“The three wise men”
Who would have thought that an Under 20’s coach would overtake the last 3 Rangers managers’ results in such a comparatively short space of time? He is performing miracles on an exceptionally small budget.
He also has to try to compete with the team from the other side of Glasgow, who have recently banked £30 million from transfer profits and European football success. They have also been running away with the league since Rangers were dumped down to the 3rd division.
It turns out that the man in question is probably exceeding his own expectations, and the fans are excited watching a bright young Ibrox team playing some great football again.
Step forward Graeme Murty who is using a combination of common sense, modesty and a genuine rapport with his players whom he seems to really care about. He is obviously an excellent coach/manager who understands how to put a winning side together.
Murty, Jimmy Nicholl, Jonatan Johansson and all the background staff have to be congratulated for turning this young enthusiastic team into a completely different proposition from the annoyingly inconsistent teams we have had to put up with for years.
Although I would like to see Wes Foderingham replaced by a much taller keeper more reliable with cross balls, you have to admit that the coaches have worked hard with him and vastly improved his form this season. We also have a lot of readers who want us to leave off Wes, as they want to retain him as our no. 1 goalie.
It appears that Murty and Nicholl like pairing up players to achieve the perfect interaction which will complement each other’s skills. By doing this successfully, you can improve the performance of both players.
James Tavernier and Daniel Candeias, for example, are working well as a right-hand-side-unit, and the mixture of their talents is producing results by providing goals, assists and better collaboration in defence, with Candeias tracking back with aplomb.
On the other hand, on the left we presently have Declan John and Jamie Murphy working hard to stop the danger down our left flank, while attacking at every opportunity to produce fabulous results.
Murphy has scored in his last 3 games and is in absolutely top class form, which should see him being picked by McLeish for the Scotland side.
Since Murty introduced all his new signings to the club, Rangers appear to be a very different proposition to the opposition.
The £600,000 January signing of young 21-year-old Greg Docherty, coupled with the talented left-sided Sean Goss, have set the standard of what is required to turn Rangers into true trophy contenders for the first time in years.
The confident duo now have the momentum to keep the winning streak going and are determined to take it to the next level in every remaining game.
These perfectly-blended 21 and 22-year-old midfield dynamos are enjoying themselves immensely at Rangers and the bonus is having one of them as a dyed-in-the-wool Bear for good measure.
So far Murty has teamed young David Bates with the experienced Martin as his starting centre backs without receiving the same success as the other three pairings. That is one the management will be closely monitoring to try to improve.
Meanwhile the difference in Josh Windass since Murty started coaching his talent is night and day. An absolute phenomenal change was achieved because Murty played him in his correct position in his new energetic starting line-up.
Graeme and Jimmy looked at Windass’ main attributes and realised quickly after watching him struggle at outside-left under Pedro that he was totally wasted out on the wing. They moved him to his favourite No. 10 position where he has blossomed into the epitome of the midfield striking role.
In general, young 21-year-old Alfredo Morelos has been a revelation playing upfront mostly on his own and is now Rangers’ top scorer by only one goal, from the re-invented Windass. The young Colombian works like a terrier and leads the line well. He is an asset to have in any team.
Murty, Nicholl, Johansson et al have created a confident team who believe they can continue on a long winning run of results and hopefully when we meet Falkirk in the cup and Celtic in a difficult 6 pointer match at Ibrox they are proven right.