Yesterday marked a bad day for Rangers Football Club.
Yet again ‘they’ have won the league title, and managed to do what we couldn’t last year and make it back-to-back League Champions. Out of the past 11 years, they have won 10 of these titles (they were expected to win these due to us being in different league) – and even when you take it from 2018-2019 season when Gerrard was appointed, they have still won it four times (sorry 3 & 3/4 times) compared to our one.
So, what is needed at Ibrox and the training ground to bring back our bread & butter in winning the league title?
There are issues listed below which will help in trying to achieve success next season, but on the park, we need to play more fast attacking football – Beale needs to address this ahead of next season.
- Major Investment in our playing squad
Yes, this one is obvious even to Stevie Wonder.
However, the board seriously need to back the manager in the transfer market coming.
We have got from Revamp being mooted, to a major re-build.
There has been talk that there is only £5M being in the transfer kitty for the re-build to take place – which is nowhere near enough to get us back to where we need to be.
The board need to take a risk with backing the manager, as we have seen what lack of investment done after 55 as highlighted in today’s earlier piece on Douglas Park.
I understand that there is Financial Fair Play Rules that need to be adhered to, however more needs to be done here.
- Quality over Quantity
Signings just can’t be made for the sake of it as squad fillers. Every signing needs to be of a quality so if they come into the team, there is no difference seen in terms of who they are replacing.
We need players of quality to come in and hit the ground running.
Players who can lift the players who remain in the current squad, but those who represent good value & who can earn the club a profit in a year or two.
- Making good use of the loan market
While it pains me to say it, this is an area where we have failed miserably on – look at Ramsey, Diallo, Tillman…..
If we are to make this work, in the same way that Celtic did with Jota & Carter-Vickers, then you need to bring in loan players at the beginning of the season. This allows them to get their pre-season in to get to the right levels of fitness & get a learning of style of play in pre-season games.
As we did with Tillman, we need to ensure that we have options to buy at the end of the season for a good price – as if the players have a successful season, then it means that the club is not going to be held to ransom when it comes to transfer fees if they were to take up the option on the player.
- Overhaul of Scouting Department
If we need to learn lessons of our recruitment, then it would be our Scouting team have more misses than hits in recent seasons.
From seasons gone by we can safely say that only Aribo & Bassey have been ‘Scouting Gems’.
Our Scouting knowledge doesn’t seem to tap into growing markets where maybe there is less of a gamble involved – we seem to try and stick to the ‘tried & trusted’, which doesn’t give great value for money where Rangers are concerned.
- B Team & Youth Team
We all want to see more & more youngsters coming through.
But there seems to be a bit a culture issue in our B & Youth teams – they seem to think they’ve made it and get big headed.
They need to understand that that if they want to be an elite player, then you need to make major sacrifices in their life – that means your career is first & foremost in what you do, what you eat & what u drink.
Everyday has to be a learning, take on all the advice that you are given – as you have got the best facilities to allow you to succeed at the club.
But you need to have the desire & attitude to allow you to go as far as you can.
Plus identifying players for the youth team seems to be an issue. Players who have been signed and done okay for B Team, and then go out on loan just don’t seem to cut it – Weston & Alegria spring to mind.
But there needs to be a clear path way that these players buy into. There has to be reward given if the young players put what is asked of them in both the training ground & the games that they play for their respective ages’ groups.
Some might argue that there needs to be more ‘outside’ coaches brought into, with fresh ideas & fresh learnings.
Each year we need to strive to be better than the last.
Football is a ruthless game now – if you standstill or go stale, then you quickly fall behind.
For us, that’s what we have done since 55.
Our next season will be the biggest since we stopped Terry Munro