Boyd exit causes concern

[southsidelad 34]

Rangers fans have expressed fears over the club's ability to replace top goalscorer Kris Boyd after he confirmed plans to quit the Scottish champions.

Speaking publicly for the first time about his departure, the 26-year-old revealed he will leave Ibrox when his contract expires this summer because he feels he has achieved all he can in Scottish football.

Rangers now face the task of replacing a striker who consistently topped the club's scoring charts each season and who also replaced Henrik Larsson as the SPL's all-time most prolific marksman.

"It's particularly disappointing in the present climate," admitted John Macmillan, secretary of the Rangers Supporters Clubs.

"It just shows how we are really going down the pecking order for players. It's disappointing.

"Frankly, Kris Boyd was sometimes hit or miss. He was loved by some and not so much by others but you can't take away his goalscoring record.

"Whether we can replace him with someone who can score that many goals is very doubtful indeed. These people are hard to get in the market, even if you have the money to buy them.

"Of course it's a worrying time. If you don't score goals, you don't win games.

"We scored a lot of goals last season and other players have chipped in with 10 and 12 goals but that's not enough. You need a prolific goalscorer to be up there in the running for the championship.

"He is undoubtedly going to be very difficult to replace. There isn't anyone at Ibrox at the moment who can come up with the ratio Boyd has come up with."

Macmillan says Boyd's exit is a blow but hardly a surprise to the Ibrox faithful.

He added: "It's going to be a disappointment to fans, although I think most were resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be with us next season.

"You could almost sense it in his body language in the last few games of the season, that he felt his time was up."

Speaking in the Scottish Sun, Boyd said: "I've won everything I hoped to win at Rangers. I've been the top goalscorer at the club every season since I arrived from Kilmarnock. It's now time to move on.

"It's time to leave Scottish football. I need a fresh challenge."

He has yet to confirm where he will be playing his football next season but has been linked with moves to Turkish club Kayserispor, Birmingham, Blackburn, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Wolves.

Macmillan said: "It's disappointing to hear that he feels there is not much more he can achieve at Rangers.

"I don't know what's behind that remark because he can achieve the SPL title and he can have another run in the Champions League.

"To be perfectly honest, I think it's unlikely he would be going to a club who are going to be involved in the Champions League on a regular basis.

"I don't think, with all due respect to Kris Boyd, he is going to be picked up by one of the top clubs in the (English) Premier League. I don't think very many of them have been chasing him."

BOYD EXIT PLAN CAUSES CONCERN

[Jamie1807 146]

LAFFERTY

9

[MasterD 7,446]

Macmillan said: "It's disappointing to hear that he feels there is not much more he can achieve at Rangers.

"I don't know what's behind that remark because he can achieve the SPL title and he can have another run in the Champions League.

there isn't anything else he can achieve here though so he has a point, and people always saying he's not good enough for the big games etc have only made him want to prove them wrong by playing at a higher level every week

and he wont be easily replaced either, not with the quality of players we are being linked with

[Gillete 1,338]

Being in a team like the 9 in a row side not good enough kris ? You have the chance to win 3/4/5 in a row and go down in legend

[stuartmccallsfall 4]

Playing against the same old teams sometimes 6 or even 7 times a season must get mind numbing after a while. He's been top scorer every year since he joined Rangers, he feels he's done everything he can with Rangers. Can't argue with that at all. He owes us fuck all. Well the half of us that rated him anyhow. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

[The Hammer 11 2,663]

Being in a team like the 9 in a row side not good enough kris ? You have the chance to win 3/4/5 in a row and go down in legend

This teams nothing like the nine in a row team

[kingbarry 2]

let him go, hes not here for the jersey anymore. Neither was nacho in the end, although he had a point in going, he didnt get played enough.

Its just ashame lafferty came into his ability at the end of the season.

[Dado 334]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

[Macca1690 0]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

I agree

[nvager 498]

Boyd was limited, but scored goals. Limited or not he was a lot better than many on here gave him credit for. Lets see who steps up as top scorer. In my opinion forget the likes of Lafferty, Velicka, Naismith or Little.

[bluenose05 11]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

Its ridiculous. People need to realise that Boyd is not everything.

Boydy.......we may have to say "good while it lasted", but i agree players come and players go. Losing Boyd is no greater loss than some who we have lost before. He WILL be replaced just as others before were FACT. We will just have to back whoever comes in to do the job

[Muff 245]

Bigger, and better players have come, and gone... we move on.

No big deal, if Boyd, or anyone doesn't want to play their football at Rangers, then fcuk them!

[Scott-RFC 308]

Now that the facts are out, the papers are just trying to stretch as much life out the story as they can

[BILLYSNOVO 5]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

absolutely bang on mate!

[papaguy51 912]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

Its ridiculous. People need to realise that Boyd is not everything.

This.

And I fucking hate John MacMillan acting as the self-appointed fans mouthpiece, he's certainly not airing my opinion.

[BRITNEY IS NOT FEELING IT 8,293]

Thank's Kris for the job you done for Rangers , hope your going to be happy elsewhere counting your dough whilst sitting on the bench and winning jack shit , whilst the Rangers win a Treble and surprise everyone with their performances in the Champions League

[Alwaysblue 709]

Boyd will be a loss as far as getting goals if we are maybe struggling. However the facts are, no pace, lazy, cant score against the better sides and we move on. Not losing any sleep over this one. I think he will struggle wherever he goes. Think about it - how many players go on to be a success after they leave Rangers - not many!!!

[papaguy51 912]

My biggest concern - if you can call it that - is that people are underestimating his ability to hit the net regularly against the so called 'diddy' teams.

People even use it as a stick to beat him with, but it's an invaluable asset have.

[Macca1690 0]

It's not as if we'll only be playing with 10 men when Boyd goes...

[LegendofCoop 17,488]

Christ, you would think we had never scored a goal before Boyd arrived.

Players come and go, they will always be someone who is willing to step up and replace them and the Rangers will still be the champions next season.

I agree, and I also disagree.

No one player is bigger than the club and all that, but, without him the last two seasons....would we have won the league? We won it without him in 04/05, however we had Nacho & Dado touching close on 20 a season. At present, we only realistically have Miller who's likely to get near that figure!

[sdunsmb 43]

Miller would have been our top scorer this season if Boyd didn't take penalties which everyone seems happy to ignore. Instead we must panic about how we replace Boyd!!??

Well assuming Miller has another good season, we have about 5 other stikers who could partner him - and I'm sure at least one of them will step up to the plate.

The panicing is ridiculous.

[Muff 245]

One off season for Kenny Miller infront of goal, IMO - he needs to keep it up next season, as the rest (Lafferty, Naismith, Velicka...) cannot be relied upon when it comes to bagging goals.

[sdunsmb 43]

One off season for Kenny Miller infront of goal, IMO - he needs to keep it up next season, as the rest (Lafferty, Naismith, Velicka...) cannot be relied upon when it comes to bagging goals.

We'll definitely be relying on Miller a lot, so we'll just have to hope he picks up where he left off last season.

Woulld also like to see our midfield, particularly Davis, chip in with more goals.

[papaguy51 912]

One off season for Kenny Miller infront of goal, IMO - he needs to keep it up next season, as the rest (Lafferty, Naismith, Velicka...) cannot be relied upon when it comes to bagging goals.

We'll definitely be relying on Miller a lot, so we'll just have to hope he picks up where he left off last season.

Woulld also like to see our midfield, particularly Davis, chip in with more goals.

I think the midfield suffers from sitting ten yards deeper than it should because of Weir's lack of pace.

[Muff 245]

One off season for Kenny Miller infront of goal, IMO - he needs to keep it up next season, as the rest (Lafferty, Naismith, Velicka...) cannot be relied upon when it comes to bagging goals.

We'll definitely be relying on Miller a lot, so we'll just have to hope he picks up where he left off last season.

Woulld also like to see our midfield, particularly Davis, chip in with more goals.

I think the midfield suffers from sitting ten yards deeper than it should because of Weir's lack of pace.

Along with other personnel/things... no width, pace, creativity, balance...