Review of the 2011 Summer Transfer Window

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The 2011 summer transfer window slammed shut on Wednesday after proving to be a turbulent few months for new Rangers gaffer Ally McCoist. After weeks of being locked in talks with clubs, agents and players Ally McCoist can now move on and finally concentrate solely on football. McCoist experienced his fair share of ups and downs this transfer window after failing to snap up top targets but managed to bring in much needed reinforcements by signing no fewer than 7 players.

New manager Ally McCoist wasted no time in attempting to bring in new players this summer transfer window. In June, McCoist experienced his first failures in the transfer window, after losing out on Israeli striker Tomer Hemed to Mallorca, Neil Danns to Leicester City and Craig Conway to Cardiff City.

McCoist continued in his search for new players and finally added Juan Manuel Ortiz to his threadbare squad on 6th July for an undisclosed fee. The Spaniard will add vital versatility to the Rangers squad after penning a 3 year deal, and McCoist was undoubtedly delighted to finally conclude his first deal in the transfer market.

Two former Rangers players could have returned to Ibrox if luck had been on McCoist's side. Rangers had a £2m fee agreed with Aston Villa defender Carlos Cuellar, which they eventually pulled the plug on weeks later as the Spaniard was still struggling to recover from an injury. Kenny Miller could also have returned to Rangers for a sensational third spell with the club, but Rangers ended their pursuit after failing to agree a fee with Turkish side Bursaspor. The striker - who was the SPL's top goalscorer last season despite leaving for Turkey in January - eventually signed for Cardiff City for around £900,000.

Another man on rookie manager Ally McCoist's radar was 23 year old left back Lee Wallace. On 22nd June Rangers launched a £300,000 bid for Wallace which Hearts deemed as derisory and wasted no time in booting out the offer. A following £1m was also knocked back by Hearts, and it seemed that Rangers would have to dig deep to persuade the Jambos to sell. On 21st July - just under a month from their initial offer - Rangers slapped in a bid of £1.5m which Hearts reluctantly accepted, and Wallace signed a 5 year deal to become McCoist's second summer signing hours later.

Ally McCoist was obviously desperate to bolster his thin defence, and also snapped up Romanian Dorin Goian from Serie A side Palermo for a fee believed to be around £800,000, while Kyle Bartley returned on loan from Premiership giants Arsenal after impressing during his short spell at Ibrox last season. Despite the new additions to the Rangers back-line, Rangers sold central defender Madjid Bougherra to mega-rich Qatari side Lekhwiya for £1.7m. This was seen as a good fee for the Algerian who had entered the final year of his contract and had no intention of renewing his deal at Ibrox.

After mid-August, Rangers snapped up American duo Carlos Bocanegra and Alejandro Bedoya from St Etienne and Orebro SK respectively. Bedoya had already agreed to join the Ibrox side on a pre-contract from the Swedes in January but McCoist never hid his desire to bring the midfielder in well before that and finally got his man on 17th August. USA Captain Carlos Bocanegra joined his fellow countryman at Ibrox on the same day after Rangers agreed a fee with Ligue 1 outfit St Etienne, and the defender will add crucial experience to the Rangers defence having played 94 times for his country and having starred in 2 World Cups.

Rangers refused to stop there and added another player to their ranks by signing Australian midfielder Matt McKay from Brisbane Roar in a cut-price £320,000 deal. The midfielder will add energy and strength to the Rangers engine room and is spoken in high regard by former Rangers and Brisbane Roar player Charlie Miller.

The extremely busy transfer activity at Ibrox was set to continue on the frantic deadline day. Rangers fans were anticipating a few late arrivals however this failed to materialise. The only activity occuring at Ibrox was exits and Northern Irishman Andy Little was shipped out on loan to English League 2 side Port Vale. Young midfielders John Fleck and Kyle Hutton were also sent out on loan to Sheffield Utd however paperwork is still waiting to be confirmed before it is official.

Rangers fans were no doubt biting their finger nails after Croatian hitman was the subject of a £6.5m bid from Championship big spenders Leicester City the previous day but Rangers quickly knocked back the offer. However, with only a few hours remaining until the transfer window would be slammed shut until January, an unnamed club had a sensational £9m bid bravely rejected by Rangers.

Overall, Ally McCoist suffered his fair share of ups and downs this summer after securing the services of 7 players, but frustratingly missing out on top targets such as Carlos Cuellar, Kenny Miller, Tomer Hemed and Neils Danns.  However, the new Rangers boss will no doubt be breathing a huge sigh of relief after holding onto prize asset Nikica Jelavic.

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[broxibear87 129]

Cuellar on a Bosman next summer would be a great move for us. Although he wont be short of offers.

[Adoniram 1,919]

Missed out suggests we didn't try hard enough or does it?

Cuellar was not fit and won't be for a while yet so no point spending £2m and x amount on wages for someone to sit on a treatment table.

As for Conway,Danns,Hemed,Glik and Goodwillie....they all wanted to play elsewhere regardless of what we offered.

[caseyjones 3,009]

Hugely disappointing and our failure to bring in first XI quality prior to the season starting contributed to our European exits and the financial fallout which that will inevitably bring.

[caseyjones 3,009]

Wonder if Whyte learned his lesson- will we buy in the quality needed to comfortably progress to the CL group stages, or will we see a repeat of this year?

We were repeatedly reassured that Kaunas was the lesson that we would learn from, Malmo and Maribor were the proof that we didn't do that.

[jmo21 15]

No mention of 2 of our other targets Juhasz and Verhoek?

[Thommo 708]

No mention of 2 of our other targets Juhasz and Verhoek?

Totally forgot about them two, I wrote it quite quickly so there's my excuse Maybe djw1992 will edit it for me.