“Squad fillers” – Rangers fans angry with ex-defender

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“Squad fillers” – Rangers fans angry with ex-defender
Bildnummer: 00966366 Datum: 04.11.2003 Copyright: imago/Paul Marriott Shakehands der beiden Kapitäne - Roy Keane (li., Manchester United) und Craig Moore (Rangers) - vor Spielbeginn, in der Mitte: FIFA-Schiedsrichter Pierluigi Collina (Italien); Vdig, quer, Schiri, Referee, Unparteiischer, shake, hands, Champions League 2003/2004, Manchester United - Glasgow Rangers 3:0, ManU Manchester Fußball EC 1 Herren Mannschaft Gruppenbild Randmotiv Personen

Craig Moore’s comments recently have split fans, with the former Rangers defender claiming Rangers’ summer work supplied the club with ‘squad fillers’ rather than top signings.

Is he right? Indeed, is he even being fair?

Moore has been employed by RTV many times, and in truth he’s never been one fans viewed with any chagrin towards regarding his media comments, and he’s always been generally seen as fair and supportive about the Famous.

So when he came out with a criticism, naturally a number of fans turned on him and smeared his comments, smearing him in the process.

As we know, you can say 1000 supportive things about this club, but the one criticism is the one thing seized upon and leads to attacks on your character.

But with that prefix all said and done, does he have a point?

The brutal reality is yes, to a degree. Rangers brought in a Zambia international and an experienced PL campaigner, whose combined market value is genuinely around £15M. Both were free.

Did we know Sakala? Nope, not a jot – but then we didn’t know Barisic, Morelos or Kent either, and they didn’t work out too badly.

We did know Lundstram though, and that was an exciting signing which may just have turned a corner on Wednesday.

But with the four additions we got (Sakala, Lundstram, Juninho Bucana and Nnamdi Ofoborh) did we get squad fillers? That’s hard to qualify, but early signs don’t point at these guys all being immediate first team starters this season, and that’s usually what a marquee signing would be.

Morelos, Kent, Barisic – they were all in from the word go, and that’s not what usually happens with a squad filler. Sakala, Lundstram and Bacuna have taken a while to integrate and obviously we wish the best for Ofoborh.

As for Moore himself? We saw the criticism made at him that he’s from a generation of Rangers players who saw regular £3M signings arriving, funded by a huge pot of gold, and he can’t identify with this modern era.

Hate to break it guys, but Stevie’s spent normal Rangers standards levels of cash in the past 3+ years, shelling out at least £35M on this squad, so it’s not like it’s miserly.

But this summer, yes, there was no money to spend, and Gerrard hinted at that himself, dealing more modestly in the market.

Would we have liked to have millions to spend? Of course. But that cash wasn’t there and the opportunities weren’t either.

Squad fillers? Maybe true to a point, but we leave you with this quote from Dave King in 2015:

“I think long term they have to [live within their means], but it’s not going to be possible in the short term.”

This was a cryptic way of saying success short term requires breaking the bank, but for long term sustainability we have to be financially prudent.

And that may mean some summer windows which don’t splash the cash.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I think you make some good points. Each player mentioned could settle and become big players for us. Realistically one or two might fail but could still bring something as squad fillers.

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