Reflection on the Warburton era

[G.E.C. 18,712]

The whole window in 2016 was a weird one. Signed too many players that didn’t suit his style, i.e Garner who is more of a target man. 

Plus MOH who is more suited to playing on the counter attack.

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,428]

Really really shite manager and a snake.

[Bristol loyal 6,248]

He was a disaster and the damage he did is imo underestimated, the semi final win on pens was great but let’s not let that take away from the fact that aswell as signing shite and playing football that was getting us no where, he managed to spread a losers mentality through the club one that we’ve only managed to shake this season since we’ve appointed a proper winner in charge. An acceptance that second or third in the league was some sort of achievement and that semi finals were acceptable to this great club. He brought in players that mentally were not fit to wear a Rangers shirt and worst of all, he allowed a fear of the taigs to spread and a belief that we couldn’t beat them.

[plymouthranger 3,863]

He wasn’t backed when we came up to the levels Caixinha and Gerrard have been. 

Hes not a serial winner and doesn’t have the ruthless streak to become a top manager. But Gerrard would’ve had a far smaller task had Warburton been given the money Caixinha had

[Laudrupsleftfoot 10,775]

14 minutes ago, Bristol loyal said:

He was a disaster and the damage he did is imo underestimated, the semi final win on pens was great but let’s not let that take away from the fact that aswell as signing shite and playing football that was getting us no where, he managed to spread a losers mentality through the club one that we’ve only managed to shake this season since we’ve appointed a proper winner in charge. An acceptance that second or third in the league was some sort of achievement and that semi finals were acceptable to this great club. He brought in players that mentally were not fit to wear a Rangers shirt and worst of all, he allowed a fear of the taigs to spread and a belief that we couldn’t beat them.

Agree with most of that except the bit I've highlighted - I think the fear came after he left.

Went toe to toe with them in the 2-1 loss at Ibrox and were unlucky to lose that. We certainly didn't look the levels below them that we looked in Murty's scraped draw or the abominations that followed under Caixinha and towards the end of last season.

[Smile 26,600]

Did well on limited money his style of football was great to watch but his lack of defending cost him, his teams were sussed out and he couldn't change it.

[graeme_4 34,350]

I wish we had Warburton as soon as we went down the leagues. McCoist was an utter disgrace as a manager. 

Ultimately too stubborn, not ruthless enough and not backed enough to win the top league. 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

46 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

To claim he was a disaster is absolute ludicrous!

He done his job getting out of the championship on a small budget when he had to revamp a whole squad practically playing some excellent football. Won a cup we embarrassingly failed to win previously and beat the scum in a SF. 

He made mistakes and had bad signings(so has Gerrard btw) but he was hardly backed. People were wanking over his signings of Barton and Kranjcar, pretty sure yourself included!

After 21 league games Warburton got us 39 points, Gerard has 3 more! Is he a disaster considering he got a far bigger budget and its the players already here more than his signings that are doing the business? 

A disaster was McCoist or Pedro, not Warburton.

He lost every single big away game bar one which was his first in charge. 

[Jelavic191 4,398]

15 hours ago, Prso's headband said:

Never understood the club. Thought average shite and young players were good enough for up here. 

His comment about protecting Hyndman for his parent club finished it for me. 

Rangers was too big for him

It’s 100% this. He didn’t get that we were all about winning. He thought the form would of mid table chanmiponship teams was good enough here.

[Misteral 2,932]

He's an academic coach but not a winner, which is what we have and need at Ibrox. He had one good season in the Championship but not winning the cup was a big downer. We (and he) then realised he didn't have what was required in the SPFL and tried to sneak off with a payout. He got what he deserved in the end. 

[Bronzy 26,128]

7 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

So winning away to Kilmarnock in the cup being a division below them was not a big away game?

Not when you remember the fact that this was when Lee McCulloch was their manager.

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

4 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

So winning away to Kilmarnock in the cup being a division below them was not a big away game?

Gerrard's away form is not good, is he a disaster then? His only big wins are Hearts away(offside goal) and in Europe against a decent at best Croatia side.

Two games then, the rest he lost.

Easter Road x2

Falkirk x2

Piggery

Pittodrie

Tynecastle x2

[With Heart and Hand 8,949]

he was all talk and no action, then disgraced himself by trying to sneak out the door

fuck him and fuck Davie weir n awl

[ForeverAndEver 71,364]

If it wasn't Warburton, Pittodrie and the first Falkirk one it would have been down to the ref.

[Rambo1872 4,065]

So many saying Gerrard wasn't the answer only a month or two ago and wanted a new manager 😂

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

16 hours ago, .Williamson. said:

Aye that's why I mind it so well and it's the first time I ever sat in the main stand and experienced those seats that are essentially trying to kneecap you with the lack of fucking leg room 

Should sit in a tier up. Some of the seats are padded with plenty of legroom. Only seats that are better are in the home dugout. 

[SIRB_72 3,986]

Ignoring how he left the club I will say he did bring in a few decent talents (Windass, Tavernier and Waghorn) for basically nothing and we've made decent money on Windass and Waghorn. In the future we will also make a fortune up here on Tavernier.

For me he left his idea of bringing in young and "hungry" talent who can improve help the club and move on for big fees (we all thought this was a great idea) to bring in names and veterans and it completely destroyed us that first year back up.

For me his style of play actually did change. At first we were pacey, attacking and direct even though we played on the deck. After, roughly, we beat celtic and maybe before we became slow, plodding and passed side to side. I don't think it was getting found out I just genuinely thought we took less risks and played safer and msybe that was down to the mentality of player he did sign.

I always had an issue that after Waghorn's injury he rarely played him as a striker again and seemed to favour Miller. I thought Waghorn was integral to how we played by holding the ball up, physically battling with defenders and bringing in central midfielders and wingers into the game. The likes of Miller, Dodoo or O'Halloran couldn't do that. Even Garner to a certain extent could do it because he could bring players into the game but it was always through the air and never on the deck.

Again forgetting the way he left I do think we'd have been in a much better position than bringing in Pedro. I would have been curious to see how he would have spent the money Pedro got considering we had got through that first "how good are we season" (which is how I seen it).

 

[jayzer 36]

Brentford was his limit......and I'm trying to be nice towards him.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,494]

Cant compare his time to gerrards simply because the finances are different 

[RossS1873 1,656]

The money he did get when we came up he spent very unwisely. Stupid wages on Barton and Senderos. Signing guys like Garner, who I liked, but was completely unsuited to the team he was playing in and not getting the mentality needed to be here and we have to win even if we don't play wonderful football was the downfall. That and the 60 min subs. That irritated me to no avail 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

1 hour ago, Rangers_no1 said:

What about his home record in big games? He won 9 in 12. How did we fair at home to Aberdeen and Hibs at home this season under Gerrard?

The original point remains no matter how poor his away record against 'big teams' was that he was in no way a complete disaster.

Threw away a cup final and a historic treble, continually embarrassed away from home, signed abject failure after failure then left like a sleekit cunt. 

If that's not a disaster fuck knows what is. 

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,428]

Can't believe he has people defending him

[GaryMc 2,394]

I don't think it helped that Warburton's SPFL season coincided with Rodgers going to celtic and them having a freak unbeaten season.

We're better off without Warburton now but he did a lot of foundation work with the sports science, youth setup and bringing our training setup into the 21st century after years of dross that were now seeing the benefit of I think as it's improved even further.

He ultimately failed as he underestimated the league and is a snake for how he left but it is what it is and we're in a better position now so fuck it.

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

This thread should be purely about warburton era, not a comparison to Gerrard.

It is far too early for that. 

[Bearsden bear 2,376]

I really enjoyed that season he had in the Championship. Cup semi and the win against hibs with the late Waggy strike around Xmas particular highlights.

Our style of play was great to watch at times and the signing of Barton once back in the Prem made sense on paper to toughen up midfield/ improve balance and give us a ball winner.

We did struggle to break down teams towards the end of the Championship season.  He did add a bit more skill and craft with big niko the following season, but again it didn't pay off.

The obvious flaw was the lack of plan B. I remember Burnley played a high press against us in a preseason game and exposed our deficiencies. Hearts and others did the same and we never really found a solution to it.

Got to say he was a decent man. I remember him going to fans funerals and being a really respectful fella. To be fair to him he got us out the Championship and probably didn't have the budget of others. Definitely not our worst Manager, that's for sure.