Regulars will know from a previous Ibrox Noise interview with Rangers legend Richard Gough, that the former Govan captain takes absolutely no prisoners when it comes to his views, and we can tell you first hand few were as critical as Ibrox Noise of ex-manager Mark Warburton and his SPL tactics as Goughie was.
And the Swedish-born Ibrox legend has been pulling no punches recently with scathing assessments of where Rangers are these days.
Speaking to us prior to the most recent Old Firm, on his birthday no less, he just ‘hoped he was wrong’ with his expectation Rangers would lose, and he’s been speaking again today to the Scottish media admitting Celtic are miles ahead and Rangers have a lot of work to do.
He said:
“I look at (James) Tavernier playing as a full-back and scoring more than 100 goals for the club. That’s unbelievable – an incredible achievement. But he’s only managed to get a couple of trophies. I would guarantee he’d rather have 10 trophies in his pocket than 100 goals. That’s what you’re remembered for. I won 18 trophies with Rangers and I look at our team now and wonder where we are going to get the trophies from. It has been sad for our club since 2012. We were worried about losing everything at that time.”
In honesty, we’re not sure here. Tavernier has never struck us as much of a captain, and secretly we suspect his ego quite likes his personal stats. Gough is right though, you’re remembered for what you win, not how many goals you scored while losing.
He goes on:
“Dave King coming in managed to save it. In 2014 he asked me to get involved and we steadied the ship a wee bit. Gerrard was a marvellous personality to get into the club. He came with high standards and we managed to get the championship, but it seems to have gone back a wee bit. We managed to get to the European final, which was incredible with the team that we had. Van Bronckhorst did a remarkable job getting through those European games and we hoped to kick on from that. Then we sold Aribo, we sold Bassey and we never replaced them with quality. Football is about your players. Back in the day, Souness would tell me: ‘Goughie, I signed you, signed Butcher, and signed Roberts – I’m not going to tell you boys how to defend.’ If you can put 11 very, very good players together, you’ll be fine. I look at managers talking about all these formations nowadays, but if you’ve got great players, most of the time you’re going to win the games. Celtic have got better players at the moment, and I don’t like saying that.”
It’s scathing, but it’s blunt, and it’s true. Celtic are clearly the better team, outfoxing Rangers all over the pitch. There are very few players at Rangers who are stronger than their Parkhead counterparts – Borna over Greg Taylor might be one good shout, and while Raskin and Cantwell are great so far, we’re not ready yet to say they’re definitively better than McGregor, Mooy or O’Riley. But beyond that?
Colak was coming onto a hell of a game till the ground was ripped from under him and that be that, but the rest are just not of the quality needed.
And it’s not just Ibrox Noise and Gough who think it, manager Michael Beale says it too. This morning he confirmed he wants another five high quality players, whereas in reality we know he wants around 10.
But the bottom line is wanting this and that is one thing, actually getting it right and overturning that 12-point gap is quite another.
Rangers have a harsh reality to face; we’re 12 behind and Celtic have all the money they pretty much need while they also have a much stronger squad.
We can really only see them skipping further away this summer, quite honestly.