Is Ryan Kent a symptom of a growing problem at Ibrox?

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Is Ryan Kent a symptom of a growing problem at Ibrox?


With today’s confirmed signing of Ryan Kent on a season long loan, a trend appears to have started up under Steven Gerrard that we cannot say we’re overly keen on.

Last season, all loan signings, Sean Goss aside, were effectively trials – Jason Cummings, Russell Martin, Dalcio, Jamie Murphy etc were all brought in to see how well they’d do. ‘Try before you buy’. Great policy, and we endorsed it.

In one case it did work out and Jamie Murphy became permanent, but most didn’t and went home. Even Goss did look like Rangers would want him for good, but his form tailed off post-Old Firm and the fervour for that died down.

However, under Steven Gerrard, we’re seeing a trend begin that frankly Rangers should be above.

Ryan Kent, Lassana Coulibaly, Umar Sadiq, and Ovie Ejaria have all joined Gerrard’s Rangers on loan, but in at least two cases, have clearly admitted they’re here to get experience for their parent club.

In fact, during Kent’s RTV interview Nick Thomson borderline flagged it:

“And now coming here to Rangers, the exposure you’ll get playing in front of 50,000 people and the pressures which come with that I guess you’ll be hoping that prepares you in a good way for, hopefully, life at Liverpool and later down the line?”

Let’s add Ovie Ejaria’s statement:

“It’s a really great feeling. I’ve been at Liverpool for four years now and I’m just really happy to extend my stay here. It’s a massive club, the club’s doing really well at the moment, so it wasn’t a hard decision at all. I’m just going to keep working hard and see where that takes me. I really want to be a regular at Liverpool Football Club, a massive club, so that’s my aim.”

We should point out this was on the day his loan to Rangers was confirmed.

Have Rangers become a Liverpool Academy? Or a destination for out of favour players to restore their stock in the game and get a ‘better’ move?

We get the reality of football, that smaller clubs have to do this to get decent players – but Rangers, as we’re told by the club’s official channels over and over again, are not a small club.

We get it, loans are nothing new, but this really doesn’t look like the revolution we were promised.

It’s a little disappointing to see so many players arrive who see their future elsewhere – but after Alfredo Morelos was castigated for it last season, it’s become par for the course for new signings to be transparent that they don’t see long term future at Ibrox.

That’s worrying and we don’t like it.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. It’s very simple. We are a big club in a small league. We have been left behind by almost every club in Europe. At the end of the day the spl has failed all Scottish clubs. 20 years ago we could compleat with any team in the world financially. Now we can’t even compleat with clubs in 2/3rd leagues in the bigger football country’s. We might not like it. But that’s the sad fact for all Scottish clubs. Celtic are no different either. They’ve been loaning players in a lot recently before buying cause even then can only afford one “big signing” a season.

    • 2/3rd league? Aberdeen just lost a player to the 5th league in England who doubled his wages.
      We have sunk lower than we think

    • Spot on Stuart ,as i have said before on here Scottish football is now a back water in the football world, the big players can get more money and better standard in England P.L. even the English championship is a step up S.P.L.the league is out dated driven by greed playing four times a season,clubs getting gate money from the old firm . From what i see the hole setup needs changing too many looking after their own interest instead of game as whole.

  2. Unfortunately ive been saying from day one of Gerrards appointment,that i hope this doesnt make us some sort of Liverpool academy,to help develop their players who are not good enough yet for Liverpool,perhaps not financially but Rangers are just as big a club if not more so than Liverpool !!!

    • As a liverpool fan these are 2 talented players you have from us. I will be interested to watch how they get on. Rangers need to progress in the champions league – get money and kudos then invest in young talent who u can then sell. If you need to loan players to do it – it makes perfect sense. Stop moaning and get behind whoever puts on the shirt.

  3. Look what happened when we actually signed players for fees Pena Herrera Cardoso Alves etc all on good wages we were left with a load of duds with nobody willing to pay transfer fees for them and inevitably having to pay them off to get rid of them

    • Take this point but by the logic you impart you're suggesting we never spend money on players again?

  4. Im sorry IN I don’t agree with this article. Personally I think it’s not all bad. I do agree try before you but has worked well or we would have ended up with more deadwood on the cards than we already do.

    The problem is as much as I hate to admit it is that in order to start trying to catch Celtic and get some silverware I think loans are a necessity. Yes I do think it would be nice to have a buy out option but I would rather have a star in the making for a year than the likes of dalcio or Martin to keep. Look how Barker and Roberts did at Hibs and Celtic they were electric. I don’t necessarily mind these younger players admitting they want to play for Liverpool. A club that’s on the up and were in a champions league final. The younger players know that they need a good loan spell to prove they are worthy of playing in a top premier league side.

    We have taken 2 players that are highly rated by both Gerrard and Klopp. We haven’t taken a mass amount of players we have taken players that struggle to break into the first team because of the likes of mane, Salah and Keita that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I agree I don’t want to see us loaning just any Liverpool academy player but if it overall helps us to rebuild then I’m all for it and who knows maybe some of the players will enjoy playing here and want to extend their stay. Until we have the funds to start spending 3,6,9 million on single players this is the only option open to us to get above average players.

  5. Only ibrox noise could find such a big negative in having 2 new hopefully decent signings, we can't dream of permenent moves for such players and as both said "they will work hard to prove they are good enough for Liverpool.if they do actually do that then they'll have to have played out their skins for rangers to do that . If they don't then we've lost nothing but wages.

  6. First, this is my daughters name and not mine in case anyone has issues with my view point. Scottish football as a whole is way behind what is going on in the rest of the world currently and that includes ourselves and Celtic. Celtic have not gone through that financial meltdown that Rangers has so obviously have picked up European money unchallenged for years now. Having said that, they cannot compete with even a mid table team such as Everton, West Ham, Watford etc. Couple that with the complete lack of revenue in the Scottish game, which is the fault of the SFA, their lack of vision and development of the game at the grass roots level to produce individual players that can compete on the world stage. I don't want to hear about " we are a wee country" look at Iceland who has a population less than Edinburgh or Croatia who have a smaller population than us. Point being, Rangers more so but also Celtic are bringing in loan players from truly big clubs and Rangers are looking to teams they previously would have beaten with blindfolds on because they money is not available to bring in top class talent. Stop living in the past and get a grip of the reality and coach these players until better players can be brought in….hell Klopp did it in Germany with Dortmund so get behind whoever is available and do not expect to return to glory days overnight.

  7. ok so we'll just not bother taking players like Kent, Ejaria, Coulibaly, Sadiq, etc. We'll stick with our own players- Holt, Halliday, Dorrans, Morelos. That's a great idea…..

    • would like to see us do away with loanees they are just hindering our club we want to see our young guns coming through not someone else players they will never be rangers players we cant afford them we will also have to give them playing time as thats the only reason they signed if they do well they will make liverpool good money and yes we should be playing dorrans ,holt , e,t,c they are rangers players .surely we should be signing players we want to keep for years ,as i,n. has stated were a massive club we dont need anybodys players someone is not doing there job right ,and whats this with morellos guy has scored 1 goal in 12 games against weak opposition and hes still our top striker ,criminal he wasnt sold .

    • Fair point John, but we're not advocating sticking with our own players. We just don't really like the direction we're taking to avoid doing that.

  8. I've been saying this for ages, since Oduwa and Zeleam rocked up, if we are going to loan players in then it should for a try before you buy as IN suggest or we should be targeting premium loan players (think joe gomes or harry wilson @ liverpool or mctomminay @ utd or abrahams @ chelsea) players that we accept are coming here for 1 season but who are proven and ready for big games. What we shouldnt do is loan kids from spurs u18 or liverpool u18 and give them minutes than we could give to our own youngsters. Dont even get me started on us having to pay a fee if it turns out their kids arent ready for mens football and dont get selected.

  9. Whether we like it or not, Rangers are currently a small club in terms of the money we have available to buy players. If we can bring in some players on loan deals who are of a better quality than we could afford to buy, then that seems a sensible strategy. We have, after all, also signed 6 players on permanent deals, and the success of the signings policy (permanent and loans) will be judged by how well we compete in Scotland.

  10. Guys, i have been a rangers fan since i was 5….I followed the club everywhere in Britain…Old Trafford, goodison park…as far south as Southampton and numerous seasons over the years…I was born in Edinburgh, next to Tynecastle..
    Now, if you were to ask me,why have rangers been struggling lately..
    Its very basic,the money that English clubs have received have been HUGE…we lost most of our money back in 2012. If you note,MOST of the BEST teams in Europe now,have spent massive amounts of money..that is why,they are now, the best teams( Manchester city, united….Barcelona…Real Madrid. they financialy bought some/most of the greatest players….Reality is now,we cant be THE best team in Europe now and that certainly includes the Scum from the East End..
    Now,we can ONLY try to get much better with low money,this in reality wont be easy. IT will NEVER stop me from being a Rangers fan, its a new time now..so guys just cheer our team on….no matter what, i think Steven Gerrard IS a great signing and WILL do the best for our club as long as he is manager..

  11. Unless serious funds are made available to Gerrard to strengthen the team we will need to rely on loan deals and hope that Liverpool are equally generous in giving us striker. Defensively we are ok so long as we don't suffer any injuries or sendings off but we really need at least one new centre back, a quality midfield player and a quality striker. A lot of us were living in the hope that we would sign at least one top quality player and that could still happen with a few weeks yet before the window closes. We live in hope!

    • Could get Louie Moult on a permanent deal , at a reasonable price and he'd bang in goals for fun . Far superior to Morelos .

  12. To me it is a good strategy just now until finances are stable and more money is invested, which will happen by the way.. At least with loan players if they turn out to be shite you can always give them back at the end of the season so you have not forked out millions for dross like the Mexicans we purchased with no return for the money

  13. The way i took the article is not that IN are critizing the fact that we need loans but the level of player we are bringing in which are 2 very different things.

  14. I just don't understand the dilemma here. I take some of your points well, and to an extent I completely understand what you're saying, but of the 10 new signings, only 3 of them (so far) are leaving Govan come next June. Also, it's been reported that Coulibaly could become a permant buy if he impresses (I know I read that somewhere). While in a perfect world we would make each and every signing permanent, that isn't the reality of the world Rangers operates in. Hopefully we can get thru Euro round 2, add some more money to the coffers and hopefully an improved TV deal will add yet more money. The quicker we can supplement the cash our board has been making available (it's obvious they are willing to spend) the better off we'll be, and the better players we can start bringing in.

    The Scottish game has been devalued after it became a one team league. Those days are, and should be, over. It's time to promote the product on the field hard and secure a far better deal for TV rights. I'm looking straight at you SFA. It is ok to make deals to the benefit of all clubs, not just one in particular.

    That's my take. #LetsGo

  15. The problem is that these loan signings are probably not going to be first team regulars so they are effectively back up, they will then be back at Liverpool at the end of the season, having gained experience at a big club to benefit the player and their club, now that’s great for them but where does that leave us, we can’t afford to buy these players, they’ve potentially kept out our own academy players out of the first team squad slowing their development, Middleton, Rudden, Burt and even Docherty to name a few. I could be wrong and these players will turn out to be world class and worth the detriment of our own, mmm we will see🤔

  16. Wake up This is where we are until we make some improvement. We need to bring in young players and improve the for other people. This has got to be a long term plan. Coaching and improvement is the key. There is NO QUICK FIX !

  17. I agree that loaning young players for their development does not move Rangers forward in the long term and it would be better if we bought or developed our own.
    BUT, there is a limit to what we can afford. And there is a limit to how many changes we can make, or gamble on, in a season.
    SG has moved some dross out, loaned some players out who were not going to play, bought what seems to be wisely so far, and has brought in some loan players. Some of these may have buy clauses, but none that I have heard of.
    So far, he has not made a move, in or out, that I believe has weakened the club. Given the number of changes which is in the mid teens, that is fairly impressive. I wait to hear if others disagree.
    But, unless they do, he has made progress. We need to stop buying a dozen players every season, the oncost in wages is horrendous. So, if he brings in a few loans instead, it buys him a season. Next summer, he may try to but one of more of them. Or not. But unless any of his buys turn out to be duds, which is always possible as we are hardly into the season yet, then next summer we improve again. Another 2-4 buys, but fewer loans as the strength of what we have improves.
    The board have been quiet, letting SG talk, but I would not be surprised to see another striker roll up. We have strength across the line behind a striker, with options at LW, No 10 and RW. As well as plenty options in midfield. Unless we go 2 up top, that's enough but he may want a further striker to give him the option of 2 up top.

    Let's be optimistic, unless or until the evidence is there that it's wrong. Top scorers w worst defence last season. Defence improved, strike force not weakened, midfield strengthened.
    What's not to like?

  18. Its Sad the way football has gone.

    15-20+ years ago, Rangers and Celtic could compete with your Man United or Your Liverpool for Players
    Now…
    We are Batlling Teams in League 1!

    And The Problem is An Obvious One…

    The Money!
    The Money Poured into English Football is Mental and a Disgrace! While the SPL has been Forgotten and what these Rich A**H*** have Forgotten about is

    that Rangers and Celtic are Bigger than Every Single Team in League 1 and the Championship! …Rangers and Celtic are premier league size!
    And There needs to be a Change in the british game where less is poured to English Clubs and more is given out in Scotland!

  19. Just to be clear, in a comment not published yet, I forgot to add Ejaria in my tabulations on loans. I misspoke, rather than 3 of 10, I should have said 4 of 10 are loans. But I know I read that Mark Allen might've worked a buy deal into Coulibaly's loan deal (not sure if actually true, but I know I read it).

  20. You can only pee with cock youve got💰
    We must be patient
    We need to use all resources available to us
    All this will be forgot about if we get one over brendas mob🇬🇧

    LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  21. Until people outside of England stop giving money to fund Sky TV and thus English Football we'll be helping keep ourselves starved of anything like parity with a 'United' Kingdom.

    The SFA and SPL along with English Football Association have shafted us financially. And we reward them.

  22. Fact is, we don't have the money to buy someone of this boys quality, so this is the next best thing and an important part of the process to help us close the gap…IbroxNoise you have been so negative as you have since Gerrard came on board!?

    • Hi William, do a search from pre-appointment till the post Shkupi home leg result for our articles. Contact the site with 10 or even 5 negative articles from that period. We’ve had this accusation frequently post Shkupi – we’d like to see proof of it.

  23. Just to play devil"s advocate : if we are sitting top of the league at season end it will have proven to been a masterstroke by everyone concerned. SG was man enough to take on a huge challenge. The club was in dire straits. Everyone worth his salt in football knows it might take two to three seasons to get your team firing with your OWN BOUGHT players. We don't have the money,simples. We need to do it any other way that takes us forward. SG deserves all our support in our quest. We are all in this boat together.

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  25. Notice, Sean Goss' from tails off and he gets canned. El-Fluffallo's form has completely tailed off and STILL, there he is? What is it, with our Managers and this player? I think he's WORSE than useless. A Striker who can't score goals, is as useful as a chocolate fire-poker.

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