Jealous Tom English salutes outstanding Sportsound colleagues as they join the Ferguson Revolution at Ibrox

Tom English has penned a glowing reference to 50% of Barry Ferguson’s newly installed coaching team at Ibrox.

Neil McCann and Billy Dodds have temporary left BBC Scotland but remain cherished members of Kenny Macintyre’s WhatsApp group after hours spent recalling fun filled stories from their playing days with vast sums tucked away in Offshore Trusts.

The last of McCann’s 65 matches in charge of Dundee came in October 2018, since then he has been on the media circuit bar a spell as Inverness Caley Thistle Caretaker during the Lockdown season when John Robertson was ill.

At least he has managed in the top flight, Billy Dodds’ managerial career is confined to The Championship, he was sacked by Caley Thistle in September 2023 after failing to win any of their first nine matches.

Like McCann he turned to BBC Scotland for the easy life as a pundit although he wasn’t having much fun at Ibrox discussing the Scottish Cup defeat to Queens Park on Sportscene.

In his usual manner, assessing the Ferguson’s management team at Ibrox English can only see bright times ahead as he explained on the BBC Scotland website:

He’s supported by Neil McCann, a terrific BBC pundit and a big personality. His managerial jobs were at Dundee in 2017-18 and as Inverness Caledonian Thistle caretaker in 2021. McCann is bright and energetic and has been brutally honest in his punditry about Rangers’ weaknesses.

Billy Dodds, another respected Sportsound voice, is a part of the temporary regime too. Like McCann, he’s been outspoken on where Rangers have been going wrong under Clement. Of the four coaches, he has had the most success by far.

That really isn’t much of a benchmark, a bit like being the Chief Sports Writer at BBC Scotland. ‘Another respected Sportsound voice’ most listeners are waiting on the first with Mikey Stewart increasingly sidelined.

English is of course still grieving over the failings of Phil Clement, once again he had fully invested emotionally on someone to break Celtic’s domination of Scottish football. Alas big Phil failed, another victim of Brendan Rodgers, the man English detests more than any other in football.

Without the disguised remuneration scams that enticed McCann, Dodds and Ferguson to Rangers in their playing days life has been much tougher for recent Ibrox managers.

Clement outlasted Micky Beale and Giovanni van Bronckhirst but still exits Scottish football with less trophy wins on his CV than Callum Davidson who contributed one of the final blows to A Proper Football Manager.

Surprisingly English put together two articles on the one day, earlier he had put the tissues away long enough to admit that he had backed another loser in Clement.

The Belgian Beale surprisingly lasted 16 months but could have been sacked anytime from last May onwards, only the Gullible & Deluded thought that he had done a decent job.

A year ago Clement’s side were at the top of the SPFL Premiership table, without a trophy win in 12 months they currently trail Celtic by 13 points with #title55 looking inevitable for Scotland’s Most Successful Club.

Reflecting on the failings of the Belgian that he so admired, English wrote:

He did not have much of a budget for players – savage amounts of money had been wasted on poor players and downsizing has been the order of the day for a while now.

As he attempted to build a young team with sell-on value in the future while remaining competitive in the present, his team was callow, inconsistent and flaky.

And then there were the weaknesses in his own management, not all that visible in the beginning but more and more apparent as time went on, as Celtic disappeared over the horizon and Rangers’ hair caught fire in their desperation to chase them.

He did spent £4.5m on Mohamed Diomande, £3m on Nedim Bajrami with another £4m committed in the summer on Oscar Cortes, with that sort of backing you shouldn’t be losing back to back matches to St Mirren either side of a home Scottish Cup defeat to Queens Park.

English added:

You always knew that turbulence was just around the corner.

As big and as tough as Clement was in those early days, he was slowly chewed up by the pressure of trying to steer the ship out of the dock when it was already tied to the harbour wall.

When Clement first came under pressure there was clear word from his bosses at Ibrox that they were going to keep faith in him, that no good would come from sacking another manager and starting again.

No one was predicting turbulence around the corner a year ago, least of all the biggest cheerleader at BBC Scotland where he outdid his colleagues Macintyre and Lamont as he prepared for treble celebrations alongside the departure of Rodgers. The party hats and streamers had been booked early in spring.

It is the hope that kills them and no-one invested more hope in Clement than the big fella known affectionately within BBC Scotland as House Paddy.

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