Report card – Rangers’ transfer window

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Report card – Rangers’ transfer window


If there is one thing most fans are agreed on right now, it is the success of January’s transfer window.

Rangers signed five new recruits for the first team, losing only one significant individual in the other direction, and managed to shed a major disappointment at the same time. Meanwhile, a group of loanees returned desperate to prove themselves good enough for Rangers.

As a result, the squad has a substantially changed over the past few weeks and most supporters would agree for the better.

Let us take a trip through the main changes and assess what we think of them.


Permanent signings:


Declan John:

The first confirmed signature of 2018, the previously on loan Cardiff left back has been excellent at Ibrox, so much so that Rangers were desperate to get him tied down permanently. The hard truth is he has impressed far more than the man he has replaced, with captain Lee Wallace conceivably struggling to get back in the side when fit. Some fans do think Wallace is a better defender than John, but while there is a debate over who plays and where, few fans think the long term contract to the Welshman was a bad idea. 9/10

Greg Docherty:

The only other permanent signing in January, there was something of a mild hoo hah over the bids, but once Rangers matched Hamilton’s asking price, the Scottish U21 international was a Rangers player, on top of his being a Rangers fan. He is one who is all about potential – a hard working but technically impressive combustible midfielder who is future Scotland material. He is obviously still to settle in at Ibrox but long term this could be an outstanding signing. 8/10


Loans:


Jason Cummings:

Did so much damage against us for Hibs that he became a victim of fans’ ire, but as he said himself, the more abuse they give you, the more you are getting right. Once it was evident that Forest was the wrong place for him, Rangers snapped him up and made, in our opinion, the signing of the window. Pacy, strong, clinical, energetic, and more than a bit cocky, Cummings has the potential to be a truly exceptional striker for Rangers, and the deal will be permanent this summer should he live up to expectations. And we conceive that he will. 10/10


Russell Martin:

A steady and reliable centre back, this was a canny signing by Graeme Murty and Mark Allen. A Scottish international and a natural born leader, he is a fine partner for David Bates or even Fabio Cardoso – an experienced stalwart who can help steer. We truly thought Alves would live up to that, but he just did not manage it. Martin, on the other hand, knows Scotland, the SPL, Rangers, and listening to him speak clearly understands the gravity of our club and has the maturity defence needs. 8/10

Jamie Murphy:

A dyed-in-the-wool Bear himself, Murphy was another one aching to get this move – the winger has tonnes of top flight English experience as well as plenty of caps for his country. Hard working, composed on the ball and willing to get stuck in in defence, Murphy is clearly revelling in the move and as time goes on, hopefully we will see the best of him. 8/10

Sean Goss:

The midfielder is a finite loan till summer, apparently with no option to buy, and we are beginning to be confused why he is out of favour at QPR, but equally why they want him back. The ex-Man Utd playmaker physically resembles Barry Ferguson in both looks and style, albeit he does not quite take games by the scruff of the neck as our former captain did. He has a fine left peg and looks very composed and assured on the ball. This was a shrewd capture and we have to applaud Mark Allen for scouting this one out. 9/10

Returning loans;


Andy Halliday; is he good enough for Rangers? Probably not. But he knows what it is all about. He is a decent squad player and will give everything he has when he is on that pitch.

Michael O’Halloran; this lad has a lot to prove – we saw how good he was back at Saints, and now it is time for him to deliver on that at Ibrox. We do think he is capable, but only time will tell if he does.

Joe Dodoo; the Charlton loan was a waste of everyone’s time, and he is back at Ibrox trying to get a foot in the door. He has ability, and he can score – we have definitely seen that. But it is whether he can do it in the light blue shirt every week that is a doubt. Definitely a bit down in the pecking order behind Morelos and Cummings though.

Departures;

Carlos Pena; not the right player for Rangers or the SPL, and has gone to Azul Cruz to rejoin Pedro. Only has three appearances and they were all from the bench for his loan side, he is not one we can say we are particularly missing.

Danny Wilson; sad to see him go, disappointed that it happened, but que sera. He is a bit of a loss but Rangers move on, and hopefully Bates, Martin and co. will fill that void.

Conclusion;

In terms of signings and losses, it was overall pretty flawless. Rangers did not bring in anyone disappointing. And no, we have not forgotten about Glenn Middleton but he is for the Academy so not viable for discussion in the first team yet, albeit Norwich fans are said to be gutted he has gone. In terms of outgoing, just the one loss of significance, while a glut of unfavoured youth went out again on loan.

The one issue we do have is midfield and attack are rather packed with players, perhaps too many, while defence is the only area where the numbers are streamlined. It certainly means our benches are pretty strong though! There is certainly an embarrassment of riches now at Ibrox, albeit still some way to go before it is fully at the expected standard.

Your thoughts?

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7 COMMENTS

  1. A good window, although I would say tomorrow's opponents have strengthened reasonably well too. It'll be a tough game, although providing we turn up we should take the three points.

    Quite confident that we can get to the cup final, get second place (1st would be better obviously) and maybe even lift the trophy. We'll need to take care of them lot across the city to do it though.

    • Although murty is doing and saying all the right things he said himself that he is only 2 losses away from being a failure.and looking at the table
      It's tight margins.we need to win every game from now until the end of the season without a doubt.

  2. It’s good to see that most of the loan signings we’ve had clauses put in to buy on the cheap, get them in, give them time to prove them selfs instead of running out and spending money. I like buissness like that

  3. You cannot say this is good campaign simply because all of the players (except Docherty) are loanees. They are not Rangers players by now. Maybe parent clubs will not sell them, who knows? And we will remain without our leaders – we cannot suffer new re-building, we must win league and stop septic.
    Hope Cummings, Martin and Murphy will be good and stay for a time, Goss will refuse us 100%.
    6/10 and new manager still needed

  4. Cautiously optimistic.
    The only caveat is that a lot of these players were not getting game time at their respective clubs. It would have been one thing if that was the case trying to get a game for the Man City’s, Arsenals and Chelsea's of this world but the fact they were not considered good enough to play for 2nd rate Championship clubs is a concern.

    So far since they arrived I have seen nothing particularly special from this Rangers team. Yet. The good news its a winning team. We now appear to be developing into a side thats difficult to beat finally and in fact have now gone 5 competitive games without defeat.

    We assume (and hope) with more game time and fitness improving we will start to see these players come alive and show the form and ability that on paper they have. I think it was prudent, if indeed that was the cunning plan, that some of them are loans. If they continue to prove their was a very good reason they didn’t get a game at their parent clubs then we can just hand them back and say thanks but no thanks.

  5. personally would have liked to sign a number 10 and cover for tav at right back. but saying that happy with the rest of the signings and hope we get beat Hibs tomorrow and get some momentum going.

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