06 Apr 2017 21:10:04
A senior club official, who assists in the day to day running of Ibrox, has told me that today Pedro has now identified eleven players who he wants to keep next season with another four still under consideration, two because they are currently injured (Rossiter and Krankjar, maybe? ) and another two who he needs to see more of.

This eleven includes the two goalkeepers - and the two boys who started last night, so that's really seven of the current outfield playing squad, maybe a maximum of 11. That suggests he's going to try to bring in at least 8 players and promote some youngsters. God knows who all these guys are he wants to keep, because I can't see that many.

1.) 06 Apr 2017
06 Apr 2017 21:27:55
And the money is coming from?

2.) 06 Apr 2017
06 Apr 2017 22:32:45
What about the loanees are they part of the 11 listed players?

3.) 06 Apr 2017
06 Apr 2017 22:49:34
Ajax1872, I've no idea. What you read is exactly what I was told, but I assume not. Loan players are just that, you cannot count on them as regular players. From what I heard, is seems he's making up his mind and his squad in the knowledge that some of those he'd like to get rid of will have to be kept for the sake of numbers. This leads me to speculate that he'll keep around ten outfield players, the two keepers, a couple of youngsters and that will give him about 14 of a squad. He'll obviously then need another 6-8 players, maybe including a loanee or two, of first-team standard.

4.) 07 Apr 2017
06 Apr 2017 23:40:25
There's no way he's made his mind up after 3 competitive games, sorry but that ridiculous.

I would suspect he's identified targets to strengthen certain areas but to suggest that he's narrowed a playing squad of circa 25 down to 11 in such a short period of time is definately, 100% rubbish!

5.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 13:16:15
Where is the money coming from? Same place 1.8 million came from for garner and same place 300,000 compensation came from for Pedro. I'm only half a genius myself, but I'll guess. Bank account?

6.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 15:07:10
Why is it ridiculous when everybody else can see it. These guys have had long enough and are not of the calibre required to challenge for the league never mind play in Europe. Remember he will also be looking in training and deciding. The players not giving enough in training will be out the door. Why waste your time on any player not willing to train harder to improve, when they are esrning very good money by SPFL standards. There are no players that good that don't need it. The only players with pass marks are Emerson who is a loan and Foderingham. I think the young lad Beerman has potential.

7.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 15:59:23
j1985, he and his coaches have seen, studied and worked with these players almost every day for a month. I would assume that the process of decision making is indeed well under way, as with an awful lot of our players it's not difficult to spot that they are rank rotten. I did express surprise that he's considering keeping so many.

8.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 19:22:40
Ecky. Speaking from experience (I used to coach under 19's), training only shows so much of what a player can do. I had a group of 18 boys who looked like world beaters on a Monday and Wednesday at training, come Sunday they'd be average at best. Nothing we did in training improved them come match day so I truly believe that a player should ultimately be judged in a competitive playing environment. Like I said, I'd be absolutly gobsmacked if Pedro has decided at this point which players are part of his plans for next season after such a short period and with a lot of competitive football left this season.

9.) 08 Apr 2017
08 Apr 2017 14:36:41
j1985, I also coached for many years and you'd be gobsmacked at where and at what level, but I'm not going to boast. Suffice to say when we had players in on trial or for development coaching, it was fairly easy to separate the wheat from the chaff quite quickly and we were very seldom wrong.

It's actually easier for Pedro as he can study CDs of previous matches to supplement what he is seeing on the pitch and at training, so it's not just current form he knows about, then matching that information up with the opinions of his staff and after a month he's firming up on decisions. That's not a short period at pro level, as I said anybody experienced looking at our squad for that length of time could easily see most of them are rotten.

10.) 08 Apr 2017
08 Apr 2017 15:24:16
J1985 "nothing we did in training improved them"! I think maybe its not your players that are the problem!