Barry Ferguson once said something very pointed back in the day. It was during a dark spell under Paul Le Guen (or it might have been tail end of Eck) when his Rangers team was struggling and Ferguson claimed he would not take seriously a recent improvement until his men had gone 10 matches unbeaten.
This always stuck with me. 10 matches is a pretty good number – just over a couple of months of wins and maybe draws before a team could believe it was on the right track to recovery and getting over its dodgy spell.
These days it is even harder to do that – football is more competitive, and not even Italian giants Juventus are able to manage that any more. It is Napoli in Serie A blazing the trails these days. But it is not 10 matches yet.
But…whisper it…Rangers have managed five wins of the past eight, and only one loss. If we overlook the Celtic loss, we have to go back to the 12th of August for the last time a team took all three points from Rangers. Well over two months.
We have been hard on Pedro here at Ibrox Noise, and we know many fans have shared our criticisms, but we only deal in facts and want to be fair. While we are not yet convinced the Portuguese boss has turned this club around, the stats of recent weeks do not lie.
Sure, you can make stats do what the heck you want. We demonstrated Pedro’s ‘Mr Average’ status throughout his career. But they can paint a positive picture with hard facts, and hard facts show that Rangers have gone eight matches, Celtic aside, unbeaten.
The original Ferguson analogy was very strict, but we have adapted it slightly in these tougher times to suggest that until Rangers get back to being 100% as strong as we were in days gone by, the 10 matches unbeaten does not have to be as steadfast. We would instead convert it to mean that 10 matches in which the team starts to convince, with a majority of wins, a few draws and MAYBE a loss – THAT is the turnaround.
Now, Pedro’s Rangers are not quite convincing on the pitch yet. Yes, the last two performances and results have seen a steady climb up the way, but it needs to last a bit longer than two matches.
But nevertheless, in terms of stats, results, and facts, Celtic aside, we have to go back nine weeks for the last time Rangers lost.
It could actually be that the craziness and oddness of this Rangers regime has overshadowed a slow and steady improvement in the team.
Let us not forget, in the last two matches, Rangers actually have a better record than Celtic, who dropped more points, this time to Hibs. Rodgers’ team are the benchmark in this country but they have already drawn, by early October, half the total they drew in the whole of last season.
So while Rangers have a long way to go, it may just be, going by the hard stats, that Pedro is figuring this out. Slowly.
Long may it continue.
Ibrox Noise and Ped the ted – you guys remind me of Friend's Ross and Rachel – I love you, i don't, I love you, i don't,…fill in this week's mood swing. Good article tho.
Hi FF:
Well we're pretty sure Ross and Rachel had a happy ending. So here's hoping your analogy ends up even more correct than you think.
Dear FF, I understand what the issue is here regarding the on – off debacle with Pedro El Broamloan.
I fully appreciate your frustration in that most of us have been guilty of swinging like a pendulum where El Bandito de Catching ye is concerned. The trouble is, he's an enigma. Like most footballing people.
Once a week he talks sense, the next he spouts more than his fair share of wobbly gob bullshit and uneducated bollox to the media, hence leaving the Club open to viable criticism
Tactical change from Mark the Panbreed were open to target practice from the paying support as you and multiple thousands have been witness to some of the worst football under the past 3 managers.
He has supplied some better players, but not many
He has created some good performances not enough though.
I personally don't think that his man management is good for the squad, publicly destroying on loan players who the club wish to recoup transfer fees for will only prove fruitful in a John Cleese film.
BUT what the fabulous attraction of the Glasgow Rangers fans is for myself over the last 52 years. LOYALTY and Reality
We're only in the 2nd season in the top tier. We have only months ago swapped everyone really. So he is to be allowed a sensible amount of time and MONEY for better players in addition to the honest and skilled players in situ.
This is where I am going to confess my concerns.
It's my opinion that IF King and Murray do NOT have something of a Souness proportion surprise re:-investment With the progression we have shown, at the pace of improvement, we have not a cats chance in hell of winning the SPFL within the next 4 seasons.
****At the pace of progress we have Managed since King came back ***
I thought that St Johnstone were poor on Friday night and they defended woefully. A 0 – 3 win is still an excellent away win and the team is making progress.
I want Pedro to continue working on the defence at training, to eliminate those cross ball goals we were always giving away too easily.
When McCrorie came on, the first thing he did was win his first two tackles and pass the ball to one of his own players – well done! I really think he is a real find and played for the Scotland U21's as well.
I remember when we won but and thought we could never lose another league. The pendulum changed we lost real quality players and they improved their team. That same process is happening today and within two seasons we will be champions again
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