Squad farce at Parkhead might be massive Stevie G compliment

Steven Gerrard has been pretty vocal in stating the squad is too big – and at 29 it’s maybe not the most inaccurate comment. He’s been fairly clear that it’s more about outgoing this month than incoming, and a case of shedding the excess.

The curiosity though, is that for all the ‘overweight’ Rangers squad, Celtic’s is 3 men bigger.

And yet, the press and indeed Gerrard suggest Rangers need to shed weight while Celtic need to strengthen?

Are we the only ones a little confused?

It seems more to us that we need to raise the quality of the overall squad rather than necessarily getting rid of the dead wood – certainly there are players we want free of, and that’s fair enough, but we find it bizarre Celtic are being asked to strength with 32 players while Rangers are to thin the herd with 3 less.

What constitutes ‘too big’ – there’s a theory an ideal squad is 24 – two full teams of almost equal quality and two spare players as well.

And in this case Rangers are 5 over the optimal number, yet need to thin, while Celtic are 8 or 9 over it and need to strengthen?

Is this the ultimate example, in fact, of Rangers’ wise management while Parkhead have bloated themselves with expensive but substandard players?

It’s worth noting £5M Ntcham couldn’t even get a place in their starting lineup v us, and the rest of their squad is chock full of filler now, players like Hayes, Morgan, Taylor, and Jack Hendry.

So if they’re the ones who need better quality, it’s probably the finest compliment to Steven Gerrard and his management that Rangers’ lesser-numbered squad needs trimmed.

As it stands, we do need to offload this month – King, Murphy, Polster, Herrera and many others are evidently unneeded and not part of the manager’s plans.

But it’s somehow amusing to think our ‘bloated’ squad which needs refined is in fact thinner than Celtic’s which needs bulked.

Football. It’s a funny old game.