Can Rangers really win 55 this season?

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Can Rangers really win 55 this season?


The first obvious answer most (of a green and white persuasion) want to provide here is a categorical no. They are the ones who have spent multimillions on top-dollar players and have 8IAR. They know how to be champions.

And it’s true, they do have that advantage.

But the Steven Gerrard project at Ibrox has been percolating for over a season now, and only in the past few weeks has the work begun to bloom and Gerrard’s hand properly revealed.

Stage one:

Sign two excellent Bosmans in Scott Arfield and Allan McGregor. Both internationals, both experienced at the absolute top levels of the game. Baseline foundation.

Stage two:

Take a risk on some costly signings – not all will work – Grezda failed, Lafferty crumpled – but Barisic had the potential to be a long-term project, as did Katic, and Goldson would be good enough for now.

Stage three:

Sign Steven Davis on a loan/Bosman – a player experienced at the highest levels of the game and another international. Add a £65K signing in Glen Kamara who had the ability to be worth well beyond £15M – but only good scouting would spot that one. Add a pre-contract international for nothing in the form of Jordan Jones.

Stage four:

Add a £250K signing in Joe Aribo whose real market value will reach £10M before long. Add a top-class defender in Helander with a far better CV than Goldson for the same price as him – a surplus player at his current club who’s itching for a fresh start. Add one loan, a single loan who has looked outstanding and good enough to deliver on his reputation in the form of Ojo.

See where we’re going here? Rangers are now filled with top quality players at zero to little cost – McGregor, Davis, Kamara, Arfield, Aribo, Ojo, Jones = £300,000 for seven players who are good enough to push for the title.

Add the blooming £2M Barisic, the potential of £3M Helander, and conjoin with the existing pre-Gerrard talent (stay or go) of (££??) Morelos, (££??) Tavernier, Jack et al, and from nowhere Steven Gerrard has cherry picked the best of what was there, replaced the garbage and built a squad which has enough marquee players already to be taken seriously for a title fist.

It’s not a group of winners together yet, but between them Davis and McGregor know how it feels, and Arfield is an exceptional leader. Add Jones, Aribo and Kamara and it’s the finest blend of youth and experience.

It took over a year for us to see this squad take shape, and it still does need some tweaking, but we can say, on paper at least (and taking into account uncertainty over how this group will actually do in the rough and tumble of the SPL), that a Rangers XI of McGregor, Tavernier, Helander, Katic, Barisic, Davis, Kamara, Aribo; Jones, Morelos, Arfield is absolutely, unequivocally good enough to push for or win the title.

And you can quote us on that.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. Excellent article. Best way to approach this is to do an "Old Firm XI" – two years ago I was struggling to justify a single Rangers man in the XI but now its pretty much all Rangers. I could maybe make a case for Tierney or Forrest but seriously the Old Firm XI is now Blue and White!!!

    THAT tells me we can win the league now…

  2. The question is, Can Rangers really win 55 this season?, my answer is yes, ONLY IF, we can get consistency throughout the season. We beat Celtic twice, we cancelled the points out, therefore it proved we were beaten because we did not win our bread and butter games both home and away.
    We must find a knack of getting behind the park buses and score, as well as guarding against the counter attack that was successful for the opposition last season.
    Our players must show true Rangers grit and passion in every single game, without getting sent off, of course!
    We all know the Referees and the SFA Compliance Officers are all homers, thats a fact, not paranoia. The point is we must play smart as well as skilful this season.
    Do all that, we will win 55. Do it not, then it will hand those beggars 9IAR!
    We will see, but as always, looking forward to the new season starting.

  3. You guys really don't Goldson, maybe you should do a poll? IMO he has be our best defender and will be a regular starter until we sell him or his contact runs out, I would extend said contact?(could be the question)

  4. We can if we sign a good goal scoring Centre forward who can score 25 goals and not get sent off. I don’t think Jermaine Defoe can do that.

  5. Simple question with a simple answer. YES!!!
    I'm confident we will be better, much better, than last year and any thoughts of fighting for second place will be long gone. We are fighting for top spot. It won't be easy. They have made signings too and still might make more. They have been used to winning and have finished comfortably ahead of us in recent seasons. But this year they are in a real battle and they'll know all about it.

  6. We can most certainly challenge and probably win the league unfortunately the Hammer Chuckers the Jealous the Hateful will make Thier mark in what ever Anti Rangers way they can..Kicking Fouling Cheating and Hating . If we play whilst all this Anti Rangers Shit continues on Nd off the park then he'll yes we can win 55 The silence will be defining!!!!

  7. Every season since we came back up NI you come out with this going for 55 and every season since Celtic have won a treble.
    Why not wait and see how the team do after we have played each team in the league and see then how we are doing and then ask the question.

    • What difference would that make. We all bought into the possibility after we beat Celtic at Xmas. And that was miles wrong too.

    • Well Stevie G has now brought in 24 players since he became manager. How many of them can we say have been a success?
      We should wait and see what the new signings are like and what player leave before we start getting our hopes up.
      Ok we beat the French team Marseille but so did Accrington Stanley. So can't really judge the team on pre season friendlies

    • Why all the doom and gloom. Every Year we look forward to the new season with hope and optimism. That's all that's happening here. Applying a few what ifs and speculating on what we can do is all part of the fun and football would be very dull without it. I don't care how many players Gerrard has brought in. The facts are undeniable that we were better last year than under Pedro/Murty and I'm confident we will be a lot better this year than last.

  8. Ryan Jack will have a big part to play this season. SG knows exactly what he is capable of and I see a big season for Jacko. 60 games will see the use of lots of players and our squad looks very strong. Young players might just fade at two games a week but the more experienced players will be up for it. Bring it on.

    • Jack has stepped up the last few games but I still think he will struggle to get a regular game ahead of Davis, Kamara, Aribo and Arfield assuming that we play with 2 wingers.

  9. First 6 fixtures suit us better than Celtic…I predict we will be 8 points ahead after 6 games and pressure on Lennon will be huge…

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