Our New Captain Is....possibly John Eustace

[Ger77 742]

Having slept on it, I feel that this is exactly what we need, however I accept that he will not be part of the long term playing plans.

Lessons from last season have to be learned. We had no commander on the field and a fragile defence exposed by too many in a midfield devoid of workrate and the discipline to play a specific role.

John Eustace ticks many boxes and if we have learned anything from signing Davie Weir (and on the flip side hider Law) it is not to judge a player (no matter his age) until he puts on that blue jersey.

Buy your season ticket, trust the manager and support the Rangers.

[ianferguson 2,619]

absolute bollocks

I have seen plenty of leaders, on a football field, and their key component is not "be really old"

at 35/6 a footballer is a shadow of what he was at his peak

what you are advocating is signing players who you know are well past their peak and who you know will be more prone to, and take longer to recover from, injury

in essence you are signing players who you know will come with issues

so are we really saying that the only way we can introduce leadership, into our club, is to sign 35/6 year old players?

amazes me that all the other clubs in the world seem to manage to not follow this plus 30 rule that bankrupted RFC seem driven to follow despite it repeatedly biting us on the arris

On reading your posts there is no doubt you think Warburton is an idiot and you've stated clearly why which is fair enough. Let's flip the coin here and assume he hasn't taken leave of his senses and think why this could "add value to the club "

1.WE are in the position of having to replace practically a full team in a short space of time.

2 Eustace is free.

3.He will pass his experience on to the Murdochs of the world.

4 Warburton will be a far more confident manager with a leader on the park whom he can trust.

5.He has been playing at a higher level than us until recently.

6.Everyone who has played with him speaks highly of his ability and attitude.

7.If he plays the holding role he'll be able to let younger guys do his running.

8.While we should look long term for a plan the most vital aim should be to get out of the championship.

While there is no doubt this signing would be a gamble I'd trust Warburtons opinion that it's worth taking and also your point about board having power to overrule the signing for any reason would not be workable as you must have confidence in Warburton to do his job within the budget he's given.

[Shearer 124]

Accies used Alex Neil in the same way to bring on Mccarthy and Mcarthur. I don't care if we can't sell him on if he brings on the development of others around him.

[loyalfollower 1,543]

Call shite on this one lads. I mean he maybe decent but I highly doubt this guy will be signing

[Ryan_1 1,136]

He'll do a fine job for a season or two.

[Bad Robot 21,138]

I will believe it when I see it.

[HG5 11,076]

Accies used Alex Neil in the same way to bring on Mccarthy and Mcarthur. I don't care if we can't sell him on if he brings on the development of others around him.

Nothing wrong with the principle - however, Alex Neil is still only 34 & the James's have been away from Accies, what, 6 seasons?

[Inigo 32,526]

If it is, I'll only cop this If all his other signings are early 20's

We already have lots of experience with those left over, particularly bell, law, Wallace, miller, mcgregor, zal so it's hard to see the reasoning of this if true

Yeah, but other than Miller, none of them is a leader. There's a difference between having experience and being a leader. Hopefully this guy has both characteristics.

[HG5 11,076]

It seemed like a good idea at the time but I paid for it by the end of the season. The underlined bit is what worries me,because being out for half a season at that age is a serious problem as it must have been a bad injury being out for that long.

If he is the same Mark Eustace as I remember him being called, he had a lot of injuries at the start of his career, so I'm wary, but Warburton should know more about his fitness than we do.

We seem to have a bit of history of stuffing up medicals over the years, Prodan and Hartson being two that spring to mind and it wouldn't be the first time we have signed a player unfit to play immediately due to injury.

Oh dear - nature has a way of letting you know

We'll just have to see what the next few days brings!

Prodan - don't get me started!

[Inigo 32,526]

absolute bollocks

I have seen plenty of leaders, on a football field, and their key component is not "be really old"

at 35/6 a footballer is a shadow of what he was at his peak

what you are advocating is signing players who you know are well past their peak and who you know will be more prone to, and take longer to recover from, injury

in essence you are signing players who you know will come with issues

so are we really saying that the only way we can introduce leadership, into our club, is to sign 35/6 year old players?

amazes me that all the other clubs in the world seem to manage to not follow this plus 30 rule that bankrupted RFC seem driven to follow despite it repeatedly biting us on the arris

What an overreaction. It's one guy. Everyone else we're being linked with is young.

Tell me, if overall the squad average age ends up being low, will you be happy or will you still be fixated on this one signing?

[AlCapone 7,678]

You have to stop posting now. its the rules when you get to that post count.

and the shite he spouts...................................

Kidding

[Shearer 124]

Nothing wrong with the principle - however, Alex Neil is still only 34 & the James's have been away from Accies, what, 6 seasons?

Same type of player is what I meant, an older head compared to the rest of the midfield who does the dirty work. As they 2 were breaking through he was there to take the pressure off and let them express themselves.

I think he will be a good signing if he comes, our midfield has been rotten for 3 years so a leader in there is more than welcome.

[Inigo 32,526]

This actually is short term-ism at its best. We need leaders now, and he is one. If he helps to coach and mentor the younger players, he's adding value to the team in the long term as well. On the assumption that most of our signings will be younger players, I'm happy with this one.

This.

[HG5 11,076]

Same type of player is what I meant, an older head compared to the rest of the midfield who does the dirty work. As they 2 were breaking through he was there to take the pressure off and let them express themselves.

I think he will be a good signing if he comes, our midfield has been rotten for 3 years so a leader in there is more than welcome.

As I said, the principle's fine.

Just hope he's got & stays fit to make it work!

[Mr RFC 696]

Matt Sutherland ‏@mattsuths 13 hrs13 hours ago

Rangers fans would be stupid to underestimate how good a signing John Eustace is for them. Excellent for us and his injury cost us last year

71 retweets 34 favourites

[Inigo 32,526]

Spent the last few years moaning that we didn't have a leader in the middle of the park, and now complain that we're signing an experienced midfielder who's shown he can comfortably play at the top end of the English Championship.

Our fans

Moaning for the sake of moaning. It's beginning to look like some people have trained themselves to be automatically unhappy about anything Rangers related.

[JR 1,480]

This actually is short term-ism at its best. We need leaders now, and he is one. If he helps to coach and mentor the younger players, he's adding value to the team in the long term as well. On the assumption that most of our signings will be younger players, I'm happy with this one.

[plumbGER 24,518]

If we can keep him fit and get a good season or 2 out him then i see it as a cracking signing,we badly lack a bit of dig in the middle and we will need that for the league campaign to grind out results....also if we draw the bheggars in the cup we will need experience,that wee mongo bastard brown was swanning about like a hard man and black/hutton/law were all pathetic against him,making him look a player!

[Smile 26,600]

Give you an idea how much King and Co has to invest, if this is what his 50 million buys you.

[Mr RFC 696]

Jack.O ‏@TheJackOrton96 13 hrs13 hours ago

Got yourself a top signing #rangers in John Eustace. Him being out injured was a very big reason behind Derby's slump last season.

16 retweets 15 favourites

[Laudrup1984 25,100]

If true I think we've got to trust Warburton on this one.

When I heard who it was I was a little underwhelmed. In my opinion I would like to think there are many leaders within the game who are available at a younger age and can play a holding midfield role. Of course age is just a number and he may well turn out to be a great piece of business and play for a good few more years. Value is essential and if he can enhance our team, nurture and guide the young lads then we'll all be delighted.

To compare his situation to Pirlo, Xavi, Lampard, Gerrard etc is a little silly IMO. These guys are genuinely top class players who have played at the highest level so there's no real comparison. Weir and Neil however are more fair and accurate comparisons and hopefully he can have a similar impact to them. I think the fact we've been burnt by older signings in the past many times and the fact not many of us know much about him and he's almost at the end of his career, naturally means some of us are a tad wary, and I don't think there's anything wrong with being a little wary of the unknown.

That said he's played at a better level than we are, lead and captained them, and by all by all accounts his ex club fans seem to speak highly of him. It also seems his character may just be as important as his ability.

As said above if Warburton believes in him, for those who haven't seen much of him, myself included, then we have to trust Warburton's judgement on this one.

[WilliamFyfe 1,438]

Derby fans sound sad he's leaving them

I think we could do with someone like this to battle the midfield

[gogzy 31,195]

Whilst I have never seen the lad play, all the reports from Derby (and others) are consistent in their reports, he is a leader. And that is something we have badly missed since Weir left.

spot on.

He is obviously not a long term option, but he could come in, lead the team to the premiership, and mould a vice captain into a captain.

I totally understand some of the negativity here, but I am not gonna freak out because he is 35. If he signs on something like a one year deal ( with an option to keep him another year) then I don't really see a problem here.

He could add value ON the park, which would offset the fact he will have no sell on value.

[ianferguson 2,619]

Give you an idea how much King and Co has to invest, if this is what his 50 million buys you.

Don't you mean buys US,we're all in it together Frown.

[One Jock Wallace 858]

No one currently at the club has earned the right or is captain material

Warbs knows we have no leaders in our current squad so he has no option but to sign one. We've signed captains before & it's worked out fine. I trust MW knows what he's doing & can't wait to see the team develop