The Jimmy Nicholl ‘problem’…

As regular readers will know, Ibrox Noise has recently been critical of Graeme Murty and his Rangers credentials. Having had such a promising time of it this calendar year, it came rather unstuck for the ex-Reading man when Celtic and Kilmarnock rather comfortably took three points from Ibrox in quick succession.

However, a question we have been posed by a number of our regulars is why is Jimmy Nicholl getting off scot-free?

Why are we only being critical of Murty’s recent performance and not that of Nicholl’s?

Our simple answer is this – for the same reason we didn’t blame Archie Knox, Yves Colleu, Andy Watson or Ally McCoist for weaker spots in Walter, PLG, Eck or Walter’s second spell.

At the end of the day, the assistant coach’s influence can only go so far, and then the final call rests with the manager. We have praised Nicholl’s influence previously, it seeming to be a steady pair of hands when things went well, coinciding with his arrival.

But with form drying up of late, it is not Jimmy Nicholl who the buck rests with. If we praise Murty for things going well, and we did, we must be critical of him when they don’t.

Not his number 1, 2 or 10, but him, the manager.

If we take the Mark Warburton example – while many fans now appear to dislike his assistant Davie Weir, few gave Weir direct credit for things going well in the Championship. It was not Weir is Magic – it was Warburton. The Weir song has been the same since he signed for us in his playing days.

And when things went badly in the SPL (and against SPL opponents), it was Warburton blamed for being unable to go to a plan B.

Weir really wasn’t lambasted to the same extent. Why would he? It wasn’t his call.

So, that is why we are not castigating Nicholl – because he isn’t the manager. He can guide, assist, and give words of wisdom, which Murty will either listen to or won’t.

But he can’t pick the players, or the formation, or the substitutes.

That’s why Murty is on the big bucks and that’s why he is praised when it works, and criticised when it doesn’t.

Not Nicholl.