Uncle Walter and Anti Football: How Rangers Are Ruining Scottish Football
Long-suffering Rangers boss Walter Smith certainly looks all of his 61 years. Yet the former Scotland manager's famously stony demeanour could yet harden further.
His players again dropped points at the weekend in a result that saw the Ibrox side fail to put any pressure on arch-rivals, Celtic. In playing Hearts at home, Rangers - known colloquially as The Slow Badgers - could only manage a draw.
Hearts are one of the Scottish Premier League form teams, but for Rangers fans the result was unacceptable. After - and indeed, during - the game, things turned ugly.
Billy Jack, a diehard bluenose who lives in the shadow of Rangers' crumbling Ibrox stadium, was at the game on Saturday. He knows exactly who's to blame.
"David Murray, needs to put his hands in his pockets," he rasped outside as we chatted on Glasgow's famous mean streets. "The chairman has neglected to buy us players. Where are the heroes of yesteryear? Where are the Nietos? The Daniel Prodans? The Kyle Laffertys?"
It's not just the skinflint chairman that gets it in the neck though.
Billy, a former forklift truck cleaner, added, "Uncle Walter doesn't know what he's doing anymore. When will he play players in their correct position?
"He's been playing a 4-5-1, but that's far too adventurous. When we were two goals up, we should have been playing six at the back - a tactic we pioneered in last season's much-admired UEFA cup run."
Alas, Rangers rolled over like a crocodile at feeding time and conspired to lose their lead - the match finished 2-2.
A win would have put the pressure on Celtic, who - luckily for the long-suffering hordes of Slow Badger fans - failed to capitalize following a blip at Dundee United. It was no consolation for Walter Smith though.
"I still think there will be twists and turns in the run-in," he mused.
"We still have a home game against Celtic. The pressure is on us as the chasing team to win it."
Indeed, and that pressure might just get worse.
