Reformation Bear

I suppose he'd like to be able to say the team had done some of the right things and learnt some of the right lessons. But the black reality is they are neither doing enough or learning enough under Warburton. Same goes for Warburton and Weir themselves. Very soon the squad will need very much better leadership as distinct from faltering management if we are to make a big improvement next season into being credible title challengers. If King and the Board can not see this, or refuse to accept this then they are complicit in the descent into mediocrity and also-ran status for a long time to come. There would be bound to be an adverse impact on attendances at Ibrox next season, including a fall in ST sales, if the performances and results we are seeing this season are likely to be repeated, or with little improvement next season. Sooner rather than later King and the Board will have to turn their attention to the likely impact financially and football-wise on next season if Warburton presides over a slide into mid table mediocrity this season. He's already on the slippery pole and this is only 4 Feb. If 12 March turns into an embarrassment then maybe King is holding on until then with Warburton not able to withstand the pressure to walk. King may suspect the Support in general may simply have had enough of Warburton's inability to get enough winning results by then. In the meantime, its likely to be the case that the media ask repeated questions to Warburton, and to Directors about Warburton's future. Its what happens in football when a crisis is scented or emerges.

Ah yes, the striker who seems to rely on the ready, shoot, aim method of goal scoring. Which is why he scores so few. The fact that he had some sort of method must have impressed Warburton though as he likes the analysis side of football. Pity the method is ineffective. And expensive. You can probably tell I'm not convinced Garner is the real striker deal. He's certainly not delivering at Rangers.

Warburton's attention seeking rhetoric that the team would provide a response today to the road bump bad day at the office performance on Wednesday turned out to be no more than candy floss. As usual. And candy floss is how the teams he sends out plays. As proven again today.

Slip slidin' away. The nearer the destination the more the team is slip slidin' away. And we know whose responsible.

I suppose Warburton and King could look to reset of the objective for the season after this week. 2nd will be ditched, as will European football next season and the new objective will be to finish in top 6. It's become as bad as that.

Under Warburton it seems we are heading onwards and downwards. Onwards through the season and downwards in league placings. He does not have what it takes to transform this squad into determined winners.

The team under him plays at the edges - games could be won but are just as likely to be lost or points dropped. He's the boss. He's the architect of this. But still he plods on with is claim that its a slow rebuilding. He may not yet see it as an authentic crisis, just another game where we need to reflect on the progress made having worked our way back from the bottom division. If he stays, he sure is going to feel even more heat from the Support, King, shareholders and the media.

Wonder if he hears the sound of ice cracking. He must surely know there is a crisis coming soon if Rangers drop more points today.

I guess the mood in the dressing room will be pretty tense. We'll probably get a good idea inside the first 15 mins of the second half if Warburton has been able to have any meaningful influence on how the team respond in the second half. If Warburton is lost and is not able to organise an effective response in a game like this at Ibrox in front of a big crowd when the chips are down to show that the team can deliver a response after last Weds then he is never going to be able to do it.

Is it possible they are trying to get Warburton removed, or cause him to walk away? If this is meant to be the response Warburton said we'd be due after the bad day at the office against Hearts then he clearly has no idea how to motivate the team to give the right response.........or this is the response from the team. If Weds was a bump in the road (as Tav chose to describe it) what would today's performance be if we lose the game?

This is supposed to be a team that is due to provide a response after Weds. Some response.

Is anyone really surprised at the way this is going?

Only one slight problem. Neither O'Halleran or Windass are on the bench

So according to Warburton's pre-match interview Garner is good for 60mins. We know he'll be substituted then. Wonder if Dodoo is to be given a run out today. Senderos has apparently trained will and chomping at the bit to play. We are to expect a response from the team today after the bad day at the office on Weds. When asked if he was angered by some of the comments after the Hearts game. Yes, he was angered by a lot of the comments. Re-iterates there will be no buying of a £10m or £20m striker and - here is the continued rub - "....what we have to do is build slowly...." . But he claims he is not happy with 2nd and neither is the team. I see this as a restatement of the gradualism approach where on the one hand the claim is not happy with second and on the other hand (the hand of reality) is that under Warburton and presumably endorsed by King we are to expect a slow building job where it looks like being not happy with second could be a theme for a long time to come. He may be angry. The players themselves may be angry and determined to put in a response. I doubt his anger will match the anger of much of the Support if a process of gradual slow building is to be the way of it for the foreseeable future.

Insofar as being good enough, and having the right leadership skills and winning mentality for a Club of Rangers' stature, I agree. He may well be able to do a credible job at clubs with far less ambition, but he's not demonstrating he is capable of doing it at Ibrox.

At first I thought this wasn't a real interview but it seems it is. I'm assuming he has broad approval from King and the Board to make the sorts of statements he is making, and in the way he is making them. In that sense the presumption (but perhaps I'm wrong) is the Board stands full square behind the lines Warburton is taking. In which case he's got the managerial reins at Rangers at least until the end of the season. Unless, that is, results and performances take further turns for the worse and it becomes likely that 2nd might become beyond our reach and maybe also even a European slot. It feels like there was some tension in the interview, some abruptness and bristling. Combative even. Feels like he's dug in, putting up his defences - including forward defences in the sense of stressing the financial gap which then implies it will take a long long time to get back to winning a title. It also feels he has become increasingly aware of criticism and frustration coming from the Support so he's becoming prepared to mix it to defend his work. He's stuck in the middle. A Support that demands far more is done to produce a credible title-challenging side. With many becoming unconvinced that Warburton is capable of delivering such a team at all, never mind after expending many seasons' worth of patience while we watch his empirical efforts at building a competent squad. Just look at the signings of last summer - hardly evidence that he is assembling a squad capable of a proper title challenge. A Board that will be feeling the heat from the Support about this season so far, with the objective of strong second (King's words) looking ......well...... a bit unlikely. Worse than that confidence about even finishing second looks strained. I'd be surprised if King and the Board are not at least a bit concerned. But they seem unwilling, if not actually powerless (no money) to do anything other than let this season play out and take it from there. The media will be on his case after every game if the game is not won, and more so if we slip from 2nd, and then again if the OF games go badly. It risks getting a lot tougher for Warburton during the second half of the season. That's how I see it for now.......he rides it out as manager until the end of the season at least . There is no affordable other option. Unless, that is, results deteriorate and 2nd looks like slipping away in which case the pressures may become too great and he removes himself from the job. But as of this week (well until Saturday evening at least) he seems to be gearing himself up to tough it out. The thing is though, every game from here on in puts him at the edges at Ibrox. Drop points and either slip from 2nd or risk slipping from 2nd and he's bound to feel increased heat from the combined forces of Support, Board, shareholders and media. It's our Club though. Its the title we want. And soon. It's all very well to say were are in unprecedented territory but does he seriously think he is doing anywhere near well enough in building the core of a team that should, with some well judged transfers-in, be capable of being serious title contenders next season? If he does then he sees a potential that I do not. I think he'd rather not think too deeply about that or talk about it, and try to keep the media focus shifted simply to what happens this season and then take it from there.

No. Not counting the 2 loans the squad he has right now - which is the squad that will finish the season unless there are some more Bartonesque explosions to come - is in substance probably the squad that will start next season. A massive clear out could not be afforded. In creating that squad and in shaping the way it plays there is no way the stuff we have seen this season remotely begins to take on the appearance of having enough of a good quality core of a side would form the basis to be a serious title contenders next season. He is treading water at best, Even allowing for a few new signings and expecting some to leave such as McKay, and allowing for some good quality loan players coming in Warburton has not built a core that is reliable in defence, effective in midfield (shielding the defence, ball winning and creation of goal scoring opportunities), and equipped with goal scorers of decent ability. And that's before we get to any comments about his tactics, leadership skills and coaching ability. He has failed to do anywhere near enough to indicate that the team next season is likely to be vastly superior to the team and results seen so far this season. It's not about coming second, Its about winning the title and he has not done enough to forge the basis of a title winning team. What is his doing is a gradual development with not even a broad timeline for achieving a title-win. In the same way he ritualistically trots out the mantra of one game at a time, and its 3 points, 1 point or 0 points regardless of who the opposition is, he looks to be taking exactly the same attitude towards each season. One season at a time, look to progress, be patient, must persevere, one day the Club will get there. . If he is the only option for King and the Board then how on this earth is King going to persuade ST holders who signed up this season under the 'going for 55' flag to renew in the same numbers next season. It may need to be one of the most stellar sales pitches ever made. If it appeared to ST holders that we are in for more of the same next season then they may be a lot more selective about which games to go to. Even worse, and not seeking to tempt fate, if we suffer a whitewash this season in the OF games then that in itself may be an influence on ST sales next season if Warburton remained in charge and if there was every reasonable reason (based on this season) to believe that Warburton had failed to transform the squad into something a whole lot more title-competitive next season. If he is the only option because King could not afford to do anything other than let him run through to the end of his contract then to me that would tend to indicate the Club is in for a very rocky and disappointing spell during the Warburton era. Settling for a long period where patience is the only watchword and where King and Warburton take our competitiveness to a level where competing for 2nd and Europe is the best to be achieved is not what I'd regard as success for Rangers.

What are the 'few better options" he sees? Why are they not being adopted if they are better options? Or is it really about money - where those options mean finding more money for players that has been found so far? Why is he afraid to put those options on the table for us all to see and we can make our own minds up about whether they are or are not better optons. His view is this season is successful if the low target of European football and 2nd is achieved. Actually King's stated requirement was to finish a strong second. That may be where King and Warburton are in terms of defining success for a season but we started off this season - and set about selling STs - under the flag of going for 55. Only to be sneakily told much much later by Warburton himself that nobody said when we'd get to 55. He's still not focussed on the title is he? Not with short termism success of accepting second best as a target and then feeling pleased if he achieves it. He's just trying to justify his job and its a lame effort to do so. The objective for Rangers each season is the league title. Not 2nd best. Not misleading the Support with false hype of going for 55. The objective is the title and if he thinks that the squad he as assembled minus the loans who will return in summer is anything like good enough to be a credible title challenging side for next season then he sees far more potential in that squad of largely mediocre players than I do. He may argue that he's talking about this season but you don't just get to the end of the season then hey ho lets now think about next season. If he has not assembled a squad whose core is plainly showing that as it progresses it will become a far more powerful side going forward then he is treading water. We have a defence that cannot defend properly and which game after game after game is littered with individual and team errors that result in goals being carelessly conceded. He has not brought strikers who score enough goals - despite is mantra of preferring interchangeable 7s. 8s. 10s and 11s (but which forgets the important 9). He has forged a powderpuff midfield which is too easily overrun and not creative enough albeit the loan signing of Hyndman is at least offering some hope. His teams are often out-fought. He is often out-manouvered tactically. In short, he is failing to build anything like a credible title-challenging side. Just getting 2nd or just achieving Europe next season does not, repeat not, make this season a success if the reality is its likely to be more of the same next season and so on until he leaves. A Rangers manager who is not busting a gut to produce a title winning side, and be seen to be doing so, is not really worthy of being a Rangers manager imo. Same goes for the Chairman. Its about winning the title - something we don't hear Warburton talk about anything like often enough. Because if he measured against that standard, his claims for a successful season would be miles off the mark.

I do believe he thinks he is being serious. We have the football world viewed through the Warburton window of rose-tinted glass where optimism shines and there are only a few speed bumps which are getting in the way of progress towards success for this season. And we have the football world of brutal reality of failings, of awful defending, of inability to score enough goals, of lack fight and pride in the jersey as seen by much of the Support who have paid good money and invested more loyalty in the Club that Warburton could fathom and know a heap of bullshit when its presented to them by the manager.

'stumbled across' is a good way to put it. Will be very interesting to see what team he picks, and how he sets them up, and how they then respond to it during the game on 12 March. There are a lot of things to be concerned about right now for this season but the scary thing is minus the loan players this squad is the starting point for next season unless there any transfers out (McKay say), and unless Warburton plans to load in some of the development players or some of those out on loan like McHardie. Assuming King will not provide much by way of a transfer pot it becomes scary that this squad, under this manager, deploying the ways of playing we've seen so far looks like its supposed to form the basis of a more credible title challenging side! In my case it would take a leap of imagination well beyond what I see from the team these days to find it credible that Warburton can transform all we have before us this current season into a much much more effective title-challenging team. But then maybe I'm aiming too high. Maybe, like this season, the challenge is not for the title, but for another year of strong second. No doubt King will enlighten us at ST selling time.

Which then makes it a case of him being wilfully blind to remedying the problem and living in some sort of hope that somehow, someday, the problem will just sort itself out. Its certainly not being fixed by any sort of evident management intervention. His refusal to engage on questions about away form against those closest to us in the league clearly indicates he knows there is a problem. The refusal to engage is symptomatic of someone who does not know what to do about it and who certainly does not want to speak about it. Head in sand it seems.

More like he should be locked out of the office.

#Rangers boss Mark Warburton: "Everyone's human, we make mistakes, we had a bad day at the office..." "The fact is we're 2nd in the table.." AAArrrggghhh. Desktop computer now airborne out of the window. I'll follow this from my laptop computer.

A speed bump eh. Well that sounds like an appreciation of the situation that smacks of underplay. Wonder who coached him to put it that way. Clearly he has been drilled to use some 'alternative facts' to those which the rest of use eyeballed. I'm reasonably certain that if Warburton comes on and says something like the performance last night was not the real us, or not the real Rangers or just another bad day at the office then perhaps. my computer is going straight out of the window.

King and the Board would need the assistance of some kind folk with shovels so that Board heads can be dug out of the deep sand they have sunk in to. There must be a collective term for Board members who have collectively sunk their heads into the sand and are determined to stay there for as long as they can. Don't know what it is though. If there isn't a collective term then the time is ripe to invent one.