Joey Barton!

Despite this (and other) sites’ understandable mockery and dubiety of the story some weeks ago, it does now seem that free agent Joey Barton is seriously on Mark Warburton’s horizon as a new recruit at Ibrox.

The 33-year old’s influence on English football over the past couple of decades falls into infamy and legend, but no one would deny his ability – he is one of those players who, if he had managed to wise up at a younger age, and mature on the pitch, would have been a regular for England – he is, and was, that good.

This season he won Burnley’s Player of the Year award, and was also named in the PFA Championship’s Team of the Year selection as well – to observe that the hard-tackling but refined midfielder had an outstanding term as Sean Dyche’s men won the Championship trophy in style is an understatement.

Ergo, for him to consider giving up a potential move to either a lower EPL club or a one-year extension at Turf Moor in exchange for a move to the backwater by comparison that is the Scottish Premiership is yet more evidence both of the lure of Rangers and the influence of the Three Musketeers that are David Weir, Frank McParland and of course Mark Warburton.

Naturally, nothing is signed yet – rumour and counter rumour dominate this story – at one point last night Barton was even touted with a move to Celtic, while Burnley supposedly offered him a two-year deal, all the while the former Man City anchor was supposedly running the treadmill at Murray Park.

But the truth is that he most definitely was at Murray Park, and was at Ibrox, and was escorted around by the universally respected Sir David of Weir – the fact Rangers are seriously in with a shout of signing a player of the quality of Joey Barton on top of already having attracted Liverpool’s Jordan Rossiter is a truly colossal turn of events.

It may still not happen, of course – things change very quickly in football, but to the individual who supposedly broke this story originally on the Follow Follow forum, I have to take my hat off and apologise for mocking the possibility it was true. He has also seemingly linked Liverpool’s Danny Ings with a loan move and Hibernian’s Jason Cummings (long-mooted for a switch to Ibrox) as joining Rossiter (and possibly Barton) so we will see how many of these happen.

But if Rangers do snap Barton up, it is the biggest statement of intent yet; the irony is with securing Rossiter, Warbs has already made a massive one as it is.

It does seem things are only going to get better.