With the signatures of Joey Barton and Jordan Rossiter lighting Ibrox up, plus the preceding deals which saw Accrington Stanley pair Matt Crooks and Josh Windass swap League 2 in England for the Premiership in Scotland, there has already been serious surgery to fill in the squad gaps which were frankly glaringly obvious last season.
All through the season three positions stood out as desperately needing reinforcements; central defence, defensive midfield, and striker.
With those four on board, which positions are now more secure, and which still need work?
Central defence:
With Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan continuing to split the support in terms of consensus over their long-term worth as top-class Rangers defenders, speculation has continued to simmer that colossus Matt Crooks is being groomed to fit in at the back in the place of one of them. Named in League 2’s Team of the Year, Crooks is as capable in defence as he is further advanced on the pitch, and fits Mark Warburton’s requirements of versatility. However, speculation continues over fellow utility man Dominic Ball being signed permanently, and the name of Blackburn’s CB Grant Hanley does not go away either. There are even murmurs over ex-Ibrox stopper Madjid Bougherra.
Readiness for SPL: work still required.
Defensive midfield:
Last season Rangers literally had two auxiliary holding midfielders, neither of whom were especially impressive in that position: Dominic Ball and Andy Halliday. They did a job there, but neither consistently excelled. Andy Murdoch was also considered too green and found himself on loan at QoS despite impressing under previous manager Stuart McCall. Now? After effectively having no DMs last season, Rangers have a boasting here, with hard-tackling Joey Barton the number one choice, backed up with the promising Jordan Rossiter and the aforementioned Matt Crooks. Warburton saw Rangers’ failings in this area and has firmly dealt with them. For squad purposes Halliday is an option too, if not ideal, and as mentioned, Murdoch as well.
Readiness for SPL: well and truly sorted.
Striker:
Nicky Clark was let go only a number of days ago, and Rangers are now left with literally one number 9 – Kenny Miller. Martyn Waghorn is considered more of a general forward (another position Rangers have quality in spades for), while Ryan Hardie is similar to Waggy and a slightly unknown quantity.
This is a slot a real lack of hard links has emerged for, either suggesting Rangers are struggling to find someone or that Miller and Waghorn are considered adequate for. The names of Danny Graham and Brad Inman have emerged in recent weeks but have not really been followed up with anything more concrete, and the Jason Cummings story has stepped up a little with Hibs’ failure to be promoted, his manager in talks with Rotherham, and a social media photo posing with well-known Rangers fan little Lee Welsh. But, this is more 2+2=5 than anything else.
Readiness for SPL: Not quite there yet.
We need another goalkeeper to provide competition for Foderingham.
A strong centre half + another who can play in the full back arease as we have zero cover for Wallace and Tavernier. A goalscoring striker and a tricky winger on loan.
In my opinion, we need 5 more players to challenge for the title.
David Bentley (GK), Gordon Greer (centre half), Ziggy Gordon (left back) are three that we should target.
Goalkeeper anyone??????
Foderingham isn't up to task although he isn't helped with a front 2 of Wilson and Kiernan.
Totally agree with you. I haven't seen him make a save a thought he shouldn't make. He does the simple things well but doesn't command his box, doesn't look comfortable at set plays and I nearly sh*t maself every time someone gives him a back pass. Looks like the boy Bentley is a goer.
We need a decent big centre half or a Kyle Bartley lol also we definitely need a youngish fit striker who will supplement KM & our midfielders and our bombing forward defenders..
Maybe Esteban Alvarado to compete with WF for the goaland also for when we play hibs 😉
We seem to be getting linked with midfielder after midfielder and we can't play 1-8-1 so I don't think we need any more of those lol
The biggest thing we need for 16/17 is belief and I believe
we do need a keeper,the lad we have done well but im sure we can get better,
We should be pulling out all the stops to sign Bentley and we should be looking to sign a top quality central defender and a goal scoring centre forward. I see Miller being more on the coaching side this coming season so we need someone that is at least as Miller was in his earlier years. Perhaps an older head but one that is 30 / 31 that still has three or four years left. If we secure quality players for these positions and some back up for the full back positions then we should be well placed for the SPL
Spot on Tom.
Boogie would do a turn for a year or two . Great centre back , can play right back and is comfortable on the ball , the type Mark likes . And he's hard enough too when needs be , want's to come back to Gers and is available for free !
After watching the last few games of the season the goalkeeping position came up for debate for me. If we are looking at a strong spine we need to start from the goalkeeper. shot stopping and playing from the back i am happy with but when it comes to dominating the penalty area and especially the 6 yard box i think this is where he comes up short.
True, Foderingham really went on a poor run of form at the end.
come on guys dont panic we still have 30 million in the war chest a keeper 4 million full back 3 million centre half 4 million 2 midfielders 4 million each a winger 3 million a striker 4 million and still money left to give warbo a rise in king we trust
And a priceless Tim troll!!
Grant Hanley would be a poor buy; he doesn't fit the way Warburton plays whatsoever.
We have to sign Cummings the boy is a cracking wee player . And get boughera in I honestly think him and Wilson would make a good partnership in defence . I think we're set for midfield I don't want Danny graham. Dom ball I would take him back can't see it happening though. As for the keeper I'm still not convinced but he's still better than bell and mw is happy enough with him so I don't think we'll be getting a new number one anytime soon. Watp
The keeper thing is up for debate still fods all be it slightly shaky at the back he has quick and good distribution of the ball gets us moving forward quickly again on that side tho not to hard to find a better keeper with just as good dist. The rest we need another 20+ goals striker and a out and out bruser of a defender someone who can deal with the ball on the ground as well as in the air(missed this season) other than that i think we are pretty sorted we are alittle short at the back to be fair but nothing 2 decent signings wont fix w.a.t.p
To the tim troll hows that character coming along brendan got u to 100% character yet?
Welcome joe allen 🙂
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