The million-pound shock for Steven Gerrard’s Rangers

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The million-pound shock for Steven Gerrard’s Rangers


Following last night’s crushing loss to Kilmarnock, yet another round of soul-searching has begun among Rangers fans. So much about the performance, the tactics and the mentality not to mention concentration was completely off, but Ibrox Noise noticed something else genuinely and deeply worrying which may not have occurred to too many fellow supporters:

The entire XI which took the field last night cost Rangers £1M in transfer fees.

Allan McGregor      – free
James Tavernier       – £200,000
Gareth McAuley      – free
Joe Worrall               – loan
Andy Halliday          – free
Ryan Jack                 – free
Steven Davis            – loan
Scott Arfield            – free
Ryan Kent                – loan
Jermaine Defoe        – loan
Alfredo Morelos       – £800,000

One substitute, Daniel Candeias, cost more alone than the whole starting XI combined.

And to make matters even more curious – Rangers have spent absolutely nothing in this January window – two loans, two pre-contract and two frees.

What does this mean? Well, we’re not immediately slating it – there are to be fine players found out there for free or nabbed on a loan. At times Ryan Kent has been incredible, and Allan McGregor and Scott Arfield have been excellent acquisitions.

But after £6M was seemingly wasted on the three Croat-based players last summer, 700K on Lafferty and sadly the same on Jamie Murphy, only the £3M or so was fairly well spent on Connor Goldson – and we wonder if Gerrard’s January budget was completely restricted to loans, pre-contracts and frees.

For an SPL Rangers team that literally cost £1M in total is unheard of, and we’re pretty sure it didn’t even happen in the Championship.

And we firmly wonder how we can launch a serious hunt at the title when most of the squad was either free or a loan.

Answers on a postcard.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Before i say this, then get shot. This man has NO HELP
    and has been overall Superb.

    But Allan McGregor is nowhere near the firm as when he arriced back here.

    Again I will be hecjled for this.

    We handed the league to Celtic last night.

    And Gerarrd is making shocking decisions.

    Worral for instance.
    Could have given hom on loan to Dundee for a couple of millennia Pish Pish and more pish.

    Get Katic Barrosic and Grunch playing or sold

    • Brian, I have to say, I don't want to shoot you. Mainly because I don't understand you.

      To IN, Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Does anyone think McGregor is not better than the two keepers we paid for? Does anybody seriously think Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield would not command 7 figure transfer fees? Would you swap Steve Davis for Carlos Pena because he cost money? Or Defoe for Herrera for the same reason?

      I understand what you are saying, but it is a pointless point, so not really worth making other than as an amusing insight. If we were offered Ronaldo and Messi, for nothing, would you value them less because we didn't pay? Really?

  2. The list of signings be it loans or fees that have not made any or little impact is growing Barisic Grezda Worrel Katic McCaullie Lafferty Coulibally and still to be judged Davis and Defoe

  3. … “and Gerrard is making shocking decisions”

    Why are we waiting for conclusions either SG is useless or cannot cut it at the “low levels” of Scottish Football. Either way he has to change or go

  4. The problem with recruitment is simple – quantity over quality and a slapdash approach without any real strategy.

    I was concerned when we signed Davis and Defoe, undoubtedly good players in their prime – but both are past prime and barely kicked a ball in past year. Wouldn't write either off yet but it could be another month before either is truly match fit – another slip up and we are no longer challenging for title, we would be fighting for 2nd, 3rd or even 4th.

    So many players have been brought to club and so few have made any real difference to the team. We don't need 30 decent players – we need 4-5 players with real quality to make the difference.

    Gerrard is not learning, half season is gone yet still has no idea how to set team up away from home. Any team that defends well has a chance because we are wide open to a counter and give away chances much easier than we create them.

  5. I have to say, it's a lot down to the way Gerrard has picked his team….Coulibaly & Worrel are just not good enough, & are loan players. We should be playing McCrorie & Katic ahead of these guys! Then we loan out the likes of Docherty & Hardie who need the game time yes! But I don't believe in this loan our future stats out to just replace them with English teams youngsters etc, what kind of message does that send to these guys??? Sorry lad yer not good enough for Stevie G but will be watching the games & witnessing Donkeys like Worrel & Coulibaly get regular game time….id hate to think where we'd be without Macgregor & Freddo!!! Forget a title race & just concentrate on making the squad tick & develop our OWN players in order to hit the ground running next season! & the board need to get there finger out & weed out the dead wood like Pena, Herrera & then move on the players like Fod & Wallace who clearly have no part in Gerrards plans! There's a 100 grand a week in wages freed up straight away…..

  6. Some weeks ago you spoke about Rangers accounts. Quite correctly. We posted a loss of £13m which worried you. Quite correctly. When SG arrived he inherited a load of dross on huge wages. He was given money which might not have been spent too wisely. The Balkan boys initially appeared good business. We don’t know story re Katic but other two seem bedivilled by injury. This could be bad luck. The January window is, in my opinion, always poor but fans , of all clubs, demand something. ( remember O,Halloran). I don’t like employing older guys. They are coming to end of their careers and look for one last paycheck(their agents certainly do). So I think SG is seeking to get us through season and into Europe, get rid of debt then we could have a summer market with more time to plan.Sure it’s difficult. But in SG and McCallister we have a good team. We have got to get the off field shit sorted as well. I have always said you must win midfield battle. In recent years we have been lightweight. Last night we were again. But when lumbering centrehalfs give away goals like Worral did last night we will struggle. We have no strength in depth. Sadly we require patience. And if SG quit who would you replace him with? By the way when Killie drew at Ibrox they equalised following a mistake by Worrall. The boy has not got it. Would be ok in any other Scottish team who only defend against Rangers and Celtic. We will be 2nd at worst at seasons end.

  7. The list of players that Gerrard has brought in either loans frees or fees and have failed to have have any or little impact is growing Barisic Grezda Katic Worrell Lafferty Coulibally McAuley and still to be judged Davis and Defoe doesnt say much for our recruiting skills

  8. It's interesting and surprising but no more. We have of course spent good money and on occasion wasted it. But to say we wasted money on 3 Croats and Murphy is completely unfair. Murphy didn't ask to be injured and had he not then he would be a key member of our squad. Barasic is a top player and will come good. Katic will surely come in for Worrall and could become a big player for us. The third "Croat" I presume is Grezda, who is of course Albanian, and I'm not yet prepared to rule him out with a future at Ibrox. Any one of those players could at least the recoup the money spent on them and in the case of Barasic and Katic just one of them in time could recover all of it for all three.
    Maybe you should be praising the club for attracting good players while showing some necessary prudence. I'm sure we will see money spent in the summer as it was last summer.

  9. To be fair, SG has struck some good deals and it's a bit unfair to slate all his recruitment. Look at Jordan Jones, he's a good player and certainly knows where the goals are.

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