Green: Walter Smith says not to panic over 'unpleasant' Rangers displays

[Clemdog 39,389]

I know what one has disappointed me more today.

It's a close call to be fair.

[Faircity 186]

..23 POINTS CLEAR...seems to me we are playing good enough football for this division...dont really give two fucks about how we look at the moment,its all about winning this league nothing more nothing less.

As far as cup runs are concerned we are nowhere near strong enough to make inroads in the cups..but once this fuking idiotic embargo is lifted we will get strong very very quickly...imo.

[AlBear. 8,499]

The fans will decide not Walter.

Aye, coz his job is to just look pretty.

Green brought him in to provide advice and insight to the football side of things. That's all he's doing here and, personally, I respect Walter Smith's opinions more than anonymous forum posters.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Eh? Didn't Walter get us to our first European final in 40 years? Another couple of decent runs added to that as well.

Admittedly we had a couple of disasters as well, but it's just Rangers European history in microcosm.

Interestingly, Walter's 'dire' style was much more succesful in Europe than Advocaats free flowing style.

1992/93 and Manchester apart.

We had more than a couple of disasters.

AEK Athens, Strasbourg, IFK Gothenburg, Levski Sofia, Kaunas and Unirea Urziceni spring to mind.

[MCLACHLAN1 49]

What gets me is this forum used to be full of people banging on about "play the youth". Well now they are getting played it's plain to see that most are not good enough. Come 1/9 i expect a lot to fall away as we start to get more experienced players in.

I'd argue the 'Youth' are actually our better players.

It's the Blacks, Shiels, Sandaza's that aren't performing.

[djbroxybear 660]

..23 POINTS CLEAR...seems to me we are playing good enough football for this division...dont really give two fucks about how we look at the moment,its all about winning this league nothing more nothing less.

As far as cup runs are concerned we are nowhere near strong enough to make inroads in the cups..but once this fuking idiotic embargo is lifted we will get strong very very quickly...imo.

C'mon mate getting beat against QOS at home in the Ramsdens Cup it's a competition that was there to be won.

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

“Walter Smith said to me the other week he said ‘look Charles when you look out there it is not pleasant but you have to remember when we were winning nine in a row, we were getting booed off then’.

“It is a difficult time. Ally hasn’t got the players around him that he would have liked. We all have to work through this and see when league reconstruction comes round and then we can bring new players in and build a team that the Rangers fans expect to see on the field of play.

Poor excuse Walter, Ally has FAR FAR better players at his disposal than other Div 3 teams and while Ally is getting results our football is atrocious and at times we look like a proper SFL3 team.

[AlBear. 8,499]

[RFC Eagle 4,888]

Theres not a lot of credit given to the 'painters, plasterers and mechanics'. we are playing against. These players are definitely not in it for the money and playing rangers is as big as it may get for most. They'll raise their level of performance far beyond whats normal. Most have a decent level of ability but lack the consistency or sometimes other factors dictate they won't turn pro.

In appreciate that theres frustration at the product on the field but to assemble a squad in a short space of time, despite the resources available, was nearly impossible. Added to that the players that left part way into the season and you have some mitigation for what we are seeing. I don't believe its as bad as some make out but there is scope for improvement. Pre-season will be when this tells and the hope is there will be a marked improvement in the players in terms of fitness and understanding.

People seem to forget that Ferguson started in 86 with resources beyond those available to Ally and it still took more than 4 years to reach the goal that was set. I think that there is an unrealistic expectation from those who are used to success and demand almost instantaneous results. This will be a process that may take longer than some are willing to wait for . Having said that there should be signs of change come the new season, wherever we are playing.

[skinnymate1690 782]

Agreed.

But should our form pick up and our consistency improve would those who say "he's not a manager" change their opinions? Or will they then just pick on his dress sense or how he combs his hair?

Obviously if the performances and consistency improves the people who want him out like myself would change there mind because that's what our problem is !! But I just don't see it happening

[The Godfather 75,725]

Comparing now to 9 IAR is stupid.

We are playing against boys who train twice a week and earn buttons, hardly the same situation.

If you have international and SPL players stuggling to perfrom against over weight part time footballers then what do you expect to happen?

[Faircity 186]

C'mon mate getting beat against QOS at home in the Ramsdens Cup it's a competition that was there to be won.

..Cup games are like that mate...just take a look down south you,ll find heeps of teams in the FA cup getting put out by sides that they would thrash 99 times out of 100...i,m not using that as an excuse more of an example of cup fitbaw..every side has an off day and as i remember we had an off day that game... early days for this current team and they have shown in flashes how well they can play ,against Motherwell for example...but as i,ve said the league is the important thing and we are romping that,i,m already looking forward to next season with hopefully a few new defenders,if you,ve got confidence in your back four it makes life much easier in the forward positions..

[thedarvelmarvel 795]

how good would this side be in the 1st. div. diff standard we would not walk away with it.

[JograBear 1,082]

..23 POINTS CLEAR...seems to me we are playing good enough football for this division...dont really give two fucks about how we look at the moment,its all about winning this league nothing more nothing less.

Thats the kind of attitude that has made Scottish football one of the worst football nations in Europe.

[danger ranger 922]

1992/93 and Manchester apart.

We had more than a couple of disasters.

AEK Athens, Strasbourg, IFK Gothenburg, Levski Sofia, Kaunas and Unirea Urziceni spring to mind.

Also Grasshoppers when walter played 3 up front in a free flowing style football, that was more dire than the dire defending style, maybe that's why Walter decided to play safe and just do dire defending.

[Drunk and disorderly. 15,080]

There seems to be a wide range of occupations in Division 3.

Loads, and if as some say Ally isn't a manager we could add his occupation to the list once they decide what it is.

[BlueSuedeSambas 56,413]

I'd like to see an at length interview with McCoist where he lays out his vision/blueprint for the club over the next half a decade or so because at the moment we know very little about it.

It's something that I believedisgruntled_bear ahs been pushing for on Twitter and it's soemthing that I think would be good for a number of reasons.

[scarkev 3,540]

I'd like to see an at length interview with McCoist where he lays out his vision/blueprint for the club over the next half a decade or so because at the moment we know very little about it.

It's something that I believedisgruntled_bear ahs been pushing for on Twitter and it's soemthing that I think would be good for a number of reasons.

I think this would be really useful mate....ally to discuss his vision and plans would maybe help put many people's concerns at ease in terms of where we are going!

[Davie2909 21]

FFS this is a joke! So we get served up pish week in week out and thats it as long as we win the league we should just sit and take it??? I think not we pay money to be entertained and on the performances i for 1 am not feeling very entertained

[bigbubba 56]

I'd like to see an at length interview with McCoist where he lays out his vision/blueprint for the club over the next half a decade or so because at the moment we know very little about it.

It's something that I believedisgruntled_bear ahs been pushing for on Twitter and it's soemthing that I think would be good for a number of reasons.

Would you not rather see the plan in action rather than hear a load of words which may not be implementable? Anyone can talk the talk but not everyone can walk the walk.

[BlueSuedeSambas 56,413]

Would you not rather see the plan in action rather than hear a load of words which may not be implementable? Anyone can talk the talk but not everyone can walk the walk.

I don't think it's too much to expect both.

At this moment in time the only signs we have seen from McCoist with regards to what his blueprint is is to say he admires the Ajax model and give contracts to four or five youngsters.

I think if he sat down for an hour or so, even if it was Rangers TV and said this is how we want to play and this is how I plan to get us there. This is how I'm going to expand the scouting network to allow us to find value for money, remain dominant domestically and stay competitive at European level like teams such as Porto & Ajax (two teams he has name dropped in the recent past) have managed to do then it would let the fans know that there is a long term plan and it would possibly help remove some of the lingering doubts that certain fans have about the direction of the club in the long term.

Nearly everybody will admit that the old model of overspending & throwing money at problems wasn't fessible for the long term so let's hear what the club plan to do to stop ourselves falling into that routine again and then let's go out there and do it.

[AlBear. 8,499]

I'd like to see an at length interview with McCoist where he lays out his vision/blueprint for the club over the next half a decade or so because at the moment we know very little about it.

It's something that I believedisgruntled_bear ahs been pushing for on Twitter and it's soemthing that I think would be good for a number of reasons.

Hasn't it been mentioned on numerous occasions they are setting up an interactive talk show on RangersTV with questions put to Ally, Charles etc?

It's a really good idea, but even if we heard what we want to hear would people believe Ally if results weren't obvious the next day?

[BlueSuedeSambas 56,413]

Hasn't it been mentioned on numerous occasions they are setting up an interactive talk show on RangersTV with questions put to Ally, Charles etc?

It's a really good idea, but even if we heard what we want to hear would people believe Ally if results weren't obvious the next day?

I would like to think that the more reasoned fans could see that it's going to be a long term project and get behind it with a bit patience.

Without some sort of blueprint that is laid out to the fans, I'll continue to understand (even if I don't agree with) their frustrations. As I said before McCoist has talked about how he admires the Ajax model and just a couple of months later we are being linked with a pre contract agreement for a player who will be almost 31 years old by the time he joins us and has a history of knee injuries.

[Columbo 588]

We didn't know what division we were going to be playing in, we had a significant number of top class players exit the club and we were hit by a illegal transfer embargo.

The style of football we play at times can be dissappointing, the exit to QOS in the Ramsdens Cup was upsetting but considering the circumstances in which we began the season and the lack of time Ally had to put together a squad this year was all about winning the league.

We will be in a better place to judge Ally as a manager when he has a chance to properly assemble a team for next season and when he's not panic buying out of desperation to put together a squad of any sort to see us through a campaign of football

[WeirFleckNRothen 1,789]

I don't particularly give a fuck whether we play like Real Madrid, Stoke or Pollock Juniors, to be honest.

I don't go to the football for entertainment; I go to see the Queen's eleven. I'm a Rangers supporter, not a football fan.

I'm the same with all the youth rubbish, "let's give the young boys a chance" and "if we buy him, it'll deny youth a chance". If they're good enough, they're old enough. The claim is novelty nonsense and should be left to Swansea and Barcelona fans.

The best period in my life supporting Rangers was during our 4-5-1 run to the UEFA Cup final.