timespan?

Remember? Stevie G, who arrived with a big name, but zero experience, was given three bites of the cherry.

He was also given tens of millions to supplement the pursuit of the solitary trophy he managed to secure during his time at Ibrox.

Which is a big part of the reason the debt ridden club is being sold off to the Americans.

Because it became insanely debt ridden after Stevie G’s chequebook management style.

Surely Ancelotti Junior will know that he will not be afforded this kind of luxury?

Hence the reason he will demand that he is allowed to build his side over a period of years?

We know that UEFA FSR will not allow it, Patrick Stewart has been at pains to point this out lately.

Yes, Davide Ancelotti is indeed a very courageous and brave individual if he is willing to take this momentous challenge on.

And I haven’t even come to his future nemesis in all of this, Brendan Rodgers.

Now in the headline to this article, I asked whether Davide Ancelotti would represent cannon fodder for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic, or if he’d represent a serious threat?

If the new Ibrox owners and Ancelotti have any realistic aspirations to seriously challenge us, then they need to absolutely forget about challenging Celtic the short term.

Forget about ridiculous numbers like 56, which their braindead fans are already talking about.

Does anybody think that Fergus McCann thought seriously about stopping the dead club from winning title number 44 or 45 after he saved the Celtic from going under in 1994?

Did stupid numbers like that even enter his head?

The only number that realistically entered Fergus McCann’s thought process was 60,000, and what that number could deliver in the long term.

We see the results of that number today, and what it has delivered.

If the Ibrox club and Davide Ancelotti, should he take the role as manager, are to have any hope at all of challenging Celtic, then they need to ignore supporter demands, and do it their way.

Because if they enter into this stating that they will challenge Celtic from the off, then only one thing will happen.

Davide Ancelotti WILL be cannon fodder for Brendan Rodgers, and he WILL be commiting career suicide.

Before his career has the chance to begin.

If he tries to challenge Celtic from the off, I give it 9 months before he’s back at his father’s side.

Where he will remain for the rest of his career.

Because Ibrox will have killed his dreams of becoming a successful football manager like his Dad.

It will kill his career before it even starts.

Just like it killed Philippe Clement, Michael Beale, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and yes, Steven Gerrard’s careers.

If, and this is a big IF, Ancelotti is permitted to build something at Ibrox, then he might have a chance.

For that to happen, the new owners need to level with the klanbase.

They need to tell them, first and foremost, that the days of their neanderthal behaviour are over.

Then they need to tell them to lower their expectations.

Well, no they don’t, they just need to tell them to continue to expect what they’ve been getting over the last 13 years.

But on a shoestring budget, while living within their means, with a view to building something sustainable over the long term.

Then, and only then, will they ever have a chance of catching Celtic.

I wish both Davide Ancelotti, if he takes the job, and the Americans, all the best in that endeavour.

If they can clean up that club’s act, and get their fanbase to accept the reality of what’s coming down the line, then they have a chance.

And Davide Ancelotti will have a chance.

But trying to change a mentality that has spanned almost 40 years since Lawrence Marlborough sold his shares to David Murray?

That’s a tall order.

A very tall order indeed.

YouTube: Third Prize Is “You’re fired!”

Last night’s podcast was chock full of controversial issues. As usual, we took them apart, as others won’t. You’ll always get honest opinions from the Trinity Tims!