Is Pedro ready to recall frozen-out Rangers star?

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Is Pedro ready to recall frozen-out Rangers star?

While the current standard of player at Ibrox might not be quite at the illustrious level of yesteryear, Bears like ourselves and, we assume, the vast majority of the support if not all, still hold the values and traditions of the club dear, with an emphasis on dignity, integrity, and professionalism.

And if one player over the past few seasons has lived up to these, it is definitely Jason Holt.

When wee Holty was signed for that comically low fee of £29,000 back in 2015, having been rejected by newly-promoted Hearts, the midfield engine came to Auchenhowie, committed himself to a trial, then aforementioned compensation went to Tynecastle to secure him on a deal.

And while few would pretend he was quite a Barry Ferguson or suchlike, nevertheless the young runner gave everything every time he played and really did coast the Championship at Ibrox – he looked a slick operator, while being a bundle of energy and enthusiasm, whilst chipping in with the odd goal here and there.

He looked a stick-on to cope with the SPL but unfortunately last season it became evident that the anchor had not adjusted to the upgrade too well and struggled to assert himself as convincingly as he had in Scotland’s second tier.

While we are frequently critical of manager Pedro Caixinha, his dropping of Holt is something we had to reluctantly agree with. The lad just was not doing it at this level, and without any doubt, he needed a bit of time away to reassess what was needed.

And if anyone handled that time out with the kind of professionalism, dignity, integrity, and ‘Rangers standard’ we expect, it was Holt – not a word of complaint, not a single negative hint from the lad – he just got on with turning out for the youths and gaining fitness, form, and match sharpness, and approached it with the same level of gusto as he did for the first team.

He might be a Jambo at heart, but he has certainly behaved with the class of a Ranger, and it is with great pleasure we witness the praise he is getting from fans and pundits alike on his slowly-integrating return to the first team over recent matches.

There has been little coincidence that Rangers’ upturn in energy in some recent patches timed with Holt’s introduction as a sub on these occasions, and we really respect the way he has dug in, got on with his job, and given everything to his club whether as a starter, sub, or on the outside looking in.

He has, in our eyes, earned a bit of a chance in the first team again.

We certainly would have no quarrel with him starting ahead of Carlos Pena.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. I sincerely hope that young Jason is given a chance again to prove himself, as you stated he is a total pro and dedicated, all he want's is to play football. He is my brother in law's nephew and Jason's late mum Karen would have been really proud of him. I also think that Pedro given time will make this team work and with afew additions in January and again next summer we will get there. Time is of the essence, but time is what's needed to make us great again.

    • Hi Martin, this is not a criticism of your comment, I actually concur with you, but who is currently Rangers quality at Ibrox at the moment?
      If you relate Holt in comparison to players playing in the same position from the success years, he wouldn't be even good enough for the reserves. I do think Holt offers us something, as the article says he has energy, enthusiasm and he got us a stonewall penalty because of this at Hamilton.
      A footnote; would Scott Brown have had all the time he had at Ibrox last week had Holt been told to man mark and harass him?

    • Better than Pena anyway IMO, wee man chases everything and never gives up! Just like a we yappy dug lol, might no be brilliant but he's got the heart and belief

  2. I'd very much put Jason in front of Pena. Now that Jack is out, Jason is def the natural successor to side with Dorrans. Jack is starting to become a liability as Pena is. His tackles last night were erratic, unnecessary and could have cost us points. I've always liked Jason's energy and passion, something that has been missing in our team for a while. Deserves his chance and hopefully keeps his place in the team.

  3. I agree with the article and the comment above but would note that Halliday, who is a Bluenose at heart, has not been offered a chance at redemption so far. An attacking midfielder he was asked to play the holding role and did so I suspect partly because, like all of us, he would play anywhere to get a game for Rangers.

    He wasn't good enough at that role, a fact disguised in the Championship by our winning. But come the step up he was found out and harangued by the fans. I always felt this was a little unfair. He was probably the best holding midfielder at the club with Rossiter injured and only did as he was asked. I didn't hear Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace or Wes Foderingham shouting "let me do it".

    I am not saying that Halliday is good enough to play for Rangers. I don't know and the decision will be made by people who know better than me. I only say that before we return him to the terraces, it might be nice to give him, like Holt, a runout in a better team playing further forward. If he fails, so be it. If he does ok, we have gained a player.

    Thoughts?

  4. It is not a coincidence that Rangers midfield energy goes far higher when Holt is introduced as a sub.

    Unfortunately, his passing is usually poor and he gives the ball away too often for me.

    I still want Pedro to go – soon!

  5. He gives the ball away constantly is nervous and a lightweight, love him for giving his all but just no where near good enough.

  6. Richard.
    Pedro spent 10M on 10 players.
    That just won't get us challenging the unwashed.
    Before we get a new manager think we better get a board that knows what the fuk there doing and sort out an investor more than 1 required.
    Nothing will change till we've sorted that out.
    BTW we were average against a total pish Hamilton team…

  7. I have often supported playing Holt, in my opinion he is a better contributor to the team than Pena, he is far more mobile and has a better engine than Windass and could he play as part of the 3 midfielders along with Jack and Dorrans, although my preference would be Rossiter if we ever manage to get the boy fit.
    A comment about him being a Jambo; three of our best ever players were huge Jambos; Jimmy Millar, John Greig and the late Great Sandy Jardine. If Holt was even 25% as good as any of them, he'd be one of the best players in our squad.

  8. Holt isn't Rangers quality and is lightweight to say the least. Might be a nice lad and a trier but that doesn't cut it. Will never be good enough for anything other than an emergency substitute. Cheers Wee Man, ta ta.

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