Stats calculated by CIES Football Observatory and featured by BBC Sport, indicate one major reason why Rangers didn’t have any players in the most recent senior Scotland squad.
85.1% of the Gers’ goals this season have been scored by foreign players.
That’s an extremely high ratio, particularly when compared to other SPL clubs.
It’s more than 20% higher than anyone else, as Hearts are a distant second with 63.9%.
The league average is under 50%, while Livingston boast the lowest total by some distance, with 6.1%.
It’s a clear indication of just how reliant Rangers are on non-Scots in the final third. Based on these figures, Alex McLeish certainly doesn’t have much to gain by watching the Gers.
Of course, it’s much easier for Livingston to field a team full of Scots than Rangers. The Lions don’t have expectations with regards silverware, while Steven Gerrard is under pressure to succeed.
Of course, there’s absolutely no suggestion here that Rangers shouldn’t have foreign players. It’s no secret that it raises the standard of the competition, you need only look South of the border to the Premier League for the finest evidence of that.
Having said that, the current figure is surely too high.
Scots few and far between at Ibrox
Rangers do have several Scots in the senior squad. Take Graham Dorrans and Jamie Murphy for example, but through no fault of the club’s, they have been out injured this season.
Others, like Lee Wallace and Glenn Middleton, have been starved of opportunities, for all or large parts of the season.
Therefore the only Scots playing regularly are Andy Halliday, Ross McCrorie and Ryan Jack. All reasonably defensive-minded players. Since these stats only look at goals scored, that must be factored in.
The future certainly looks bright, too. Five Young Gers recently started for the U19s in competitive fixtures with attacking players like Zak Rudden and Dapo Mebude starring.
Yet, it remains to be seen if and when they will get a chance at Ibrox.
There’s no crisis at Rangers in terms of the production line. However, these stats do show a real room for improvement at first-team level.
The easiest way to get better results on the pitch in the short term is by bringing in foreign talent, but a club the size of Rangers should always have representatives in the Scotland setup.
