30 May 2015 20:41:48
Rangers years ago had a chance to completely change the way of thinking the style of training the diet and every single aspect of a typical Scottish regime when Paul LeGuen was appointed. At that time in our history Barry Ferguson single handedly undermined LeGuen's authority in the changing room and we lost potentially one of the best managers in Europe by not being patient and thinking of the future.
3 years ago we were given an even better chance to rebuild from youth up whilst not facing the ever present pressure of having to beat Celtic for a full 3 seasons. McCoist sadly was the manager in this period and without going into detail we all can see how that turned out.
Based on these 2 missed opportunities I would suggest that I honestly think the Motherwell performance and result plus our general lack of ability shown in all the playoff ties to date is the best thing for our future development.
Were we to go back up now then no matter who we sign we are straight back into that cauldron of expectancy and the NEED to compete with Celtic. Common sense will be thrown out the window and any patience for a new manager and possibly a new style of play will be met with exactly the attitude Paul LeGuen faced.
I honestly think we have been given another 1 year grace period to build a team from the youth up including the quality players from the current squad (5/7 maybe- McGregor, Zaliukas, Murdoch, Walsh, Hardie, Gallagher with possibly Gaspaotto and Miller assuming Vuckic and Ferguson will be gone with our Newcastle/Ashley issues).
I think it is also very clear McCall whilst hindered by McCoist's awful player selection has not really produced the WIN ratio we should expect from the team, this is I feel another blessing in disguise. Do we really want to go with a manager that clearly sets out a team completely influenced by Walter Smith school of thought, difference being he had Gazza, Laudrup and countless other top european and British stars to help make that style a winning style in SPL though rarely in Europe. A new management team is clearly needed to change the predictable way that Rangers play we are so obvious in everything we do from build up to balls into the box there is ZERO invention and ZERO creativity. Nothing new and exciting.
I like McCall and he has done reasonably well with a bad set of players but for me it is nothing but the same old same old. I want Rangers to play exciting innovative football and that will only happen with a complete change in staff and more importantly in our thinking.
Depressing but I hope some of you can see where I am coming from. Anyone saying players won't sign for us is talking mince as no matter what we will still always have the 2nd highest potential signing fee ability and wage structure. Players are loyal to money it is that simple these days
30 May 2015 21:27:45
Can I also add that I agree with you mostly, except for Zaliukas who I think is not better than Jig or Mohsni.
Another year to regroup with youth and younger , better, experienced players would do wonders for us. Scott Allan, Cummings, Danny Wilson added to the squad would improve it and give them time to build partnerships and combinations before the next step up.
We also need to get shot of Durrant as he will currently be Instilling the Smith/McCoist philosophy into the youngsters.
30 May 2015 21:36:37
Good to see someone talking sense, Rangers biggest problem is the attitude of jobs for the boys and I agree we need someone to come in with fresh ideas And with a ruthless streak and a long term vision
30 May 2015 22:05:06
Brave and wise words KT, I can't see it catching on. :)
I'm a Celtic fan as most in here know and I think the thing about Deila that has impressed me the most of all his soundbytes was in February or March when he said the weight of the squad was down about 20 kgs since he took over. What attention to detail, the exact thing Le Guen would have brought to you.
There is obviously a financial burden of not getting promotion pending tomorrow's result but you are correct, no immediate pressure to compete instantly with Celtic and it's quite possible that having 12 players out of contract is actually a blessing given the contribution by the bulk of them.
30 May 2015 22:19:16
Another year in championship wouldn't be a bad thing considering 12 players could leave and about the same amount come in, would rather they get to gel together in the championship rather than the spfl
30 May 2015 23:11:44
Keep talking sense like that kt and some of the local's will be reaching for there pitchforks to chase you out of town , one of the most sensible posts I have read on here .
31 May 2015 10:23:00
I think the club needs a total overhaul. McCall, Black and Durrant need to be shown the door, the 12 out of contract players need to go, 5 Newcastle players will go and players like Bell, Law, Zaliukus, Law and Crawford should be told to find new clubs
31 May 2015 10:27:33
Football is basically a simple game to say Le Guen approach was better is all fine & well but rather you have to "change" to succeed and it is a continual process.
The disadvantage Le Geun had was he had competition.
The point is you can "stand still" - ask Lennon?
31 May 2015 11:31:37
Obviously another year in the championship has pros and cons but the biggest con is one that cannot be ignored.
As things stand, there is currently a gap between revenue and expenditure, which is around 17-18M a season. If Rangers gain promotion this gap would hopefully lessen because they will have an increase in revenue due to increased price of season tickets, TV money and sponsorship. However, if they are in the Championship, how are they going to bridge that gap, plus pay Ashley his 5M?
Rabmac
King and the 3Bears are ALL multi millionaires and ALL Rangers fans
They touted for the "job" of running Rangers they knew the size of the job and more importantly they are all businessmen as well as football men.
The cost was quoted as £25/30million. We lose roughly £6million not being up this year that has to be factored in to the equasion , there is no way after the state A McCoist left our team in that they could have been thinking setriously about guaranteed promotion, it was 50/50 at best and that is how it turned out. We will 99% likely not be promoted today the Motherwell manager knows we have zero imagination or creativity, though Shane Ferguson and Walsh are potential threat, so he knows that he can defend and at worst ship 2 goals whilst with our defence and it's weaknesses McDonald, Erwin or Sutton possibly are very likely to score at least one or two goals. I do not see us scoring four or five.
So the facts are the investment of £25/30million has to be done regardless and they will for sure do a share issue in some form, particularly with Ashley's voting rights likely to be vetoed in the coming EGM. This investment and share issue will pay off Ashley to restore our assets and will finance a 15/20 man squad and management total rebuild. The stadium repairs whilst urgent are in the low millions so nothing we cannot easily undertake.
What we have now to look forward to is the first summer signing excitement in years and more exciting the preseason and early football season development of a NEW Rangers and I pray a modern euro style with Scots grit combining to make our product WATCHABLE for the first time in 3 years. Most people do not realise that had McCoist failed to win promotion but we were blooding a young exciting ENTERTAINING side the fans would have been with him as would I, that is the biggest reason for me I for one am actually excited at the prospect of how we can change and become an exciting skilled team again that is what I miss more thab the SPFL. Last time I remember us playing great football was under Dick Advocaat we can do that again with the right management team and signings but on a smarter budget to match our turnover. Youth, Bosmans and on loan players from Euro squads.
Today is not the END it is the START we wanted 3 years ago.
Ideal choice Advocaat as Tech Director supervising everything regarding the model we want for Rangers and a young progressive thinking manager like Robinson or possibly Cathro.
{Ed001's Note - it was mixed on him, lots wanted him kept at the time, others weren't happy because of his injury history, others just thought it was another over the hill player.}