“Expectation and Anticipation” – 12 December 2015

And excitement too, for the arrival of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Jimmy Floyd, an iconic figure, revered in the game, a swashbuckling player with an eye for goal and a penchant for the spectacular. And now he is at the Rangers and is the main man.

But we have been here before, all too frequently in recent years. Hope, expectation and then dreams shattered yet again. One can have sympathy with all those sceptical Rangers fans who have ‘seen it all before’.

But will it be different this time? Jimmy has some pedigree and he has had some success too, albeit at a lower level. But maybe that is a good thing? He hasn’t been parachuted into a big job but served his apprenticeship out of the public eye. He has earned the right, as they say, and seems determined to fulfill it. He is hungry and wants to succeed. He is saying all the right things, he seems to have a strong work ethic and the fans seem to have taken to him already,  before a ball has even been kicked. He instantly commands respect.

Contrast Jimmy with the previous full time encumbant, Chris Ramsey and the differences are marked. Ramsey, by all accounts a decent man and good coach, had never managed a team and it showed. He always looked like the proverbial ‘rabbit in the headlights’ and was seriously lacking when the crunch came. The effect that Neil Warnock has had in terms of team selection and results in just a few games has told it’s own story. Indeed many Rangers’ fans would have liked for him to be given the job for the rest of the season, with his old mucker Kevin Blackwell by his side, but that really wasn’t going to be the long term future. So, we have Jimmy.

But the proof will of course be in the pudding. A disastrous run of results and he will be out on his ear and Warnock sent for again, like a knight in shining armour arriving full gallop over the hills from his West Country retreat to save the Rangers once more.

But perhaps it will be different. It would appear that a proper managerial selection process has been undertaken and a clear vision outlined. Another new ‘project’ but this time with some basis, a foundation and a structure. Let’s hope so and let’s hope that Jimmy is indeed ‘the man’.

But he needs time. Time and more time. Expectation is high but for all his supposed talents, Jimmy doesn’t have a magic wand. Patience is required and Jimmy needs to be given a fair chance.

Wise words maybe, a sensible approach surely but what about the here and now? Fans dream, as do owners. Rangers have an excellent squad full of talented players and it is not beyond the realms of possibility for them to rise up the table and achieve the unthinkable. Hope is eternal yet at the same time it is the hope that kills.

But for the moment, let’s look no further than this afternoon as Joey Barton’s Burnley come to town. Loftus Road will surely be packed to the rafters. Jimmy will no doubt be given a hero’s welcome and his reign will begin.

And that very first team sheet may hold the clue to what will follow. A team containing the likes of Philliips, Hoilett, Austin, Petrasso, Fer, Chery, Faurlin and Sandro and the fans will breath a collective sigh of relief. One with Henry, Toyser and Angella will have everyone calling for the return of ‘our’ Neil. Fickle fans, but football is fickle.