It’s time to move on from Joey Barton

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It’s time to move on from Joey Barton

This morning Rangers confirmed Joey Barton is suspended for three weeks pending effectively internal hubbub over the state of the land.

Truth is Barton has almost certainly played his last game for Rangers, and that comes as no disappointment to anyone such was the meagre contribution he made.

The signing was a horrendous mistake, one every fan had misgivings about but one where most of us became kids again and allowed ourselves to be swept up with regarding the hype.

In terms of his reputation, it was the biggest signing Scottish football had seen for years, so it seems quite human to big it up. Who, seriously, was going to be outspokenly critical of such a signing?

Such action would undermine Mark Warburton’s judgement, and that of Frank McParland, and that is not supporting your team.

And yet, it was a dud. A failure on every level, Barton did not put his money where his mouth is and was, relatively, maybe Rangers’ biggest flop since Flo. Neither player absolutely embarrassed themselves on the pitch, but what was delivered did not live up even 10% to the hype their arrivals generated.

So…it really is time for Rangers fans to move on from Barton and try to focus purely on the season ahead which will in all likelihood be without him.

And that begins in Govan tomorrow night when James Fowler’s Queens side once again come to Ibrox, a side Rangers seem to have played more than anyone else these past four years.

Going by the iota of progress witnessed when County took a point on Saturday, Rangers are moving, maybe even crawling in the right direction, but failure to negotiate the Palmerston side would heap yet more pressure on a beleaguered Mark Warburton already smarting from his struggles this season.

On the other hand, a vibrant display with a few goals would give the former Brentford boss some welcome breathing room, such is the currency of a rare convincing victory these days.

However, he will have to do it without Rossiter (knee injury – out for estimated four weeks), which does thin Rangers’ defensive midfield options considerably in concert with the banning of his colleague and Crooks’ lack of match fitness albeit the ex-Stanley anchor is now physically fit, and available and will play some part tomorrow.

Expect Andy Halliday to fill in there from the start again though, while Swiss stopper Philippe Senderos returns following his Old Firm sending off, which sees a four-way battle between Senderos, Hill, Kiernan (fit again) and Wilson for the centre-back slots.

Queens top the Championship table, a league which includes Rangers’ three-time conquerors last season Hibs, plus Raith, Falkirk and Dundee Utd, which does give some indication how tough a match this is in prospect – Rangers have majorly struggled against sides of this calibre (and higher) for many months now and fans will sincerely hope a strong side will put Fowler’s men to the sword, something they have failed to since the opening fixture on the astroturf of Palmerston last season.

Warburton is under pressure for the first true time since becoming manager. And he needs to convince fans the team is going in the right direction; victory tomorrow would be a decent nod to it.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. Lets hope the past week is forgotten about with a string of positive results.However with the opposition penalty area being a Rangers player free zone for just about all the games this season I live in hope rather than expectation

    • I am not so sure – Frank McParland is being mentioned in this article and at the minute I am failing to see what he is doing except wasting valuable cash on has beens with no resale value and in the case of Barton zero contribution. Hopefully when Warburton goes (which may be before Bartons suspension ends) he takes McParland with him.

    • Has-beens like Windass, Crooks, Rossiter, Holt, Halliday, Hodson, Tavernier, O'Halloran, Dodoo and Atakayi you mean? Twat tim.

  2. Chris Sutton saying the job is to big for the hat is a belter. The Lincoln City job was to big for that clown. Chris Sutton to put it gently, is fast becoming the biggest arsehole on the planet.

  3. I just think tactically we are so predictable and until, if ever, that changes we are going to struggle against everyone. Win, draw or lose. It is a solemn statement but one I think many fans can agree with.

  4. Will Barton need another pre season when he comes back?

    Is he being paid during his 3 week vacation?

    Looks as if he's kicked his last ball. Negotiations about his pay off will be ongoing with his reps right now.

    Am I right in saying if we offer him a free transfer he can sign on for another team and negotiate a signing on fee for himself that could reduce the amount we need to pay him?

    The club will be desperate to come to an agreement with him and will insist on gagging clauses in his contract.

    The last thing they want will be Joey washing our dirty laundry in public, can you imagine what he could reveal.

    Oh and Rossiter out for a few weeks………..his injury problems have followed him up the road from Liverpool.

    Warbs and McParland have been generously praised for the summer recruitment campaign……..Barton, Rossiter, Niko, Senderos, Hill, Garner, Dodoo, Giles etc. The wage bill has gone through the roof.

    The big question now is are any of them going to cut the mustard?

    There will be no money available in the January transfer window to strengthen, whilst Rodgers will be using CL monies to bring in players ahead of next year's campaign.

    Unless a real million/billionaire turns up with a barrow load of money the situation is dire with no prospect of getting better.

    Kennedy is back on the fringes again but he has links to Ashley…..thanks to King and his bully boys I doubt if Ashley will want any further involvement.

    I don't know if Kennedy has enough money on his own to turn the ship around.

    He will get rid of King and the entire present board, useless one and all, but King is looking for a payoff before he will go.

    Add in the soft loans that have already been made, and the £8m minimum required to see out this season when the ST monies run out at Xmas and that's £30 m in total, for what?

    A loss making business with the only possibility of a return on investment is to qualify for CL proper, realistically costing another £10m to strengthen the squad with season 2018/19 as the earliest we can hope to qualify…….so another £20m will be required in running costs in the meantime.

    So Kennedy will need to invest £50m before there is a chance of any return…….and that's not taking account of repairs and renewals to the stadium, nor the costs of legal action from Puma and SD.

    It ain't going to happen…..how did we get in this position?

    King's legacy will make that of Whyte and Green look positively benign.

    • How short a memory have you. king rescued us from Ashley et al.He is getting the financial side of Rangers in order bringing Ashley to court over the contracts.If we want to point fingers lets look at Warburton who has signed has been diddys. Most fans agree the style of football is boring with the emphasis on possession. I pay to watch Rangers play in the current board of Rangers fans I trust

  5. When Warbs vanished after the Scottish Cup Final no one had the opportunity to question him about his tactics.

    For the entire 90 minutes Stokes ran Tavernier ragged and what did the Hat do, nothing, absolutely nothing.

    That lack of decision making cost us the game but Warbs has got off Scot free when he shoukd have been held to account.

  6. Onwards and upwards, lads. This will give the whole squad a boost. Hope we can promote one of the young lads, like Liam Burt, to the first team in his place.

  7. I was against the appointment of Mark Warburton before he signed. So I should be shouting to get him out now, with "I told you so". But I'm not, because I feel lucky to have him at Ibrox. I hope he stays and hope we all back him.

  8. Last game? Doubt it he's only suspended for 3 weeks. And that looks like it was cause he went to the press instead of waiting to speak to warburton again. 3 weeks is fair plus the rest of the squad now knows that warburton is in charge. If Barton doesn't do anything else silly then he will be back like all other players that have been suspended in the past. If nothin else it could drive him on to be better to show that he's been missed (though I don't think he will be missed as much as people think)

    • He's not fit enough to start with. 3 weeks off means he will be at least 2 months from fitness. He's gone in January without playing another game. On another point can the editor stop publishing that prick. We all know who I mean. Sad Tim.

  9. Rangers are looking for the cheapest way possible to offload Barton.
    Warburton will be gone before the end of January too

  10. In June last year we had half a squad, didn't have a team and didn't have a manager. W&W performed minor miracles; recruitment, style of play, won the league, beat Celtic and almost won the Scottish Cup. Just over a year later and they have recruited another 11 players (with a tiny transfer budget) to compete with bigger and better quality competition. So by any objective measure of progress, the first 15 months have been very successful. They have one major issue to manage and they have made (just) two mistakes in addressing it; managing unrealistic expectation and bringing two very un-W&W players to help them meet it – Kranjcar and Barton.
    However, Barton is now on the way out and Kranjcar will be used only as a second half substitute impact player unless he can prove that he can significantly speed up (which i doubt he can).
    So back to last year's successful style of play, with an improved calibre of squad; Rossiter, Windass, Garner, Crooks, joining fit-again Holt, Forrester and Waghorn. They will not win the league this year. They might not even finish second. And they will not win the league in 2017 either. But by June 2017 they will be getting close to mounting a proper challenge to Celtic, only 24 months after starting pretty much from scratch.
    Less Barton, more Halliday in the dressing room please Mark

    • And how is that bold claim going to be achieved mate?

      There is no money to pay Barton off, there are outstanding fines due to both the SFA and SPFL, with another one on the way.
      There will be a £100k plus bill on the way for the toilet wrecking.
      The ST monies run out in December.

      What's happening to Club 1872 contributions…….who knows, anyone?

      I know a few people who have cancelled their DD'S as their is feck all transparency as to where the money is going.

      Try asking James Blair,,he should know but as sure as hell you won't get an answer.

      Dream on mate, by the way Rossiter is injured again, shades of his problems at Liverpool.

      Celtic are a shoo in for the league for the forseeable future………..they posted a £500k profit on a £52m turnover only because of the monies from the sale of Van Dyk.
      Our last audited turnover was £19m, with CL monies Celtic ' s next accounts will have a revenue north of £70m.
      If Dembele improves, which he will, he will be a priceless asset in a year's time, bidding will start at £20m with EPL, Spanish and German interest.
      We don't have a single sellable asset that will make a dent in the financials.

      King and his board have failed and they are desperate to get out before more soft loans are required to keep the lights on.

      It appears a given now that King was being less than truthful about overspending or investing his children's inheritance.

      What a shocker!

    • By June 2018 Celtic will be going for 8 IAR, unstoppable financially.

      Tomorrow night is a must win for Warbs, otherwise King will can him and Joey will be brought back into the fold as Player/Manager.

      That will be one wage saved, Weir will stay on as No 2.

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