There is a consensus at Rangers that the biggest problem since winning the league has been the recruitment, not the standard of manager.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Philippe Clement had experience of winning league titles in comparable leagues but ultimately lost their jobs after failing to consistently win domestically.
Both managers also won silverware and did well in Europe – Champions League aside – however, the priority for the next Rangers manager has to be a return to the top of Scottish football.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, former Celtic striker John Hartson feels sorry for his former Old Firm sparring partner Barry Ferguson, looking at what the real problem at Ibrox is.
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John Hartson slams Rangers flops for current mess
The Rangers squad needs a lot of work in the summer and Hartson makes a valid point, for once:
“Tell you what, you’ll be happy for the day, but the bigger picture, the bigger picture is, you’ve already let, you know, it was your fault. You’ve got rid of the first manager in Clement. And it’s like saying, Mark (Guidi), it’s like saying a team in the second, third division, when they’re losing, it’s like saying, ‘ah well, Jose Mourinho couldn’t come in and fix this team’.
“It’s almost the same as Barry. You know, there was a big sort of furore, Barry’s going to change this, Barry’s going to do that. And rightly so, everybody’s excited when Barry comes in.
“And if you’re working with a bunch of players that let the other manager down, how do you expect to get a massive, massive lift out of the team when you’re working with the same players? You know, you might win one or two or three games. You might get in there and shake a few players up.”
“European quarter-final?” Interjected host Paul Cooney.
“Yeah, but ultimately, it’s the same group of players that let the previous manager down.”
Hartson is right, but Ferguson isn’t blameless either
The bizarre thing is, Ferguson keeps playing the same players who have let him down.
The only one who has been dropped is Jack Butland.
Robin Propper, James Tavernier, Nedim Bajrami, Cyriel Dessers, the list goes on, senior players who are making mistakes on a regular basis and are performing nowhere near to the standard that Rangers need.
There are five players who are out of contract in the summer, with others who simply aren’t good enough for Rangers.
Hartson is right, it is a squad that has consistently failed over the last two seasons and any good periods of form are always bookended by sub-par performances and poor results.
