With Hearts and Celtic almost out of sight, the Record ramps up the up the drive to get Barry Ferguson back in the Ibrox hotseat

On last night’s Trinity Tims podcast, we discussed in depth the situation that Russell Martin finds himself in at Ibrox.

Joe, James and I all agreed that Russell Martin, out of all recent Ibrox managers, has been the one to get the rawest deal of all.

He was doomed before he ever walked into the media conference where he was named as their new manager.

His doom was confirmed at half time in the July friendly against Club Brugge.

Where his team was booed off the park at 2-0 down.

However, one we thing we all unanimously agreed upon was that the media had the knives out for him from day one.

When the old boys club of Barry Ferguson, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds was broken up after their spell in charge at Ibrox, they were all welcomed with open arms back into their respective media roles.

As I’ve often said, when we lost to the Ibrox side last March at Celtic Park, it was an embarrassment because we’d lost to a tabloid newspaper columnist.

But being a tabloid newspaper columnist has it’s advantages.

Especially in the case of Barry Ferguson.

Ferguson has been able to use his position covertly, or not so covertly, whichever way you want to look at it, to launch a media campaign against Russell Martin from day one.

Think about it.

I believe it really gathered momentum with Ferguson’s August 22nd article, which opened with the following headline:

R*****s fans are always right and Russell Martin will just have to accept it – Barry Ferguson

Before I go any further, I’ll posit one pretty relevant question:

If the R*****s are always right, then maybe Barry Ferguson could explain why the club has won the square root of f*** all since 2012?

Because their definition of being right and always demanding success as their God given right has really worked well for them, hasn’t it?

Especially this season, when they’ve managed to concede the title after just five games.

This constant application of pressure to the manager has worked wonders this season, wouldn’t you agree?

Well, it has definitely worked wonders for Celtic and Hearts, that’s for sure.

Okay, I just needed to get that out of the way.

Now that I have, we’ll move along nicely.

In his job as a columnist at the Record, its clear that Barry Ferguson is the man.

Revered by the likes of Keith Jackson, Scott McDermott, Ross Pilcher, Andy Newport, and Alan Galindo.

A hero in their midst.

A real life Ibrox hero in the Daily Record offices to rub shoulders with on a regular basis, imagine that?

Now, as we discussed on the podcast last night, there is no doubting that as soon as Barry Ferguson walked back into his old job, tongues started wagging.

“Aw Barry, you were proper hard done by, the job was yours, you should have got it over that vegan fairy”.

And, “Aw Barry, you must be loving the fact Martin is shite at his job. Just goes to show what they allowed to walk out the door when they left you go”.

And on, and on.

You don’t have to he a genius to figure out they’re all in cahoots.

And that it has been a coordinated attack from the outset.

Just look at the stories emerging from the Record on a daily basis.

They’re all designed to tear apart and discredit Russell Martin as any kind of serious football manager.

When you think about it, the guy really is on a hiding to nothing.

Which is why we all agreed last night that it probably has gotten to the point where he just doesn’t care any more.

Russell Martin has just decided he’s going to do it his way at Ibrox, and f*** the begrudgers.

At this point, he’s decided he’s going to plod along for as long as he’s permitted, and see where it takes him.

What’s the worst that could happen?

He’ll get the boot and walk away a few million quid better off.

Easy money for a few month’s work if you can get it, that’s for sure.

In the meantime, the campaign continues in the Record today to discredit him and expedite his departure.

But not only does it continue, it’s also designed to start putting the idea of a Barry Ferguson Ibrox return in people’s minds.

Scott McDermott has no subtly dropped the Ferguson hint in his late morning article today.

I can honestly say that in all my time of following the Scottish game, though, I’ve never seen such a concerted effort to destroy a manager as the campaign mounted against Martin from day one.

It almost makes me want to root for the guy’s survival.

Only for the fact I cannot stand the institution he represents, I would be rooting for him.

McDermott is trying to play the nice guy when it comes to his narrative on Martin.

But it’s easy to see through his charade with comments like this:

Martin is an honest guy. So why not just admit that results so far in his tenure have been unacceptable?

Don’t blame the ‘environment’ or ‘anxiety’ – or talk about the pain fans just have to endure.

The bottom line is, you could have plucked a punter from the Louden Tavern to put these players in a 4-4-2 and beat Dundee at home. So just own it.

But you know what the biggest embarrassment really is, when it comes to accountability?

Don’t blame the ‘environment’??

Martin has every right to blame the ‘environment’ because the ‘environment’ has been rendered utterly toxic by the likes of Scott McDermott and his Bazza loving pals.

Then again, I’m sure Russell Martin is smart enough to know that.

And if it’s so easy for a punter from Louden Tavern to ‘put these players in a 4-4-2 and beat Dundee’, then why isn’t McDermott putting himself in the frame for the job?

Since apparently only tabloid columnists seem to know how to do it?

Which is evidenced by McDermott’s gushing fanboy praise of his hero Bazza earlier in said article:

But we’ve seen it before with Rangers, like when they blanked Lewis Ferguson, who was a ready-made future Ibrox captain.

Ironically, when his uncle Barry was interviewed for the job on a full-time basis before Martin was appointed, he told the club he would personally oversee signings who he felt would specifically help them in domestic competitions.

His thinking was that if they failed, at least it was on HIM, no-one else.

Taking on that level of responsibility might have been one of the reasons he didn’t get the job.

Newsflash Scott!

He didn’t get the job at Ibrox because he’s shite!!

His man management skills were clearly shite.

All the brown brogue and blazer wearing staunchness in the world doesn’t change that.

And all the animated passionate antics in the world on the sideline won’t change it either.

You either have it, or you don’t, and Ferguson clearly didn’t.

But nobody in the Record offices would have the guts to tell him that, apart from Chris Sutton, of course.

Nobody will ever know for sure if Russell Martin could have done a job at Ibrox, because he simply has not been given any chance whatsoever to prove if he could or not.

He was written off before his team ever kicked a ball in earnest.

And because Barry Ferguson cannot admit to himself that he’s a shite manager, he has instead rallied all of his media lackies to ensure Russell Martin is portrayed as the worst manager ever in the short 13 year history of his beloved club.

Unless Martin can turn things around rapidly at Ibrox, then he will probably end up with that accolade.

But you cannot say that he wasn’t faced with shocking adversity from the get-go.

However, this constant incessant chatter from the media on what Barry Ferguson would have done if he got the job is getting old.

He didn’t get the job.

Ferguson needs to accept that.

I’m sure, though, that being the bitter little weasel that he is, he’ll be delighted when Russell Martin gets the door.

Mission accomplished.

Then all he needs to do is get his media lackies at the Record to put him front and centre for the job again.

Dream on Bazza.

Ain’t gonna happen.

But hey, the Ibrox fans are always right, aren’t they?

That righteousness has delivered them unparalleled success since 2012.

Keep it up.

Well done.