Los (-ing?) Gerlacticos off to Dens

We’re still just one defeat away from a change of manager. What has altered this week is the the results. A 1-0 defeat in Funchal, Madeira became a nervy 1-0 win over Inverness at Ibrox which became a strange 2-0 win away to Aberdeen. The performances have obviously improved within that six-day spell but nowhere near enough to have the Rangers support again declaring their undying love for Alex.

And that’s okay if it continues for the next week. Because what McLeish needs now is two results - two wins from his next two games are absolutely vital for our season and, therefore, his future. He then has until the next Old Firm game on November 20th to get us looking like a real Rangers team again.

Yeah, I know - when isn’t it “vital ” that Rangers win! Fair enough but I remember John Greig resigning between the two legs of another European tie against Portugese oposition. Twenty one years ago, The Legend packed it in following a home defeat by Motherwell which came hard upon a loss at Dens Park. Porto lost the first leg of the Cup-Winners’ Cup bout 2-1 at Ibrox but, with Tommy McLean as caretaker, we lost 1-0 in Portugal. This all has a strange resonance to it and I can seriously see us winning 2-1 again next Thursday.

If we lose at Dens this Sunday, we’ll be playing Maritimo under a different manager, be it a caretaker or otherwise. Simply because all McLeish has are the wins he’s managed in the team’s last two outings - the performances have been utterly abysmal. A couple of great goals excepted, so bad are we to watch, so unconvincing is our execution of the game’s more prosaic skills, that no shareholder, investor, sponsor or Chairman can have failed to be worried.

Winning ugly is okay but we’re winning poorly. When victory over fodder is all you have to offer you’d better keep doing it. McLeish has to get us into the Uefa Cup group stage but if he can’t dispose of Dundee at Dens then he’s clearly become more of a hindrance than a help. All idea that his dismissal would cause damaging upheaval in the dressing room will be put to bed if Rangers can’t stuff one of the SPL’s middle-rankers on Tayside.

Big Eck was clearly miffed with Kheredine Idesane for having the timerity to pour gravitas upon his win at Pittoidrie and the season-changing challenge of Maritimo. Our manager ended the interview with the BBC journalist via a huffy little remark and a brusque, cameras-still-rolling stage exit. He then went to the press room under the Dick Donald stand and informed reporters it was okay for Rangers to struggle if Real Madrid were struggling as Los Galacticos have been recently.

Apart from the nine European Cups (but have they ever won the Cup-Winners cup??!! No-hoh! Bet their gutted.), theother main difference between Real and Rangers is the fact that they got rid of one manager after his first season went awry in 2003/2004 and his replacemen rsigned this week, after they begun this campaign in less than perfect form. If we’d been Real Madrid then Alex would have been gone at Christmas last.

Lucky for him he’s at Rangers ad all he has to do to stay in his particular job is beat Dundee.