Keith Jackson has launched a blistering attack on his old colleague James Traynor’s Ibrox spin machine.
The row between Kenny Miller and Pedro Caixinha has escalated out of control with the Sevco boss, and by extension his club, finding no support in the media over this dispute.
Miller has been portrayed as the villain of the day as far as the club are concerned. Last season’s model professional is now being branded as a disruptive influence out to undermine the club with one Ibrox website being used to push that message.
Today’s Jackson piece makes various references to that site and the club’s outsourced PR department with none of the comments close to being complimentary.
There is no evidence that Miller is the source of the leaks to the Record with the situation only going to get worse as more attempts are made to trash the strikers reputation.
Updating the situation Jackson explains in the Record: “By Friday night TV pundits were tossing around words like ‘rat’ live on BT Sport while discussing his predicament, language which is completely unfounded.
“To make matters even more sinister, Miller was also accused of leaking information directly to this newspaper on a website which has very obvious and well established links with the malfunctioning Rangers PR machine.
“The same website, for that matter, which leaked news of Caixinha’s Murray Park meltdown in the first place – while presenting it as a stroke of managerial genius in a painfully transparent, Pravda-esque attempt at controlling the narrative.
“The entire episode is an absolute mess and, shamefully, it’s Miller who has been made to pay the ultimate price for this rank amateurism. Years and years of dedication to his sport in the name of squeezing every last ounce of ability out of his body now tarnished by a manager who is out of his depth in charge of Rangers and a whispering campaign which has been maliciously designed to maximise reputational damage.
“You can almost hear them saying ‘Aye well, the Record would say that, wouldn’t they? He’s their leak after all!’
“So let’s get this absolutely and categorically clear for all of those Rangers observers out there. Kenny Miller was not the source of the information around which we wrote the story of Caixinha declaring war on his own players. Nor, for that matter, was it Miller who told us of Caixinha’s subsequent decision to drop him from the squad which travelled to Hamilton on Friday night.
“To suggest otherwise is not only a wilful fabrication but also potentially libellous should Miller’s lawyers decide to act. But for this to be published on a website which sits so snugly under the wing of the club’s outsourced PR department? That’s a scandalous state of affairs and one which points to some very serious issues behind the scenes of this never ending Ibrox soap opera.
Turning his scorn on to Caixinha Jackson added: “Miller is neither a rat nor a snitch. He is a victim of an inexperienced, egotistical manager who is struggling to command the respect of his dressing room and who thinks, by taking out the talisman, he will bring the rest of them into line. And of a Machiavellian attempt at character assassination.
“He’ll have to ride this one out now because Caixinha doesn’t appear to be a man of compromise. There is unlikely to be sufficient space inside the same dressing room for both men from here on in so it looks likely that one of them will soon have to make way.”
With almost complete media backing for Miller the future for Caixinha looks very bleak with only one favoured website prepared to support the current manager.
Miller can perform a work to rule, just as Joey Barton did, with no one at Ibrox prepared to show the leadership that will bring an end the Caixinha farce before it claims another victim of mismanagement after Micky O’Halloran, Rod Kiernan, Harry Forrester, Barrie McKay and now Miller were given the cold shoulder.
