Newswrap analysis: seven days at Ibrox

The chances of Rangers winning the league.

Celtic are the overwhelming 1/4 on favourites to finish in top place this season, because they have on paper, a far superior and larger squad than Rangers. The other reason put forward by most football pundits and the seldom wrong bookmakers, is the fact that Celtic have much more money than we do. If they are trailing Rangers in the Premiership during the January transfer market, then they can afford to bring in two or three better players to turn things around for them.

Verdict: – If we sign a tall, experienced, quality centre half, with a good reputation, then we will come so close to winning the league, or possibly even nicking it.

Celtic’s Champions League attempt.

Niko Kranjcar believes that Celtic’s continued participation in the Champions League will benefit the Ibrox side in the race for the Premiership title. His thinking is that with all the extra games and possible exhausting travelling around Europe, it should make it much easier for Rangers to win the league. Did Niko not consider the danger of Celtic earning a vast amount of money for qualifying to the lucrative group stages of the tournament. What about the possible £20M windfall to Celtic?

Verdict: – The only advantage I see Rangers gaining would be with the co-efficient points system that every Scottish club needs dramatically to improve upon. Since Rangers were booted out of the top league, the co-efficient has disintegrated to an alarmingly new low. When Rangers return to the promised land of European football, I am sure we would rather not have to negotiate the perils of up to four qualification games before we reach the group stages of the Champions League.

Thanks to the Scottish football authorities, Rangers pre-season build-up plans were not as good as Mark Warburton would have wished!

By all accounts, Charleston was a huge success for the management team and the players
alike and they enjoyed their time training in the heat of the USA and winning 2 – 1 to finish the whole experience on a high. Unfortunately, Rangers were forced to return to Scotland to play in three-out-of-four unsatisfactory and inferior League Cup games in an unjustifiable nine- day-period. This was always a crazy idea from someone at the head of Scottish football, and proved to be a severe flaw in the important preparations for Rangers at the start of their vital 2016-17 league challenge.

After the pre-season build-up Rangers have had, the Burnley game at Ibrox was always going to be by far the biggest test of all. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite up to it, and I know it’s disappointing to be beaten 1-3 at home, but the management team can see clearly that we’ve got a whole lot of work still to do. We must get this exceptionally poor defence sorted out once and for all, if we are to have any chance of winning the league.

Whoever came up with this illogical League Cup concept should be sacked immediately for incompetence.  When you look closely at the proof of the ridiculous decisions made by the Mickey Mouse bosses of Scottish football’s buffoonery, you can see that there are people in the league hierarchy who are still intent on punishing Rangers, in any way they can.

Verdict: – They should be named, shamed and be replaced with experts who have a lot more ability to some of those nonentities already in a job at the Hampden headquarters. It is time we had some football administrators with a much higher degree of football knowledge and plenty of common sense, to ensure the future of a sensibly run Scottish Football Association.

Scott Brown thinks that Aberdeen will be second in the league this season.

His opinions are as far off the mark as is most of his awful passing, and if he had brains he would be dangerous. He is considered to be one of the best midfield players in Scotland, (by Gordon Strachan, and certainly not by Joey Barton), but what exactly does he do for Celtic and the Scotland team? He is undoubtedly energetic and he does close down the opposition, with his attempts to stop them from playing the passes they want to make. Unfortunately, his forte is over-robust, unfair tackling, and giving away too many stupid fouls in very dangerous situations. This terrible habit of his gives the opposition a good chance to score from these inviting opportunities. Brown also picks up too many yellow cards, which leaves him in the precarious position of another yellow leading to the dreaded red card. When asked to pick the one team who would be Celtic’s biggest rivals, Brown told Sky Sports:

“I think Aberdeen after the last couple of seasons. They have been exciting to watch, they have come to Celtic Park and got points and we have struggled up there. So hopefully we can do a little bit better this season, but Aberdeen have been great over the last couple of years”.

Did the diddy (see what I did there) forget that Rangers have not been in the Premiership for four years, therefore were absolutely no opposition at all to Celtic, and that is the only reason Aberdeen were in second place?

Verdict: – If Rangers don’t win the league, Celtic undoubtedly will, and Aberdeen will be third with Hearts in fourth place.

Lee Wallace or Kieran Tierney in an Old Firm best starting 11.

Ex Celtic player Chris Sutton and a few other extremely biased East-End of Glasgow ex-players have stated that Celtic’s Kieran Tierney is a better left-back than Rangers’ captain Lee Wallace. Tierney, who is 19 years of age and is potentially a top player, is placed ahead of the highly experienced 28-year-old Rangers’ left-back Wallace in his Old Firm XI. Sutton believes that the Celtic youngster is better defensively than Wallace, but he does give due credit to the Rangers star, saying:

“I am a big fan of Wallace who going forward is a great outlet for Rangers, but I just feel that Tierney is the better all-round player and just has the edge. Defensively I prefer Tierney but it was a very close call as the left back area is probably the most competitive position on the field.”

Verdict: – Wallace is a no-brainer, especially with pairing him up in the left hand side of the team with brilliant young Rangers star Barrie McKay. Lee managed to score 9 goals from the left back position last season, which is an exceptional result, and fully justified his chances of being my first choice player for that No. 3 jersey.

Rangers v Peterhead in the last 16 of the League Cup on Tuesday 9th August

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison claims the Blue Toon’s trip to Ibrox next Tuesday night is a fitting reward for the Balmoor club winning their group in the Betfred Cup.
Jim McInally’s men finished above Dundee from the Premiership and Dumbarton who play in the Championship, after impressively making it through to the knock-out stage of the much-maligned revamped competition. Rangers away is a great draw for Peterhead and is a testament to Jim McInally and his players that they earned a last 16 place on merit, and his side fully warrant their big night game at Ibrox, potentially in front of a huge crowd. This game will earn Peterhead some much-needed money for the coming season, and they may even afford another new player or two as a reward for all their efforts. Let’s hope their supporters turn out in numbers and give the players the accolades they deserve. I am sure it will be a great occasion for Peterhead and one that everybody connected with the club will enjoy.

Verdict: – The game will give Rangers another opportunity to experiment with any new line-up that Mark and the management team want to try out, before using it on Premiership opposition.

What do you think of Richard’s opinions on the week’s news? Comment in the usual place.