Eck departs with no Pompey but plenty ceremony

By a near-incredible and very temporary set of circumstances I had, earlier this year, one of those ubiquitous “contacts” inside that huge Glasgow football institution they call, erm, Celtic.

My source - sorry, I just HAVE to use that term as he/she is only the second one I’ve ever had (remember, when this website was called something else, I revealed Albertz would leave Rangers, 24 hours before the Daily Retard and the Pun? Well, that was another freakish set of circumstances never likely to be repeated) - was able to tell me, about one week in advance, that Martin O’Neill’s departure would become public knowledge in such and such a number of days.

Of course, everyone already suspected O’Neill was offski but the papers, TV and radio reports, websites etc were all just speculating when my “mole” passed me this info. Of course, it was between the two of us and although I had no intention of saying owt about it until it all became offical (I’d been predicting on this site for the three previous years he’d be leaving “anytime” so no-one would have paid a blind bit of attention anyway) but it was interesting to see how the media debating of O’Neill’s departure sudddenly changed, just days after I’d been given my tip-off:

Suddenly, it was all about “Martin O’Neill’s final few weeks as Celtic manager … oh, allegedly”. The top journos all knew for a fact he was going but, admirably, most refused to come out and say so. It became common knowledge amongst hacks and pundits but they still peppered their discussions on O’Neill’s Parkhead legacy with little “If he does indeed leave”, “or “for whatever reason that may be” caveats.

Now, of course, O’Neill’s chief reason for departing Celtic demanded the utmost respect from the media people on the inside. It demanded the respect of us all when Marty boy did eventually make it official. But the decision of the Fourth Estate not to break ranks and keep schtum til O’Neill was ready to make his valedictory press conference was undeniably understandable. The best Celtic manager since Jock Stein had every right to decide when the public would know for sure.

Alex McLeish is, thank goodness, only failing to win football matches. This is the reason he’ll leave Rangers and this is the reason the press are making no attempt to hide the point at which everyone expects McLeish to leave Ibrox. His last match as Rangers manager will be one week tonight, the press conference announcing such will probably be the day after. (That would give us the Thursday to annoounce the new manager and the Firday to discuss the draw for the next round of European matches!).

The Rangers Chairman and McLeish himself are contributing to the air of “open secret”. It’s exactly the same as the O’Neill scenario around the beginning of May this year. Everyone is saying “probably” and “it looks like” but with everything both David Murrayand his manager are saying, its’ clear McLeish will not be in charge when we play Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday 11th December 2005.

After the Porto result last week, Eck’s first words to interwiewers were all about the possibility of him moving on to pastures new at his own behest. When he continued with this theme even after the subsequent Easter Road defeat it was clear our manager was trying to lay the ground for his resignation speech. When he was apparently today denied the chance to move to the Premiership - not bad as new pastures go - it became ultra-clear what’s going on:

Rangers don’t do messy departures and the meeting between Murray, Martin Bain and McLeish of two week’s ago had obviously been primarily concerned with a gentle winding down of Eck’s reign. Alex has been sick of managing Rangers since about September at the latest - you could see his disgust with the ingrates in his eyes - he wanted out and I’m suddenly convinced Murray actually persuaded Eck to stay for a few weeks longer rather than vice-versa.

When Walter Smith left, we all knew he was leaving. When Dick Advocaat stepped down, we all knew he was leaving. This is no coincidence. The most angry Murray has ever been was when Graeme Souness told him he was off to Anfield - our Chairman never wants an episode like that again. Yes, Souness offered to stay until the end of 1990/91 season and Murray decided to make it public and get him out as soon as possible - but this was probably the actions of a man desperate to regain some grain of control of a key situation which had been dictated TO him.

In this context, Murray probaly LOVED the fact he could today tell Milan Mandaric, publicly, to lay off his manager. It was a sign of his loyalty and gratitude to McLeish - it was a sign to us that Murray will decide when our managers leave and, as he chucked away the chance to actually get some money for McLeish, it was a sign that maintaining the club’s dignity throughout this whole affair is the most important factor on Murray’s mind.

That’ll do for me.

Saturday’s a bye. God, yes, I want us to win and handsomely but more for McLeish than myself. Next Tuesday - well I want that for me and for every Ranger and friend of Rangers everywhere but, even if it doesn’t happen, even if we don’t go into the knock-out phase of the Champions League, we should remain grateful for the immediate fact of being booked in post-Christmas Uefa Cup football with a game to spare and the long-term fact of McLeish’s destroying of a possible O’Neill dynsaty. Without Eck, we’d be looking at six-in-a-row from celtic this season. I know many of you think other managers could have done the same or more - but Eck DID do it - undisputable fact - and we are grateful for it.

McLeish has probably been nicer to us than we’ll ever be told. He’s too honourable to spell it out. So let’s be nice to the guy as he leaves with a decorum worthy of any Rangers great.