For the first time in a few years we've had a relatively quiet closed season. Not since the days of Martin O'Neill have we truly had a settled squad (some may say it got a little too settled under MON). Gordon Strachan came in with his own ideas, and out went the old guard of Thompson, Sutton and eventually Hartson et al. To be fair to Strachan he inherited an expensive and aging squad. Martin O'Neill, as we all know, does well with money - but there wasn't any left for him in the end. So Strachan started a revolution. He immediately set about releasing players and filling the gaps with journeymen, the Dion Dublins and the Paul Telfers who in hindsight were both embarrassingly capable in the SPL and embarrassingly incapable in Europe (Bratislava!). As Strachan got settled into the job he started phase 2 and phase 3 of his tenure, getting us the Scott McDonalds, Jan Vennegoors and Scott Browns while putting the likes of big Dion out to pasture. Strachan had a thankless job in replacing the bhoys of Seville, but it was necessary. He brought us three SPL titles and two appearances in the last 16 of the Champions League in four years. Couldn't really ask for much more given the resources and the rebuilding job in hand. When Strachan left he did so leaving a team which had finished just short that season, 4 points off Rangers in the league. At the time I remember looking at our squad and believing we only needed two or three really good signings, we weren't that bad so there was no need to 'mess with the magic' - just a tinker here and there. In comes Tony Mowbray with his own ideas of revolution. He wanted to dismantle the team which had got us to the last 16 of the Champions League twice and replace it with... well what? I could write about Tony Mowbray all night. He refused to bid for James McCarthy, a Celtic supporter who wanted to sign for Celtic and who would have cost a mere £1.2m - a player who is being valued at £10m two years later (and everyone and their dog could see it at the time). He signed Danny Fox, one of his few signings that looked capable, then sold him 5 months later for a tiny profit. He loaned out our captain, sold our top goalscorer and bought more players than the papers had even linked us with. All with a budget of about £8m. He took a relatively stable squad that was just short of the mark and tried to completely replace it, despite their not being a huge amount wrong with it. When Lennon came in at the end of the season to try fix Mowbray's mess I was once more crying out for stability, but knew that change was once more inevitable - we hadn't lost the league by a small margin in the previous season, we were awful. Lennon went about selling and loaning out most of the players that Mowbray had signed. He brought in Stokes, Kayal, Hooper, Izaguirre, Mulgrew, Majstorovic, Ledley and Commons among others. Fast forward a year later and we have lost the league by one point. There are numerous individual 'ifs and buts' we can look back on, such as the Samaras penalty miss at Ibrox or the bad run of games just before Christmas - but the fact remains that we nearly won it, we achieved our highest points total for six years and in the end it was Rangers consistency against the little teams which was our undoing. So we are back in a similar position to what we were when Strachan left. We have lost the league narrowly and we have the makings of a good young squad. For me it all has to be about stability now, tell the EPL teams where to stick their mid table mediocrity and keep our best players - and just add one or two where we need them. I hear some cries from our own fans about our inactivity around us, I hear Rangers fans try to hit us with this inactivity stick when faced with the anti climax that is their own inactivity. "Well good!" is my answer - don't **** with the magic if the magic isn’t broken - and at this point in time with the unknown that is Ally McCoist and Craig Whyte at Rangers, I am certain that all we have to do is exactly what we did last season and the league will be coming home.
I agree Mick, we have absolutely no need to panic, we have two or more players for every position and although I would like to see a good keeper signed I don't believe it's desperate.
Not only have we a good young squad but a good young manager who has the club at heart and make this club great and legendary throughout Europe and beyond for years to come HAIL HAIL THE THUNDER HAS COME BACK TO PARADISE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111
Good to read a post about football Mick! Agree in the main with it. While one can't fault Gordon Strachan's record, I thought the football played under him was awful to watch. Tony Mowbray was well-meaning but an unmitigated disaster. I thought it would take years to recover from the damage he inflicted and couldn't believe how quickly Neil turned it around. Rangers were an experienced and stable side last last season which, I believe is what stood them in good stead but for Neil to run them so close with practically a whole new team of players was excellent on his part - don't know of any other team that brought in so many new players without struggling badly in their first season together. The football being played under Neil so far is generally also much better to watch. We do need a reliable goalkeeper though!
I do think we are still short in the goalkeeping department ; zaluska certainly seemed a good keeper before coming to us and I dont think its a good idea to hope that his previous form returns ; I`d also like a centre back who is a better organiser of the defence than we seem to have at the moment.
"I could write about Tony Mowbray all night. He refused to bid for James McCarthy, a Celtic supporter who wanted to sign for Celtic and who would have cost a mere £1.2m - a player who is being valued at £10m two years later" That was absolutely ridiculous. His reasoning at the time was that he only wanted to sign players who could walk into the first team. He used the same excuse for not signing Fletcher from Hibs. We were linked with both these players in the January transfer window (I think). To be honest I wonder if the Board had by that stage made up their minds that Mowbray's time was nearly up and didn't want to hand him any more money to waste.
A Goalkeeper A Striker A creative midfielder That would do it ... I totally agree that Lennon doesn't need to add too much to the squad ot tinker too much. Celtic do need to ship out some "dead wood" though.
I think that's why he was mainly restrcited to loan players and one loanee who would generate some cash! The McCarthy one is the main puzzler ****in idiots
Pud. I know you try hard to be helpful, but at the moment I think we are not too bad off for midfield players. Our midfield players have all got creativity in their own right and to buy and play a midfielder for his creativity ability alone would not be wise as it would alter the entire balance of the team. I am sure Neil and Peter are aware of players that not part of Neil's plans. It is important to try to get a deal for these players that is good for both player and club. I am sure they will handle it correctly.
Now is the time to spend our budget on 1 or 2 top players who push a present first team regular to the bench as cover and push last years reserve player to a new club! We've spent the last 5 years continually buying 6 or 7 each year, and usually have ended up replacing them in turn too. It's the reason we've not been able to splash out on a bit of quality
To be honest as a Rangers fan I feel you do need improvement, not that I'm saying your bad as like you said it was only 1 point and I believe as the squads lie now it's hard to tell but possibly Celtic are stronger. I don't believe you need as many players as we do, but you maybe need a bit more quality in goal and another striker as in my opinion only Hooper is prolific and reliable. Whatever happens I expect a tight season but if Rangers don't get more players in then I feel Celtic will win the league.
I have to disagree that the squad only needed a few changes at the end of the Strachan era, Naka was gone, Jan was finished as a footballer and Scott MacDonald is still trying to bring a ball under control that was played to him that season. We had nobody to score goals and only McGeady that could create something, you can have all the workrate of from the likes of Robson and Caldwell but it was only going to carry us so far big change was needed. Danny Fox was murder
Danny Fox What was it about us and left backs? We need a goalkeeper. There's no doubt about it as Zaluska isn't up to it. I don't know if it's big club syndrome or if he's one of those GK's who need to be active throughout a game but whatever it is he doesn't look comfortable as No. 1. We need a striker. Why we gave that Greek donkey a new contract I do not know. He should have been punted along with a few others and a new, mobile forward brought in. I still think we should punt Loovens and Hooidveld and bring in one more CB. So three in, four or five out.
You people and your short memories Danny Fox played practically every game that season up until he was sold at Christmas, he was the best (only) left back we had in years. Mowbray destroyed that squad at Christmas, no coincidence that we went into freefall soon after.
I thought we started playing ****e after Brown and Boruc got injured. We were pretty dire before the window opened and all the upheaval didn't help. Mowbray is clueless when it comes to transfers, he got lucky that Hibs had a load of young players.
Rangers won the league for not just being consistent against the little teams, but being consistent against ALL the teams. The test for both Old Firm teams will be the early start to the season and fending off interest from EPL clubs if any of our players hit good form. If Jelavic/Naismith/Izzaguire or whoever starts off well putting in a good few performances then I'm sure the vultures will start circling.
