jackrfc95 4,255 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38975026 Quote With the departure of Mark Warburton, Rangers have effectively hit the reset button on the club's football operations. The process has now begun to identify the profile and individuals for two key positions at Ibrox, with a view to recovering the ground lost as Warburton faltered in his last 14 months as manager. When Warburton was appointed in the summer of 2015, Rangers did not have a full executive team or board of directors in place, and the priority was to find a new manager Now managing director Stewart Robertson and director of finance and administration Andrew Dickson will lead the search for a director of football and a head coach. There may be an interim manager in the meantime, but there are a number of issues to be addressed once Rangers make permanent appointments. Player recruitment A scouting network and a recruitment strategy will be the responsibility of the director of football rather than the head coach, and critical to the team's development in the short and long term. There will now be a recognition at the club that, while responsibility for first-team training and performance should solely belong to the head coach, recruitment must be run separately, with the head coach having a final say on transfers in and out of the club. Warburton insisted upon the appointment of Frank McParland as head of recruitment, but he was effectively part of the management team and departed at the same time after failing to build a scouting network. Rangers have a limited budget in historical terms, albeit one that is significantly greater than the resources available to every club in Scotland bar Celtic, and the money needs to be spent more wisely. This requires combining traditional scouting methods with the accumulation and analysis of data - to bespoke parameters - from the first-team to academy sides. The board's recruitment strategy was to sign younger players who can be developed at Ibrox and sold for a profit, to work alongside graduates from the youth academy and more experienced players where required. That approach will be re-emphasised and a database of players built up to allow more flexibility in the market - rather than chasing one target for each position and being potentially exposed to a premium price - and better value for money by increasing the club's knowledge of foreign players. Rangers also need to be better at signing the best young or developing players in Scotland, since they tend to move out of reach financially once they are lured to England. Assess the squad The current squad has not been capable of the consistency or decisiveness to deliver Rangers' ambitions. Despite signing four centre-backs, Warburton never established a partnership able to play the high line that he wanted, or be commanding enough to reliably defend set pieces. Wes Foderingham has improved as a goalkeeper, but doubts remain about his consistency. Rangers are third in the Scottish Premiership With the defensive midfield role never adequately filled - Andy Halliday is better suited to playing further forward, Jordan Rossiter has never been fit and Matt Crooks was sent out on loan - and 37-year-old Kenny Miller the regular centre-forward, it is the spine of the team that needs to be strengthened first. Two centre-backs, a strong, assertive and shrewd central midfielder and a striker who can lead the line and hold up play are the key positions to be filled. Variety has to be restored to the squad since Warburton signed a number of players of a similar profile - Harry Forrester, Josh Windass, Jason Holt and even the loan players, Emerson Hyndman and Jon Toral, all share the same attributes. The latter two will leave at the end of the season, while Holt has the potential to develop further. Windass has shown flashes of promise, but Forrester has been unreliable. In attack, too, Rangers have become muddled. Martyn Waghorn has regularly scored goals but bridles against being played on the right, while Joe Garner, with three goals so far, is yet to deliver as a striker or a £1.7m signing, and Joe Dodoo has been peripheral. Renewing the squad will require clever business in the transfer market, not least in moving on players who do not have a future at the club. The McKay question If captain Lee Wallace and Miller, who wants to sign a contract extension, are most likely to stay at the club because of their contributions on and off the field, there is a third player whose future remains less certain. In terms of ability, winger Barrie McKay is a prospect, given his excellent first touch, acceleration, ability to run with the ball and range and pace of passing. McKay, 22, is a Scotland international Yet, he is out of contract in 18 months and has not delivered the same number of goals (two) or assists (four) as other players in his position in the Premiership such as Celtic's Scott Sinclair (14 goals and five assists), Hearts' Jamie Walker (11 and three), Aberdeen's Niall McGinn (eight and four), St Johnstone's Danny Swanson (seven and six), Aberdeen's Jonny Hayes (five and 10), or Celtic's James Forrest (four and five). Either McKay is persuaded to sign a new contract and his development progresses or Rangers cash in on a player who has a market value that could be used to re-invest in the squad. Similar decisions need to be made about Rob Kiernan, Danny Wilson and Waghorn, who are all out of contract in the summer of 2018. In terms of players who are out of contract in the summer, Miller wants to remain at Rangers and pursue his coaching career, while fellow veterans Clint Hill and Philippe Senderos are more likely to leave. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gj923 1,457 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 No he turned into a poor manager but we have not lost 14 months as structures have been put in place. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackrfc95 4,255 Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 5 minutes ago, gj923 said: No he turned into a poor manager but we have not lost 14 months as structures have been put in place. Like what? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gj923 1,457 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 4 minutes ago, jackrfc95 said: Like what? Overhaul of the academy, sports science appointments, murtys appointment, scouting Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WATP-FOREVER 5,231 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Doesn't sum us up - it is pyooor negativity - nothing positive. Positive would be comparing Rangers present day to 5 years ago - but the timmigrant leaning Scottish bbc couldn't relay a positive paragraph of RFC. Pretty soon the c*ltic leaning institutions will not be enjoying the chase - tables will be turned pretty soon, I'm expecting. WATP Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlCapone 7,678 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 So it's saying we lost our way 14 months ago and yet the board gave him a new contract with n between..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEPPS BOY 73,890 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Decent article that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlCapone 7,678 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 1 minute ago, WATP-FOREVER said: Doesn't sum us up - it is pyooor negativity - nothing positive. Positive would be comparing Rangers present day to 5 years ago - but the timmigrant leaning Scottish bbc couldn't relay a positive paragraph of RFC. Pretty Mark Warburton says he's unaware of #Rangers statement regarding his resignation. Says he hasn't resigned. Bizarre. 2 minutes ago, WATP-FOREVER said: Doesn't sum us up - it is pyooor negativity - nothing positive. Positive would be comparing Rangers present day to 5 years ago - but the timmigrant leaning Scottish bbc couldn't relay a positive paragraph of RFC. Pretty soon the c*ltic leaning institutions will not be enjoying the chase - tables will be turned pretty soon, I'm expecting. WATP soon the c*ltic leaning institutions will not be enjoying the chase - tables will be turned pretty soon, I'm expecting. WATP Based on? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile 26,600 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Warburton should never have got a new contract till he proved himself in this league his initial contract still had time to run. The team needs investment but we have improved since 18 months ago but not as much as we could have with better investment and better dealings in the transfer market. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterD 7,435 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 7 minutes ago, gj923 said: Overhaul of the academy, sports science appointments, murtys appointment, scouting Stuff that would've been done without him anyway. Overhaul of the youth academy started before he was even thought about as a future manager for us. No idea why so many seem to think he was behind everything happening at youth level. Sport science was always there. What did MW do? Replace someone? No doubt the people he brought in will be gone in the next 6-12 months. Scouting, eh? We have 1 scout. Some structure that is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
K.A.I 36,183 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Nothing wrong with pressing the reset button - needs must and it needed pushed now or summer at the very latest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godfather 71,874 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Fuck the BBC Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gj923 1,457 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 28 minutes ago, MasterD said: Stuff that would've been done without him anyway. Overhaul of the youth academy started before he was even thought about as a future manager for us. No idea why so many seem to think he was behind everything happening at youth level. Sport science was always there. What did MW do? Replace someone? No doubt the people he brought in will be gone in the next 6-12 months. Scouting, eh? We have 1 scout. Some structure that is. Not attributing it to him but merely pointing out that a lot has went on behind the scenes and the BBC article was totally pish - it was basically saying we have wasted the last 14 months. Now whilst some could argue that about the first team squad I am talking about whole structure of the club....even things like marketing/ticket office. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courtyard Bear 41,357 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 We aren't changing the direction or starting from scratch (usual taig bbc pish) we are simple getting a new driver in to make sure we keep on the right course. A DoF will do that with the head coach simply being left to train and organise the first team. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
one55 1,510 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 51 minutes ago, Smile said: Warburton should never have got a new contract till he proved himself in this league his initial contract still had time to run. The team needs investment but we have improved since 18 months ago but not as much as we could have with better investment and better dealings in the transfer market. exactly what i said at the time and ever since but oh no wasn't allowed to say anything negative about him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweetheart 8,458 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 46 minutes ago, K.A.I said: Nothing wrong with pressing the reset button - needs must and it needed pushed now or summer at the very latest. Nothing wrong with that at all, so long as it achieves something better. Last thing we need is Bomber Brown standing on the steps of Ibrox declaring he has been given the DoF job. We need to aim higher. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWBear 1,640 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 re-set button needs pressed to be fair, but I am not buying into the recent shite from Robertson. Only reason we aren't appointing an interim manager is because we can't afford to get one in. Board will be penny pinching until the situation with Warburton is resolved, IMO, and at present it looks as if they are ring-fencing funds to pay off the former management team. We really are fucking skint, its fucking embarrassing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reformation Bear 6,453 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 The curtain on the Warburton, Weir and McParland efforts at Rangers has been rung down but the props they brought in - the players who are not delivering and who may not even be capable of delivering at Rangers - have yet to be cleared away. The football life we had under Warburton this season, and in reality for a fair bit of the latter part of last season, turned out to be a magic hat illusion rather than the reality of building the core of a title-challenging / title-winning side. Too much emphasis in inputs - training well, preparing well, analysing what went wrong, pitch geography and so on......all of the tranquillizing buzz phrases he used to create the impression that this was true progress. But nowhere near enough emphasis on leadership and drive and motivation to get games won that should have been won. Too much of an emphasis on striving, not enough emphasis on achieving and winning. Its going to be a very tall order for an incoming DOF and head coach / manager to take the squad, decide who to keep and who to release, decide which new players to bring in (affordable ones of course and that in itself is a whole different story), and then do what King seems to reckon is still required for next season ie (his words from 2nd statement) "......compete for the title and progress in Europe". I don't know if the position we have reached is in effect a reset for that would imply a lot of time has been lost and is irrecoverable. The further implication being that King's season 3 (ie next season) objective of competing for the title would not then be likely to be credible. I suppose much depends on 2 things of equal importance. The first being who is recruited to the roles of DOF and head coach. If these are well experienced, seasoned professionals who skills are such that they produce good confidence that they will be winners at Rangers then so much the better. If its more amateur hour from the Board, signing potential but with little or no track record of actually winning and delivering the goods at a big club then reset and delay would be more likely. And we'd start to hear yet more messages about needing to be patient and to persevere. The second is investment money to acquire better quality players for key positions. If insufficient, or if spent unwisely then its reset territory and more of the patience, persevere messaging. If the Board do not make wise choices for the 2 jobs and do not provide a decent enough investment pot for acquiring better players then imo it would be hard to see how King and the Board would escape the growing wrath of the Support. In the meantime there is still the remains of this season to be played out. And a lot to play for. If Murty can turn things round and achieve 2nd, maybe even a strong 2nd, then he should be richly applauded for that would be some achievement given his stark lack of management experience and given the intense pressures he will have been under. If he is not successful in achieving 2nd or even achieving EL football for next season then he should not be blamed. The blame would be entirely on the shoulders of King and the Board who deliberately elected to put a massively less experienced person in charge as a caretaker than the manager who just left the Club, and for whom King has issued a very public criticism of the manager's lack of experience Swapping insufficient and ineffective experience for even less even on an interim basis, and still requiring the objective for the season to be met is, imo, strange. To the point where if it does not work then the only people to blame are King and his fellow Board members. It's going to be very interesting to see how the rest of this season pans out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitre_mouldmaster 21,509 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 2 hours ago, Smile said: Warburton should never have got a new contract till he proved himself in this league his initial contract still had time to run. The team needs investment but we have improved since 18 months ago but not as much as we could have with better investment and better dealings in the transfer market. To be fair to you, I remember you calling this at the time. Most including myself were caught up in the optimism at the time and thought we were going somewhere. On the flip side, if he had been a huge success this year, I doubt very much we would have got him to sign on for an extension. He would have been off to the first English club that came in for him at a level he would have thought fitted him. Gamble taken and lost. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile 26,600 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 5 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said: To be fair to you, I remember you calling this at the time. Most including myself were caught up in the optimism at the time and thought we were going somewhere. On the flip side, if he had been a huge success this year, I doubt very much we would have got him to sign on for an extension. He would have been off to the first English club that came in for him at a level he would have thought fitted him. Gamble taken and lost. Nothing wrong with being Optimistic I can be too negative at times I can see that and don't even try to hide it, I give my opinion at the time I see Faults on Both sides Board/Manager let's hope we move on from here and get stronger as that's all anybody wants. I still think we are in a better position than 18 months ago. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluepeter9 5,167 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 A lot of hindsight strategy going on in that article and this thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUEDIGNITY 33,647 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 It's not that it's stuff we that we didn't know already I suppose but it's a pity the bbc weren't as thorough at publicising jimmy savile's or indeed savco's flaws ! We really need to get out of this easy target rut ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbGER 24,518 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Remember guys Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Bueller 1,569 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 2 hours ago, Smile said: Warburton should never have got a new contract till he proved himself in this league his initial contract still had time to run. The team needs investment but we have improved since 18 months ago but not as much as we could have with better investment and better dealings in the transfer market. To be fair to the board on the contract there was a clamour from the support to give him a new contract. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile 26,600 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 2 minutes ago, Ferris Bueller said: To be fair to the board on the contract there was a clamour from the support to give him a new contract. They always do what we want as well, I do get your point though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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