Bardsley binned

Reported in the Glasgow Evening Times today is the apparent departure of one of the loan players Rangers borrowed from Manchester United.

Indeed, the story covers the entire back page of the newspaper, and seems to have confirmed that Le Guen has kept his promise of returning the fullback Phil Bardsley to the English giants in December.

It all began to go wrong for the young Mancunian at Easter Road, when he was stupidly sent off for failing to retreat the full ten yards at a Hibs corner. The referee twice alerted him to the impending punishment of a second yellow, but Bardsley didn’t listen, and before long the man in the middle lost patience and issued the card.

Signs were apparent at this point that Le Guen might start to take a dislike to the boy.

However, when Bardsley then defied Le Guen in training, his number was truly up.

It was widely reported that Le Guen had barred tackling in training; it was asserted that this was a new policy for the youth ranks, but it was also being adopted at senior level too. Whether fans agreed with this new methodology was irrelevant, it was the manager’s philosophy and that was pretty much the end of it.

It would stand to reason then that any player who tackled in training would not be ingratiating themselves to the boss by doing so. As a result, Bardsley going into a full-blooded challenge against Buffel would have been taken as a fingered-salute by Le Guen – and that is exactly what happened.

Initially sent home from training, Bardsley’s fracas hit the press like Mike Tyson. Websites, forums, red tops – they all ran the big story of a bust-up between player and manager which had led to the player’s expulsion from training.

Bardsley had then reportedly endeavoured to speak to Le Guen, to apologise and clear the air; but Le Gaffer was having none of it and refused to communicate, as well as dropping the right back from the Livorno Uefa Cup squad that Thursday.

Hutton then had his chance; with no competition he became the #1 in that position and has been ever-present since.

Bardsley did get reinstated to the squad, and the blurb from Le Guen tried to persuade the supporters and press that there was no problem with their relationship, but it was plain for all to see that the cracks weren’t disappearing.

It all quietened down until Le Guen announced he wanted to keep the other Man Utd loan, Lee Martin, and bin Bardsley.

Now, that has happened, and opinion among supporters on this is split. Some are happy to see him gone, and question his attitude; a valid enough view. However, given Hutton is now the first choice, many query whether Le Guen’s ego has gotten in the way of the good of the club. Few would argue that Bardsley is a superior player to Hutton – so is it such a wise idea to remove Bardsley based on a personal vendetta?

Arguably not, but that is what has occurred.

Perhaps Le Guen is planning to strengthen that position in January.

We can only hope.