On the topic of Joe Rothwell there was a massive nail in his Rangers coffin. This was certainly the case under Russell Martin. It came when he liked a comment on social media some months ago.
The social media moment
The social media comment referred to remarks made on a podcast. The comments came from his former Blackburn Rovers teammate Barry Douglas. In it Douglas said Rothwell is more of an eight or a ten. He said Rothwell is not really a six.
Fundamentally we are not 100% clear on the position he played at Leeds. However he played as a six come eight at Ibrox. He was absolutely hopeless in that role.
Played out of position claims
It is abundantly clear he was no Barry Ferguson. However Douglas made the claim. Or at least Bannon suggested that that was not the type of player Rothwell was meant to be. Russell Martin was playing Rothwell out of positon.
Consequently one might ask what was or is his best position. Ibrox Noise does not actually care. Actually what we would say is that Douglas’ view is mildly deluded:
“quickest guy on the planet with the ball”
Praise that rang hollow
Douglas praised Rothwell to the hilt. He said the best he’d ever seen included Rothwell. This was for close control and attacking quality. Joe Rothwell. Not Lionel Messi. Joe Rothwell. Bournemouth did not even want to keep him anymore.
The reality is Rothwell was a deeply underwhelming signing. Many fans misjudged him entirely. When Barry Douglas tells you Rothwell is borderline Pele you grow suspicious. You suspect teammates are being kind.
The end was inevitable
If Rothwell was really all that he would shine. He did not. Rangers had already numbered Joe Rothwell’s days. That happened as soon as he liked that post. The post directly attacked Russell Martin. It did so indirectly. Directly and indirectly. A nice fallacy there.
He is set to leave regardless. We cannot say we saw the brilliant close control or outstanding vision. We did not see incredible play as Douglas described. But hey we are not geniuses. We get the odd thing wrong.
At the end of the day he is due to leave very soon. And the sooner the better.