A dreadful tragic ‘Rangers’ – fans deserve better

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A dreadful tragic ‘Rangers’ – fans deserve better


There is no doubting yesterday afternoon’s horror show was one of the most important performances and results in Rangers’ recent history.

With many Rangers fans, yours truly included, allowing ourselves to be deluded by recent positive results, the circumstances which mitigated every result had been completely overlooked.

This is not to smear Graeme Murty – while he has not been absolutely perfect, by and large he has done a stunning job he was never trained for, and held himself with dignity, class and generally carries an impressive job of holding Rangers together.

He has pretty much been the face of the club for the past two months, with the only board representation being an underwhelming AGM followed by the obligatory Dave King post-AGM RTV interview.

Murty has taken everything and carried us, far more than he ever should have needed to.

But a Rangers manager he is not, and the wins we have managed to accrue under him have been despite our squad and because of the circumstances of each match..

Take Hearts – we were impressed by a good win at Murrayfield. Unfortunately Killie went there and pumped them similarly. Killie (!)

Then it was Partick. The bottom team in the SPL and even then our performance was far from impressive.

Then came Hamilton – a match in which ‘we played well’ but failed to take our chances. They were bottom four. And won.

Then Dundee. Bottom team. They beat us.

This is where it all started to get delusional – after unsettling Derek McInnes who had principally decided to take over at Ibrox, we gubbed his lot twice. Odd then that since he made the call to remain, they have a 100% win record. Including absolutely houfing Hibs with ease.

So, then we had the County win. Another bottom team. We played disgracefully and somehow scraped a win.

Then came Hibs, which was quite probably the worst we have played in months. They destroyed us. Somehow Murty’s second half defensive switch did the trick and we won a completely undeserved three points.

At this point we are truly willing to believe Murty is onto something. We are willingly deluding ourselves. Some of us anyway.

Then yesterday came and brought us back to earth with possibly the most horrific display seen at Ibrox in years. This was actually worse than any of the dross from the lower divisions – the fans had seen enough at 70 minutes and rightly left. It woke us up.

Rangers fans have suffered this ever since admin. Ever since February 2012. That is approaching six years.

Teams are not afraid of Rangers and have not been for years. Where five years ago a win against Rangers was still a big thing, even in the lower leagues, now it is becoming a regular thing and quite predictable.

Rangers have truly become something ugly. A board which is incapable of doing anything right (wait till after the AGM, they said, wait till the share issues, they said), a management team which is honourable but out its depth, and not a single player worthy of the shirt.

Some of them should be – Dorrans, Alves, maybe Jack – but none of these guys have delivered.

The new Rangers fan mentality is to justify average players, big them up to being better than they are, and try to persuade ourselves that James Tavernier is as good as Alan Hutton, or that Declan John is Arthur Numan.

It is light years from what it should be, and one wonders if we will see a Rangers at the level we expect within a decade. Or even two.

You may scoff at that, but we have already had six years and we still suck. Spare a thought for Leeds United who, 16 years on from their collapse, are STILL nowhere near the force they were in the 90s.

This is a dreadfully sad state of affairs and we have all aged half a decade waiting for hope.

We will follow on, but I think I have given up expecting the Rangers I know to appear any time before 2030 (sounds terrifying but that is only 13 years from now).

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22 COMMENTS

  1. I know we were not good on Saturday, but we are not Rangers of yesteryear, and a few of the players are very lucky to be playing for such a club. We possably need approx. 3players in the window , a winger being one , midfielder with steel , and a forward who can assist and score goals. Easier said than done, but the name Glasgow Rangers, should attract a few.

    • We had those players right under our nose,barrie mckay/jamie walker/louis moult. and guess what we sat back and waited and two of those players are gone.

    • I agree but they the good players cost plenty do we have a spare 10 million plus wages?Yes we need better than what we have on the pitch just now but we must go along this road for now and yes be happy with what we have and move forward as one and watch our team grow stronger we may be three or four or five years away of being a good second each year we can still win cups in those years ahead the bright lights we can enjoy but i will stay for the trip back to glory no matter how long it takes us.

    • Absolutely right we are not Rangers of yesteryear. I'm sure we will compete again for the title but it won't be when we close the gap, thats impossible given financial gulf, it will be when C***** drop back to the pack which is inevitable at some point. What ambitious footballer or manager wants to be involved in procession football and regular embarrassment in the CL. Rodgers will go and so will players, lets hope it in the next 2 seasons.

    • olly/c, Barrie McKay left because he only had a year left on his contract and refused to sign a new one. Not the same thing. I understand Moult made a decision to return to England, which I can understand. Maybe we could have changed his mind, I don't know. Walker, I hope we get on a pre-contract. If we don't get some of our targets on pre-contracts, questions will be asked

    • Sorry but I know Barrie. He wanted to stay, was never offered a new deal and Pedro told him he didn't rate him. So your claim about him is false.

      He did an interview a few months back where he publicly confirmed much of this and reiterated that he had little choice.

      The board that blindly followed Pedro and sold him for a pittance have since branded this as "bad management". Well it was but it was by them as much as Pedro.

      Fact Warburton wanted him should of been a clue.

    • That is strange. He was offered a new deal and turned it down. You may mean he was never offered s second, improved, deal.
      But I think it is a matter of record that he was offered one in the January

  2. Agree with everything you say how on earth can we bring in players in January when we dont have a manager to have a say in whom we do bring in 3 players needed no way we need at least six there is no cover anywhere in the squad there are players going through the motions yesterday when Murty brought on Herrera when he had Ryan Hardie on the bench was the final straw for me no way we can have him as manager he is a youth coach and nothing more

    • Agreed. We need to know if Hardie is good enough and we won't find out until we play him. Scored 3 and made 2 midweek, then watches Herrera lumber on and do nothing.

  3. IN.Totally agree with this article but were the hell do we go from here as we are still going round in circles and anything we have said/written is not being taken seriously by King/co,we all know our club is Massive or for the moment a sleeping giant,and Why is no one giving us any clarity/information of were our Great Club is going…Utter �� watp helicopter 2005

  4. I agree with everything said here and i would like to add my point. Obviously we dont have all the right players, thats been agreed as we know Murty is not right to be permanent as manager.Its already been mentioned on this site about Kings promise for transparency, so where is it? Why have the board not come out and said whats happening in the search for a new manager, yes i know King has waffled about people being under contract because its at times like this that fans need reassurance and transparency or they will start to leave.where is the money King promised? he has stated millions have already been paid to repair Ibrox stadium to make it fit for the status of a great club. Surly though after what the club has been through he should first look at the management structure and team building so that the club can compete with the best. Once the club has achieved this then repair the stadium. To me its like building a house with the roof first. I genuinely think that this board are not fit for purpose now. They have taken this club as far as they can go. Rangers getting beaten by any team is hard to take but being beaten by fuds that have a home support of less than two thousand at times is desperate. Thats my rant.

  5. Never mind what individual players we might need for the moment – most importantly we need leadership. We need a comprehensive strategic plan to rebuild the club back to former glories. At this moment the Board are letting the fans down big time. While we will be forever grateful to King from rescuing us from the clutches of the crooks and charlatans that we're bleeding us dry – he can't continue to dine out on this forever more. Enough is enough. It is ridiculous and an embarrassment that we still don't have a manager in place. This is step 1 and needs to be treated as a matter of urgency.

    • Iv spent last two years trying to warn other fans about the board.

      Some either don't understand or don't want to understand. Some are living in a fantasy land and will try to defend the board.

      Truth is clear. This board has no cash and no clue. They have managed to pass a resolution at AGM which prevents anyone investing in club without their approval- this means no outside investor can gain a controlling share. No serious investor would ever put serious money into a business they don't control.

  6. Rewind when c had McCann and we were imperious everyone said they would never ever compete with us again and they were wrong. Yes there are very few chinks of light but what goes up comes down and so it will prove for us.

  7. Do you know what Ibrox Noise, you have been criticised by a lot of fans for being too negative at times, whereby, I have always thought you were just being realistic albeit we have had our disagreements in some articles. So fair play to you taking all that criticism when in fact you were 100% correct, including this article.
    The players are disgraceful. We are playing like a bottom 6 team, simple as that.
    I have no idea whatsoever what the board is thinking or whats to happen in our future. Its horrible to think that we are going to live with the charade infinitely!
    We need action now, not today, or tomorrow, NOW! But alas, I don't hold much hope in the very near future, however, I will guarantee there will be action when the applications for 2018/2019 season tickets sales commence!! The only time we hear from the board! Sad and doeful times my fellow bears, I am hurting as you are!

  8. Some interesting stats from yesterday:
    St Johnstone had scored just 4 goals in their previous 10 games.
    They were without their top 3 scorers and possibly their best 3 players.
    They scored 3 times from 3 shots on target.
    Goal scorers Alston, Johnstone and Cummins all scored their first goal of the season.
    First league win at Ibrox since 1964.
    We've now lost 16 out of 30 points a time Ibrox this season. I highlight these things just to demonstrate what an easy touch we are and how teams and players must revel in coming to Ibrox.
    Not good enough.
    Need new manager NOW and several new players of higher quality just to be best of the rest.

  9. Some interesting stats from yesterday:
    St Johnstone had scored 4 goals in their previous 10 games.
    Scored 3 goals from 3 shots on target.
    They played without their top 3 scorers and probably their best 3 players.
    Their goal scorers Alston, Johnstone and Cummins all scored their first goal of the season.
    First win at Ibrox since 1964.
    I highlight these things to demonstrate how bad we are and how teams and players must revel in playing at Ibrox.
    We need a new manager NOW and at least 4 good players of much better quality in each of the next 2 windows just to be the best of the rest.

  10. It makes yesterday result all the worse after they got absolutely humped today.
    One things for sure at least al no hear that invincible pish any longer!!

  11. I don't understand why Mcleish has not been appointed, simple as that. No compensation, experienced, knows the club and expectations, commands respect from players. Before anyone says its going backwards, I for one would love to go back to when he was in charge. And yes I know it went pear shaped near the end, but he was doing the job with one hand tied behind his back ref finance and politics. However he has the experience to get us a solid second by organising the motley crew we have at our disposal, and I for one would take that right now

  12. I said ever since the Cup Final this defence has to get sorted out once and for all before we can move forward. And once Warburton was gone the summer transfer window should have been used to get that very defence fixed.

    Make us a hard team to beat and some of last seasons draws would be turned into wins and some of those defeats draws. Nope. Here we are 18 months later and still the same shambles at the back having wasted money elsewhere when it could have been used on QUALITY defenders.

    The light at the end of the tunnel is that we're scoring goals in comparison to previous seasons averaging exactly 2 per game which is JUST sufficient to challenge at the top (hence our 3rd place).

    BUT…

    …conceding 1.21 per game which is nonsense. You have to go back to the 80's pre-Souness to see stats like that which tells you all you need to know about this current team. That has to drop to around 0.75 or less to have any hope of winning the league.

    This team will never win unless we get a manager in who has the balls to say stop everything else and concentrate on the back 4 and goalkeeper first. And it would help if we got a manager period!

    • Well said TBB. Our great teams have always been built on a solid defence. Its been shocking since Warburton. How Tavernier still gets a game i will never know. We need someone who can defend at right back first and foremost.

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