Desperate Daily Record again reaches for the Lewis Ferguson card

Not for the first time the Daily Record has reached for the Lewis Ferguson to ‘Rangers’ card.

It is a warm comforting tale for their declining army of readers as they contemplate the reality that Derek McInnes may not actually be their messiah.

The weekend had promised so much, especially after Benfica served up the starter.

Alas it all went badly wrong.

Rather than having McInnes’ side at the top of the table and Celtic In Crisis things are a bit different.

Celtic are four points clear at the top with questions being asked about the mentality of McInnes, his tactics and substitutions.

In troubled times the Record can be relied on to provide a good news story. The Record knows that Lewis Ferguson won’t be at Ibrox this side of his 30th birthday but what the hell?

There’s the harm in a reminder that Ferguson is a bear and spends every waking moment dreaming of playing alongside Dan Neil and Djeidi Gassama.

There you go.

Don Hutchison is a bear, forever tortured by turning down the chance to join Dick Advocaat’s side in 2001. Instead he chose to move from Sunderland to West Ham.

And since Hutchison covers Italian football for TNT he is ideally placed to discuss the daily heartbreak of a Bologna midfielder.

All of this can be cured with an £18m offer and a contract matching Ferguson’s Bologna wages.

The Record has been on the trail all summer long. Since McInnes signed Ferguson for Aberdeen it is natural that they’ll want a reunion at Ibrox. Obviously.

Apart from the fact that Hutchison is discussing two different clubs football in 2026 is almost unrecognisable from 2001.

If a died in the wool bear like Hutchison turned down Advocaat’s all stars what hope is there for Ferguson to join the current shambles.

Three trophies in a decade and no European football isn’t much of a calling card.

Meanwhile Ferguson has trips to Milan, Turin, Rome and Napoli to console him from his Ibrox heart-break.