The understatement of Rangers

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The understatement of Rangers


It’s hard to know how to begin with this article. 12 months ago we had been well and truly humiliated in Europe by an utterly abysmal team in the first round of Europa League qualifying, and the summer work which had seen unknown Portuguese and other Hispanic players arrive were doing their best to be completely out of sorts while our Portuguese ‘manager’ Pedro Caixinha looked lost, helpless, and despite Rangers winning at Motherwell, it was becoming quickly clear this wasn’t the solution Rangers fans had dreamed of.

Indeed, a long season was expected and that’s exactly how it turned out.

Fast forward to present day, and Rangers have once again signed effectively an entire team, but the change in one man, from Caixinha/Murty to rookie boss Steven Gerrard has seen something truly unexpected happen – Rangers.

Not the ramshackle Rangers we’ve seen for six years, not the embarrassment to the shirt we’ve expected in our colours, but a real, proper Rangers which has had, the odd blip and trough aside, a quite staggering start to life under the Anfield legend.

Let’s not understate this – Rangers, going from that mess under previous managers, has produced one of the biggest achievements in the club’s long and proud history, by going through to the group stage of the Europa League the hard way – by qualifying via every round and winning our place via merit.

We have beaten an admittedly ordinary Macedonian side, a very good Croatian one, an outstanding Slovenian one and a tough as nails Russian one.

Four in a row have fallen to Rangers and in all eight legs we conceded three goals in total. That’s stunning. Simply stunning and now we rightly take our place alongside some of the best Europe has to offer.

There has been a real lack of hysteria in the press about the sheer gravity of what Gerrard achieved. Not only did we do it the hard way, with negotiation of four tough rounds, but we did it in the end with nine men, arguably against 13. And yet the press haven’t really gone to town with it. Possibly realising their Celtic chumming days are slowly coming to an end.

They, for the first time in six years, are now genuinely wary of this Rangers side. You can’t fluke your way through four qualifying rounds and Gerrard is yet to lose a match, albeit last Sunday sort of felt like it.

This Rangers is real, it is of the standard we expect our Rangers to be, and our friends in the East know it.

Ibrox Noise has been amused at the lack of recent comments from the usual green and white obsessed types who usually frequent our site. Yes, ‘Brian Connor’, I will even drop your name in – this guy has posted 20+ times daily to the site for the past 12 months (we wish we were exaggerating) – only one comment was ever approved, to invite him to cease.

Suddenly, Mr Connor has disappeared. Along with the majority of his friends.

Because all their doom-saying, all their negative comments and insults look beyond idiotic – and while we know Rangers’ journey continues, there’s something tangibly real this time.

You simply do not trip your way into a marquee European competition’s group stage without deserving it, especially going eight legs unbeaten.

Add to this the signatures of Worrall and Grezda, and things are in a good place. A very good place.

Obviously we’d cry with joy to win on Sunday – equally though anything less is not the end of the world, because we know this club under Gerrard is finally going in the right direction regardless of what happens.

But win, and finally Celtic know they have a true battle on their hands this season. A real battle with a real Rangers.

And quite honestly, that’s beyond their worst fears and our highest expectations.

Bring. It. On.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. wow what a job mr gerrard and his team have done eastenders know they are in trouble .myself and familly have enjoyed last few months and i know its going to continue this man wont take second best good time to be a bear, r,t,i,d

  2. Fully agree with the article. I have been supporting Rangers since I was a wee boy, and the past six or seven years have NOT felt anything like the Rangers that I was used to supporting. Gerrard has QUICKLY changed all that, and I now feel that I am once again supporting a REAL RANGERS TEAM, with the QUALITY< FIGHT AND ATTITUDE that I expect from Rangers. Celtic know it, Brendan Rodgers knows it (he has been getting his excuses in EARLY WITH ALL HIS COMMENTS ABOUT NEEDING NEW PLAYERS!!!). RANGERS HAVE A GENUINE CHANCE OF WINNING ON SUNDAY, BUT EVEN A DRAW WILL PROVE THAT WE ARE BACK WHERE WE BELONG. (i WILL BE HAVING ON A RANGERS WIN AND THE DRAW NO BET.)

  3. Great post IN…..They are all Shitting themselves for what's coming their way and now things are even better with dembele Gone ha ha ha…..Wouldn't it be even more better if we could get another 1or2 before the deadline….. Please!!!
    watp helicopter 2005

  4. Agree with you both completely, congratulations SG and thank you for bringing the good times back. Big Moussa is off , so Goldson and Katic have only that wee muppet Griffiths to contend with. Canny wait for Sunday. We’re coming for yous

  5. ive never been so excited since I saw my first boy been born my fiancée thinks im on drugs as at 58 im bouncing about like a twenty year old this rangers team has given me a new lease of life stevie g is a genius and cant wait to meet THEM on sunday boys and girls get your money on rangers 55 before sunday because after we beat them odds will plummet soooooooooooooooo proud and happy to be a bear …. great article and well said watp

    • lol love this post spongey76, every bear loving the feel good factor and in trust in sir Stevie g, roll on Sunday watp 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  6. Think a big thankyou has to go to the board as well. They’ve not always got it right but they’ve put their money where their mouth is and continued to provide the necessary resources. However the man behind the scenes, Mark Allen, is the unsung hero. The players that have been brought in are sheer quality who have enhanced the team and will in doubt move on at some stage for even bigger money which is how the Scottish game works these days. We are truly blessed to have an outstanding management team and scouting team.

  7. I have on numerous occasions berated I.N. for its negative knee jerk views in the past but kudos to this article.
    Like most Bears, we feel something SPECIAL is happening and a "Rangers Team" is truly being re born.
    I am not for one minute thinking that we are title contenders or anywhere near the finished article but at long long last we have the buy in and belief through out our club.
    I left the Scottish Cup semi final last season feeling utter sadness due to the lack of fight and passion from my beloved Gers and hope I never feel that sadness again.
    I will accept defeat if the players representing our institution fight,sweat and compete till the end against all opponents.
    Mr Gerrard I salute you and thank you for beginning to exorcise that "Sadness" ghost.
    WATP

  8. Win, lose or draw on Sunday I believe we are back and will challenge for the title this season. When Gerrard was appointed I posted on here that he was a winner and we would come to see that he was the best possible appointment we could get. Others (including yourselves IN) had doubts and some derided the appointment. Well I, and many others, have been proved correct and we are all seeing what is possible. Gerrard is a winner and will settle for nothing less. The Board have seen this and are supporting him 100%. Dave King has been transformational to Rangers and all the naysayers should now shut up – Gerrard has spent more than Rodgers (even before counting the vast sums they have raked in from Armstrong and Dembele). That tells me that we are on a ladder and they are on a snake. We can wave to them as we pass them. Brenda looks dispirited. He doesn't want to be there any longer. When Rsoles like Sutton are talking us up you know we're onto something. It's all changing. Stevie G will lead us to glory. And this week's Talksport poll said it all – 82% of listeners said we're bigger than them. 82%!? Don't know what planet the other 18% are on! WATP

  9. Delighted with the change this season. Better and fitter players playing to a system is not rocket science. But more importantly they are playing for their team mates, their manager and the fans and they seem to revel in it. We could win on Sunday but we must face up and say we could lose too. That says nothing about the team, it's just football and next time around at Ibrox we'd be looking for the victory. It's a long season and we look up for the fight.
    PS: If Dembele has gone I guess Ceptic must have got the £40m he was worth. Right?
    PPS: If we do win on Sunday would someone please tie a scarf round that wee fanny Griffiths. Very tightly!!!

  10. Great above post lads,everyone of them, I went to my first Rangers game age 13 and it was the Scottish cup final where I had the privilege of watching Kai johansen scoring in a 1-0 win against the Mhanks, I have proudly supported my beloved Rangers now for 52 years and been through all the good times and the bad times, it's been a bad last six years and I was so worried that I would not see us getting back from all this, so bad I felt that my wish was to just see them beating Celtic again,what has happened at Rangers since SG arrived is truly remarkable and I know I don't have long to wait now. This is only the beginning and it will go on to bigger things, trust me as I have had the dream.

  11. Excellent article IN. Steven Gerrard, Mark Allen and Dave King and the scouting system have turned this club around in a few weeks. With ever increasing resources the sky's the limit. We really are in good hands and I thank them all. Not least the players, some of the really young lads are amazing and only in there early teens. It's all about the Rangers.

  12. Never been so pròud of being a rangers fan at last wè have a team that cino iwan be proud of backed them at 2 38 to 1 Stevie is proper top drawer and will increase the level we need to be worst result a draw against only because of travelling coulibay winsgame if fit went for a pint ànd cunts slagging shit out of Gershwin they are running scared

  13. Love how Gerrard's boys bounced back from Motherwell game. Still reserved on how he'll manage bigger troughs through the season, but signs are good!

  14. Great post. Want to win Sunday but you know what, if it doesnt happen, we are still going in the right direction. Stevie G and his team have done an amazing job supported by the Board. The media are waiting to put the boot in after any blip which doesn't appear to be happening. All credit to the whole RFC team. Really enjoying watching what's happening. Let's Go!

  15. Agree entirely we have made fantastic strides in a short time .Sunday's game is a different matter, history will show the best team do not always get the result, bit of luck,a referee decision,can sway the game one way or another.The one thing for sure in this game on Sunday the effort, passion,playing for the jersey will not be missing, so come on Rangers gives us all the victory we have be missing for so long now and give our critic's something to think about.

  16. I went to my first match at Ibrox when I was about 6 years old in 1964 I loved it and been a fan ever since ,3 weeks ago I took my grandson also 6 years old to his 1st game V Maribor ,he loved the atmosphere.This is a Rangers team that's made me feel proud and excited again Lets Go Stevie G

  17. Haha, brilliant. Poor Brian, when we get 55 i hope you post an article of all the obsessed ramblings from the deluded

  18. I think we've got ourselves an Alex Ferguson in the making💪

    LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

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