The Moaning After Pill

Aug 17 2008 Gordon Waddell

Gers Act Late To Silence Fans

IT'S hard to know what was louder. The sound of the stable door banging shut after the horse had bolted?

Or the racket of so many Rangers fans ramming it into reverse gear and screaming away from Crisis Central at top speed?

The journey from frustration to rage-fuelled protest to doeeyed optimism took around 96 hours, all in.

If you drew it on a graph from Monday afternoon to Friday night it would have had more spikes than a hedgehog holding Csaba Laszlo's blood pressure chart.

It began with the news Carlos Cuellar was offski, sparking a glut of season ticket returns and a cacophony of cries for Sir David Murray's departure.

Next up was the intrigue of a two-year loan deal for a talent like Aaron Niguez then the depression of losing out to Celtic for Glenn Loovens, their No.1 target to replace Cuellar.

Then came the inevitable approval of moves for the quality of Pedro Mendes and Mark Bresciano and the potential of Maurice Edu.

In a summer of borderline insanity, last week didn't just take the biscuit - it took a full family-size pack of Hobnobs.

But ask yourself this: Why did it ever come to the point where it needed the reaction we've just seen to spark a set of decisions that should have been made weeks ago?

Everyone and their auntie could see Rangers' midfield was in trouble the minute Barry Ferguson was injured.

If they'd done something then, signed the kind of player they're suddenly drafting in now, maybe the team would have had the shape needed to beat Kaunas.

And if they beat Kaunas?

Maybe Carlos would stick around for another season.

And if he does? Maybe they get past Aalborg. Make the £10million back they speculated to get there. Keep the £2.5m they handed to Celtic on a plate to sign the centre half THEY actually wanted in Loovens. But they didn't. And he didn't. And they didn't.

What were they left with?

Exactly the scenario I predicted last week. The flogging of the family silver. The sacrifice of the one to benefit the many.

It didn't need Nostradamus - it was a no brainer. The only way to fund the rebuild they needed.

Yet clearly not many Rangers fans thought Murray would have the gall to do it.

And fewer were taken in by the smoke and mirrors of get-out clauses and talk of record wage offers. That's the easiest cop-out in the world but was anyone kidded into believing it was Cuellar's decision, not theirs?

But as I said at the start, the horse is long gone anyway - this is them just closing the door.

The way last season finished, failure in the two competitions they coveted most, caused a black cloud to gather over Ibrox.

It needed something done in the summer to get rid of it. Something more than signing Kenny Miller, a move that just seemed to make the cloud blacker.

It needed a Mendes or an Aaron to shift it. Instead they got to Kaunas and you could see the cloud hanging there, almost sitting on their shoulders.

Murray does have a point, though - for the inane who simply say he should go, that it's all his fault, what exactly is their strategy for that event?

How many could pony up the millions to shift him and the millions more to put into action their own vision for the club?

Rounded to the nearest whole zero, the answer would be none.

Over the past two summers, assuming he gets his men this week, the club will have shelled out close to £30m on players.

Okay, their income from Alan Hutton and Europe last season takes up more than half that, but it's not exactly chump change - it just hasn't been spent particularly wisely.

However, the protesters have clearly done enough to rattle Murray's chain.

Why else does he wheel out his pet pooches to have his say in midweek, then follow up his state of the nation with some crumbs from the table to appease the proletariat.

The thing is, if what he's given them turns out to be enough to wrestle the title away from Celtic, chances are we will be looking at the same meltdown in green and white next summer when they have to flog a Boruc or a McGeady to make up for not being in Europe.

It will appease the majority - for now. Check back two weeks today after the first Old Firm game to find out if that's good for the whole season or not.