Michael Beale has made a very telling admission to fly in the face of the ‘give them a chance ffs’ brigade by suggesting his new signings have all had enough time now and are ‘ready to go’.
Rangers fans have often, this season especially, been split between the supporters who think new signings need time to bed in, and the fans who think they should be ready much quicker.
The truth, probably, as normal, is likely to be somewhere in between – Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin were immediate as an impact, while Borna Barisic and Rabbi Matondo both took over a year.
But Beale rejects the idea of ‘waiting longer’ and thinks the likes of Jose Cifuentes etc should be ready and hitting form now.
He said, initially on Cifuentes:
“He came in very late. In the first couple of games he did some really good things. He produced a fantastic cross against Servette that should have been an assist and had one against Livingston where the defender has made a fantastic block against Cyriel, so he’s been unfortunate in that regard. He’s been away on international duty, so this is his moment.”
But then tellingly on the whole squad/new signings:
“He’s been here for a while now. I said recently that the new players have been here long enough now. He was the last one to come in and now I think he’s ready to go.”
That’s pretty emphatic, the ‘give them a chance’ brigade will find that one tough to reconcile with, given they are the ones usually backing Beale and the misfiring players the most, asking for them to get time, and now for him to turn round to them and say ‘no, that’s enough time, they are ready now’ pretty much ends the debate entirely.
Fair play to Beale on this one, we do actually agree. We don’t have a season to wait for a Rabbi Matondo or a Borna to start hitting form, when we do that we don’t win the league, simple as.
We need the majority of our new signings to ‘be ready now’ and when they aren’t, it’s basically costing Rangers any real shot at the title or doing anything in Europe.
If Butland can settle in and thrive inside the first month or two, can’t the rest?
Answers on a postcard.