Thanks Warbs, thanks very flipping much!

48
Thanks Warbs, thanks very flipping much!

As the fallout from the Old Firm debacle continues, one of the most pertinent issues to focus on at present has to be the squad.

“We’ve got to add value, we’ve got to show the board, it’s important for the club. Where we have been the last four or five years, I think it is imperative that we get value. Now, what that value is, obviously, is a big question. I look at Jordan Rossiter and Joe Dodoo as young players and Joey Barton, who would have been in the Premier league with Burnley, that for me is us getting value and recruiting well. It’s not about how much you spend, it is about spending the money you’ve got.” – Mark Warburton – 2016.


With yesterday’s atrocity at Hampden still fresh in everyone’s mind, while the manager has a question or two to answer himself, the starting point has to be the squad he inherited from the “City Trader”.

Loaf was obsessed with ‘adding value’ and showing the board that the recruits he was interested in acquiring would ‘add it’ to the existing squad. And on that front 2016 has to go down as possibly the worst transfer business ever done in the entire history of Rangers Football Club. Bold claim? Too strong? Overdone hyperbole? Let us traipse through the evidence.

January 2016:

Michael O’Halloran:

Warburton hunted this lad for two months off the back of one good match against us, and shelled out circa £500,000 for his services. To put it simply he has not fit in on any level. Criticisms of him range from lousy first touch to one dimensional – and while he has pace he simply cannot seem to cultivate much beyond it. And to add insult to injury there was that ugly unders episode to contend with. It would be staggering if he is still at Ibrox come next season. FAIL

Maciej Gostomski:

This giant Polish goalkeeper was signed as competition for Wes, but lasted two months before apparent clash of ego with his manager saw him sent packing. FAIL

Billy King:

He was probably signed for his name. A truly useless winger who did score one memorable winning goal late on, but was utterly ineffectual and was shipped out that summer. FAIL

Harry Forrester:

Sign as a free when his deal at Rovers expired, Forrester actually sort of did not bad here and there. It was hard to pinpoint his position, be it an attacking mid, a winger, or a false 9, and while he showed some real ability, his combustible and rash nature made him a liability. He has totally faded from the first team picture since the turn of the year. MEH

Summer 2016:

Matt Gilks:

Hard done by, Gilks was another signed as cover. Frankly he was outstanding at Hampden during the cup loss and might have felt he merited more of a chance. But a handful of appearances saw him depart the following January. MEH

Lee Hodson:

This one is getting ridiculous. Only ever impressive when he plays, Hodson for love nor money cannot get into the first team on a sustained basis. The reason (on top of Hill’s equaliser) Rangers got a point at Parkhead after he suffocated the living daylights out of Scott Sinclair, illness did get the better of him but since recovery has had to make do again with the bench. Cannot see any reason why this guy would stay beyond the summer. UNFORTUNATE

Matt Crooks:

Warburton spent months chasing him on a pre-contract from Stanley, then when he gets him he gets injured. Then when recovered, despite the disaster of Barton, still gets ignored. Promptly punted down to Scunthorpe where he has been outstanding until injury struck again. COMICAL.

Josh Windass:

Promising early displays in the League Cup from the Stanley brother made him look a player Rangers could build a team round, but injury did him for. Since fitness he has been a joke. Completely out of his depth at a club the size of Rangers. FAIL.

Joey Barton.

FAIL

Philippe Senderos:

Can consider himself unfortunate as well – another who has never been favoured but has not been overly impressive when playing either. Time is surely up for the Swiss who was actually expected to be gone last January. FAIL.

Jordan Rossiter:

A crying shame, and when fit he showed all the ability of a young Barry Ferguson or Steven Gerrard, but cannot sustain his health. Sadly you have to say FAIL.

Niko Kranjcar:

Took him 5 months to get up to speed (still could not last 90 minutes mind you) and the moment he did he was crocked again. Another injury disaster, from another player with history of it before he joined. FAIL.

Joe Garner:

£1.8M down the drain. A disaster of a player. Bewildering why Rangers were interested in him. Bewildering how he still gets starts even under Pedro. FAIL.

Joe Dodoo:

Has superb impact as a 60 minute sub but struggles to assert himself for longer periods. Seems to have talent but does not seem to truly click with the squad. MEH
 
Clint Hill:

AT LAST. While he was slow off the starting blocks, Hill started to really impress himself on the defence around November, and after that was an integral part of most of the good things the defence did. It says everything that Rangers’ best signing in 2016 was a 38 year old. SUCCESS!

So…15 players, one genuine success.

Is it any wonder Rangers are utterly inconsistent?

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48 COMMENTS

  1. I know what you are all going to say "It to early to judge" but mark my words this is not the guy (Pedro) to take our club forward and he will not last till the end of next season .
    Some of the remarks he made after yesterdays disaster are simply bizarre. No guys not the guy for me

    • Agree Willie he seems aloof and distant from what this means . Question should be ..who sanctioned his appointment and what football oversee or scrutiny was done .. I bet Big red would not have recommended him that's for sure

    • Just read that Pedro never said anything in the dressing room after the game
      If that was Souness or Smith tjey would have been kicking arses.all over the place.

  2. His pick of signings were a complete and utter disaster; much like the manager himself. All ego and no clue. He spunked money on players we didn't need and who didn't even begin to meet the standards which we required. We really do need a whole new squad if yesterday was anything to go by but can't see it happening without some substantial cash injection.

  3. But are we going show them the door will we get anything near the £1.8 million that we paid for Joe Garner i think we will find out that no one will pay £1.8 million for most of our squad,

    • Personally I'd take the hit on Garner. Punt him, take a loss and free up a wage for a committed goal scorer. Someone who you know will get the ball into the back of the net.

  4. Bang on the button agree totally as for Pedro laughing and hugging Brenda after a display like that his first signing is Jonaton Johanson as his scottish advisor? he should have had Barry Ferguson in that position then Johanson is a nice quiet guy does what he is told Barry would have had that lot ripped apart in the dressing room at half time, worrying times ahead

  5. Agree with most of what you say except for Lee Hodson – "Only ever impressive when he plays…" – what Hodson have you been watching?? Error-prone, can't pass, rarely gets forward. Despite his failings, Tavernier is still a much better player to have in the team than Hodson. And neither is good enough. Hodson "Unfortunate"? – no way, he's simply not good enough.

  6. Very good article guys and hard to disagree with, poor signings and very poor judgement. Pedro seems to have a strange way with him , think Brenda was just being nice !! , he may be still settling iin but he needs the advice right now to keep it buttoned and start to see what we can do for next year . I also think Barry would have been better in the dressing room , JJ is a talented coach but too soft I think .

  7. I said on here when we signed Caixinha that he had the potential to be an absolute disaster, and he's looking like fulfilling that prediction. I think he's probably a competent coach, but he has no concept of what's required to manage Rangers. His whole demeanour tells us that – and all his talk about tactics looks like a man trying to convince that he knows what he's talking about. Our talking needs to be done on the pitch.

  8. Very poorly wrote journalism
    If you are going to slaughter or praise warbs signings at least mention them all ? Holt hyndman Wilson Halliday etc ? All you have done is gave yourself a 1 sided argument in favour for yourself . In no way am I a warbs fan but at least mention the other successful players such as fods tav etc

    He was a poor appointment didn't want him to take us into the prem in the first place

    • Thanks for reading the article Derek, and for your well wrote reply.

      You may not have realised but the article focused on the players Warburton signed for life in the SPL. AKA in the year 2016. It made that abundantly clear.

      This article was about the players specifically signed last year. And how poor they were. Do you have a problem with or disagreement that the players signed in 2016 for the SPL were mostly dreadful signings?

      Doesn't matter what the signings in 2015 were like, that's another debate.

      PS Tav, successful? You'll find yourself rather isolated with that view.

      But thank you again for your interest.

    • For a start the entire article is about the signings of 2016. It states that "2016 has to go down as possibly the worst transfer business ever done in the entire history of Rangers Football Club"
      Do note the 2016. Wilson, Halliday and Holt were all signed 2015. Also Hyndman is a loanee only. So your point in invalid.
      Their article is written well, there's nothing wrong with IbroxNoise' journalistic prowess. If you'd have read the article properly rather than acting like an outraged fud you would've seen that the whole piece is about 2016.

    • But why would you only single out 2016? Convenience….? Why does 2015 not count…? Convenience….?

    • Hi John:

      Should we not single out 2016? Does it not matter? 2015 does count, just not in this particular article.

      Thanks!

  9. The simple truth of the matter – is there anyone in the Rangers squad that is actually good enough to fill the jersey and that we can begin to build a team around. Probably only Wallace and Miller are of a Rangers standard – and unfortunately Miller is at the wrong end of his career to be even a medium term answer. Don't get me wrong I'd give him a further one year contract tomorrow but I fear that the board seem determined to let his contract wind down and we will suffer the further ignominy next season of Miller scoring against us probably for Hibs.
    Given therefore that we are going to have to start again with the squad we need a reliable Manager who will invest wisely. We simply can't afford to make another 10/11 dud signings with no resale value. After yesterday can anyone honestly make a case for that Manager to be Pedro. Quite simply he is another costly mistake – a charlaton with no track record worth mentioning. Smiling and hugging Rodgers at the end of the biggest embarrassment I've ever witnessed in an Old Firm game is unforgivable. I don't remember Walter ever hugging Lennon! His selection was abysmal, his tactics non existent, and his post match comments nonsensical. This is not a Rangers Manager. His idea of bringing in a local coach – a. Finn who – okay player as he was and nice guy as he is – was only ever a footnote in terms of Rangers history and tradition. Ferguson would have tore a strip off of every single Gers player at half time – the air would have been blue. I realize that there will be those out there who will say give him a chance – but given our petrilous state we can't afford to accommodate chancers. For Saturday I'd send Pedro to the stand while we negotiate his exit and put Murty in charge of the team again. We've given the rest of Scottish football enough reasons to laugh at our great club in recent years. Let's not leave this clown in charge a minute longer!

    • dex

      Being of the sceptical persuasion myself, I questioned Pedro's appointment, along with those of Warbs and McCoist…never did I think any of them were up to the task of managing us, irrespective of their history or ties….none of them have the kudos to manage a giant of a club like us, so I'm of the opinion that we get what we get, each as bad as the other in my thoughts.
      But while I, along with everyone else, can see Pedro will struggle, nice a man as he is, I believe he has swallowed the bait dangled in front of him….the lure of money to strengthen, the lure of building us for the future, the lure of winning trophies and managing a huge club.

      But wait, I can read all the blogs and people saying we need to dump these, get in these and buy some more of these….excuse me, with what? We are skint, we are broke, we are feeding on scraps and we are in NO position to run all these players out and start again. When will people realise we are no longer the cashed up Gers of old….we are living on friggin loans yet some people want to buy new teams!!!! Are you for real guys??

      Why do you think we can only attract managers like McCoist, Warbs and Ped, is it coz we have no money and no chance of going anywhere? We can not attract a manager with a name because they look at us and run a mile, who the hell would take us on in our present guise? You sometimes get what you wished for and this is what many wished for….so please, lets not slate Ped just yet, I mean he is working with Warbs players, lets do what we always do, wait and see once he gets his non existent budget to go out and strengthen for next season….its not going to happen so get used to being humiliated, when was the last time in the top flight, we will have played them 5 times in a season and not won any? They are by no means a great, or very good side, but we are dire and will continue to be so until we change things from the Top down ….maybe the Courts will change it for us, it looks like the best bet to me, our fans still think he is good for the club….so thankfully the Law of the land is going to rock up and do us a favour….be prepared, there will be dark days ahead as he drags us down even further….Ped is just another disposable item he has acquired….he omens are not good.

      GSTQ

    • Gordo McCoist had a dream contract – nothing bargain basement about it, and yes we might struggle to attract/pay for a top class manager – but there are plenty of experienced managers out there who know Scottish football and would make us hard to beat + many an ex-player who would still walk over hot coals to manage the club. What we don't need is another snake oil salesman. We talk about Rangers lack of money but it doesn't always come down to that – Dembele cost Celtic £500K – we paid £1.8m for Garner – bough said. Pedro like Warbs before him will have a transfer kitty the like of which McInnes at Aberdeen can only dream about.

    • dex

      I agree, its never only about money and shouldn't be, but, without any we are where we are, up shit creek with no paddle, you don't need to squander money like we have, but the whole club, including Ibrox is creaking at the seams and crumbling before our very eyes….that's what you get with no investment in anything….we are skint, we are looking skint and behaving skint…coz we are

      GSTQ

  10. Thank goodness Celtic took their foot off the pedal…. This has to be the POOREST performance from a Rangers team v Celtic since our birth. These players are NOT winners that's why they were available on the cheap. Celtic took the PISS out of us… We were so PATHETIC that even Scott Brown looked like a half decent footballer….. Has to be a CLEAROUT at the end of the season.

    • Great saying a clear out is needed and so it is 100% but these guys had their contract lengthened, we can't pay them off and no-one will touch them with a barge pole with their unjustified big wages so we a stuck with them for years and years.

  11. Murty had them well organised and motivated to compete in this league even with this bunch of under achievers' however Pedro has not yet grasped what is required however he has the same characteristics as Warburton he can talk a good game but offers nothing I can see that will make him last beyond Xmas. Yesterday was nothing short of capitulation to the enemy and that should never be tolerated.

  12. To be honest the only men I would be sorry to see leave Rangers are Graeme Murty and Kenny Miller. They are both a real threat to Caixinha if things start badly next season.And for that reason I don't see them being there.
    Are we still looking for a Director of Football to negotiate the signing of credible new Rangers players? Because if it is not the case a funeral director might be more appropriate. The fans won't accept more of the same. They just won't.

  13. Pedro learned nothing from the point gained at the piggery when we were right in their faces and didn't give then a minute, yesterday was a joke, at one point during 1st half, that mob had over 80% possession. Yes, the players aren't good enough and I didn't realistically think we would have won yesterday but to lose in that fashion was disgraceful.

  14. Could easily go back to his very first signings and comment over the whole two years.

    So many players were effectively 'fine' in getting us promoted, but the warning signs were there during last years cup final, and many of them now would be considered FAIL too.

    It's a horrible fact to think that our player of the year, Kenny Miller, is a player who was there before the Warburton regime began. It shows the lack of 'value' in the top flight, and it is damming.

  15. The amazing thing is that what Celtic paid in transfer fees for the team out there yesterday wasn't vastly in excess of the Rangers' expenditure.

  16. I have zero confidence Caixinha. I wish someone on the board would explain the reasoning behind bringing such a man to Rangers. I thought things couldn't get much worse but quite clearly they have.

  17. After the Aberdeen game I got smashed on here for saying that the result was only papering over the cracks!! We were poor up there and got out of jail by scoring three.

    We are in trouble on and off the park. However the blame does not fully lie with Warburton (who you used to refer to, as the magic hat) the players last year were beaten once by a premier league team… St Johnstone, since that defeat they drew and beat Kilmarnock, Dundee and Celtic. Since then things have gone wrong. Players that played with confidence are now nervous, downbeat and scared, is this down to management, or maybe down to us as fans?

    Maybe (irrespective of what they get paid) we should get behind the players, five years ago we were almost non existent!!

    That said and done, I find it strange that players don't run themselves in to the ground every game.

    On a plus point, I though Bates had his best game for us.

    Iain

  18. I agree with this very well written article and also GordoRFC really the realistic approach. Before we even consider getting rid of our failures, we know that we'll be losing the loanees. The more players that go then the lesser the quality of replacements.
    Al-Gharafa were paid a large sum in compensation to release Pedro early from his contract to give him the opportunity to assess the quality? of our existing players and our needs for next season. If we get rid of the loanees plus the failures then we'll be back to the days after administration when Ally M had to build a team from scratch. His biggest mistake then (in my opinion) was in not blooding the youth players as we came through the divisions. Pedro shouldn't repeat that mistake. Let's see some of the u-20s getting some first team game time. Not just sitting on the bench. Give these boys hope and ambition to make the breakthrough at Ibrox.
    I agree that some of the players have to go, eg Kiernan,Garner,Sender's, O'Halleron (please not Miller and Hill) but we're too financially restricted for a clear-out. In all honesty I don't see us winning the league next season so we should accept that and build for the following season although we must be more competitive and Rangers like.This season has been a waste because of poor transfer dealings.
    Give our own boys game time now instead of the loanees. Better to bring in 2 or 3 Rangers standard players than 7 or 8 discards destined to fail.
    I also agree with Savanti comment re Tavernier. He's a good player when in midfield with Hodson behind him.

    • Alec
      Spot on sir, we are hamstrung by our lack of resources to do very much. We will get diddly squat for the vast majority of players but getting some of them off the wage bill may work out, but they have to be replaced and replaced with what? We have wasted 5yrs by not blooding the young lads and getting them ready to start challenging for places the following season.

      We are still of the 'big club' mentality and everyone thinks we can still attract and spend our way out….ummm no, we are skint, we don't have enough to cobble together to replace the number of players suggested so lets stop trying to be a big club and start being a sensible club.

      We need to utilise what we have and move the pieces around to get the jigsaw to fit, as you say, we don't have a cat in hell's chance of winning the league next season, so get rid of those we have to, both on and off the field, and start trying to build for the future, 5yrs wasted and we are no further ahead than we were….the rebuild must come from the top down, only when rid of the yoke round our necks can we look at floating on the stock market again and attracting some real investment, not live on scraps and loans because every month we are going deeper and deeper into debt, irrespective how they try and cover it up….

      GSTQ

  19. You say that rangers are inconsistent but, actually, they've been very consistent and simply not any good. Consistency isn't the problem.

  20. Why is King involved at ibrox? He never played football.Did he ever support the Gers? He's a great friend of Gough so why didnt he ask his advice along with Smith as to the choice of a new manager?

    • Marty

      I cant answer that question fully but have a read of this ….

      dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2591251/Dave-King-My-father-anti-football-didnt-want-Rangers-fan.html

      There is also another interview by the 'stranger to the truth' in which states his dad took him to his first game and steered him towards Rangers ….its what he doesn't say that you have to watch….I will see if I can dig out the other interview, but they are chalk and cheese, but you never get a word of truth out of him.

      GSTQ

  21. We need a new spine of the team. My suggestions are below and estimated cost of around £6m plus the wages: –

    Christophe Berra – contract running out at Ipswich, been solid for them last two years.

    Grant Hanley – not getting a game at Newcastle, even less likely to play next year. Possible loan move

    Callum Patterson- free transfer so not much of a risk even though he can't play first couple months of season. Versatile and good physical presence. Still only 22

    John McGinn – would cost money and Hiba may resist selling but could do for us what Stuart Armstrong has done for Celtic

    Ryan Jack – solid and dependable defensive enforcer tried and tested. Free transfer as out of contract

    Graham Dorrans – found his level in English Championship but would certainly improve us. Has good experience but still young enough to give us several years service. Might be pricey though

    Osman Sow – former Hearts player, prolific in Scotland before going to China, he's 6"5 with decent pace. Not getting a game so would be cheap

    Nicky Jelavic – needs no introduction.

  22. Know Idea Nothing Good,

    His track record is abysmal, Ashley, Manager appointments, £30M now there is joke and the worst is still to come and I am not talking about old fim games, he might do us a favour and walk away to SA. J

  23. I was unfortunate or fortunate depends what way you wish to look at it.. Family commitment I wasn't able to watch the game. I did see the team and for the life of me couldn't figure out some selections – still struggling to understand that team ffs… I've only just watched the highlights as I was still in shock at the FH stats 80% possession to that mob in the good name of f#%k…

    Ped has a very steep learning curve from now on in – I do agree with some of the against comments but I also believe he can sort this mess out in the Summer…

    King must step up and stop thinking he's above the Club and the Fans – I thought he could be a saviour to the Club it's looking more unlikely with this latest court carry on..

    Fans buying the Club??

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