Stunning stats for Rangers star – Gerrard is either a genius or made huge error….

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Stunning stats for Rangers star – Gerrard is either a genius or made huge error….


When Rangers originally signed Hamilton’s Greg Docherty, he was a lauded capture – a bright young SPL thing who was one of us, and who looked a future Scotland (and Rangers) captain.

And his performances in our shirt lived up to that billing, as the-then defensive midfielder formed a wonderful duo with QPR’s Sean Goss.

Unfortunately, Goss was scapegoated by manager Graeme Murty following the crushing loss to Celtic, while Docherty suffered Goss’s replacement Graham Dorrans, and became a scapegoat himself, for the fans this time.

One of new manager Steven Gerrard’s first decisions was that Docherty would not be part of his debut season’s plans at Ibrox, and after completing the pre-season in Malaga, Docherty was shipped out on loan to Shrewsbury.

And the results have been outstanding. Developing superbly into an attacking midfielder, the 22-year old has an astonishing seven assists and five goals in the league in 30 appearances, with a total of 10 assists and eight goals in 39 appearances total this season.

Having nailed another goal on Saturday, Docherty, while not playing quite at the elite level of football weekly, is delivering against strong competitive opposition, and having done it against EPL opposition too (Wolves in the FA Cup) has shown he can perform in superior levels as well.

The reality is either he is proving Steven Gerrard completely wrong to have ditched him, or Gerrard has played a blinder giving him a chance to go out and develop into the kind of player he wants to be and is best at.

When we saw those early displays from Docherty, we saw a tough midfield destroyer – unfortunately, as he bounced off Scott Brown in a notable 50/50 in aforementioned OF loss, there was a nagging feeling either he had some bulking and growing to do, or he might not be the destroyer we’d hoped for.

However it’s come, by hook or by crook, Docherty has become a genuinely superb player who can do it as much against Wolves as he can against Wycombe.

While Gerrard will have funds this summer, the failure of Graham Dorrans to stay fit and the inability of Scott Arfield to really convince as a creative attacking midfielder, and the flop that has been Steven Davis so far, Docherty has a window of opportunity.

If he keeps scoring and assisting, which he will, Steven Gerrard will either be unable to ignore him any more, or be lauded for his genius decision to push the youngster out on loan.

Either way, he has to come back.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Good article. I personally wanted Docherty to come back in January, however, it has been proven the correct decision is to give the lad a full season of first team football. I really hope he is back for the summer and given a fair crack of the whip. If he was at Ibrox now, he would be in my starting 11 all day long.

  2. I think it's both. SG played a blinder and GD, has rolled up his shirt sleeves and got stuck in. I lived down there, near Shrewsbury and the football, is less grudge-orientated and physical, than here. Nice place to be at this time of year, too.

  3. I would like to see him back playing well for us.Sometimes playing with lesser clubs players play better. They don’t have the pressures. Some players can’t handle the pressure of playing with a massive club like ours. Time will tell but hope he gets a chance.

  4. Good article I for one have always liked the lad he is exactly what we needed in the middle, strong yet agile enough to play, create and score goals . Perhaps Steven Gerrard will now bring him back to the fold for next season where he can be really influential and sustain a long and winning career with the mighty Gers .

  5. If he was doing as well as you say then surely some bigger clubs would be sniffing around a young goal scoring midfielder seemingly out of favour at his parent club. I'm not aware that they are but time will tell. We've certainly moved on since Docherty played last season and we'll improve again in the summer. I'm not sure that Docherty could hold down a place in that case but could be a good squad player, initially at least.

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