Should Rangers make a move for this well-known Celtic fan?

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Should Rangers make a move for this well-known Celtic fan?
 Article by: Richard Fillingham

Liam Boyce, the 6’ 1”, 26-year-old Northern Ireland footballer and Ross County striker is the SPL’s top scorer with 23 goals – the first player from a bottom-six club to head the scoring charts in the post-split era. He also netted in the Scottish Cup against Dundee United to make it 24 goals for the season, before getting knocked out early against Aberdeen.

Just like the famous Maurice Johnston, Liam is a Celtic man, but look how well Mo did for us at Rangers; great player and no one tried harder to please the best fans in the world.

Liam began his career at Cliftonville and returned to the club following a short spell in Germany at Werder Bremen where his family didn’t settle. He subsequently won all the 2013 Player of the Year awards in Belfast the season he returned and scored an incredible 36 goals.

This made Ross County make their move for the natural goal scorer and he signed for the Dingwall club during the 2014 close season, but he struggled upon his arrival in the Highlands, because he was looking cumbersome and too unfit for the fast pace of the boisterous SPL. Boyce admitted:
    

“When I arrived here I weighed a ridiculous, 99.7 kilos (15 and a half stone), and now I’m down to 85 or 86 (13-and-a-half stone). “I thought I knew what I had to do to get fit but looking back it’s way more than I thought I would have to do. When I was at Cliftonville, the opposition fans used to shout ‘You fat b****** at me’ and I used to think: ‘What are they talking about?’ Now I realise there was a bit of truth in what they were shouting!”

Ex-Rangers man & Boyce’s assistant manager Billy Dodds admits Ross County are now embroiled in a battle to try to keep their top scorer. He is signed until May 2018, so Rangers have a chance of getting him for around a £425,000 or signing him in January on a pre-contract for free.

He is not your typical centre-forward as he is neither a battering ram or a speed merchant. He is also a very consistent player who never loses matches through being injured. In season 2015–16 he played 44 games and scored a very acceptable 20 goals and last year in 41 games he managed 24 goals.

This is a startling feat by anyone’s standards, a knack for being in the right place at the right time and a cool head in front of goal are his main attributes.

Ibrox Noise thinks that Rangers could do a lot worse than look at Boyce with his 24 goals the same amount as Kenny Miller, Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner put together. He also picked up 9 bookings last season, so like Joe Garner, he is not slow to get stuck in.

Hearts and newly promoted Hibs are also interested in his services as they look to build a squad capable of challenging for second place.

Dodds added:

“Boycey is one of those boys, he’s meticulous with everything he does. He’s bought into the sports science side of things. He’s dropped so much weight, he’s strengthened, he’s much sharper now. The last two-and-a-half years have turned his career around. But that’s come from him. You wouldn’t believe the way his body has changed. It’s helped him become an all-round better player. When you’re a striker, a natural finisher, that’s always in you, but the new strength and conditioning side of things have made him a real special player. I’m not putting it all down to him. It’s togetherness that makes Ross County, but he has certainly stood out over the last couple of seasons. He’s not just a goal scorer, I mean an all-round player. He’s so intelligent, he’s got unbelievable ability for a big lad, he’s a top player. It’s going to take plenty of pennies to get a player of Liam Boyce’s calibre. Strikers are special, top teams pay more money for you.”

County boss Jim McIntyre has also expressed his desire to keep hold of Boyce and said.
    

“We’ve never said to him, come on, what are you thinking? We left him, because he was in such a good vein of form, plus we wanted to get the relegation trouble out the way first.”

If Rangers want a proven SPL goal-scorer at a modest sum, Boyce might be worth checking out.

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20 COMMENTS

  1. Ibrox Noise

    Without a doubt they bloody should.. He's been a stand out for Ross County I'd take him quicker than Naismith or Lafferty for defo.. Boyce and Moult up front would be a sign of intent for Rangers…

  2. If he wanted to sign for Rangers, I would be very happy. He has a lot of personal issues to overcome, likewise Jon Daly had when he signed. If he has the desire to play for us and earn potentially a far greater monetary package, probably beyond his wildest expectations in doing so and if he also desired more caps with Northern Ireland a move to Rangers would be beneficial to him and our club.
    In my mind, if a player wants to play for Rangers, as Mo did, then I will back him 100 percent.

  3. I don't understand why rangers pages continually link us with substandard players ,If moult was the next big thing he's be fighting clubs off ? Why is it just us wanting him now we are linked to another 3rd rater,
    Go and get jelavik back he wants out of China he's made his doe and would probably not be difficult to deal with

    • This is the reality of where we are ,no footballer has made enough dough , tell yourself every footballer and manager is only interested in money and you wont go far wrong .

    • Mabey true that money is the only motivation now bt that should not stop us from aiming to compete and buying the sameor even slightly better standard of player as warbs did is not going to get us there

  4. Re our youth development, an excellent paper on Europe's top football academies, lads: ecaeurope.com/Research/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies.pdf
    Was surprised to read that Ajax's academy costs 5 million GBP a year; money well spent and a standard we should be thinking of/talking about following.

  5. What people have to remember is – in this day and age Rangers do not have the means to sign players on 20 grand , we have to buy locally for the spine of the team. Boyce would be a really good player for us! Moult I like , big guy with a nice touch a formidable partnership him and Boyce.

  6. I think , Alves, Moult, Boyce, Naismith, possibly Lafferty and a couple of Center Backs and a right back we would have a far better team . Thoughts ?

    • Aye looks Ok But Motherwell are taking the piss asking 500,000 and O Halloran for Moult Boyce is a beggar so he wont come to us …Lafferty would play his guts out last stand etc.

  7. I don't think we should attempt to sign him, because it wouldn't surprise me if the filth have got him lined up as a replacement for Griffiths. Boyce will turn us down and play for them instead, we shouldn't give him the opportunity to do that to us. Moult, Jelavic and Naismith are all much better signing options for us in my opinion.

  8. I think he is fair player yes and Motherwell are taking the piss 500,000 and O'Halloran for Moult F**k Off but for real potential I would really like Rangers to after Simon Murray from Dundee Utd He is young and full of potential if you don't agree watch him against Hamilton . I would still go for Jelavic if he wants to come but not for silly money . I would also look at what Cummings would cost too.

  9. We could get Boyce form around £650.000 to £1 million money well spent but hurry there are many clubs ready to take a shot at him.

  10. Clearly there are zero funds currently available with today's fire sale.

    Really wish fans would stop letting Dave King treating the fans like a bunch of mugs and the club with contempt.

    Let's have an open share issue and let other investors in. To say there are no other investors is ridiculous – other parties such as them two Americans wanted to buy the club when it was in a far worse position in third division.

    Anyone who denies there are other investors clearly doesn't believe in market capitalism – the force that drives every economy in the world. If we were on an exchange investors would trade shares, the club would be run properly, transparently and with accountability.

  11. If the Record article about the For Sale list is true, I'm worried about next season. Selling McKay, Windass and Crooks is a mistake in my view, and they'll prove us wrong in the same way that Adam, McCormack and Gattuso did. Bringing in an entire team of players in one window is too much. It's been tried before by Warburton last year, by Steve Bruce at Sunderland, Mark Hughes at QPR, Di Canio at Sunderland…and each time it was disastrous…

    • Me too. Bizarre to get rid of Crooks when he hasn't seen the boy kick a ball. Windass was starting to get back to match fitness and while I don't think Pedro fancies McKay much, I still think he needs a bit of time with some better players. And much as I am a fan of Garner, it looks like he is on his way too. Bet he goes and gets a barrel-load elsewhere.

      Interesting stuff on the Academy reshuffle too- without a DoF in place?

    • Absolutely, Doug. Crooks was getting rave reviews (until he got injured lol) at Scunthorpe; if the boy's injury isn't career-threatening, it would have been good to keep him at Ibrox at least one more season. He showed in just a few games with us that he's a commanding presence in the middle of the field.

      hitc.com/en-gb/2017/03/15/scunthorpe-united-fans-very-impressed-by-glasgow-rangers-matt-cr/

      Big changes at the academy too mate. I don't know if these guys are replacing other coaches or if it's an indication that we're increasing the number of coaches at Murray Park? If it's the latter it's already positive. Don't know anything about the coaching ability of the likes of Lovenkrands, but he's certainly someone who conducts himself in the right way. Having suitably qualified ex-players as coaches is a good thing as long as they're not the old-skool, "we always have fish suppers after a game" types.

      Oh, the DoF situation is pretty baffling:)).

  12. I agree if you bring in more than four players then it upsets things just add three or four to what we have,but let us make it good youg players not old 30 plus has beens.

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