The Banter Years are over- Keith Jackson EXCLUSIVE!

It was back in March 2017, Keith Jackson genuinely believed that The Banter Years were over.

Why? Well the combination of Clint Hill and Pedro Caixinha had lifted the gloom that had descended over the Daily Record since the arrival of a billionaire to take over from Dave Murray at Ibrox.

And not just any old billionaire, one that came from Motherwell with wealth off the radar, so rich that he had a castle in the Highlands, unfortunately he defaulted on the mortgage leaving his wife and kids homeless.

Pesky facts like that were for those sad, Internet Bampots, not for opinion makers like Jackson as he preached to the Record’s Army of Readers. Scottish Sports Writer of the year in 2012, 2013 and 2014 no less. Colleague Gary Ralston was a gallant runner-up in 2014.

The bad days are over, rejoice, peace in our time. Oh how they celebrated Hill’s equaliser against the soon to be Celtic Invincibles. It was like VE night along the road at Bridgeton Cross- and the Record Sports Desk.

Anything was now possible with Caixinha picking up on the hard graft by Graeme Murty, no longer would be be remembered for a head-stand away to Dundee or nervously chewing at his club anorak.

Murty had picked up the blazer from Mark Warburton, restored pride and belief as the new club embarked on their first ever top flight campaign.

Warburton called on Joey Barton, Nicky Kranjcar and Phil Senderos but lost 5-1 to Celtic six months earlier, now the future was bright with a new man in charge, head hunted from the fifth best team in Kuwait.

The morning after Hill’s iconic equaliser Jackson told the Record’s Army of Readers:

They’ve already coined a phrase for it.

Those Rangers fans still able to cling to a sense of perspective through a period of unprecedented, unrelenting chaos are now referring to it as the ‘banter years’.

A self-deprecating catch-all tag for the farce which began to unfold upon them the moment Craig Whyte’s pointy, buckled shoes first stepped into their lives. One which covers every toe-curling event since, from administration, Duff and Phelps, liquidation and Charlie Big Hands to Peterhead away, gardening leave, Bilel Mohsni and Graeme Murty ’s head stand.

Throughout it all, it has felt as if Rangers have existed almost entirely for the purpose of winding up their own supporters.

But yesterday at Celtic Park, quite unexpectedly, Murty and his players turned in a performance which, while not quite good enough to deliver a win on derby day, did allow them to make it safely back across the city with their self-respect intact and maybe even enhanced.

With Pedro Caixinha watching on from the main stand before officially being unveiled as the club’s new manager today there is even the possibility Rangers might finally be ready to be taken seriously again.

More chance of the Record being taken seriously or sales climbing to 50,000 this month.

But while that will depend entirely on what Caixinha brings to the role, at least the man minding the shop can walk away with his own head held high after a torturous few weeks at the helm.

What is without any doubt is that this share of the spoils was a personal triumph for Murty, the caretaker manager who went into this game like some sort if sacrificial lamb.

Promoted from the post of Under-20s coach one month ago, Murty was shoehorned into the hotseat against his better judgment and catapulted into the thick end of a crisis which was created when Mark Warburton’s magic hat – not to mention his resignation letter – disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Another one for the banter years.

Eight years later The Banter Years shows no sign of easing up, unlike the sales decline of the Record, now just below 40,000 per day with three or four thousand tuning in to a five times a week podcast oozing with cutting edge and breaking football news.

Rangers fans created The Banter Years as they switched their backing to the Tribute Act created by Charles Green. While SPL clubs went to the wall, denied the precious blue pound that they had fed off for decades.

The Banter Years was a reference to their three year march through the lower divisions, reaching the top flight as the mightiest club in the land to watch a succession of trebles being captured.

Well they got one part right.

The three year journey was extended by a year, Ally McCoist walked away with defeats to Annan, Peterhead and Stirling Albion on his CV, Alloa Athletic proved just too much for the cheeky chappie to bear.

Since Caixinha’s seven month role in The Banter Years Mister Gerrard, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Micky Beale, Phil Clement and now Russell Martin have been given the full backing of the Record to end the misery that they have lived through.

Now all hope is invested in the so-called 49ers, a mysterious group headed by Andrew Cavenagh who struck a deal to buy shares from Dave King. Anyone in cahoots with a man described as a Glib and Shameless Liar by a South African judge is for the watching.

But not at the Daily Record where hope lives on forever, it did for mad Pedro, things are so grim now that their optimism now rests on a vegan Buddhist who is a member of the Green Party.

Don’t forget folks, those darned Banter Years are over, Keith told us in March 2017.

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