A culture of favouritism is endangering 55

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A culture of favouritism is endangering 55


Steven Gerrard’s assertion that he’d like to sign 8 new players on the basis of the loss in Edinburgh leaves us with such mixed emotions it’s difficult to know where to start.

First off, he’s right – we DO need new blood – but then we’ve been banging on about that on the site for ages. That we need better squad players than Jon Flanagan and Jermain Defoe to replace guys like Tavernier and Morelos.

Not to diss Defoe, but he’s not for every match, and while the Hearts loss did actually give him space and he turned out to be painfully wasteful with it, it shows that he’s not the kind of striker we need as a target man. He does his best, he does, but he was so poor v Gorgie that we now suspect we can’t always rely on him.

But the further point from Gerrard’s statement is that it only highlights his painful favouritism coming home to roost.

We have talent like Ross McCrorie, Greg Docherty, Jamie Murphy, Jordan Jones, Matt Polster, Nathan Patterson and frankly quite a few others, but these guys have basically been given no chances under the manager.

No extended runs, no nothing, and the only reason Katic is playing is Helander’s injury.

Gerrard, in saying we need 8 new players, is rubbing salt in the wound of reasons why recent performances happened – because of two reasons:

  1. The wider squad isn’t good enough. That’s beyond doubt now.
  2. And his refusal to use some of the best reserve players.

Because he hasn’t used guys like Polster, Docherty and McCrorie (could recall him at any point, that’s our discretion), instead he’s relied on the same old bench options like Ojo, Barker and Halliday, and they are miles away from being useful subs.

We used to whine, all of us, at Stevie for rotating too much, well it was more that CERTAIN players got rotated too much and others were in by default.

There’s an entitlement about this team now, if you’re in Stevie’s gang you’re in the team. Goldson might be starting to grow on us a little but he, like Tavernier, Kamara and arguably Kent have not earned their places – just ended up being favourites. And others just waste away on the bench.

The culture at Ibrox now is if you’re part of the clique, you’re in, and if your name is something like Docherty or Jones, you’ve got no chance.

It’s no way to go forward, and it puts 55 deeply at risk.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. At Risk ? – No not this season.

    They keep referring to SG’s famous slip against Chelsea whilst playing for Liverpool.

    He has slipped up “twice” in Scotland while top of league after beating Celtic in previous game.

    1) Kilmarnock 2-1 Rangers 23 Jan 19

    2) Hearts 2-1 Rangers 26 Jan 20

    Is he simply incapable of winning leagues?

  2. 55 at risk ? Its gone this season. No way this squad can win the league. We havent added strength while other teams have.

  3. Our MF is sadly lacking a set of Balls to get torn into the opposite teams when they play physical like Hearts did yesterday! Where was Kamara? AWOL yet again….wee sorely need a Spoiler like Ross McCrorie back ASAP for these kind of games!….Flanagan is hopeless, Polster at least added some of Tavs energy & forward runs that wjere sorely miassed yesterday, & 100% we need another striking option as Defoe is not up to these type of games in Freddo absence! We needed more pace on the break yesterday, Aribo should of been hooked for Jones or Ojo to be a bit more direct…..im not getting too excited yet, plenty to play for & the Filth will surely drop points along the way

  4. 100% correct. This Squad is not being utilised I agree about Docherty and Murphy and MC Crorie they could have made a difference yesterday , significantly . We have needed proper cover for both full back positions and of course Striker for a while and sticking any available 'fav' in won't cut it sorry. Oh by the way I hope Steven Gerrard saw Jason Cummings against his beloved Liverpool he was in a cameo role but was unplayable… Another mistake he can deliver especially at this level . We are still the best team on our proper form in Scotland , but OMG not like this Time for honest reflection or he could win nothing again, I hate to think

    • Is this the same Jason Cummings who has been punted around various lower league clubs because he can't hold down a place with any of them. The same guy who has scored 5 goals this season and just 9 last season. I once watched Derek Johnstone score a hat trick but I'm not going to suggest that we should sign him.

    • Robrob I see him as alternative , at the moment we have none when Fredo is out, and Cummings has a track record in Scotland.

  5. Lets not get too excited. We do not become a bad team overnight. All the players mentioned here have also been praised for good performance. Lets get a little perspective, since the break we have no played well admittedly but I think we will win the league this year. Lets put this one bad result behind us, performance needed Wednesday and Saturday please.

    • You're right, we didn't become a bad team overnight. We became a bad one over 3 weeks. Thank you winter break.

  6. Very poor yesterday Hearts wanted it more , simple , Defoe is a penalty box striker hasn't got the legs any more to get that yard required , Without Morelos we are weak (self inflicted ban again ) as mentioned by I.N the winter workout doesn't seem to be a good strategy . Players seem to have come back with zero energy ? But the title is still very winnable They will drop points, 6 to us for a start , we're all a bit gutted but let's think how far we have come in 2 years . 55 is still very much on

  7. Agree with just about everyone. Jordon Jones should be well in front of Ojo, actually, I'd put any development player in front of him! League is over! This team just does not have the bottle!!!!

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