As Rangers fans are only too well aware, one recently-appointed manager has stood out in the SPL head and shoulders above the rest. Unfortunately for Rangers, it isn’t Graeme Murty.
Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke has had a quite extraordinary impact at Rugby Park, becoming, since October, Scotland’s most influential manager above even Brendan Rodgers, and going past Graeme Murty on pure performance.
Here are the ‘power’ rankings for the SPL – albeit it is not 100% clear if that is for the whole season, since October or the latest round of matches. Either way it doesn’t look good for Murty and looks peachy for Clarke.
More clear is this:
Second only to Celtic, Kilmarnock have won more points per game since Clarke’s appoint than anyone in Scotland, including Rangers.
That is the singlemost damning stat against Graeme Murty and his performance. He is being outperformed by a fellow SPL rookie who only has a 20th (if even) of the resources Murty has at his disposal.
Rangers fans who think Murty is good enough need only look at how much better a job Clarke is doing with far less budget.
Furthermore, the two have both been in charge for 21 matches in total – and Clarke has taken considerably more points from top six sides in that time than Murty has. Both have taken 40 points, but naturally Murty has superior tools at his disposal than Clarke, and has performed less well with them.
We’ve nothing against Murty, but he isn’t a Rangers manager. We still get messages here at Ibrox Noise telling us to give him more time and he deserves fans’ support.
And we held off from any judgement till early March, as was our promise. But these stats are damning, and it seems to be a recurring theme at Ibrox.
Pedro got outperformed by the likes of Steve Robinson, Derek McInnes and Tommy Wright, while Mark Warburton was outclassed by Wright and Robbie Neilson.
Now Murty’s being undone by Clarke. Simply put, Rangers’ managers these days just aren’t good enough to be Rangers managers. Celtic brought in an ex-Liverpool manager with Champions League experience who was a slip away from winning the EPL. Killie bring in an experienced ex-Chelsea assistant coach. Rangers brought in a Portuguese guy no one had heard of then replaced him with the youth coach.
And we wonder why we struggle?
This happens all the time,you said Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke has had a quite extraordinary impact at Rugby Park,yes and no look at motherwell hibs and aberdeen why take him even if he gets forth best manager when our own manager second or third best?think about this it is easy for some managers to get out of the bottom six but staying there is the problem we can not just go after managers that bring teams to plays us and then beat us,it is the players we have,some good some and some are not so good but there are better players playing for other clubs,we are doing ok second and still in cup,ok put it this way Kilmarnock may or may not get forth and they can not win any cups this season so why do we look at a club for a mananger that is not even near to where our own club is and what our own manager is doing.we must stop changing our managers or we will never move forward as one.
Clarke took over part way through the season from another abysmal failure, mcculloch, with Kilmarnock in 11th place. Finishing 4th is an obvious achievement.
Can you really not see that?
I think everyone agrees that Murty going forward is not the long term answer. the trouble is that we have a shortage of decent talent in Scotland … Jack Ross is probably one of the better young coaches. As far as further afield is concerned I do hope that Mark Allen is casting his net as far as he can but doing the right diligence no more Caixinha shambles please. I think a Dutch Coach would be a good fit or even a young German coach at least they will know what they are looking at and what is needed. One thing is crystal clear Murty is not the Manager we need to get back where we belong. This includes unloading those players we are also carrying . We should wait and see what happens at the Semi and then get the New Manager in place to have a chance to recruit and clear out as required. I believe the finances will be available but will not be massive
Part of the problem is with Killie the players are either past there best or out to make their name a household name, Rangers on the other hand some players (not all I agree) think they have made it and dont want to push on to improve as they have made the big bucks and wont get much bigger. Some of them dont go along with the passion and expectations of us as a supporter group!
If we win the cup then this will all chabge as it will with most supporters but we need to be looking at the big prize next season amd can Murty get us there maybe, could a top pedigree manager get us there maybe, point being we dont know who will get us back to the summit of the league we will need to wait and see. I agree with a past manager though we shouldn't be looking at stopping 10 in a row we need to STOP 8!!
RTID
WATP
🔴⚪🔵
If you want to know 'why we struggle' then just look at the finances rather than just the manager. Celtic's income is triple that of Rangers. Celtic make a profit and are much more stable, Rangers make a loss.
If your neigbour earns three times as much as you, do you expect to have better holidays or a newer car?
How does that in any way address the article? This about our performance relative to Kilmarnock's, not Celtic's.
Ibrox Noise Clarke or Murty aren't the answer we require better than that not just after the summer but for many years to come.
We're all clutching at straws because everything went from ⬆️ to ↗️ in 8 days, we won't know hehaw till the seasons over simple as!!
We can still beat the manky mob in the semi no problem and European football is nearly there.
Let's all concentrate on the last 7 games and leave the rest to Mr Allen!?
All The Bluebells Are Blue 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Robbie the Gers can’t afford another failed experiment mate! I mean what’s to say a new manager is going to fair any better.. Who would you go for De Boer or Gio they’d all want big bucks?! Plus the squad Murty inherited half that pish remember I know he’s being found out.. The Club doesn’t need a knee jerk reaction from supporters at this time..
I agree Clarke or Murty are not the answer,we need a top notch manager so he may take £2 or 3 or 4 million a year but it would be worth it and much better than spending that sort of money on some dross we have in here playing or not,clear those ones out at end of season bring in two or three better players and add to that each year.
Another damn good reason we are having issues is just looking at the GA column. We have fixed the GF column actually having scored more than Celtic (61 to 59) but the thims have only conceded 20 versus our 36. We're averaging more than a goal a game conceded which bluntly is horrific. That should be around 0.7 per game to win league titles. Before the season started I said all concentration should be on the defensive core and make Rangers a hard team to beat then this summer fix the attack. We have done it in reverse so this coming transfer window we need two International class Centre half's and a new goalkeeper. Wes is good. He is not great. Get that triad fixed and the majority of problems will sort themselves out.
It's actually relative to every club in the division. There is only one club that Rangers are consistently in competition with for trophies, it is not Kilmarnock.
Ibroxnoise, unfortunately we can talk all we want about other teams/managers, in that respect your article is good, but Unknown makes a valid point, we cannot avoid it and it leads to the real issue, until we sort our finances or get rid of our chairman (MR King) we will unfortunately continue to struggle, too much is wrong in the background (I will list the key points, there are many, if you need to hear it).
Getting rid of King solves nothing. Sorting our finances means one of two things.
1) Spending less or the same as we earn or
2) Finding a sugar daddy who will give us millions without expecting anything back
For plan 1, sorting means maximising our income and making a profit in the transfer market. I think we are taking those steps by buying and developing young players. Most of the players in the first team are worth more than we paid for them, and are young enough to have a sell on value. Exceptions are generally those bought before Allen arrived. I can't speak to off field income, I don't know
For plan 2, dream on. These people don't want to invest in Scottish football.
If you know someone willing to buy out King, who would not be hard to deal with, then pump in £30 to £60 million, congratulations, I will anoint you the new Messiah. But I doubt it myself, I am the cynical type
Ibrox Noise you really don’t like Morelos do you but that’s your opinion. No denying Clarke has done a good job for Kille but that doesn’t mean it’ll work with Rangers. In fact it could be worse but every manager is a gamble. Good managers cost big bucks and that’s why we’re where we are at present. A new manager = new players where’s the money coming from? Starting again would set us back at least 2,seasons imagine if that didn’t work – fuck 10 could be looking at 12… I know Murty has his flaws I’m not saying he’s perfect but being brutally honest I don’t see any other alternatives.. We can’t invest in new managers or squad at the supporters whim or we’d finished it's that simple.. Walter touched on it the day Rangers supporters want a quick fix to anything that goes wrong at Ibrox.. We run Celtic close the other wk and any other day we’d have at least got a draw or a win. Killie is nothing more than another lazy performance and mistakes. Remind me again how points we finished behind that mob last season? Aye there’s been an improvement.. Still in the Cup too 👊🔴⚪️🔵
Whether or not we win the Scottish Cup this season, shouldn't determine if Murty is our manager next season. It's obvious that he is out of his depth and he needs to be replaced. Steve Clarke has done his apprenticeship in management working under Jose Mourinho, the best in the business. This is similar to Walter Smith learning from three outstanding manager's in Stein, McLean and Ferguson before he came to Ibrox with Souness. Clarke has similarities to Walter Smith and is surely worth a try. If he can organise our defence as effectively as he has at Kilmarnock we could win the league next season.
Davie
I understand and share your concerns. However, as others have noted, unless we are going to offer a wage of several million a year and a substantal transfer budget, we cannot afford a manager good enough to guarantee success. And we can't affors those sums.
So we have to gamble and if we keep changing our bet, we keep adding to our stake in the form of contracts for players the new manager doesn't want. We have an excess of players to get rid of already, we can't afford anymore.
While I agree Murty has shown tactical naivety in the last two games, I am more upset that Jimmy Nichol didn't address that. That is surely what he is there for, to provide the experience Murty lacks.
I would take Clarke if he came with a guarantee of success – he doesn't. Although he has worked wonders at Killie, it doesn't follow he would at Rangers. I would rather stick than twist again
yip stick and get behind murty and morelos!! 1st is gone was always a long shot this season, beat the rest to 2nd and bring on next year. need too see more players leavin than joinin. hope bates hangs around for years to come
Who would Replace Murty
(Jst threw in a few names)
Steady Option : Sir Walter? T.Wright?
Young Option : J.Ross?
Scot Option : B.Davies? A.Neil?
EPL/EFL option : M.Silva? T.Pulis?
Foreign Options :
De Boer? Billic? Tuchel? Bielsa?
…Wouldnt Go for Steve Clarke 😒
Forget Walter it's not going to happen.
Tommy Wright? Why? On the basis that he's doing a great job with St Johnstone? He's won 9 games out of 30 this season!!!
Jack Ross? Murty doesn't have the experience so let's give it to rookie Jack Ross.
Billy Davies not worked in 3 years.
Silva unproven and sacked at Watford and had ambitions beyond Rangers.
Pulls got possible EPL return at Boro.
And so on. I'm not saying Murty is the answer and Im not even saying he's the one I want. But every manager is a potential risk. All this does is prove what an almost impossible position the Board are in.
The goals against is a damning indictment! Fuck me Foderingham is a liability in goal and we are too soft in the cb position. We don’t command the box. Where is the spine? There is none. This is the priority for next season.
i think there could be a crackin spine in twa years bates mccrorie jake dorrans morelos with gd wings aswell tav candyman john murphy. injuries can be a b*tch without back up
Not clear on the timeframe? Look at the Y axis… 31 = number of league games this season……..Losing it in your old age nexjummer.
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