After the farce of Fashion and the bravado of Beale, there’s a question now about Rangers people talking big in the press prior to an Old Firm and then failing to deliver on the day.
It’s giving fuel for trolling to the opposition, and a few Rangers fans are starting to question the wisdom of trash talk in the press before matches, with Sakala’s ‘other mob’ line haunting him to this day.
It’s all very well talking big in the press but you have to back it up – look at how the legendary Mohammed Ali would engage in cheap ego talk out of the ring, but in the ring he justified every inch of it by his ability and performance.
And Rangers are falling short of delivering on the promises against the team that matters.
The latest to engage the chat is James Tavernier, who asked whether Celtic would see a different Rangers, unwisely said yes, and was lured into the cheap talk again.
“We have to (improve) because we knew the performance in the final wasn’t good enough from our point of view. There is way more to give from us. So, yeah, definitely.”
It’s not as bad as what Sakala said, but it still seems to make promises and statements that he cannot guarantee, and that’s the problem.
The correct answer? ‘We need a better performance, we need to show up much more than the final, and if we prepare right, we hope to do that.’
The ‘definitely’ part of the statement makes a rod for Tavernier’s back, because he is now promising it will be a different Rangers next month, when it hasn’t been the last two attempts. And that’s a big claim to make when the evidence doesn’t match it.
Now, this is not Ibrox Noise conceding defeat, this is Ibrox Noise telling Rangers players and indeed manager to quit with the bravado and use words carefully, because the press and our enemies are happy to remind us of them if things don’t quite go to plan.
There’s just a bit too much bluster at the club – Dave King was legendary for it, for making big promises and talking huge, and Michael Beale is similar. But now that Sakala and Tavernier have joined in, we really feel like a media coach is needed to remind the players of a bit of humility and how to address the press.
It will just keep on biting us on the backside.