First off reports are that his Bolton loan was pretty poor – fans of the Wanderers have been scathing in their assessment of the right back – essentially suggesting he didn’t produce what they’d expected and they were glad to see the back of him. The big caveat here of course is, with all due respect to them… they’re Bolton.
It is hard for a Liverpool player to lift themselves up on loan at a relegation-contending Championship side who only escaped such a fate by two points. This is not to disrespect the Trotters – they’re an honourable and decent club, but some players just don’t do well at lower flight clubs especially on loan. Most of Rangers’ loanees going out struggle at their loan clubs too – Harry Forrester, Joe Dodoo, Carlos Pena to name three recent examples all failed to impress at Wimbledon, Charlton and Azul Cruz respectively.
However, there is also the moral issue, and we admit at Ibrox Noise we’re a little troubled by it too. Flanagan’s conviction was disquieting. It wasn’t just a little slap, or even a vile punch, but CCTV confirmed it was a full on assault and the lad threatened someone else who tried to intervene. It was ugly, vicious, and not what we want to see.
He was lucky to escape incarceration and he knows it. Many will point to our manager Steven Gerrard also being caught on CCTV involved in a bar room brawl as well, and that too was disturbing, but drunken boys will be drunken boys with each other and alpha males mixed with fermented vegetable juice frequently works out badly. But Flanagan’s case was with a female, and that makes it even uglier.
We don’t have any intention of making moral judgements on Flanagan’s character – he was a model citizen till then, and the girl didn’t leave him on top of his absolute remorse over it. Everyone is entitled to a second chance, and everything is wiped clean for us under Gerrard – not just our own underperforming players’ displays last season, but those we sign too.
We have all made dreadful mistakes in life, and none of us is perfect enough to be sanctimonious about the actions of others. He did the crime and he’s paid for it.
It’s the hard reset button for us with regards anything he did in the past. Including playing poorly for Bolton.
He has a blank slate – here’s hoping the lad makes good use of it.
and the BBC on their Kaye Adams radio show had a whole program about it. I am not condoning what the boy did – it was shocking, but he has had his punishment and he has shown large dollops of remorse. However, the BBC who do not mention Rangers news unless it is a negative ie they do not report on RFC signings, at all, and very seldom on what goes on unless it is to do with tax cases and the like, but now they are taking the moral high ground with this story. Do not remember the BBC having a program about Neil Lennon and his shenanigans with his wives/girlfriends and bits on the side.
The difference is being a player that came through at Liverpool I would expect gerard to be an idol of his., and will no doubt keep him in line. Plus it’s really his last chance so I expect him to make the most of it
I think that the actions he opted to take that night are dreadful but in all honesty it appears from the people who know him to be completely out of character for the lad. I firmly believe that you only learn through making mistakes and in this country we try and rehabilitate people who commit offences. This lad had most likely grafted his arse off both personally and professionally to remain at Liverpool and save his relationship with his partner, so for me I want to judge this boy on the pitch and not on his past. Welcome to the Rangers
Agree ….its a hard reset …. We all have skeletons its just they are not played out in the media. The boy deserves a second chance and our full support.
That said … the abuse both he and Gerrard will receive at Pittodrie on opening day will once again embarrass Scotland in front of a global media.
An excellent very fair article which told the truth about what Flanigan did last December.
Don't Agree with The Signing
Think their is other RBs out there we could have signed instead but oh well 🤔
Let he who is without sin
Cast the first stone
Then shut the fk up
And party like its 1999
Agree.
Don't give a flying fukc about his past. The girl is still with him. Doh!
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