What has happened to Walter?

[Budswiser 196]

At Ibrox last night watching the way we played a thought occured to me.

What has happened to the 9 in a row Walter Smith.

I accept the arguments about steadying the ship etc, but during the dark days under PLG and sometimes Big Eck i used to think back to the 9 in a row teams and think how fu**in lucky we were to have Walter and some of the best players we,ve seen at Ibrox especially the partnerships up front and attacking midfield men. I dont remember defending from the kick off at home to any team.

During an interview before one of the C/L games he said he had learned since his first stint at Rangers , but learned what how to put ten men behind the ball and hope to hit on the break. Last night was dire and its not the first time we,ve had to watch this. I appreciate what he,s done but fu*k knows how we are still in contention for 4 trophies. A visit to the dentist is becoming more appealing than paying to watch stuff like last night even if we had won.

I know some will say he doesn,t have the money for the players now,and would you rather play good football and win fu*k all? but the way we,re playing at the moment is depressing and will chase fans away quicker than high prices.

Am I alone in this thinking?

[Muff 245]

First season was always going to be like this, especially after the last few. Yes the football is shite but it's effective and it's getting us positive results.

Rather this than attacking football and not winning.

I fully expect to see a different side next season!

[ShanksRFC 3,870]

Signings in the Summer could change everything. All we need is a few tweaks within the current squad.

[ScotBear 144]

We were shite under PLG, the squad was a mess. Nobody could come in and turn a woeful squad that gets pumped off the likes of St Johnstone and Dunfermline into an entertaining bunch of crowd pleasers.

It's a process, it takes time, he deserves patience. Although on the other hand.....patience ! Fecking hell, he's already delivered a trophy, hot favourite for two others and still in europe. But anyway........

First season.......bring stability. Hardworkers, good characters, get them organised.

Second season........bring in quality, and with that improve the standard of performance. At least that's the plan, but for now, how about we show a bit of patience

But I say again, fecking hell, we're winning games and trophies here, so in the short term, I think it's absolutely mind boggling, truly astounding and defies all reasonable belief that there has been so much negativity going around this season. I really have lost a bit of faith at times with sections of our support (not aimed at opening poster, general comment). Too many are not showing us to be a truly great support, but more like a run of the mill support like any other that have been spoiled and have unreasonable expectations, clap when we win and boo when we fall short. It's only a section, a minority but it's still very disappointing.

[mannan 0]

i think short term smith will do a decent job, but last night showed once again that long term and to have a good chance of success in europe ie. winnin the uefa up then he just isnt up to it!

that game was for the winnin last night but his negative tactics let us all down

and fuck me sideways is it murder to watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have raised this point before, so i am in total agreement with you m8

[Budswiser 196]

We were shite under PLG, the squad was a mess. Nobody could come in and turn a woeful squad that gets pumped off the likes of St Johnstone and Dunfermline into an entertaining bunch of crowd pleasers.

It's a process, it takes time, he deserves patience. Although on the other hand.....patience ! Fecking hell, he's already delivered a trophy, hot favourite for two others and still in europe. But anyway........

First season.......bring stability. Hardworkers, good characters, get them organised.

Second season........bring in quality, and with that improve the standard of performance. At least that's the plan, but for now, how about we show a bit of patience

But I say again, fecking hell, we're winning games and trophies here, so in the short term, I think it's absolutely mind boggling, truly astounding and defies all reasonable belief that there has been so much negativity going around this season. I really have lost a bit of faith at times with sections of our support (not aimed at opening poster, general comment). Too many are not showing us to be a truly great support, but more like a run of the mill support like any other that have been spoiled and have unreasonable expectations, clap when we win and boo when we fall short. It's only a section, a minority but it's still very disappointing.

I fully accept that it takes time and of course i would have us winning but i stand by what I said.

I cannot accept sitting in against mediocre SPL teams away from home never mind at Ibrox. You might think this is irrelevant and i dont know what age you are but i have been watching Rangers for 45 years and i know that doesn,t make my view more valid than yours or any one elses, but i have never ever seen a Rangers team defend at home the way we do now.We are predictable and boring and you have to assume that they are playing the way the manager tells them.

I wasn,t over impressed with Sporting last night and thought they were there for the taking if we had been more attack minded. He seems obsessed with not losing a game instead of trying to win it.

[ScotBear 144]

i think short term smith will do a decent job, but last night showed once again that long term and to have a good chance of success in europe ie. winnin the uefa up then he just isnt up to it!

that game was for the winnin last night but his negative tactics let us all down

and fuck me sideways is it murder to watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have raised this point before, so i am in total agreement with you m8

We're 4 games away from winning a european trophy in Smith's first season back in charge.......how is he not up to it ?

Advocaat, for all the money and champagne football, never got us out the group stages.

McLeish reached the last 16, but was generally abysmal in europe.

PLG was hailed as the messiah......he couldn't even cut it in the Scottish cup, never mind the UEFA Cup.

Who exactly is going to come in and do a better job than Walter ? Because the last time I checked, our fans were creaming themselves about that french messiah coming in, and we know how that ended up...........tits up.

Murder is watching Dunfermline pump us 3-0. 0-0 in a UEFA Cup quarter final is satisfactory. Take two realism pills and buy a ticket for a trip down memory lane (no need to go further back than last season).

[ScotBear 144]

i have been watching Rangers for 45 years...........i have never ever seen a Rangers team defend at home the way we do now.

And in those 45 years, how many times have we been chasing a quardruple in April ?

[Budswiser 196]

i think short term smith will do a decent job, but last night showed once again that long term and to have a good chance of success in europe ie. winnin the uefa up then he just isnt up to it!

that game was for the winnin last night but his negative tactics let us all down

and fuck me sideways is it murder to watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have raised this point before, so i am in total agreement with you m8

We're 4 games away from winning a european trophy in Smith's first season back in charge.......how is he not up to it ?

Advocaat, for all the money and champagne football, never got us out the group stages.

McLeish reached the last 16, but was generally abysmal in europe.

PLG was hailed as the messiah......he couldn't even cut it in the Scottish cup, never mind the UEFA Cup.

Who exactly is going to come in and do a better job than Walter ? Because the last time I checked, our fans were creaming themselves about that french messiah coming in, and we know how that ended up...........tits up.

Murder is watching Dunfermline pump us 3-0. 0-0 in a UEFA Cup quarter final is satisfactory. Take two realism pills and buy a ticket for a trip down memory lane (no need to go further back than last season).

The point about last season was accepted earlier in the post. Listen this is by no means a witch hunt for the manager FFS its only a viewpoint on how the team is playing just now. You dont need a degree to see we are 100% better than last year but dont tell me you are happy to watch the stuff we are playing right now.

Memory lane, geriatric vision doesn,t come into it ,i say it as i see it and by the repeated moans from the stands every time the ball was put up the park only to come straight back coz ther was no cunt there to support our 1 striker tells its own story.

[demise 3,567]

Sooner or later we will be punished with that way we playing..Let`s hope that won`t be in SPL games...

[Budswiser 196]

i have been watching Rangers for 45 years...........i have never ever seen a Rangers team defend at home the way we do now.

And in those 45 years, how many times have we been chasing a quardruple in April ?

Chasing and getting are two different things.

[BlueSuedeSambas 54,233]

Although he's an utter cretin of a man Greame Spiers made an excellent point about Walter rebuilding Rangers on Scotsport this past Monday: basically that there are two phases to Walter Smith rebuiling Rangers.

Phase one being what we see now. Making us hard to beat again and IMO Walters bigger signings reflect that. He spent millions on Cuellar, Thomson, Whittaker and McCulloch. Basically players who add that robustness that we needed and he spent less, but wisely, on attacking players: Cousin, Beasley, JCD & Naismith.

Phase two is obviously going to be a case of adding flair and players who can have a bigger influence on a game.

The money that Walter is going to have at his disposal in the Summer means that he will beable to add better players who can actually influence a game more than our current crop do, while we hopefully still have that solid foundation that we built this year too.

So personally I don't believe that anything has happened to Walter, well certainly not anything bad. I think he's a more experienced manager now than he was during his first spell here.

It's not pleasing on the eye by any stretch of the imagination, but he has already turned us into a very decent European outfit and if he invests correctly in the Summer we could become a very good European side.

[Budswiser 196]

Although he's an utter cretin of a man Greame Spiers made an excellent point about Walter rebuilding Rangers on Scotsport this past Monday: basically that there are two phases to Walter Smith rebuiling Rangers.

Phase one being what we see now. Making us hard to beat again and IMO Walters bigger signings reflect that. He spent millions on Cuellar, Thomson, Whittaker and McCulloch. Basically players who add that robustness that we needed and he spent less, but wisely, on attacking players: Cousin, Beasley, JCD & Naismith.

Phase two is obviously going to be a case of adding flair and players who can have a bigger influence on a game.

The money that Walter is going to have at his disposal in the Summer means that he will beable to add better players who can actually influence a game more than our current crop do, while we hopefully still have that solid foundation that we built this year too.

So personally I don't believe that anything has happened to Walter, well certainly not anything bad. I think he's a more experienced manager now than he was during his first spell here.

It's not pleasing on the eye by any stretch of the imagination, but he has already turned us into a very decent European outfit and if he invests correctly in the Summer we could become a very good European side.

I agree that NEXT season we might be looking at a better outfit if more quality is added. I still think that with the players he has now (used and unused) we could be more attack minded.

[Canadaready 9,437]

In any team, it takes more than one year to get things in order. We were on a drought of winning NOTHING. Walter has built a team that can defend incredibly. We are seeing some great success so far this season because of it. Let's finish strong and then see the magic happen next year when we sign some dynamic players.

[MikeBlue 136]

Unbelievable that anyone is still criticising Smith considering our current position compared to the last few years. If any of you guys think you can do better, then get a letter off pronto to SDM and demand the job. Of course, there's a section of the support that won't accept anything other than two up front, one of whom has to be the "legend" Boyd.

We don't have enough good players to play attractive football and win, that's a fact - whether we will be able to do so next year remains to be seen.

Couple of years back, there was a section of the Man Utd support blaming Queiroz for pretty much the same sort of tactics as they were rebuilding, but now that 4-5-1 has developed into a very exciting 4-3-3 and they've shut up. They needed several years to put it together and have far more money than us.

[Budswiser 196]

Unbelievable that anyone is still criticising Smith considering our current position compared to the last few years. If any of you guys think you can do better, then get a letter off pronto to SDM and demand the job. Of course, there's a section of the support that won't accept anything other than two up front, one of whom has to be the "legend" Boyd.

We don't have enough good players to play attractive football and win, that's a fact - whether we will be able to do so next year remains to be seen.

Couple of years back, there was a section of the Man Utd support blaming Queiroz for pretty much the same sort of tactics as they were rebuilding, but now that 4-5-1 has developed into a very exciting 4-3-3 and they've shut up. They needed several years to put it together and have far more money than us.

My last response... honest.

How many times does it need saying, we all know where we were last season. This is this season and yes we are in a position not many would have imagined but it doesn,t follow that we have to be grateful that we are not as bad as then. Rangers should always be challenging for the title and the cups and yes it takes time.We are where we are now thanks to WS " steadying the ship" I have no argument with that.

I dont believe we have to play two up front in every game but come on 1 up front against Hibs, Hearts, Falkirk at Ibrox and i,m not Boyds greatest fan by any means. Its a wee bit of a contradiction that you say we dont have the players to play attractive football and win, but this is Smiths team he brought in most of the players and for what its worth I DO think we have the players to play attractive and win especially in the SPL.

[rossger 0]

Walter Smith has already said this season if your manager of either of the old firm u don't get time to build much of a team in the first season as the fans expect trophys. He has turned the club around and i'd expect next season to be a different style of football as he'll be able to build around some key players now (thomson, davis if we sign him, boyd, JCD are a few off the top of my head). If we play shit in every game till the end of the season but keep on winning like we have been then that'll do me

[Davy 68]

but the way we,re playing at the moment is depressing and will chase fans away quicker than high prices.

We have a different definition of a 'fan' then.

[nvager 498]

Lets say we all agree that this year was always going to be difficult and to date Walter has done a fantastic job in getting the results we have obtained. That is not in dispute here.

Lets also agree that the team IS defensive minded and at times too defensive minded and has been outplayed in midfield countless times by inferior SPL teams - at least for long spells in games albeit usually we got the win.

Lets agree that we have been served up some awful football more than we would have liked.

A`section of the support think we could still have achieved the same results with a more forward or aggressive type of football.

I personally think we lost out a lot by DMB being injured. I think that affected WS's style of play considerably - that and Burke's overall shitty form.

Personally I think WS `should have been able to get a lot more out of Boyd and Naismith - even Davis.

Overall I believe Walter is a little inflexible and conservative, but you cannot argue with his results to date.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

At Ibrox last night watching the way we played a thought occured to me.

What has happened to the 9 in a row Walter Smith.

I accept the arguments about steadying the ship etc, but during the dark days under PLG and sometimes Big Eck i used to think back to the 9 in a row teams and think how fu**in lucky we were to have Walter and some of the best players we,ve seen at Ibrox especially the partnerships up front and attacking midfield men. I dont remember defending from the kick off at home to any team.

During an interview before one of the C/L games he said he had learned since his first stint at Rangers , but learned what how to put ten men behind the ball and hope to hit on the break. Last night was dire and its not the first time we,ve had to watch this. I appreciate what he,s done but fu*k knows how we are still in contention for 4 trophies. A visit to the dentist is becoming more appealing than paying to watch stuff like last night even if we had won.

I know some will say he doesn,t have the money for the players now,and would you rather play good football and win fu*k all? but the way we,re playing at the moment is depressing and will chase fans away quicker than high prices.

Am I alone in this thinking?

You are NOT alone in your thinking (sadly) you just have NO appreciation of what it takes to make a free flowing football team - (apart from budget etc.) all GREAT teams build froma defensive stand point to begin with (Worked / works for Ferguson, Wegner, Mourinho and others).

WS took a shit team and stabilised them. WS brought in a large pool of players and built them into a solid unit. WS has delivered a side who are WINNING and still in 4 trophies. (FFS we were playing European football and at the start of the game it was in DAYLIGHT!!).

Next year WS will build on the solid base with more quality.

WS was also critisised in his last spell for NOT being a good European manager (despite almost taking us to the final in 92).

WS has ADDED 10 years of experience scince his last, very sucessful period here, to me that says we have a great, experienced manager who is doing the best by Rangers and someone whom I am willing to back 100%

[McBoyd 355]

At Ibrox last night watching the way we played a thought occured to me.

What has happened to the 9 in a row Walter Smith.

I accept the arguments about steadying the ship etc, but during the dark days under PLG and sometimes Big Eck i used to think back to the 9 in a row teams and think how fu**in lucky we were to have Walter and some of the best players we,ve seen at Ibrox especially the partnerships up front and attacking midfield men. I dont remember defending from the kick off at home to any team.

During an interview before one of the C/L games he said he had learned since his first stint at Rangers , but learned what how to put ten men behind the ball and hope to hit on the break. Last night was dire and its not the first time we,ve had to watch this. I appreciate what he,s done but fu*k knows how we are still in contention for 4 trophies. A visit to the dentist is becoming more appealing than paying to watch stuff like last night even if we had won.

I know some will say he doesn,t have the money for the players now,and would you rather play good football and win fu*k all? but the way we,re playing at the moment is depressing and will chase fans away quicker than high prices.

Am I alone in this thinking?

I think some people are expecting far too much from Walters first proper season in charge again, last 8 of the UEFA CUP..1 trophy already and a great chance with the others, why are people moaning? Jeez.

Im sure his first season in charge the first time around he didn't do this great, give it time we'll come along, this season is going great, it may not be beautiful to watch but its getting us results.

[McBoyd 355]

Although he's an utter cretin of a man Greame Spiers made an excellent point about Walter rebuilding Rangers on Scotsport this past Monday: basically that there are two phases to Walter Smith rebuiling Rangers.

Phase one being what we see now. Making us hard to beat again and IMO Walters bigger signings reflect that. He spent millions on Cuellar, Thomson, Whittaker and McCulloch. Basically players who add that robustness that we needed and he spent less, but wisely, on attacking players: Cousin, Beasley, JCD & Naismith.

Phase two is obviously going to be a case of adding flair and players who can have a bigger influence on a game.

The money that Walter is going to have at his disposal in the Summer means that he will beable to add better players who can actually influence a game more than our current crop do, while we hopefully still have that solid foundation that we built this year too.

So personally I don't believe that anything has happened to Walter, well certainly not anything bad. I think he's a more experienced manager now than he was during his first spell here.

It's not pleasing on the eye by any stretch of the imagination, but he has already turned us into a very decent European outfit and if he invests correctly in the Summer we could become a very good European side.

SPOT ON post.

We are rebuilding, and i see what you mean, make our defence solid, and hard to score against (Barca) then add the flavour in the summer.

[JR 1,480]

First season was always going to be like this, especially after the last few. Yes the football is shite but it's effective and it's getting us positive results.

Rather this than attacking football and not winning.

I fully expect to see a different side next season!

Absolutely.

The aim this season was to cross the finishing line in first place by whatever means necessary - trophy droughts, lack of finances etc made that paramount. But winning means we have the financial muscle to build on this workman-like team we have.

Walter firstly built the spirit, now he has to supplement it with quality...and I dont think anyone needs to tell him