The four signs of the end of Barrie McKay

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The four signs of the end of Barrie McKay
 Article by: Ibrox Noise

With it becoming increasingly plain over the past 24 hours that Barrie McKay’s time at Ibrox draws to an accelerated end, many Bears might be shaking their head wondering how it got this far, so quickly.

Only six months ago, despite an overall unimpressive maiden season in the SPL, McKay was ‘the future of Rangers’, the star winger Mark Warburton was going to build his team around, and he would be much better with much better players around him.

McKay had starred for Scotland, had scored ‘that’ goal against Celtic last April year, and a new contract was in the offing.

It looked to all intents and purposes that McKay was going to be the focal point of Rangers’ attack, with some fans valuing him at approaching eight figures and how he was essentially unsellable.

Fast-forward to July and a ‘bidding war’ between two lower English Championship teams has ensued for his services, with reports that the 22-year old will go for as little as six figures.

How did it come to this?

The first obvious sign of a deterioration between Rangers and Barrie McKay was in October 2016. McKay’s step up to the SPL had not gone well and then-manager Mark Warburton dumped him from the first team following a string of poor displays.

In McKay’s defence he did not complain, but buckled down and gave his all when on as a sub, and it did appear to be one of the bread man’s better management actions, with McKay producing more. He was recalled to the first team and did seem, briefly, to be over his form drop.

It did not last, and within a few weeks McKay was back to underwhelming. This time, however, he was not to lose his spot.

Not till the third sign, but we shall get to that. The second? His rejection of a wage increase and two year extension. True, it was reportedly the first offer on the table, but it was still an increase, and he got most fans’ backs up with his dismissal of a better wage and longer deal.

Some fans justified his stance as that players never accept the first offer, but the reality is McKay should have on this occasion. Having a poor season in the SPL, still technically only a ‘prospect’, he did not truly have a lot of negotiating clout and Rangers never gave a second offer.

As for that third sign? Pedro Caixinha. One of the first things the Portuguese did was freeze Barrie out, for right or wrong. It was evidently plain to anyone watching Barrie under Caixinha’s charge that the winger was not interested. His heart was not in it, his effort was down by 80% and frankly he was being a bit unprofessional. If you are reading, Barrie, and you disagree heartily – well, only you know what you feel, but you looked languid, disinterested, and you were barely running.

Barrie and Caixinha, for whatever reason, just did not gel, did not click, and McKay became the high-profile victim of the new manager.

And the final sign? Barrie’s recent ditching to the youths – quite frankly we have no idea why Pedro decided to completely damage the amount he could get for him by dumping him to the unders – he made it clear the player was not wanted or wanted to leave, and instead of cleverly getting word to clubs that he might be available for the right price, has instead made it quite clear he wants shot, ultimately damaging the value Rangers can get for a guy we once truly believed/hoped would be a multi-million pound player.

And here we are. There have been other minutiae in there too – the banning of green boots, as idiotic as it seems, appears more of a personal assault on McKay than anything else, given he was the main guy in the squad to wear that colour, much to the pantomime chagrin of a number of fans, plus the dismissal of McKay as a problem that Pedro conceded he ‘did not care about’.

But ultimately from the poster boy of the Rangers squad, for right or for wrong, McKay has been dumped into six figures and a potential inglorious career in the midranges of English football.

Truth is, a lot of Rangers fans will not even miss him. A sad end.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. Don't know the lad or the background- he always seemed quite quiet in interviews and in some of the stuff he did for the Scotland squad.
    Maybe badly advised or, as happens far too much in this country, started to believe his own hype.
    Best for me was when he played the "10" role behind the attack for a game or two. He was devastating there. When crossing is not your strongest skill, you shouldn't be out on the wing.

    Have to say, though, much as I am behind Ped, his treatment of players is pretty shoddy.

    I have serious reservations about his man management skills and if we lose McKay because of that, it's a real shame.

    Maybe the truth will out, but I doubt it.

  2. This is the same player who was supposedly interesting Leipzig and a crazy figure of 8million euros getting bandied about now we are down to under a million pounds we need to get a good pr man to get the most for the club out of transfers, across the city the unwashables are getting mad money for average players as for pedro I am concerned regards some of his decisions and comments time will tell

  3. not to mention he wears green boots 🙂 . I think this could have been handled better tbh. Short sighted and a shame, Pedro has obviously taken a dislike to the boy. I think he would have offered more than Dalcio in mid week. We as fans maybe expected to much from a player playing his 1st year in the top division. He seems to be a player who needs alot of love. I also think he missed Wallace as much as the team did overall at the end of last season.

  4. There must be more to this than meets the eye,he had a good spell in midfield but when it comes to the crunch he's not got the strength or the bottle for that spot,also if he's about to be sold we should be saying we want x amount for him,i'm sick fed up with us giving players away on the cheap when every other club wants to screw us when we want a player from them.

  5. Everybody but Rangers it seems Knows he's a decent player,far more than 750k would suggest .
    If Norwich can hold out for more when it's clear a player wants away
    why can't we??

  6. We got rid of Ross McCormack years ago and he went on to sign for £8m, now it looks as if we are losing Barrie.

    I have the solution. Loan him to Nottingham Forrest and bring him back to Rangers when Pedro has been hounded out of the club – when he is finally found out.

    I really do want to be wrong, but I just don't TRUST PEDRO'S JUDGEMENT ANYMORE!

    • That would be a great option if he had more than a year on his contract. Worst case we get him back more experienced, best case he romps it and his value shoots up. Didnt McCormick score the goal that puts us into the group stage of the champions league and then we let him go ? Strange to say the least

  7. Ever consider the fact he knows what the other lads are on and feel he's deserves to be paid the same? If I was him I'd be expecting to be getting paid at least the same as waggy, Tav and Holt etc. If they're not offering him at least what they're getting I can see why he's turned it down.

    Maybe Barrie is the mole Pedro was looking for.

    I often wonder if alot of the stories coming out of ibrox are fake news to try and find the leak. 🙂

  8. I am starting to worry about Ped, first he lets Halliday go who in my opinion is a much better player than Holt and Windass who are still with us. I know he had a poor season last year but then so did nearly everyone, and now were about to let McKay go for peanuts. We need width and pace to stretch teams (look at septic and brenda is on record as saying she likes pace). So many times last year we never really had any pace or penertration to hurt teams again unlike septic who took everyone apart. A good manager would put his arm around Barry and get the best out of him, and i know it's early but i am not sure if many of Ped's new signings will be a success at least Halliday and McKay new what Rangers were all about.

  9. It seems Barry is wanting to leave for higher wages and be molly cuddled by the loaf man. I wanted him to stay and fight for the jersey, but he isn't up for it, therefore, needs to go. We can't afford passengers in our quest for Europe and the league. Only players with hearts of lions will survive Rangers, Barry seems to have the heart of a hamster!

  10. It will be very interesting to see how he plays in the Championship. I think he will find it an uncompromising environment for himself. He doesn't like close marking and that is what he will get.

  11. Couldn't agree more I would keep him he is 10 times the player Dalcio is.
    Got to say his attitude has not been great but this can be sorted.
    Pedro will not be here in 18 months or less .This will prove a costly mistake.I hope I am 100% wrong

  12. If he doesn't fight for the jersey he shouldn't play. To have down tools at ibrox the other month was disgraceful. No matter what's going on in the back ground no player should pack up when playing at ibrox for the sake of the club. His ego is more important than the club and doesn't deserve to be here

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