Once more, the high rollers in the Blue Room have to spin the wheel and hope that it comes up 32 Red in Eindhoven tomorrow night.
Last year it was Malmo.
In the aftermath of that defeat at Ibrox, I learned that one of the Sevco High Command was taken rather poorly after the final whistle.
It was an indication of just how much stress he was under.
No one on that night could have imagined that they would come within a penalty kick of the riches of the Champions League in the toilet drinking Odyssey in Seville.
Now, they must go again to get to where their more affluent neighbours are already securely ensconced.
Footie experts I have consulted give Mr Gio’s charges a one in three chance of progressing tomorrow night.
Despite the brouhaha today around Alfredo José Morelos Aviléz, it is unlikely that the ample Colombian would have figured in the proceedings.
The only significant component of this story is that the manager consulted with some senior players about his decision.
Why did he feel the need to do that?
He is, after all, in charge of such matters.
The last 48 hours probably finally puts the Sell Alfie saga to bed.
It started with the mystery bid from China in 2018.
Embarrassing…
The striker held out a tantalising prospect of Sevco.
That for the first time in their short history, they could make serious money from player trading.
Sadly, there were no serious offers, so the Fitba Fourth Estate had to step up and get creative.
Looking through the cuttings today, it would appear that the Sevco High Command tried everything in their power to punt him in 2019.
In fairness, the usual succulent suspects in the Stenography Corps did their obedient best to generate A REAL bid for the player via their fantasy reportage.
Here is just a selection:
After that Herculean effort in 2019 and no takers, the following year the asking price had to come down.
Now, I reckon that neither Gio nor anyone else wants to take a bet on Alfredo.
Pobrecito…
Still, on the bright side, he knows that he doesn’t have to do very much at all in order to pick up another ten monthly cheques from Sevco.
That thought should cheer the chico up!
In the last year of his contract, he holds all the cards, and he knows it.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
They should have binned him a long time ago, someone like that can destroy a dressing room, contrast that with how we dealt with Julian. Poor attitude by all accounts and punted at the earliest opportunity and even taking a loss on a player who previously offered so much, bet big ange didn’t discuss with anyone in the squad.
My guess is GVB consulted with other members of the team because he wanted to tell the klan that nobody on the team wants Alfredo. I’ve already seen some comments about people ready to blame GVB for excluding Alfredo if they lose tomorrow. GVB is trying to head that off.
I agree. There is a large section of the Ibrox support that has not yet accepted GVB because he hasn’t adopted the WATP attitude that previous managers have felt compelled to do. GVB seems like a level-headed guy who would prefer to distance himself from that nonsense.
They did get quite serious money for a couple of players this summer, no? I understand that the Aribo figure is somewhat massaged but that the Bassey one is real enough?
Agreed with the Huddle Breakdown guys in their most recent episode (as I generally do): clubs really ought to sell players at maximum value, which will invariably be when fans are least comfortable with the move.
GVB, who seems a decent guy, should be congratulated on his decision to leave Morelos at home for this important match for “fitness and attitude issues” when previous Ibrox managers have seemed happy to indulge El Buffalo’s excesses. However, it does make him unsellable so they are now stuck with him and his salary until the end of his contract. Morelos has been extremely popular amongst the Ibrox hordes so if GVB fails again this season then I fear for his future.
If i were q betting man Phil, I’d say this was all about him refusing to sign a new contract, instead opting to see out his deal and take the £40m signing on fee for himself