Bread men – the final insult

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Bread men – the final insult

I thought long and hard about this entry. I have rarely spent such a spell deciding whether or not to proceed with an article on this site, but this one was a source of much conflict.

On one hand there was the school of thought that we should let sleeping dogs lie, move on with our lives and stop living in the acrimonious past. But on the other was the simple inescapable truth of what happened, and how it deserved a final summation given what a huge deal it was and still is to the modern and classic history of Rangers Football Club.

This site was probably the only one willing to actually criticise the Bread Man. For some unknown reason we could not fathom, a great majority of Rangers fans considered him the Messiah and transcended him above criticism, literally until the final two months of his time at Ibrox.

In all fairness, many, who previously gave us dog’s abuse for our stance, either stopped doing so once the truth vindicated us, or outright gave us credit and admitted we had been onto something.

But what cannot be denied, whatever your stance, is the ugly betrayal our ex-manager (I cannot even bring myself to say his name any more) inflicted upon our Club and our fans, while having the gall to praise them before sweeping off to Nottingham. Never before has a manager’s departure from Ibrox been as toxic as this one, and I include McCoist in this – for all that Ally did wrong, and he made any mistakes, he was the man who took it all in the neck back in 2012 and stuck by his team. That counts for something, in my eyes, as do his playing days.

As for the three of them? They denied they had resigned, when they had, and then denied also that they had engaged in discussion with the English side, when they had. And now three weeks later all of them have done exactly what they denied was on the agenda – joined Nottingham Forest.

And to add insult to the injury of deception and disloyalty are the reports the trio are still seeking help from the Scottish League Manager’s Association in obtaining ‘compensation’ from Rangers. As if the sordid saga had not gone low enough as it was.

And what of David Weir? A man many looked up to for years, complicit in the whole shady deal, and not only did it to Rangers but technically Villa straight afterwards by ditching them after 10 days of a scouting role to go off to Nottingham with his buddies.

The fawning over our ex-manager up till January (even even beyond) was simply absurd – too many fans thought the sun shone out his backside, and would not tolerate an iota of dissent, attacking quite viciously anyone who dared to criticise him. It led to a very nasty climate in the fanbase, one I sincerely hope the regime of Ped the Ted will help to dissipate, and the bread era is one I would entirely like to consign to the archives.

We certainly did learn from it, it was not first class, and for what it is worth, Robbie Neilson’s Hearts squad, the previous season in the Championship, on £0 spent on transfers, managed to get promoted first time with two less league losses, 10 more points, 2 less draws, 8 more goals scored and 8 less conceded than the Loaf managed with £2M more to spend.

So sure, he ‘got us promoted’, but it cost us two years of progress and £5M on a lot of poor transfers.

Nevertheless, they now find themselves consigned to the Ibrox bin, having made their decision to leave through the back door without a hint of integrity.

It is safe to say they are unlikely to be welcomed back.

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19 COMMENTS

  1. "For some unknown reason we could not fathom, a great majority of Rangers fans considered him the Messiah and transcended him above criticism, literally until the final two months of his time at Ibrox"
    Some unknown reason … the reason was Jim Traynor, 'bigging up' Warburton in every single press release and 'leak', making out Warbs would be an England manager some day, that EPL clubs were begging him to come and manage there, how we had got such a great manager from under the noses of everyone else …
    And then, when King wanted them gone, there was Jim Traynor again making out that they were traitors for … being considered for jobs in England, for using Rangers as a stepping stone.
    The biggest culprit here is not the old management team, but the fat PR man.

    • rob P

      There is much truth in what you say and the sad facts are we have ben fed more propaganda than a news reader in the North Korean 6pm news, and mostly of the same variety.

      I shudder to think how much we have paid Traynor to flood all the media outlets with the 'propaganda of the day'…it must be an astronomical figure, just when we criticise the manager for buying duds we employ one to spin our plates, and he isn't even very good at it….shocking choice of PR, cheap nasty and in many statements childish bordering on illiterate, probably written on the back of a beer mat!!!

      So while the 'less than spin' doctors have been guilty as sin, our ex manager has not left in terms acceptable to many, but until the 'truth' comes out, we are working on…yes you got it, Traynor's spinning plates. I will reserve judgement until the proper appeals are completed and if it does go to court in an unfair dismissal case, I hope we have a couple of million spare.

      I was never in favour of Warburton taking over Rangers, I had watched his Brentford side a couple of times as I go to Hillsborough often and could see that they were clueless when they couldn't play the game they wanted, give them time, space and freedom they could play, but teams soon realised how to play then and nullify them.

      Lo and behold, exactly the same tactics, strategy and lack of a plan B with us as they had at Brentford, my guess, it will be the same at Forest. I have a few friends who are Forest fans and they see this is a step back in time, having run out of ideas twice times now….odds are the third will be the same.

      Hopefully the new manager will be given time, resources and the backing to make a good fist of things, I sincerely hope so and I think we will find out pretty quickly what his tactics and skills are, hopefully no more one dimensional passing with no end product, we have a shucking goal difference and need to start scoring goals….that's what wins games.

      GSTQ

    • All our club need to do is show the emails they say they have. And if they can find proof that he was in London that day interviewing and not scouting like he said, instead of prepairing the team that ended up being one of our worst defeats, then I'm sure they're could be a law suit going in the opposite direction for not doing his job at all

  2. No disrespect ( where have we heard that before) to Forest but wouldn't it be something for them to lose every game left this season and for us to go and win every league and cup game. How I would love to see that. And I think it can happen.

  3. I started losing my belief in him before we won the Championship. There were some dreadful performances once opponents had his tactics figured out.
    I wonder if we'll ever know the truth of the Forest matter, but it stinks. And truth is a rare commodity in football.

    One look at the transfer doings of the trio doesn't make it all that surprising that the Board were reluctant to give him money…. 🙂

  4. I think you are right to post this article but please remember that after the McCoist era were we spent money/wages on the old players/duds of the spl (exclude miller of course) when most Rangers fans wanted us to start with the youth players/early 20s. Warburton came in with old hero Weir and started to play a brand of football we all loved(including ibrox noise). Yes we got beat at times but we excused it because of the brand of football and lack of experience in the squad. It appears that most of our players got fed up with Warburton or argued at times because he wouldnt change tactics and forced certain styles like the back passing, short free kicks. we had Forester in and out of the team when he had started well, not even making the bench at times. Same with MOH and Waghorn if i remember rightly but at that time we were winning. It all goes t*ts up after the 2-2 old firm cup game. His signing policy was obviously ill advised during the summer , making the squad larger than was needed. Squad morale low because of all the players warming the bench never mind the injury prone Rossiter/Kranjar and the badly handled barton situation. I think most fans wanted a steady ship with a feeling of direction that we got when King 1st took charge. The appointment of the management team and quick turnaround of the squad was seamless and we had high hopes for the future. The last few months the cracks obviously started to show but as a fan base i think we just wanted small targets to be achieved. finish 2nd , have a cup run, return to Europe and build on that. We have been shafted in a way but it just shows when the going got tough they couldnt handle it, We as a club got a result with the way the events unfolded as we wanted him out but couldnt pay the buy out clause. Rightly or wrongly we all got what we wanted. I dont see Warbarton as a relegation fighting manager and he might be found out down south soon enough but for us we need to look forward and as you said draw a line under the sand, take a deep breath and realise we dodged a bullet. The 3some have lost a lot of face over the way it went down and if they fail at forest it will be over for them at decent level football. Now it is time to get behind the new boss and hope the board have learned some lessons. I dont think it is too late for some of our players. Pedro might get an improvement out of them and hopefully give the younger guys a chance in the team.

  5. I agree that I too was one of the supporters who thought highly of the manager, but how wrong I was, and my sincerest apologies..!!

    All 'Loaf' done was talk a good game and make eyes at clubs, and lesser clubs at that, behind our backs.

    As always – I will put all my faith in who leads our team..!! WATP

    Dug out the 'Rangers – The Managers' book last night, from 2000. Brilliant read.

  6. I think it's fair comment, Rangers supporters can at times be blinded by smoke and mirrors and if you are one to see beyond the curtain, and dare to raise you're voice, in the name of , better for Rangers, you get shot down. A patriot, is someone who is/does stand up for something they believe in, when they think someone is trying to destroy that thing, even when no one else does, and in Rangers terms, there are supporters equivalents, I criticise Rangers, not because I want to find fault, not because I want to criticise , but because I want the best for Rangers in every little facet of footballing life, and I believe that can be achieved by only demanding the very best, we may not have the best players in the world, but what is wrong with demanding the highest standards from them ? Or indeed anyone including the manger , who is employed by Rangers.
    I must say, I was willing to give the ex manager until the end of the season to see where we were before I went full critic, but after the Scottish cup final murder, when a few solid centre halves were not forthcoming into the team, my viewpoint on his management strategies had deteriorated rapidly.
    However, good luck to Pedro caixinha and the new team, from what I've heard from him already, I like what he is about. Only time will tell

  7. I'm another one who couldn't understand the criticism of bread and the muffin until after the victory over celtic in the semi. They played poorly after that game an had a crap run in till the end of the season. Even though he saw how well we played with Tavernier in midfield and Hodson in at right back he was too obstinate to persist with that game plan. Result? We lost the cup and a chance in Europe. Good luck to Ped the Ted now. (I see that Kenny Miller isn't wanting the coaching position)

  8. Warburton made his living on the stock exchange making promises and spreading confidence. He sold our Board as easily as he traded stocks and shares. It shOuld be no surprise that he spun a good tale and many were taken in. Myself included. Let it go and move on. If he's as bad as we believe he will fail wherever he manages. I am also beginning to question Traynor's role at Ibrox as we have lousy Press relations and poor PR.

  9. Spot on with this column!! I for one 2-3months into the season was sick of hearing same rubbish coming out his mouth n performances wer getting worse n then what they tried to do at the end sheer snide of the Highest standards n I for one believed kings interpretation of wat Hapined like you said certain others did not, in the not to distant future they will also see Jst why kings keeping quiet n not flooding the bank with money of that I'm very sure. Once people's got it in for someone that's it no matter wat hapin i.e Miller coming after playing for them he's a legend in my eyes, mccoist who fought n fought behind the scenes for us stanch bluenose wud never do any wrong to club his hands wer tied in his reign n last king coming in an rescuing us in our moment of need before we wer total stripped of every asset we had. Leave this by saying these people should not have as short memories n look at facts not wat there dislikeof a person let's them believe try to be a bit more open minded all will come to fruition.

  10. Like quite a few of my fellow bears on here,i as everyone on here will know,backed mark warburton & davie weir to the hilt.Before i go on i do apologise to ibrox noise and all other bears who i criticised,for not fully backing warbs!I trusted warbs would get it right,i also didn't think in my wildest dreams,that warburton & weir would have done,what they did,by being totally dishonest and disloyal,to the greatest institution on the planet,"THE FAMOUS GLASGOW RANGERS"!!Lets get right behind our new manager pedro caixinha from the start!I really like the cut of this guy's jib,although time will tell!!I as a 'gers shareholder & season ticket holder,welcome pedro and all his backroom team,into the glasgow rangers family!!We are all willing you to do the business for us!!He's definitely impressed me so far,with his philosophy for our football club!Good luck pedro caixinha!!

    • i was against warburton after final against hibs ,schoolboy errors .lack passion and fight .think its all about money with that pair .think murty would be ideal beside pedro . look forward watching gers now . w,a,t,p

  11. hindsight is a wonderful thing,im left wondering how well murty might have done had he ben in charge @ the start of the season with a budget and his knowledge of the younger players. suppose we'll never know, but the outsider wasn't prepared to knock his pan in,he chased the dough.

  12. A found warburton out after 3/6 months 1 dimensional manager who didn't ever play the great football that ppl said he did okay mibe he did initially against your peterheads alloas Dumbartons airdries etc but a don't really count them coz they're utter shite anytime he played a half decent side stjohnston hibs Falkirk was found badly out. And it really really annoyed me when fans said this is the best fitba in 50 years ffs behave and don't be so disrespectful of actual good teams/managers of the past

  13. I just hope our new manager works, it was and always is easy to criticise when things are not working, My main fear at this point, there is a recurring familiarity at our club, namely Mr King, he continues to spin the story of investments, yet again (correctly) ramping up the necessity for season ticket purchases, remember his £30M became £18M and now he will invest another £12M, much of which was stated before the new manager was appointed. Yet there is no real evidence that he has put his hand in his pocket once. Assume the current directors and those providing the loans are completely happy with their situation, then all will be well, until the garbage van comes around to pick up more rubbish that is just not going away for some reason (legal liabilities, law suits, stadium costs and we need to find new talent at little or no cost, which I guess can be done). J

  14. You resign in written form, or in person to more than one person of authority… Neither of these things happened so NO resignation .. You may not like what happened but that does not make it wrong, his agent would have been asking about scenarios, if we do this what will the boards response be, all perfectly normally in negotiations .. Some much of your clubs problems would all disappear if more fans would open there eyes to "The Lying King" , money would slowly drip in, although I'm not saying life would be rosy as it wouldn't as some difficult decision need to be made. Until you open your eyes enjoy challenging Aberdeen as your not in our League

    • Though what you say may well be true you dont have proof only hear say. You would expect that some sort of legal advice was sought before accepting the resignation. We have obviously seen a cheap way of finishing the contract and with Nottingham having now hired all three you would expect some degree of true in what the Rangers board have stated. I had heard (which means nothing) that after Nottingham hired the caretaker Warburton and co wanted to say until some other unnamed team appeared on the seen and that all 3 would be released from their contracts for free at that time whether a day or a year into the future. That shows that our manager and backroom team are only looking out for themselves and had no interest in improving the current Rangers position other than collecting wages until a better offer came into view. I think the board made a brave move legally but knew atm the fans would back them as the story leaked. The truth will be heard in the end but a breakdown in relations was obvious and the end had to happen as who would want to continue with a manager who was proactively trying/willing to leave and that obviously the contract compensation was a massive stumbling block for both sides of the table.

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