Come in Warbs, your time is up

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Come in Warbs, your time is up

Last night’s painful lesson at the hands of St Johnstone has led to the first true questions being legitimately raised about Mark Warburton by Rangers fans. This site has been questioning him for some time, but reaction to the pathetic draw at Ibrox has led to a real groundswell of doubt resonating with other supporters.

Rangers, with the second biggest budget in Scotland, with star signings like Philippe Senderos, Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar, Jordan Rossiter, Michael O’Halloran and Lee Hodson were rather comfortably held by yet another manager who barely struggled to contain the home side and but for more belief in their finishing would have left Ibrox with all three points.

The fans booed at the final whistle, but that disappointment, following the utter dismantling Celtic gave at Hampden does not fully illustrate the picture of just why Mark Warburton is the wrong man to lead Rangers forward.

That is correct. This site is now calling it. Enough is enough.

The stats of opponent manager Tommy Wright at St Johnstone with their modest by comparison squad make for impressive reading – 151 matches, 70 wins and a firmly justified third place in the SPL table. Just under one wins in two. This manager has taken an average squad and juiced a great deal more from them than they look on paper, while his opponent last night simply cannot get 40% (four wins from 10 in the SPL tells the story) from what he is supposed to have signed.

Rangers fans themselves have evidently started to have enough; one look at the replies to Warburton’s press conference today shows the sense of absolute despair now permeating Rangers fans:



No one wants a man to lose his job, whether it is Warburton, PLG or even Kenny MacDowall. But the results and displays speak for themselves.

Warbs does not have what it takes to lead a colossus like Rangers forward, with a lack of flexibility and understanding of what is actually needed. Watching Wright’s side comfortably contain then hit on the counter – that is twice now his side have come to Ibrox and been the clear better side. And while Rangers fans would have expected a test against the likes of Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts, a visit from Hamilton, Ross County and St Johnstone should deliver more than three points from nine.

To give him his dues, Warburton gave O’Halloran a start – and the former Saints winger was the most dangerous thing Rangers had, aside Forrester, another one he decided to restore to the XI.

But the system just does not work for Scottish football. It did not work for PLG, and it does not work now for Warburton either.

Today we see Wigan linked with a move for the manager, and honestly, this author would be happy to see that happen now. Seven months of patchy-at-best displays and some downright horror shows is a downward spiral which shows no sign of turning a corner. For every reasonable win against Partick or Inverness, it is countered by at least two bad results.

Four wins from 10 is an abject return for a side who at least had pretentions on upper midtable, before the star names started to arrive and made us think top two was feasible.

Ever since that semifinal last season, it has simply gone south. Some even point to the cup final as the turning point, but the form leading up to it was painful, so that argument holds little water.

Some fans still hold faith in this regime to turn it around. That is faith I do not share now. This regime fails to understand, as many fans have alluded to, what it takes to manage Rangers.

It is time to cut losses and move on to one that does.

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48 COMMENTS

  1. Shut up and stop talking utter nonsonce, Warbs has turned Rangers around to a good passing team, who have the vast majority of possesion in every game. You forget where we were 18 months as a club, we just need to light it up a bit in the final 3rd. He is trying to find his best 11. Your articile is a joke and its people like you that offer an opinion of negativity.

    • Hi Craig. We pass the ball well. However we do not clear our lines, we have no menace in midfield and as much penetration as a seagull slammin' against a battleship.Tactics? MOH was winning corners every few minutes and 6ft 5ins. Crooks should have been on to take advantage, not McKay.
      I like Hodson and feel he paid a huge price for trying to find a team mate. His hesitation has been seen in all our defenders throughout Warburton's tenure. For me I would much rather see a huge punt that clears our lines first time with absolute conviction to a pairing of Dodoo and Garner always alert for it in the centre circle.There is a lack of ruthlessness in our team which I do not like.

    • You are the joke Craig, you seem to forget that we are Rangers because your standards are clearly still in the second division – you need a reality check, just like NW

    • You clearly are happy with what we are being served up – do you forget that we are Rangers? Outside septic we have paid the most for new players this season – so why can't we beat Hamilton and St Johnstone at home……poor comments from you Craig but you clearly have very low standards for our club

    • Leicester proved last season that having the vast majority of possession in every game isn't necessary to win a league championship. A long ball team that can prevent celtic winning nine in a row, is preferable to a tippy tappy team that leaks goals at one end and doesn't score enough at the other.

  2. You are heavily over reacting here. We haven't even played everyone in the league yet. You cannot forget how bad the club as a whole was for years before warburton came in. Fair enough the results haven't been good enough but to say enough is enough is a complete joke. Give him some more time!

  3. He keeps on going on about learning from their mistakes but with time they have had for that they should be playing like champions now.

  4. Disagree with you that his time is up.
    Performances have been average to poor this season but the team will click. After 4 years outside the top flight in the abyss of Scottish football, to expect a title challenge and blowing teams away week in- week out is foolhardy.

    Realistic goals for the season should be a top-3 finish leading to European football, A cup Final and a victory in an old-firm match.

    Also, changing managment at this stage of the season with all those goals still attainable would be knee-jerk crazy. Who is available to take over the reigns that would guarantee improvement?

    The truth of the matter is that we as Rangers fans are impatien & unforgiving which is perhaps fair enough given our recent history but we can also show a lack of foresight and shouting for a change would be a prime example of that.

    InWarbsWeTrust

  5. Just who would u take over. This season was akways going to be 1 of settling in & with ni real money to spend on better quality we are where we should be. Challenging Aberdeen & Hearts for 2nd.

  6. I agree with you, I would be happy to see him go to Wigan. I would be interested to hear who yous think could replace him???

    I have no confidence in him to lead us and I have thought this for at least two months. His one way traffic in 433 is worrying, And some people on this site like to comment on if He changed to this format, or to that??? He will clearly NEVER change his formation to counter other teams.

    I am not sure who the right man to lead us is, but Walter is ALWAYS the man for me.

    • Just about any other manager in the SPL could replace him (except BR that is) at this rate – Derek McInnes is a better manager. Tommy Wright?

  7. Does no one else think we need a leader on the park,Lee Wallace as much as we love him is never a captain,surely MW must realise this as well, the comunication on the park is shocking.

  8. What a load of complete pish ! Get a grip and support your team . Suppose you want Ally back eh ? Because he played free flowing football …….NOT !

    Fkn idiot !

  9. We got humped 5-1 by Celtic…. Totally outplayed and outclassed.
    We got humped again by Celtic 1-0…Totally outplayed and outclassed.
    This team is going NOWHERE with Warburton at the helm. Warburton is handing 10 in a row (at least) to Celtic, on a plate….
    We have to have MAJOR changes now or pay the consequences.
    Joey Barton seems to be the only Rangers player who was hurting after the 5-1 fiasco at Celtic Park.

    • We have the second biggest budget in Scotland and we are second in the Scottish premiership. This is a fair reflection of where we are and where we have come from. Where you really expecting us to challenge Celtic this season? Nearly everybody and their dog was giving it the " he wears a magic hat" patter and now when we are promoted the knives are out. There are a lot of two faced bastards out there! And for the record, joey Barton is an arsehole!

    • We have the second biggest budget in Scotland and we are second in the Scottish premiership. This is a fair reflection of where we are and where we have come from. Where you really expecting us to challenge Celtic this season? Nearly everybody and their dog was giving it the " he wears a magic hat" patter and now when we are promoted the knives are out. There are a lot of two faced bastards out there! And for the record, joey Barton is an arsehole!

  10. It was painfully obvious last night that we being over run in the midfield what does the manager do he brings on two strikers and mckay who has been awful for weeks now and last night he looked like he was going through the motions the boy crooks could have been brought on to strengthen that area also as st johnstone were shutting us down preventing the goalie from passing the ball out crooks height would have at least given us a target for long balls from the keeper

  11. take back mcleish to stable the ship knows the club well and has proven in the past he can do it with limited budget then come summer step him up to director of football and try to entice vanbrockhurst to come back to the club as manager

    • McLeish inherited a great team from Advocacy and the players he brought in weer mainly awful and cost the club a fortune in psy offs.McLeish has been a failure everywhere.

  12. We genuinely look lost on the pitch!! There's no decisive format of attacking the opposition goal. We get into the final third and there's no 3rd player runs or dummy runs out wide.

    We moan about no space well that comes from the transition from back to front, we play 3 or 4 needless passes to get up the pitch. Windass and O'Halloran were great last night driving at the defence. We need more of it

    Warbs just needs to read this and we'll be sorted

  13. To imply it's all down to money is implying good managers are whoever has the most cash. There is decision's being made that don't add up. Warburton nailed his own coffin by leaving the defence unchanged until the season started. Instead signing a guy who scored 6 goals at championship level. It's going to be a long season. Oh and why is Barry mcckay starting over forester and ohaloren???? No clue!!!

  14. total s–t talk look where we were this time last year playing part time teams no scout setup club in total dismay lets keep it real we were never going to challenge this year its about rebuilding from grass roots club is in the process of complete overhaul and you get tits like you taking a pop at the manager who is vital to our clubs success US SUPPORTERS NEED TO BACK THE TEAM AND SHOW THE CLUB WE LOVE RESPECT AND TURN IBROX IN TO A PASSION FILLED NOISE OF SUPPORT #RTID

  15. Its nothing to do with money,he paid 1.8 mil for a striker and left him sitting on his backside last sunday along with other match winners waghorn /m.o.h forrester not even included while mckay has been not been at the races for how long gets a shirt every week,he's got some good players but he persists in playing them out of their natural positions,last night groundhog day again majority of possession 15 corners 1 goal nothing in the final third,anybody can see that the 4 3 3 is not working but he will not change,i've said it on here before,4 4 2 waghorn/garner up front,m o h/forester wide.the support will only stand for so much.

  16. Last night reinforced my opinion that a change is needed. Let's look at it this way, we have in my opinion the most capable squad behind Celtic. This being said we should, given the correct tactics and formation be easily disposing of the lik s of Ross Cty, St Johnstone et all especially at home. To say. He still hasn't worked out his best 11 is nonsense given the time they have been together and as such this is no excuse… I admire the possession game only if it gets beyond the 18 yard box and creates chances, if it doesn't then all it's doing is limiting chances for the opposition, which going by the bomb scare defence might not be such a bad idea

  17. He won't be going anywhere. Not just now anyway. He still has plenty of "goodwill" in the bank that he can call on. After McCoist anyone was going to look good I suppose. But he DID get Rangers playing some pretty nice football, with some pretty ordinary players who were brought together at short notice and for a pittance.
    The 4-3-3 system can work. In Scotland or anywhere else. As long as you have the players capable of playing to that system. Rangers don't have those players.
    You need quick skillful centre-backs. Quick skillful full backs WITH GREAT RECOVERY and good tackling skills. A quick, hard tackling, robust, skillfull defensive midfielder. Then quick, skillfull, incisive players across the park and up front. You also need back up for all of those players or positions.
    Of course Rangers don't have anyone who fits those descriptions at present and we don't have any money to buy them.
    If we can get a couple of quick centre backs, who are also good in the air, in January, we might be able to turn out a half decent 4-4-2 formation.
    Until then, our woeful CB's will need covered by a strict 4-2-3-1 formation. Most people should be able to see that.
    Apparently Warburton won't accept that. So we will just have to hope that he changes his mind or decides to move away. He won't be sacked.

  18. Warbs is learning the spl trade just as most of the team
    Why on earth would we get rid of the guy who has implanted a style that just needs tweaked
    Like the earlier comment we have the lions share of possession which I know doesn't win games but it clearly shows how scared teams are of being cut open as they sit with 11 behind the ball every week….if not that reason then why????
    We have played 10 games haven't selected a starting 11 which is understandable considering injuries and size of squad now but give it to Xmas
    No one's shouting about Aberdeen drawing with Hamilton or hearts getting beat by killie…teams they are expected to beat but the expectation is always on rangers
    Time to be realistic guys….top 3 finish,European football, cup final and a win at hogmanay against the tic to bring in the new year in style
    Warbs and weir…no surrender

  19. Completely agree – it's pathetic what we are being given here, doing Plan A better is clearly not working. I have complete respect for MW for what he did last season, but remember what was there prior to his arrival – not a hard gig to follow and easy to make yourself look good – plan A is not working as so predictable and easy to defend against and for the support and money we all invest in our club we deserve better and have every right to say that we deserve better.

  20. I agree to some extent results haven't been good enough but part of the problem with Scottish football as a whole is that everybody looks at the short term decisions rather than actually making decisions that will have greater long term results. I do think Dave King is full of shit about how much he will invest in players bit we do need to get a solid structure in place off the park too. We are in a bad situation as a club partly because big money was spent on players in the past with fuck all put in place to cope when decisions didn't work out and that led to so many more bad, reckless decisions that ultimately led to us being financially fucked and unable to recover without the whole liquidation scenario

  21. ffs Bartons suspension is going on… we pay him 25 grand a week and he is still unavailable! how come the board cannot resolve the situation properly is beyond me. we are short of cash and still pay the highest wages to the guy who doesn respect the managers and his peers

  22. It wouldn't make any difference who was in charge. We are still re-building our team and club after being destroyed by charlatans who nearly fucked us. This site is like a stuck record. Get behind the team and management. As it stands anyone in the league is capable of doing us. It doesn't matter where you think we should be, we are not and we have have a long way to go. Patience is needed.

    • Roly, it's only two days ago that you said on here that most of the players didn't look up for it, in the old firm game. Warbs is the manager who is failing to get them fired up for matches. When MW dissed Rangers legend Jock Wallace at the press conference to announce his appointment as our manager, he disgraced himself and the club. A manager with Jock's passion for the Rangers cause would fire the players up and get a tune out of them! Warbs is soft and it is obvious that the players don't respect him, or believe in his tippy tappy tactics.

  23. The worst thing that could ever have happened was last seasons cup semi final win over the Savileers, it gave us all a false sense of belief, for a team with 3 attacking forwards to have a goal difference of 0 after 10 games is a tad alarming, truth is if we concede first then we don't win.

    • Totally agree,Rangers have scored first in only three games out of ten now and won all three,in the other seven games where they conceded first or failed to score they have taken just 6 points from 7 game averaging less than a point that I suspect shows a team lacking in character

  24. I would say give MW till 1st Jan 2017, to see if he can turn it around, learn from his mistakes, and understand what the SPFL and Scottish senior football is all about. I agree tactically he seems unexperienced at present. But it's probably only now he's learning what it means to be a Ranger. He might still turn out to be a good manager. But at the moment he has appeared to be too unflexabile. There are some signs that's possibly changing with OH and Forester on last night. But the balls in MW court. He needs to step up. I hope he does and can. If not McLeish or McCall would give it a good go tactaclly. I think the squad is OK, till January. Just need a manager to get best out his players, in best positions and tactically. Our only saving grace is Hearts and Aberdeen are also dropping points.. Just my two bob 🙂

  25. Warburton has no tactical nous failed to prioritize defence in summer signings and looks judging by the players attitude he has lost the dressing room. Time to go join an academy where its all about theory he has failed the practical

  26. Now you have said what you have been hinting at for weeks.Get real.No money …sack the Manager.Barton in trouble…sack the Manager.Rossiter injured…sack the Manager.MacKay off form,obviously,…sack the Manager.What on earth are you talking about.How about SUPPORTING the TEAM.Good God Almighty

  27. There needs to be an acceptance that we ARE progressing – it's very early yet to be judging players or the management in this league. All should be judged over the season, and even then, there will be room for a lot of our squad to improve further. We WILL be back, just not as quickly as we would all like.

  28. i dont get this constant criticism regarding Warbs and players- the only criticism should be aimed at the board for failing to keep their promises. next to no cash from promised 30 million war chest by King who comfortably sits on his ass in the South Africa and crazy signings like Barton to drive ST sales and panic five-to-twelve signing Senderos were pointless. Only gullible and naive fans could believe we would challenge for the title. Step up from championship to the top flight is obvious yet many thought beating part timers regularly was to suggest we would b doing the same to pros? Celic have 4 times a budget as ours and we still are not that far behind. Only 2 points to second spot Aberdeen and should we win on saturday we could be second. not that bad right?

    • McCoist never got the budget for players of Kranjkar and Barton's class and even though Mohsni was a loose cannon, at least he cleared his lines. He was a far better defender than Keirnan and more respect should be shown to one of our greatest ever centre forwards.

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