“But they’re all foreigners…”

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“But they’re all foreigners…”

Few could deny there is a distinct Hispanic flavour now to Rangers’ ranks. Over the course of this incredibly eventful transfer window, manager Pedro Caixinha has called on every trick in his Portuguese book and every contact he has ever known to recruit swathes of players from both his homeland and elsewhere.

There has been a touch of concern from some quarters of the Rangers support about just how many overseas recruits are being sought, and how it does seem a little like bulk purchase of unfamiliar players, with the question of how they can all gel quickly.

Well for us slightly older Bears, we went through this kind of upheaval before, with an overseas manager coming in and essentially signing an entirely new squad filled with players from his homeland, and the majority of readers will instantly know I am referring to the Little General himself.

Yes, in 1999 Dick Advocaat signed half of the Netherlands, admittedly with a slightly more lavish budget than Caixinha is privy to, but under the same principles; an aging or insufficient squad was cleared out and a barrage of shiny new ‘foreigners’ came in. Few complained back then, and in truth, the majority do not seem overly worried on this occasion either.

The fact is the existing squad was something below feeble. Filled with Mark Warburton’s rubbish, it was a pathetic excuse of a Rangers squad and it had plenty of Scots and Brits in it. In fact, for the eagle-eyed, Ghanian-born Joe Dodoo aside, the only overseas players Warburton actually signed were Niko Kranjcar, Philippe Senderos and, if you remember him, Maciej Gostomski. The rest of the squad was English and Scottish.

So going home-based is no guarantee of success, even if feels morally ‘better’. No, the harsh reality is Pedro is getting the best he can from wherever he can, and few can, on a football level, complain about Bruno Alves, Fabio Cardoso and Alfredo Morelos. And add to that the signature of Ryan Jack, plus potentials in Graham Dorrans and Jamie Walker and the blend of the squad really is not too concerning.

Yes, there are a lot of Portuguese, Mexican and general Hispanic players either coming in, in already, or heavily linked, but the truth is Rangers need quality, wherever it was born. While we would all rather have a Scottish team, or a British team, we have tried that and it did not work.

For now, we have to back Pedro, trust his judgement, and hope the majority of his signings if not all, work – it is in Rangers’ best interest they do.

Whether the signings are from Portugal, Paraguay or Paisley makes no difference to me.

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27 COMMENTS

  1. If they can put the ball in the net, and keep it out the other end, then who cares where they are from. There's always someone trying to make anti rangers headlines to sell papers

  2. Very well put and hard to argue with regards the Dutch Colony that did an amazing job at Rangers. While a few Bears are worried about Candeias and him being a journey man and being out on loan, what's to say he's not a squad player!? As stated earlier Ped wants 2 players for each position what's to say Walker ( if signed ) one side McKay or Candeias on the other or vice versa.. Pena and Dorrans sound as if they'll be in direct competition for the AM position can't imagine them both being on the same pitch but not impossible.. Herrera – Morelos ( work permit ) and hopefully young Hardie being moved up to first team squad. Holt as competiton for Jack it all ads up rather well I think.. Look at how threadbare the squad was at the end of season, I'm sure Ped doesn't want to go through Old Firms without some experience and options for each position.. Mexican – Portuguese – Scottish – English it's still the mighty Rangers 🇬🇧

  3. Players come and players go but no matter what we are still and always will be GLASGOW RANGERS…WATP

  4. I think you are missing the point Ibrox Noise. The situation with the Dutch influx is not comparable. The Dutch players signed were proven at the highest level of European football, and coming in to a strong and winning Rangers team. The concerns are that Rangers are repeating the same mistake all over again in that they are bringing in a high number of players closely associated with the current manager. If caixhina is not a success then do we rip it up and start again. Caixhina is a journeyman manager with no track record of success. Alves aside this is largely true of the players he is bringing in. I truly hope Pedro is a resounding success however Rangers really need to address their scouting situation as a matter of priority so that building the squad is not all on a potentially transient manager. Also if we are to go with the Director of Football model – then get it done or stop talking about it.

  5. Spot on ibrox noise, the blend isn't as bad as being made out, with holt wallace Miller and Mackay there adding dorrans and Jack gives u 6 then tab is still there the keepers are both English and let's be honest any good Scottish player right now plays for the otherside already so right now I'm happy as a pig in sh*t, the signings and potential signings are of a level that we should be looking at right now, and the foreign feel may give is that bit of spark on the park that we have lacked so much last season. Once again great piece ibrox noise and my question to you is….the title, pipe dream or reality???

    • Good point about the good Scottish boys..A few not happy we didn't go for Cummings like Hibs would've sold him to the Gers.. Not a chance lol

  6. We still have a lot of scots in the squad!! Waldo, Wilson, Holt, Miller, Hardie, to name a few and there are many more!! Dorrans will becoming, possibly Walker too so there are 2 more!! Personally if we go and get 2nd and a cup or somehow turn in a league winning season then I don't care if we have 11 players from all corners of the world and a subs bench from mars as long as they fight for the club!! If we are Futebol club de portugal Rangers then so be it!!!!!

    • Bang on the button that man! Not everybody heard of our Assistant Manager JJ before Walter got him, or even Ronnie Rozenthal – Lovenkrands not British players but did a good job.. JJ was playing his Club fitba in Latvia or somewhere like that..I'm with you support them give them confidence

  7. Advocates words were "Judge me at the end of the season" after losing his first game to hearts 2_1. Rangers won the league title. Seems the players coming in are mutch better than Warburton efforts and it's exciting times ahead. It shouldn't take a whole season to judge Pedro but I'm definitely behind him and his choices so far.

  8. This is 5th year in a row that we have need a full overhaul of the squad. It hasn't went well any of the past time & I can't think we're the money is coming from to pay the wages of all these new players when we needed soft loans from the directors to get through last season. We still have all the player from last season apart from hill & senders.
    Just hope we can afford it and don't end up going to the wall again

  9. I think it is unrealistic to compare Ronald de boer , van brockhorst, numan , Ricken etc with this window, Especially when that certain revolution put us in the position we have been over the last few years. Advocaat did no better than any other rangers manager we have had with the multi million pound squad he assembled. I hate to always be negative and hope the squad do when and i am looking forward to the season ahead alot more than i thought i would be but we need to put this into perspective. we are signing players from Mexico who no other European club has took a punt on and they are both 27-28 so not bad ages to catch someones attention and we are paying reportedly 4 mil for the pleasure. Alves is a good player no doubt, the 29 yo winger i have never neard of and he hasnt played for Benfica for a reason though the jury is out. I am really happy with the 20 yo Columbine , his record looks great for his age and cardoso seems to have something about him. Hopefully Jack and possibly dorrans will add some balance.Lets wait and see how the season pans out, Ibrox noise turned very quickly on Warbs , lets see how you write about Pedro in 3 months time.

  10. Echo the sentiments above; it doesn't really matter where they come from, so long as they can do the business and we keep a core of players who know what the Rangers mean to people. I am still of the opinion we should have had a punt on Cummings, especially if he's going to Forest for a million. And Boyce has a 500k release clause?
    Anyway, I think if Hardie gets a shot and Herrera does the business, we should be okay as it looks like Garner is for the off. Still a bit sad about that. Didn't see him in the training photo gallery.

  11. De Boer brothers were past it when bought and that was on big Ecks watch.. The Dutch players still had to adapt to the Scottish game and the goldfish bowl that is Glasgow – I think that's what Ibrox Noise was meaning in that respect but I could be wrong…Every player is a risk no matter what country they come from

    • yeah i get ur point, dont want to get 2 excited is probably my problem 😆. frank defo past but not ronald he was a legend m8 , 4 seasons i think and a lot of goals and advocaat was DOF at the time was he not ?

  12. Sebastian Rosenthal mate and he was a dud.Bad luck with injuries granted but a dud.I'm worried about cliques forming which is inevitable as they're in a strange country together but if we get Dorrans and the Hearts boy we'll retain a Scottish/British core.I'm excited about the Columbian boy and the mhanks are gutted,they want to hijack the move.

    • Aye Sabastian my bad Tam but I'm getting on years too mate..He looked promising before his injury which I do remember was at Perth v the Saints.. I'd like to see Walker join as that would give us 4 wide men total all fighting for 2 spots.. Morelos will be deadly like Mols in that mould Tam – plus that mob will be seething.. Dembelle will be gone and LG is wanted down South – it must be in the back of his mind that Brendan dropped him in a flash for Dembelle… You can smell the fear

  13. a
    All this talk about who might play here or there but nowhere is there a mention of Rossiter is he injured again because he has never appeared in any of the training gallery and not a mention of him regards progress towards fitness

    • Aye there is he's back training from the start… He started pre season along with Krancjar trying go through the gallery on the official site.. Also Ibrox Noise did a piece on him only a wk or so before the Pena deal was made public

  14. An excellent article, as always, proven by the level of comments.
    Clearly, the ' foreigner ' conundrum has reached a new level, with the bold, and innovative approach currently being adopted by the manager.
    That the players have all been acquired as 'first options' would first of all suggest a strong desire to work under his tenure,
    It should also be supposed that the wages on offer are competitive, with the possible exception of Alves, in comparison to what they have been used to.
    In this respect, the board have to be commended for sanctioning the moves.
    Asides from the actual fee, people tend to be slightly ignorant of the extenuating conditions / costs of a transfer of a player from overseas.
    Family issues have to be considered..perhaps schooling for their children / housing / language difficulties / cultural and climate differences.
    Not to mention style of play within the Scottish game.
    For sure, though, the ensuing season promises to be intriguing, as our main weapon will be the element of surprise.
    Optimism before pessimism.
    It is the only way to proceed.

    Davymac

  15. I think our Pedro has a good brain for both The Game & Business. Foreign Older & Young . Pairing the young with the experienced both home & foreign for a much stronger team and for sell on value.

  16. An excellent article, as always, proven by the level of comments.
    Clearly, the ' foreigner ' conundrum has reached a new level, with the bold, and innovative approach currently being adopted by the manager.
    That the players have all been acquired as 'first options' would first of all suggest a strong desire to work under his tenure,
    It should also be supposed that the wages on offer are competitive, with the possible exception of Alves, in comparison to what they have been used to.
    In this respect, the board have to be commended for sanctioning the moves.
    Asides from the actual fee, people tend to be slightly ignorant of the extenuating conditions / costs of a transfer of a player from overseas.
    Family issues have to be considered..perhaps schooling for their children / housing / language difficulties / cultural and climate differences.
    Not to mention style of play within the Scottish game.
    For sure, though, the ensuing season promises to be intriguing, as our main weapon will be the element of surprise.
    Optimism before pessimism.
    It is the only way to proceed.

    Davymac

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