Have Rangers just taken a worrying step backwards?

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Have Rangers just taken a worrying step backwards?


We hate to moan, we really do – we know historically speaking we’ve had criticism for our negativity, and we equally admit we don’t like being negative.

But unfortunately when Jake Hastie and Greg Stewart are lined up as the saviours of the club, along with Jordan Jones, you do have to wonder what the ambition is.

These are not horrible players, we don’t claim they are. But if this Rangers team wants to move to the next level in our progression to matching Celtic, we aren’t convinced any of them are all that much better than what we currently have.

There’s an argument each one is a downgrade, in fact. £300K on Hastie who is clearly no Ryan Kent yet, a free in Greg Stewart when Defoe and Morelos have been banging them in between them this season and Jordan Jones who, decent enough though he is, again probably isn’t quite Ryan Kent.

It just doesn’t grab us.

The SPL isn’t swilling in a mire of great players these days, and the ones Rangers are bringing in seem a sideway step rather than one going up the way. These aren’t the days when we brought in classy players like Steven Naismith from Kilmarnock or Kevin Thomson from Hibs, the truly best players in the SPL and ready to switch to a big club.

No, this is us taking in something fairly modest from the SPL which appears to bulk the squad up rather than making it better.

We’re not slating Stewart, Jones and Hastie – we’re just not convinced they’re of the level we want if we have pretentions of assaulting Celtic next campaign.

We need big hitters, heavy armoury, real steps up – and we know that takes money, but surely we can do better than modest midtable players.

Fans have faith in the manager – they believe he’s the right man – but even the right man can’t do a lot with the wrong players.

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29 COMMENTS

  1. Thank god I am not the only one who is concerned with the signing of these squad players at best. Especially when talk coming out of Ibrox is about adding quality rather than quantity, so is this to be our quality 🙈 Seems like if there playing in the SPL and they’re out of contract then sign them

  2. How can we have faith in the manager when he clearly stated he has the final say who comes into the dressing room. No way near the caliber of player required, not only to win the league, but to compete in Europe as well. Massive steps backwards if those players come to Rangers and Gerrard and his scouts need a good kick up the arse and start earning their corn!!! We will be fighting for second place again next season bringing in mediocre after mediocre!!

  3. I love contrasting opinions. I for one think Stewart and Hastie are good signings. Hastie beats any winger we have for goals. Stewart beats any midfielder for creativity and goals. We went mental for that dud Grezda because he sounded exotic and cost 2 million and look at him. Would have both these players playing ahead of Candeais, Lafferty, Grezda all day long..

    You do the Bosmans early we did it last year. The big money signings will happen once the season is up. So these boys for me for the stats and value as SPFL players are no trainers. Jones I'm not excited about as he seems 1 dimensional. But adding these boys to the squad of 25-30 is smart business and use the transfer money and spend 3 4 million on a quality player. Quality over quantity this year.

    • your bang on we only need 1 or 2 big names were going in the right direction whos going to beat us now not many were well and truly sorted .one bad game your out , r,t,i,d

    • You're not in the minority either going by the current poll results we note. We'll see how it all plays out but these names aren't really getting our fires going yet.

  4. Stevie G admitted we need 3 or 4 quality players that will enhance the 1st 11. I like Hastie, Jones and Stewart but they are nowhere near good enough to enhance our starting 11. If thats the best we come up with I doubt people will renew their seadon tickets.

  5. Couldn't agree more I.N. where is the quality in these three ? It pains me to say it but the only player mentioned in this article who would be an upgrade is Steven Naismith… fk … I'm thinking maybe we should bite the bullet and go for him. !! … I know I know !! But he can link midfield with attack and he knows how to score goals which is what our current midfield lacks. I know I know …

    • We got over our emotion over him a long time ago and would happily take him back. A few good performances and the fans would mostly forgive him as well. We really bit a bullet ending up with Lafferty rather than him last summer.

  6. These guys are being brought in to bulk up the squad not to be first team players. The better players will arrive later on in the summer

    • Agree. We haven't seen who is leaving yet. Stewart could replace Lafferty, Jones could replace Grezda and Hastie could just be a "one for the future" punt who we loan out

      If that is the case then i think we've succeeded in making the squad stronger but first XI will need looked at in summer with 3-4 high quality upgrades..

  7. There is so much nonsense written on here, sign Naismith ,ffs he is injured almost as much as Rossiter and Dorrans and has at least one bad knee and he has leached enough money off us sitting on the treatment table .As for the comments that people won`t renew their season tickets , get a grip man, the fans renewed in the lower leagues and there is a huge waiting list .We need to improve the squad so why not bring in some prem. experience in Stewart and Jones for nothing and a boy with potential like Hastie .There will be failures going out like Lafferty, McAuley and possibly Flanagan ,Grezda, Barisic, Dorrans , Rossiter ,not to mention Coulibaly , Worrall and Kent so there is space to to do this and sign 3 or 4 better quality players for cash.Its a balance as we don`t have unlimited funds but we need to trust the manager to complete phase 2 after all phase 1 wasn`t too bad.

  8. None of these three are good enough and why this obsession with wingers and mid field players we need defenders at present we will end up with two central defenders one right back and possibly two at left back the first rule is get your defence sorted don't concede goals you don't lose games

    • Andy, if we start the season with 2 CBs, 1 RB and 2 LBs, then I will admit you are right.
      But although not a gambling man, I am willing to bet we won't.

  9. you would think that reading comments on here that players have no room for improvement. the 3 lads brought in are all under 23 with great potential, even if they are not rangers standard they can still be sold on for fees covering salary spent. this is a win win, not a moan moan

  10. I think all three will be good additions as squad players, the lad Hastie has got an impressive haul of goals and assists from left wing, for a lad in his first proper run in the top flight.i said last year that Dorrans was unfortunately not going to fulfil his Rangers dreams, and now I'll say Murphy sadly is in the same position, bad injury at the wrong end of his career. Kent realistically isn't going to happen, we effectively just did Liverpool a favour and increased the value of the boy by around 10 million, expensive lesson learned in dealing with Liverpool. Lafferty will probably go in the summer and Stewart is a straight replacement, good player if used correctly, proven in his displays with Killie

    • You are right. It’s early days. But if players are out of contract now we can’t wait for window. These guys are back up in my opinion. Hastie and Jones have potential. We will be playing in Europe before window closes so we need to get some guys in before then. Forget Dorrans and Murphy , too old to recover fully. IN Say they don’t like to be negative. You could have fooled me. Let’s win on Sunday, securing 2nd place and give chances to Middleton, Pouldson and perhaps a youngster or two in remaining games.

  11. Think these are more squad players tbh. Cant criticise signing policy when the season hasn't even ended yet. There will be better signings I'm sure

  12. Guys the days of us buying superstars are well gone. Steven will know his budget and will be trying at the moment to bring in players he reckons Rangers can improve without costing a lot of money. The major purchases will take place after the season ends and when he knows what the club can afford. Hope the players dont read this stuff as the critisism of players who wear the Rangers shirt is a disgrace. Sure you will find that the likes of Barasic and Grezda will be much better next season if all the idiots keep off their backs.

    • 100% agree. I think if we're willing to give Gerrard a season to adjust, we should do the same for the foreign players hes brought in. Barisic and Grezda are both internationals already, they clearly have something about them. Just haven't settled great in Scotland, but I would keep them n give them a shot again next season. Mark Hateley is perhaps the best example of a player needing a year to settle, if either player can get near his level we'll be laughing next season.

  13. These are all pre contract agreements. Bigger money and bigger names will be actracted in the summer. Plus tbh Stewart and Jones were both integral parts of a Killie side that (until Stewart went to Aberdeen) had won the most points of any team in the 2018 calender year. I think all of the above will be key additions and with money spent on a number 10 and a few defenders we could be on our way to 55!

  14. I thought the exact same thing of Glen Kamara, and he's proven to be up to the challenge. Willing to trust the scouting teams judgement here, they must see something. Only one I dont think has a decent future to be fair is Stewart, the two wingers can do a job.

  15. None of them are box office signings, but Jones and Hastie are young players and SG and his team have done a pretty good job of improving some players since they came in. So they might become Rangers standard players, or maybe simply improve them and sell them on for a profit.
    Nobody was terribly excited by the Kamara signing, and what a player he has turned out to be with still lots of scope for his development.
    It makes good sense to look for players with potential, and get them signed up early on pre-contracts. Rangers would get criticised if we don't get deals done for your players with potential, so I think they deserve credit for getting these kind of deals done early. Rather than missing out, like we did with Andrew Roberston when he was at Queens Park.
    I am sure there will be a number of more proven players added in the summer, and we will continue to improve again next season.

  16. Couple of thoughts. If someone is obviously good enough to improve our squad, like Kent, then a lot of richer clubs will be after him. So we will be outbid. The days of us waving a chequebook and bringing the cream of Europe are gone, let's get over it.
    So, our options are young, unproven players who we can improve. What did Celtic pay for Van Dijk and what did they get? We played against Andy Robertson and didn't notice him. We couldn't afford one of his legs now. So scouting youth is the only way forward.
    As for Stewart, I am not impressed, but I am guessing that SG has seen something and he know more about football than I do.
    As other have said, we don't know who is leaving, some of these players will be squad backfill, but Hastie produces more than Candeias so could go straight in.
    I will reserve judgement on the squad until the window finishes, by which time I hope we will be into the Group stages so will have an idea of our budget.

  17. Hopefully these 3 are bench warmers and we buy 4 decent players from abroad, if the mhanky mob can get great talent for next to nothing, surely Mark Allen can

  18. I'm happy so far, we should be trying our best to bring in players from this league and seeing what they can do, stop paying ridiculous wages for 1 year players on 4 years contracts, let's live within our means

  19. Jones – Pish
    Stewart – Pish
    Hastie – Pish
    Vokovic – Pish
    Powell – Pish

    Come on Stevie! Get your fkn act together!

    These players are not good enough for Rangers and won't help us get closer to them.

  20. We will lose a good number of players this summer so we need to bring squad players in. No great problem with any of them but not if that is the best we bring in. We need 2 or 3 players of better quality.

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