Deluded Adrian Durham has performed the ultimate u-turn after watching his hero Mark Warburton being cruelly exposed as a one trick pony by the jobsworth managers in the SPFL Premiership.
Less than a year ago the least talented talkSPORT presenter was howling at the moon with a claim that Warbo was a future England manager.
It seems that a penalty shoot out win over Ronny Deila is all that is needed to become England manager with Durham falling for the hype over the former city trader.
Unfortunately for Durham and Warbo, by the age of 54 you usually discover if you can cut it as a manager against Ross County and St Johnstone. Warbo was miles out of his depth.
On talkSPORT today Durham writes: “It seems there really were people north of the border, even self-proclaimed experts, who genuinely thought Rangers would challenge Celtic for the title this season. Nobody with serious football knowledge thought that. And yet Mark Warburton leaves Glasgow with some buffoons thinking he has failed.”
Ten months ago Durham wrote in the Daily Mail: “Warburton has something special going on at Ibrox. They play out from the back, he trusts his players to pass the ball and it’s so easy on the eye.
“Don’t underestimate the potential value to the national team of what Warburton’s doing: he is coaching several Scottish players, and giving them confidence on the ball, and the ability to pass and receive the ball. It won’t be long before the national team benefits from that.
“Warburton’s aim is take Rangers back into the Champions League. If he does that, and Rangers show up well in Europe’s top competition, don’t rule out Warburton’s name being linked with the England job in the future. His teams play wonderful football. On top of that he is a diplomat who has handled the Old Firm rivalry with class and ease, and he is brilliant with the media. He ticks so many boxes with the Football Association.
“It’s obvious Scottish football was desperate to get Rangers back in the big time. But it had to be a good Rangers, one capable of being competitive. In a short space of time, Mark Warburton has delivered on that – he’s the Englishman coming to the rescue of Scottish football. Sunday was just the beginning.”
Back on talkSPORT Durham explained: “What about his budget? is the cry from people I can only assume would have been happy to see Rangers demoted to oblivion rather than the third division a few years ago. These are the guys on social media who claim this is a new Rangers, the old one died and no longer exists according to them. Well if that’s true maybe a brand new club that has fought its way up to the top half of the top flight in the space of just a few years should be applauded rather than abused.”
Adrian it is a new Rangers, a ‘Rangers’ without the unstinting, unquestioning support of the Bank of Scotland. A Rangers without an overdraft despite almost five years of trading.
It’s a Rangers that HMRC are watching on a weekly basis in case they try to return to the tricks of the old club.
It’s a Rangers that hasn’t been given a Champions League entry ticket by the SFA.
It’s a Rangers that every manager in the Premiership is confident of taking points off, a Rangers that is 27 points behind Celtic and dreading a visit to Celtic Park on March 12.
It’s a Rangers that thousands of Scottish football fans are growing to love on a daily basis. Hopefully Peterborough will be able to give Mr Warbo a chance to show the Jocks the managerial genuis that they failed to recognise.