Keith Jackson’s despair at the 49GERS Revolution takes a cruel, ironic twist

Keith Jackson is on the brink of raising the white flag on Russell’s Revolution.

In a cruel twist of fate the veteran Daily Record reporter is of the mindset that Hearts could present the strongest title challenge to Celtic.

If only the Ibrox decision makers had listened to Jacko then his mate Derek McInnes would be in charge rather than the deluded hipster that is Russell Martin.

This morning Hearts are level at the top of the SPFL Premiership table, the Ibrox Tribute Act are in sixth place with their next match a visit from the four-in-a-row champions.

Since February Jackson has been teasing the Record’s Army of Readers about the incoming brilliance of the San Francisco 49ers, six months on nothing has really changed with James Tavernier, Jack Butland and John Souttar leading some new faces for some post-match booing from the home fans after the 1-1 draw with Dundee.

It all makes for painful viewing for loyal bears, sharing that hurt and pain Jackson tells Record readers:

These emotionally exhausted fans simply will not tolerate watching the surrender of another league title.

But soon they may have even more to fret over than just the continuation of decades of Celtic’s domestic superiority.

Because when Hearts left Tannadice on Sunday evening having banked six points from six, a more humiliating reality might have been beginning to dawn on them.

Even just the idea of McInnes emerging as the man most likely to throw down any kind of credible challenge to the champions would represent a step too far for a Rangers support that regularly prickles and rails against at the suggestion their own club should have hired the same man years ago.

No one has pushed the idea with more enthusiasm than Jackson at the Record, it has been a long held dream that he is unable to give up on.

The consensus seems to be that McInnes is just too damn obvious. Or perhaps his style of management is too mundane.

And now here they are, attempting to cling to the notion that Martin’s more modern, blue-sky approach to winning games of football might yet offer them some kind of theological fulfillment.

There’s a great deal going on here and much of it can be unpacked and filed under wishful thinking. More worrying still, it may have been based on something of a myth.

Martin’s managerial record is bang average but as a deep thinker and hipster he has been given legendary status, something that the Record and other Ibrox messengers got on board with as soon as it became obvious that he was about to climb the marble staircase.

The widely held assumption was that Martin would transform his side’s style of play in much the same way as Ange Postecoglou did for Celtic, when he hit the SPFL like a big Aussie juggernaut a few summers ago.

But the early indications suggest this isn’t remotely close to Angeball. It feels a lot more like Yawnball.

At times, over his first five games in charge, it has looked almost as if Rangers are trying to bore the opposition into submission.

We know who introduced the idea of Angeball II at Ibrox, it was utterly ridiculous but provided comfort against a vegan, Buddhist that is a member of the Green Party taking over from Barry Ferguson.

Jackson concludes with the very real prospect of Celtic going to Ibrox on August 31 with a seven point lead with Hearts the likely target for the Ibrox men, with or without their bearded hipster still in the dug-out after the September international break.

Barry Ferguson remains on standby but could face serious competition from Livingston’s impressive manager David Martindale who is the exact opposite to the current boss in football and non-footballing beliefs.