Why Rangers Aren’t Ready for Life in the Championship

We don’t know who will be coming down and there is a few twists and
turns to come out of the next two or three weeks, which I’m looking forward to
watching.

Hibs have been mentioned, but there are three or four of them down
there fighting to avoid that play-off place, so it will make it really
interesting for our league next year whoever plays in that play-off and ends up
coming down.”

–Ally McCoist – 21/04/2014

Well, now that we know exactly who Rangers will be facing, the
harsh realities have begun to sink in and the scenario of playing several
SPL-quality clubs next season is now the task Rangers face.

The simple question is ‘are
Rangers ready?’.

There are three main aspects to a
football team – form, personnel, and manager. We will look at these and analyse
whether or not Rangers, as the team presently stands, are well-equipped to deal
with the rigours of life in the Championship, or if Rangers supporters are in
for a long and painful season.

Form:

If the tail-end of 2013/2014 and
pre-season are anything to go on, the miserable answer here is no. After a
flurry of decent form in January and early February, there has barely been a
single performance worth remembering in around five and a half months.
Obviously one of those months was the World Cup, so in four substantial months,
including the second half of February, March, April, May and the pre-season
thus far of July, it is fair to say Rangers’ displays have been consistently
dreadful.

From Mohsni and McCulloch’s
hapless partnership in defence, to the invisible Law and increasingly
ineffective Black, before we move onto the exhausted Daly and pointless Shiels,
we can see, performance-wise Rangers have been in disarray for effectively half
a year. Even the mighty Lee Wallace, normally such a stalwart at the back for
the Club, suffered himself a sub-par season overall as well.

And of course there is not
forgetting David Templeton whose name is probably in the Oxford dictionary next to ‘inconsistent’.
Occasionally brilliant, frequently anonymous.

There is, however, the distinct
disclaimer that Lewis MacLeod, such an exquisite prospect in the middle of the
park for Rangers, had a major injury blow tail end of January and did not
return till pre-season. This did coincide with said loss of form but is it an
appropriate excuse for seasoned SPL veterans like Nicky Law et al that the
absence of 19-year old MacLeod decimated their own form? Can such experienced
pros possibly ascribe any of the poor displays down to his loss rather than
their own simple lack of form?

Personnel:

Major changes are taking place
here. Already confirmed as back on Rangers’ books are former Ibrox strikers
Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller, and they have been joined by St Mirren’s Darren
McGregor and Hearts’ old boy Marius Zaliukas, while his former team mate Ismael
Bouzid remains on trial.

Outgoing are keeper Scott
Gallacher, with Ross Perry, Chris Hegarty, Emilson Cribari, Andrew Mitchell,
and Andrew Little all joining him in departing Govan.

On Rangers’ ‘roster’, as the
Americans would call it, the number of SPL-quality players clearly outnumbers
those who are not. Boyd, Miller, Bell, Foster,
Wallace, McCulloch, McGregor, Zaliukas, Law, Black, Templeton, Smith and Daly
to name just 12 players are good examples of those who have vast experience of Scotland’s top flight. There are
many more.

There are also a decent number of
players in Rangers’ ranks too who are good enough to cope at that level too,
such as MacLeod, McKay and McAusland.

So in terms of personnel, the
Ibrox men are well-equipped. The only thing missing truly in terms of player is
a top-class defensive mid. Rangers’ only attire there are Black, Peralta and
Hutton.

Management:

This is the sticky area for sure.
No one expects Rangers to play like Barcelona
every week, but manager Ally McCoist really has struggled with basic formation
and tactical issues ever since he took over. His debut season saw the Club rise
to 15 points ahead of Celtic in the SPL, but that was mostly down to the
ridiculous form of Steven Naismith who was effectively doing the job of three
players in one. When he suffered his season-ending injury the lead was
obliterated within a month. McCoist was unable to fix his absence, and since
then Rangers’ performances have been mostly shocking, in truth.

Yes, the wins have completely
outnumbered the draws and defeats, but if ever there was a case of ‘gritty win’
week-after-week McCoist’s Rangers are guilty. For the quality of player at his
disposal, McCoist cannot squeeze out a convincing XI which consistently
performs. Basic tactical errors and square pegs in round holes punctuates
McCoist’s management style, and I will not even start on Lee McCulloch’s
persistent presence in the team.

Rangers fans by and large respect
McCoist and will always remember him as a truly incredible player for the Club,
and for his loyalty in remaining at Ibrox during, frankly, deeply disturbing
times for the Club. That he even drew publicly sympathy from then-adversary
Neil Lennon shows just how much McCoist suffered for the club he loves.

But Ally has shown time and time
again that he is not cut out for the role at Ibrox, and no matter how much
bluenoses want him to succeed, it looks like a failing endeavour.

Overall:

In terms of personnel, yes, we have the tools at our disposal. They are
SPL-quality in the whole and the Championship is not as high a standard as the
SPL, so these players should be able to handle the challenges of next season.
Alas the management and form side of things seem inextricably
linked and are the Achilles’ Heel of Rangers. With McCoist unable to concoct a
consistent formula which works that ineptitude filters through to the players
whose form has taken aforementioned dramatic nosedive. The initial ‘trialist’
period was good, then the team struggled its way to January, with the
occasionally bizarre outstanding display, such as the 8-0 over Stenhousemuir.

But McCoist has completely failed
to blend together a team to produce anything like what their reputations would
suggest, and overall the final verdict can only be that 2014/2015 will be a
horrendous struggle.

I sincerely hope to eat my words.