John Hartson: It’ll take a lot more than Joey Barton to turn Rangers into champs

[ian1964 10,724]

YOU’D think Joey Barton was a £10 million superstar the way Rangers fans have celebrated his arrival at Ibrox.

 

He’s a decent player, sure, and I like the fact he’s talking about becoming Scotland’s Player of the Year next season.

 

There’s nothing the matter with having confidence and that’s something the wee man has always had in abundance.

 

But you can’t tell me anyone at Celtic will be scared by the prospect of Barton running around in the Rangers midfield.

 

I can’t see Scott Brown shaking at the prospect of the next Old Firm game.

 

Listen, he’s not a bad player, Joey. And he’s a lad I like having done a few radio appearances with him down the years.

 

But I can’t help think that even he will have been staggered by the over-reaction to him signing for Rangers.

 

It’s not like he’s a top-class player who is coming to Scottish football from Spain, Italy or Germany.

 

The way Rangers fans have been going on you’d think he was. But Joey is 33, not 23, and his last club was Burnley, not Bayern Munich.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I fully expect him to do well at Rangers.

 

I think it’s a shrewd bit of business by Mark Warburton, bringing him to the club. He’s got a fairly young squad and Joey has a lot of experience having been around the block a good few times.

 

If he can keep his nose clean — which he’s not always been able to do throughout his career — then he’ll bring something to that team.

 

He was Burnley’s Player of the Year last season in a team that won promotion to the Premier League. So it’s not like Rangers are wasting their money.

 

But all I’m saying is that there’s a reason Rangers have been able to get him.

 

At 33 I don’t think there would have been too many high-end clubs battering down his door to sign him.

 

Sure, he could have got a wad of cash by going to somewhere like China or Qatar.

 

The fact is Joey must look at Rangers and see an opportunity to play for a big club again before the end of his career.

 

Had he stayed with Burnley then he’d be facing a dogfight of a season.

 

He’d have been chasing players for 90 minutes and that’s a slog for midfielders after they hit 30, no matter how fit they are.

 

At Rangers he’s going to enjoy a lot of the ball and he’ll relish that.

 

But I just don’t think his arrival has been worth the fanfare it’s had from Rangers or their supporters.

 

One thing it has proved is that loyalty in football doesn’t exist when it comes to players being football fans.

 

Joey is a massive Celtic supporter. He’s made that abundantly clear from his Twitter posts down the years.

 

He’s slaughtered Rangers and everything they stand for and yet here he is signing at Ibrox like it’s a dream come true.

 

Now I don’t have a problem with that. He’s a professional and professionals don’t pick and choose who they play for because of what team they preferred when they were at school.

 

But some supporters still think they should.

 

Bottom line is that Joey will give Rangers everything he has when he pulls on that blue shirt because they’re the club paying his wages.

 

When the Old Firm matches kick off he won’t hold back.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/7180425/John-Hartson-Itll-take-a-lot-more-than-Joey-Barton-to-turn-Rangers-into-champs.html

[ian1964 10,724]

Fatso!

 

[trublusince1982 243]

There are just no qualms from papers to print lies nowadays just as long as it causes enough unrest or backlash to sell a couple extra papers. Remember when journalists used to hold themselves up to the light and had a sense of honour .

 

Anyone else spreading as much unrest and inciting hatred would be arrested.

[Uilleam 5,948]

Scott Brown? I imagine that JB will be losing sleep already.

Just what do the sellikminded see in this player that I miss,

apart from the fact that he plays for rahoops, and must be, therefore, by definition, wonderful?

 

Then again, I never quite "got it" re: Bobo Balde, who if he was not an untalented thug, came a very close second.

[limeburner 0]

The headline is true,the rest is just rambling nonsense(as usual).

[Oleg_Mcnoleg 50]

Do they just feed him vodka and stick a dictaphone in front of him? If Halliday was able to comfortably outclass Brown, I doubt Barton's losing much sleep. Still, all about the Rangers with Hartson, isn't it?

[ian1964 10,724]

''He’s slaughtered Rangers and everything they stand for and yet here he is signing at Ibrox like it’s a dream come true''.

 

I wonder what he means with that?

Edited May 28, 2016 by ian1964

[jhunter 0]

he's wrong about everything

 

also in the week celtc appoint brogers he's talking about Rangers?

[compo 7,048]

Who gives a monkeys toss what hartson thinks , we are the people

[ian1964 10,724]

March 7th 2009

 

PEDRO MENDES isn’t half the player Rangers fans think he is.

 

Kyle Lafferty is way out of his depth.

 

John Fleck is a child who could still be at school and can’t be relied upon.

 

Kenny Miller will NEVER score enough goals on a regular basis to win any team a championship title.

 

Davie Weir getting a new 12 month contract after his 39th birthday in May will sicken the club’s supporters.

 

Barry Ferguson isn’t yet close to being the dominating figure he used to be.

 

Do I really need to go on?

 

There you have the players Walter Smith is staking his reputation on to bring the SPL title to Ibrox.

 

But as things stand the Rangers boss must look at that lot and know himself he has NO CHANCE of winning the league.

 

Four-in-a-row is in the bag for Celtic. It’s over now.

 

Finished.

 

Anyone who tries to tell me differently either needs to sit down with a stiff drink — or watch a re-run of the Old Firm sides in action on Wednesday night.

 

At Kilmarnock you had one group of players going all out, busting a gut to get another crucial three points on the board.

 

In Glasgow there was another team showing no fight, no resilience and no desire to pip their greatest rivals to the post.

 

For me that performance and result at Ibrox was a shocking disgrace which only goes to show how big a problem Smith has.

 

The Rangers players are letting themselves, their club and their manager down.

 

Do they actually want a league winner’s medal, or what?

 

On the evidence of their display against Caley Thistle I really don’t think they do.

 

Winning titles takes bottle, but where was that when push came to shove on Wednesday?

 

Rangers were diabolical for the two years before Smith took charge again. They came close to European glory last season and deserve all the credit going for that.

 

But their shambolic end to the league campaign was papered over because of the hectic run of games in the final few weeks. They were given a convenient excuse.

 

What will these guys be saying this May when they watch Celtic clinch the title — again?

 

When are they going to stand up and be counted? I really would love to know because this can’t be allowed to go on much longer.

 

Some might choose to point the finger of blame at the manager as he’s the man who brought many of these players to the club in the first place.

 

But for me that’s way too simple. It’s not Walter Smith who is stepping on to the pitch week in week out. There is only so much he can say or do.

 

Lafferty for one has been given an opportunity he says is a lifelong dream. Really? You wouldn’t have thought that with the way the boy has been playing. Surely he must realise his chance of making it with Rangers is now on the verge of passing him by.

 

If he continues the way he’s going he’s going to be back at somewhere like Burnley before he knows it. Lafferty must run faster, jump higher, score more.

 

He’s the prime example of everything that’s wrong in that dressing room.

 

Lafferty thinks he’s achieved something by signing for Rangers when the truth of the matter is he’s done nothing.

 

He’s nowhere near good enough for the club if you ask me, but when I see him play it’s as though he thinks he’s got something special in his locker.

 

Mendes isn’t much better. I’ve heard people rave about him this season and clearly he’s got ability there and can see a pass.

 

But seeing it and making it are two totally different things.

 

More than that I just don’t see any biting aggression there from a player supposed to be competing in central midfield for a massive club.

 

You could say the same about Ferguson these days as he’s not dominating games like he used to, but for me he’s been dragged down to the level of those around him.

 

You can’t tell me he doesn’t want to stop Celtic winning the league.

 

I meet diehard Rangers fans in the street and they tell me they’re sick to death with what’s being served up.

 

The only reason they go along to see the games is because it’s in their blood.

 

It’s like everything they don’t have at Ibrox they see in spades across the city. Celtic were awesome against Kilmarnock with everyone pulling their weight.

 

Scott Brown was outstanding, snarling his way through the game.

 

Scott McDonald’s two goals were tremendous with his determination shining through all night.

 

Then there was Aiden McGeady picking the ball up on the halfway line, facing his man and running at him with pace. Who at Rangers can do that?

 

Kirk Broadfoot virtually gets a nosebleed whenever he steps out of his own half.

 

No, the league is done and dusted. Celtic allowed a seven point lead to slip once and must have been kicking themselves.

 

But they have been allowed to get off the hook and I don’t see them wasting their advantage a second time. Rangers simply can’t be that lucky.

 

I can just imagine what it was like in the away dressing room at Rugby Park after the game on Wednesday night.

 

You’d have had a group of players laughing their heads off.

 

Celtic won the league there two years ago — it will have felt like they did again.

 

P.S. Gordon Strachan is still despised by a large section of Celtic supporters. They don’t know they’re born. If four-in-a-row is delivered each and every one of them should sit down with a pen and paper and write him a

 

personal note of thanks. It’s the very least he’d deserve.

 

2 months later