Well aware serious surgery is
required to the squad, manager Ally McCoist made a bold decision. Life in the
Championship next season is going to be a distinct step up from the ‘joiners’
level Rangers have been playing against for 24 months. Indeed, in Scottish
football’s penultimate tier, professional teams now reside with both Edinburgh
clubs awaiting the Ibrox men along with the likes of last season’s Ramsden’s
Cup winners Raith Rovers, Central Scotland’s finest in Falkirk, and Livingston,
to name just five.
What these names all have in
common, along with Rangers, is all are former SPL sides, and it is safe to say
the level of anticipation regarding the old First Division in light of the
level of quality it boasts is at an extremely high level.
It is not unfair to observe that
the division could well be the central focus of attention rather than the SPL,
and as such Rangers are anything but guaranteed a sure flight back to the
summit of the game in this country.
So, aforementioned decision was
made – to sign a controversial figure, to bring in a 34-year old striker who
has played for the club twice before and during his second spell was arguably
the best striker in the land, scoring for fun.
That player is of course Kenny
Miller.
So, player-wise, are Rangers
going in the right direction? Many would argue ‘no’, in light of how the youth
boat has completely sailed, that a chance to rebuild the squad from scratch two
years ago was missed, and that Rangers are now relying on washed-up old
soldiers to scrape them over the line, while paying over-the-odds for their
services.
Is this fair? Is Kenny Miller
washed-up? Too expensive? Well, let us have a look at the reported facts;
Miller’s wage, if the speculation is fully accurate, is around £5000 a week.
That is less than Lee McCulloch to name just one. While £5000 is not pennies,
Miller is almost certainly not Rangers’ top-paid player. Furthermore, Rangers
are a huge club and for a huge club to attract a decent player they are not
going to entice him with £1000 a week.
So let us try to be realistic
regarding wages. Yes, the days of nonsense wages like £15,000 are unsustainable
in the current climate, but a wage of £5000 is a necessary evil if we want a
player of better quality than Dean Shiels.
What about ‘washed-up’? The ‘past
his best’ notion? Well, looking at this 34-year old’s stats for the Vancouver
Whitecaps, at a level considerably higher than the SPL (MLS), he continued his
consistent career-long scoring rate of 1 in 3. The only place he scored more than
that was the SPL, where it was 1 in 2. So even at 34, Miller still knows how to
score.
That, for me, is the right
direction – towards the net and towards the SPL. I accept the disappointment
that we could have built around youth, but as I stated in a previous entry, the
notion that Andy Little, honest decent pro that he is, is a better player than
Kenny Miller is not one backed up by the facts. If Little goes on to run riot
in the English Championship, MLS and English Premier League with a 1 in 3
ratio, I will gladly stand corrected. The reason I raise Little here is he was
the name mentioned frequently as that ditched for Miller. Yes, it is a 34 year
old for a 24 year old but I’d take 36-year old Thierry Henry over the pair of
them. Yes, age is not relevant if the player still ‘has it’.
Other names still linked include
Motherwell’s Shaun Hutchinson, Hearts’ midfielder Ryan Stevenson and West Brom’s Scott Allen. All of these would be valuable
assets to the team, and I cannot imagine too many fans who would turn their
noses down at all three joining the men in Govan.
Is the team moving in the right
direction? Miller is not the worst start, whatever you think of him, and as
long as more good work is done this window, and a squad equipped for the
rigours of the Championship results, I for one will be happy.