‘Sources close to Joey Barton’ have told TalkSport that the midfielder is determined to stay on at Ibrox.
With a dirty war underway to undermine the former Strangeways Prison convict all sources are being used to present their side of the story.
TalkSport is Barton’s favoured broadcaster. During the summer he covered Euro 2016 for the London based station, when he wants to slag off Brendan Rodgers the same broadcaster will give him a platform while it was TalkSport that Barton turned to to protest about his Sevco ban.
According to a report on the TalkSport website: “Barton is fully fit and ready to return to action for the Scottish side after extra training sessions on a break in Qatar.”
From the same source, which is apparently very close to the player: “TalkSPORT understands that Barton will still consider his future to be at Rangers until he is told otherwise.”
Reading between the lines Sevco will have to come up with a decent offer for the remainder of his two year contract or face having Barton enjoying an Ally McCoist style extended break on gardening leave.
Ibrox finance chief Stuart Robertson has already gone on record saying that the company may need additional finances to survive the season while bizarrely admitting that there is no set budget in place.
Even offering Barton a 12 month pay-off for the remaining 21 months of his deal would be a massive outflow of cash with the internet awash with rumours of financial strife.
Some sites have claimed that the £5m needed to repay Mike Ashley in January has been paid for out of season ticket money while persistent rumours suggest that a number of small bills are going unpaid.
It’s expected that the company that supplied Ibrox with Wifi will be back in court shortly to contest their broken contract.