February this year Rangers lost at home to Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup. It was a forgettable match in every sense but one aspect from it does manage to pique the memory; the introduction in the 74th minute of youngster Andrew Murdoch and the effective end of his Ibrox career for one Ian Black.
Murdoch went on to stand out considerably for the rest of the season, and became a mainstay in the side – including ‘that’ goal at Stark’s Park from 20 yards. He permanently replaced the hapless Black, and looked to have a bright future at Rangers, with the majority of supporters backing him as a first team regular.
When Mark Warburton took over at Ibrox during June, one of the first acts he carried out was to demote Murdoch to the U20s at Murray Park, citing a great number of fans to question why.
With this young talent shining so brightly last season for the first team, why did Warburton immediately dismiss him to the Academy? Subsequently The Magic Hat has ended up, as exclusively broken to you on Ibroxnoise.co.uk, loaning the defensive midfield anchor out to League 1’s Cowdenbeath, much to the dismay of a great many fans.
And yet, while many express disappointment at the move, almost all observations add a disclaimer of ‘In Warbs we trust’.
The truth is Warburton has got absolutely everything right so far. Everything. Not a single mistake. The man is human and he will err from time to time, but thus far, even in only 10 short weeks, Warburton has earned the right to do what he borderline likes; 8 wins from 8 with 30 goals in the process is testament to that.
Ergo, even though a number of fans are not overly supportive of Murdoch being loaned out, they nevertheless trust the manager’s judgement.
Why has he been given to the Blue Brazil? I am no Mark Warburton and he would forget more about football in an hour than I would learn in my life, but if I could tell Murdoch was too slight, lacked presence, and was not particularly efficient at breaking up play (for a defensive midfielder) yet then a master like Warbs certainly could.
Murdoch has pace, and reasonable positional sense, but he has much learning to do about match play, and understanding the sport. To be a defensive mid, having an intuitive understanding of how to defend in the middle of the park is vital, and it is something Murdoch lacks at the moment; a few months in a more physical league at a strong physical team like the ‘Beath is precisely what he needs.
He needs to learn how to be a ‘destroyer’ and Warburton believes Cowdenbeath in League 1 is the ideal location to develop his trade.
And if Warburton says it, who are we to question that?
For some players being loaned out helps improve them, just look at Barrie Mackay,
Very very few players will be good enough to brake into the Rangers first team without first playing for somebody else. Loaning players out will be standard practice. Warburton likes young players with a bit of experience. Every now and then you'll get a Barry Ferguson who can just come straight in but that will very rare. Loans will the be way to bridge that gap. Without loans to bridge the gap there is very little point of having a youth system. I'd have put Hardie out on loan as well. He looks a great prospect but is not getting enough game time to develop enough.
warbs n weir believe young talented players need game time , week in week out. Warbs obviously sees potential in him and has given him that opportunity. I may be wrong but when warbs sent him to the under 20's didnt they go off to ireland for a tour ? I seem to remember the player stating he understood why he had been dropped to the 20's and was all in favour of it and was excited about the ireland trip. I think he conceded he needed to toughen up against experienced older pros. He is going to develop faster and be a happier player there. Better than the odd 20 min cameo and bench warming. If hes good hes going to come back a much better player. Hes probably there for the same reasons Zalelem is with Rangers
I will tell you this Murdoch destroyed Scott allan at Easter road in the second play off game, so much so that wee reprobate allan should have been sent off for an assault on Murdoch near the end of the game, that's why it never bothered me getting allan cause he couldn't do anything with someone up his shiter the whole game
and I bet that's one thing your good at eh
Amen
Aye am no bad at it, fuckin nothing compared to they dirty bheasts from the Vatican city though there fuckin champions league material at it
Not long ago I thought that getting loaned out was a blight on the character of any player, and the beginning of the end for older players. However I now see it as an essential part of learning how to play the beautiful game, and in Murdoch and similar players, gives them time to develop their physique as well. As long as Andy is fully aware of that, and doesn't let his head go down over it, which I am sure that the manager would have given his reasons at the time.
Hopefully we shall see a better version of Andy coming back to us from Cowdenbeath, fit and able to handle himself in the Premier League for the greater challenge of Celtc.
Only mistake Warbs has made was not offering Hibs Darren McGreggor as part of a deal to get Scott Allan . Then again , perhaps he did and it was never revealed nor accepted .
This is a joke eh,Warburton has won nothing yet?long way to go before i will say anything about how good he is,when other teams get up to match fitness and we lose our first game then start to judge him,we have played nobody yet have we,we did play a hibs team that could have been up 2 before we got the wonder goal that luck may run out as it did in the past,as i said a long way to go and we have won nothing yet.
I think Murdoch has more about him than just being a destroyer , he has the talent to be a very good sitting midfielder as he has an eye for a pass and can shoot.He was cast as the defensive midfielder last season as there was no-one else who could do it, (you`re right Black was shit , Hutton immobile and Law can`t tackle ). It is only natural that at his age that he lacks a bit of physical presence but that will develop and I hope he comes back and pushes on to become a fixture in the squad .Good Luck Andy !
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