Barry Ferguson gets personal with Röhl, tells him not to take it personally, and to go out there and beat Celtic…

The delusion is strong in this one. But then when was it ever not with Barry Ferguson?

The other day, I spoke about former Ibrox players living in an alternate reality, namely Kris Boyd.

I suppose I should have added Barry Ferguson to that list.

Look, I get that these guys are cheerleaders for their club, they have to talk the Ibrox side up.

Blue blood runs through their veins and all of that.

I understand it, I get it.

But it’s the complete lack of realism amongst guys like Ferguson that drives me over the edge.

When I read the same tripe over and over again about the Ibrox mentality, and how they should all be born winners, it really does get wearing.

I would understand their claims if there was some substance to them.

It would make total sense if they were a team that consistently won trophies.

But that’s the thing, they’re not.

I never tire of pointing out the fact that St. Johnstone are just as successful as them since 2012.

St. Mirren and Aberdeen are one trophy behind them since then.

None of those clubs have spent the kind of money that has been spent at Ibrox to achieve what they have achieved.

The Ibrox club has now burned through over £150 million since 2012 for a return of just three trophies.

Yet this is a club whose cheerleaders never shut up about winning at all costs.

They have incurred the costs alright, but they have very little to show for it.

Ferguson and Boyd live in the past, they revel in past glories.

They think that because they played in the EBT era, which helped them to win quite a few illegitimate trophies, that the current entity should be achieving the same thing.

They preach about winning, oblivious to the fact that the way they won trophies brought about the death of the club they played for.

Yet the current club must continue that winning mentality?

There’s something very vacuous about that way of thinking, isn’t there?

Nevertheless, they plough on with it, undeterred.

This morning, in the Record, Danny Röhl is getting it tight from Barry Ferguson.

He’s being lectured on what happens when you lose two crucial games in the business end of the title race.

At the same time, Ferguson is telling Röhl not to take it personally:

Yes, it’s harsh, I know. But this is R*****s Football Club. And the demands that come with the badge on that jersey will never, ever change.

If you happen to be in charge of the team at the end of a trophieless season then you’re going to get it from all angles. I should know, I was there myself this time last year.

But, no matter if you think it’s fair or not, you simply have to accept that the fans feel they have been let down because they can never accept anything less than first place.

Right, let me get this straight.

The fans of the Ibrox club will not accept anything less than first place, despite the fact they have only managed a first place finish once since their birth 14 years ago?

And that title was won behind closed doors, under circumstances we’ll never see the likes of again.

But Ferguson prattles on about the fans being let down because they haven’t finished first?

Despite achieving that just once in 14 years?

They really do need to temper their expectations over there.

I understand that its hard to accept a trophyless season when you spend the kind of money they spend.

But this isn’t their God given right.

If Hearts manage to win the title this season, compare how much it will have cost them to achieve that in comparison to what the Ibrox side have spent since 2012?

Its a baffling concept, isn’t it?

One which will make them finishing third this season look all the more absurd.

As a Celtic fan, I accept it will make us look tinpot too.

But there’s one fundamental difference between us and the Ibrox side.

We just couldn’t be arsed spending the vast fortune we’ve stockpiled for no good reason, other than to pay tens of millions in corporation tax.

That’s why we’re at risk of conceding our title to Hearts.

The Ibrox side on the other hand, invested tens of millions in that endeavour, and will get the square root of fuck all back on their investment.

I’m also sure that Barry Ferguson will find it very hard to stomach if we do manage to pull off winning the title, when you take into consideration our complete lack of investment in our playing squad.

It will kill him because we will have had the one thing his beloved Ibrox side does not have.

A winning menatlity.

No amount of money can buy that.

The reason we have it is because we are natural winners.

And we have never cheated our way to a single trophy we’ve won since 1888.

So he can lecture Danny Röhl all he wants on a winning mentality.

It comes from a hollow place.

You are never a real winner when you cheat.

Barry Ferguson (EBT £2.5 million)

Nuff said.

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