Why Rangers’ prize starlet could become captain…

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Why Rangers’ prize starlet could become captain…

There has been a case ever since the emergence of the ‘Messi Barcelona’ that the art of defending has at best changed and at worst deteriorated. When we think in the past 20 years of the great defenders, the names Terry, Nesta, Maldini, Silva et al come to mind.

But when we cut to the past five years, suddenly the marquee world defenders become a lot thinner on the ground, and while there are still great defenders plying their trade, the number of them is much less than it once was.

The need to defend from middle to front has overtaken the old school of rear defensive stability we recall from the ‘good old days’.

However, good defenders do still surface, and Rangers right now are being blessed with the development of a 19-year CB who has every chance of being a future captain and great for his club.

Ex-manager Pedro Caixinha put irresponsible hype on the lad’s head by saying he was going to be a legend for Scotland, but as we watch the Academy’s prize stopper play more and more, while such superlatives remain premature, the lad definitely looks something special.

The fact he has slipped like a glove into the first team and into the hard rigours of the SPL is a testament to his development by the Academy, with Craig Mulholland and Graeme Murty evidently delighted with his progress.

They have produced a potentially fantastic stopper.

McCrorie’s reading of the game is excellent, and his timing in the tackle not half bad either – he is not as aerially dominant yet as the likes of Bruno Alves, but he still has much to learn and much growing to do to become accomplished there; that said, he was pretty dominant with the header for Rangers’ first on Saturday!

Is this captain material – we cannot even say it is too early to say, because Barry Barry became captain at the very young age of 22. If you are good enough, you are old enough.

We have to applaud Caixinha on this front – a weird and crazy manager he might have been, but the list of youths he gave real chances to is endless – from Myles Beerman to David Bates, to Jamie Barjonas to Ross McCrorie – we have to say well done to him for this achievement at least, because as more McCrories and Barjonases (congratulations on your new deal sir) emerge, the stronger a base spine Rangers will have.

A future in which we rear our own and our own are actually good enough.

All the signs are that McCrorie is. We hope he continues on this path, because Rangers will be all the better for it.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. We need to take care of McRorie. He is very much still developing. He showed his immaturity against shellic when he had a hand in giving them 2 goals. He also had a howler against Hamilton away from home. If you watch the game closely on Saturday, albeit the game was finished at 3-0, Thistle had more chances than us in the second half and the youngster was caught out of position a few times, but so was Wilson and Tav is just mince as full back. In the Tarts game, they could have been 3-0 up if they took their chances after they scored, we were lucky at that point!
    I do see potential in this lad, he reminds me of a young Richard Gough who was a fantastic player and captain for us.
    Hearts and Partick are woeful, its the big pressure games against shellic, flaberdeen and fibs we will need experience at the back or we will continue getting beat by them.
    But I do see McCrorie as future Rangers captain as long as he keeps his feet on the ground, work hard and learn his game.

  2. Could do with him playing as much as possible with big Bruno, he will progress so much quicker and learn so much more from him, as I'm sure he is in training,Pedro pulled lots of the young boys in2 training and they should be tuning in on Niko & Bruno they have done it at the highest level.

    Big Slavan Bilic just became available he's better than all the EPL managers that are being aired

  3. Rangers are in no rush to appoint a new manager and it is unlikely any announcement will come this week. The club will take its time over the appointment and no candidate has even been approached to open discussions over becoming the club's 16th boss.

    Social media has gone into meltdown over the past few days due to various conflicting press reports which amount to nothing more than idle speculation but after two false starts the Rangers board will take their time to find the right man.

    It is clear that agents are using Rangers to raise the profile of certain managers – or in some cases remind people they are still alive. We've had various names being presented as serious contenders including Billy Davies, Stuart McCall, Alan Pardew, Michel Preud'homme and most recently Steve McLaren and Derek McInnes.

    Whilst some links are more realistic than others, there is no preferred candidate, there is no compensation agreement with any club and every single 'in-the-know' post you might have seen on social media, that states with any confidence who the next manager will be, is total speculation.

    Last weekend Jim Delahunt, who may still be considered by some to be a journalist, claimed McInnes would be appointed last Wednesday. He simply made it up.

    Last Thursday, on BBC Sportsound, Chris McLaughlin claimed that McInnes would be appointed this week. He also painted a picture of him being a preferred choice within Ibrox. That report was nothing more than guesswork. McLaughlin doesn't have the first clue what is happening inside Ibrox.

    On Sunday, the Sun published two articles on the subject. One stated that Derek McInnes would become the Rangers manager this week. The other stated that McInnes had turned Rangers down and that Steve McLaren had been approached. Even on the pages of the same publication, on the same day, there are completely conflicting guesses being made. And guesses are precisely what they are.

    McInnes will be in the mix but he is by no means a preferred candidate at this stage and the process of identifying applicants who have the characteristics, experience and temperament required to take the job is still ongoing. That process will be led by Director of Football, Mark Allen and will be overseen by other key figures within the club.

    Stories claiming that finances are a problem in bringing McInnes to Ibrox are completely false. Stories claiming he has turned the job down are completely false, simply because it has not been offered to him. Stories claiming he will become manager this week are pure guesswork. We unfortunately live in an environment in Scotland where all sorts of unsourced, false claims make their way into once respected newspapers and broadcasts on a regular basis.

    With the international break underway and Graeme Murty once again proving what a fantastic asset he is to Rangers, there is no announcement imminent and it is extremely unlikely that one will come this week. It is also entirely possible that Murty will stay in charge for another one or two games before any decision is taken, although that depends on progress during the break.

    Stories on McInnes in particular appear to be finding their way into the press almost daily. Several journalists are pushing him hard as their preferred candidate due to personal preference and the prospect of a renewed insight into events at the club if he gets the job. It may also be that McInnes is talking up the move himself in the background, having been extremely keen on the job before Pedro Caixinha was appointed. The reality is that McInnes will be just one of many names considered. It is also unlikely any candidate is going to help their case by running to the press.

  4. Yes give the boy more time he is not there yet and we will be punished if we allow him to be the answer to our defence which is still suspect he looked ok but thistle could have scored a couple in second half then we would all be saying our defence was shite I think Lenny Miller was best man on park Saturday

  5. Maldini learned his craft playing beside Baresi.
    McCrorie has the opportunity to do the same with Alves.
    In my opinion unless either of the 2 are injured they should be the first 2 names on the team sheet from now until the end of the season.
    We should be making full use of Alves while he is at the club to further develop young McCrorie and the best way to develop and get experience in this instance is to play games beside Alves.
    McCrorie has the potential to be an outstanding defender and future captain, he will also net us a very considerable transfer fee when its time for him to move on and test himself at a higher level.

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