Soon after Phil Clement’s quotes about the state of finances at Ibrox were released one senior member of Follow Follow warned that the move to Hampden will be for the full season. Both issues are related.
Slowly the Ibrox PR machine has been drip feeding the bad news about their crumbling stadium with Clement admitting that the reality that he is facing wasn’t discussed when he discussed replacing Micky Beale last October.
Failure to win the SPFL title alongside the botched job of adding 600 seats to the Copland Road Stand has delivered a double whammy which the 2012 Tribute Act could struggle to recover from.
Clement was already facing a tight budget due to the excesses of previous managers which has lumbered him with a bloated squad on wages way above what they would get elsewhere.
That has been reflected in the lack of genuine interest in players like James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo, Cyriel Dessers, Todd Cantwell and Sam Lammers.
Delays on the building work result in higher costs, moving to Hampden involves further costs while the tap from matchday income is reduced to a trickle.
The attempt to news manage by the Ibrox board has been a complete failure, they might have their media messengers hanging on every word but all around is evidence that the issues are more than a rogue Asian trader being late with the delivery of mystery materials which are presumed to be steel from China.
Three days before the confirmation that Ibrox wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season a meeting of the Fan Advisory Board was reassured that all was well with obsessed Selik fans behind the worrying WhatsApp messages.
The fans with brogues and blazers were in for a shock on June 20 when the closure was announced, messengers were told that it was only going to be for one month with a mystery employee sacked as John Bulldog Bennett taking full control of the issue.
As ever the truth was revealed elsewhere even though Barry Ferguson told Daily Record readers that the closure would only last a few weeks.
Last Sunday Keith Jackson uncovered the news that Hampden would be home for Clement’s side for the foreseeable future with the carrot that Ibrox could reopen in October.
That was followed soon after by claims that the January 2 visit of Celtic was the likely date for Ibrox to reopen, now it seems that timeline is on the optimistic side.
On Thursday the club made a statement that said very little other than Executive Chairman Bisgrove promising that he might make another comment before the end of July.
On social media and message-boards Bennett is being trashed by supporters, they’ve finally realised that whatever announcements he makes are only aimed at covering up worse news, trying to deflect fans away from the reality of the condition of Ibrox with Clement and the team facing the consequences.
Much more is likely to come out in the week ahead with the SPFL opener against Motherwell on August 10 still to have a venue.
Either side of that there is a Champions League Third Round qualifier to be faced with the odds stacking up against Clement being able to salvage a £30m lifeline.
When Ally McCoist failed against Malmo in 2011 the club he managed was in liquidation within 12 months, only a fool would back against similar consequences if Clement fails to get his ramshackle squad of misfits and projects through two qualifying rounds running through August.
CLICK HERE for Ibrox messenger lets slip over December re-opening.
CLICK HERE for Ibrox closure announcement.
