The Jimmy Nicholl ‘problem’…

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The Jimmy Nicholl ‘problem’…


As regular readers will know, Ibrox Noise has recently been critical of Graeme Murty and his Rangers credentials. Having had such a promising time of it this calendar year, it came rather unstuck for the ex-Reading man when Celtic and Kilmarnock rather comfortably took three points from Ibrox in quick succession.

However, a question we have been posed by a number of our regulars is why is Jimmy Nicholl getting off scot-free?

Why are we only being critical of Murty’s recent performance and not that of Nicholl’s?

Our simple answer is this – for the same reason we didn’t blame Archie Knox, Yves Colleu, Andy Watson or Ally McCoist for weaker spots in Walter, PLG, Eck or Walter’s second spell.

At the end of the day, the assistant coach’s influence can only go so far, and then the final call rests with the manager. We have praised Nicholl’s influence previously, it seeming to be a steady pair of hands when things went well, coinciding with his arrival.

But with form drying up of late, it is not Jimmy Nicholl who the buck rests with. If we praise Murty for things going well, and we did, we must be critical of him when they don’t.

Not his number 1, 2 or 10, but him, the manager.

If we take the Mark Warburton example – while many fans now appear to dislike his assistant Davie Weir, few gave Weir direct credit for things going well in the Championship. It was not Weir is Magic – it was Warburton. The Weir song has been the same since he signed for us in his playing days.

And when things went badly in the SPL (and against SPL opponents), it was Warburton blamed for being unable to go to a plan B.

Weir really wasn’t lambasted to the same extent. Why would he? It wasn’t his call.

So, that is why we are not castigating Nicholl – because he isn’t the manager. He can guide, assist, and give words of wisdom, which Murty will either listen to or won’t.

But he can’t pick the players, or the formation, or the substitutes.

That’s why Murty is on the big bucks and that’s why he is praised when it works, and criticised when it doesn’t.

Not Nicholl.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. I am not sure how many readers you have but have you done a piece on rangers first looking for members ? Only a £5 a month you would accept a club like ours to attract more than 7500 members when we have 50,000 at ibrox alone every week never mind the many other thousand followers. Hearts even have more members in there supporters group and haven’t been through a small portion of what we have been through. We need to do more if we want to be great again it’s not going to happen it’s self

    • maybe because club1872 are a joke. Just a voice piece of the board. A board that needs to go. The money they are trying to raise is to fill the void which king said he would be covering,which he hasn't. They are the second largest shareholder, I'd they want a place on the board they should demand it. King made himself chairman as he was the largest shareholder so am sure being the second largest shareholder they could force the issue.

  2. I agree that the buck stops with the manager. He makes the decisions and has to stand or fall on those decisions.
    But then, why do we need Jimmy Nichol at all? Jonaton Johansen is there as an assistant manager, there is no need for another – unless it is to offer what Walter did for Souness, an experienced head.

    Now, if Nichol is offering the advice and Murty is ignoring it, then he deserves to carry the can. All I have been asking is, does Nichol give that advice? Did he say the Tic have gone down to 10 men, time to press, freshen things up? If he did and Murty ignored him, Murty carries tha can. As you rightly say, the manager takes the glory and the blame. But if Murty has not been getting the advice he needs, he should sack Nichol and we should support that as Murty is the man in charge.
    So here is a question. If Murty sacks Nichol and implies but stops short of saying "he failed to give me the right advice based on his experience" would IN applaud Murty for his bravery, or castigate him for sacking an experienced, wise head?

    The truth is, none of us know exactly what is going on and never will. We pays out money and we takes our chance. As fans we are entitled to our opinions, but the club should not be run by them – god help Rangers if they are ever run by someone who knows as little as me!!

    I hope Nichol is giving good advice. I hope Murty takes it while he learns. I hope he learns fast. I hope Allen has some good buys lined up for the summer. I hope the youth continues to come through, like Bates, McCrorie, Middleton, Atakayi, Rudden, Barjonas, Hardie, Aidan Wilson and Burt, to join Docherty.
    We are coming
    RTID

  3. Murty's on the big bucks………..he is on the exact same salary as he was with the devo squad…….stop making shit up and feeding it to your readers i.n , hee was asked to do this reprehensible job on the exact same money and told if he was suck….sess….full he would be in line for it permanently with a small wage rise……you really do need to look at the numbers in house and determine where that money would come from………….the bold murts iss not even on 100k a year m8……..back to school lads…….who the fuq would give a novice big bucks

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