If we at Ibrox Noise were to prepare a line-by-line summary of Steven Gerrard’s fibs to the fans, we’d be here all day.
The man, as most managers do, has told enough porkies down the years to make taking his comments at face value folly.
He is, however, very good with the media, and as such we report on the comments AT face value because doing otherwise wouldn’t be practical. We cannot respond to every statement he makes with questions and doubts – it would take up too much time.
An obvious recent example was the Ryan Jack promise, where first Jacko was to be ready in 10 days, then it turned into a further two weeks. Ibrox Noise had explained some weeks earlier that our midfielder would be very lucky to be seen in early September and sadly that was proven correct.
We also explained many weeks ago that Katic was to leave Ibrox, and most of the responses were outraged, given Stevie ‘loves’ him and explained Katic would be getting eased back into matches. A few weeks later he’s returned to Croatia in a deal likely to be made permanent.
What are we getting at here?
The statement ‘In Stevie We Trust’ can have a few meanings – do you trust what he says? Do you trust him to deliver success on the pitch? Do you trust him to have the club’s best interests at heart?
These three types of trust are all very different – he might lie through his teeth in the name of the club’s best interests, or he might do something which hurts the club’s best interests in order to win football matches on the pitch.
Like any boss, Gerrard has a balancing act – to try to blend all aspects of Rangers together while handling the media in as best a manner as he can.
This means, yes, Steven Gerrard will lie, and cannot be trusted to deliver on all his promises. Stevie made it clear that Patterson would be starting this season, and yet he barely has. He made it clear last season that Connor Goldson’s game time would be getting managed. It wasn’t.
But those fibs (lie is a very ugly word) are made for a reason, for Gerrard to deliver on his vision, and just because our boss says something does not make it true.
In fact, saying a fib may be the very reason he’s said anything at all. A red herring indeed.
So next time you blindly chant ‘In Stevie We Trust’ maybe ask yourself what kind of trust it is you put in him.
Because calling media outlets like Ibrox Noise liars for giving an honest interpretation of a Gerrard comment which later proved false isn’t particularly fair in itself.
Just a thought.