It’s a few days after one of the worst games at Ibrox any of us have ever attended. We were easily brushed aside by a team that’s miles ahead of us at the moment, and because it was Celtic, the fallout from it has been multiplied hugely. So the question I feel compelled to discuss is – are the reactions justified?
The first reaction is really that of the fans at the game. People running onto the park, stuff being thrown at Celtic players, scarves thrown onto the pitch, the whole gamut of angry reactions using other events to justify what can only be described as stupidity. I hate seeing Rangers lose, and Saturday still bothers me, but you can’t blame their players or fans for enjoying giving us a doing. We’ve done plenty similar in the past. To start the coin-throwing and pitch invading under some sort of excuse of being provoked is simply acting in a way we’ve mauled them about for a good while now. I’m fully aware that I’m coming across as somewhat holier-than-thou here, and I also believe given the size of our support we do damn well in this regard, but I really hope we’re not going to see any more of that just because so many hate losing to Celtic. I have read suggestions that the fan who ended up on the pitch didn’t really mean to be there, but he did act out once he got there, which means there’s no excuses. We’ve sat through drubbings at home before – I remember 3-0 defeats to Celtic and Hibs which were every bit as abject as Saturday – and not reacted in the same way.
The next reaction, and it’s one that’s rather fluid, was the one towards the playing squad. On Saturday, we looked like a squad who had no real motivation to work hard because the vast majority know their time at Rangers is pretty much up. We won’t have the time to make wholesale changes before our first game next season, but it’s pretty clear most of the players have been told they can move on. As such, we’re seeing who wants to stay in these last couple of games, with players like Miller, Tavernier and Foderingham giving their all whilst many seemed to just shrug their shoulders. For a lot of fans, the game was the absolute last straw in terms of patience with this group of players, but as I said, these opinions can be fluid. A few good performances from some players in the last four games will see many go from “get rid” to “maybe we can salvage something”.
I believe, for a team of limited resources like ourselves, that a successful squad is made up of a handful of quality players who drag the rest through the tight games and help you win more often than not. Many of our current squad would be fine next to better players for Scottish football, but the lack of quality means they don’t have enough to truly be consistent as a squad. If we go down the road of replacing our squad in a wholesale change and trying to find better players who aren’t better than Scottish football, but just a bit better than we have, our results won’t pick up by any discernible degree. We need to give some of our current squad more time, because we don’t have the cash to replace them all with much better players anytime soon.
There also seems to be a reaction to the manager at the moment, and that’s one which definitely feels driven by emotion. On the way home from the game on Saturday, there were many who felt we should just have “hired Smith or McLeish to steady the ship”, and when I asked one if they really felt it would have made a difference, I was told that there’s no way we’d have lost that game so heavily had they been there.
And therein lies the problem – basing our reactions and judgements on one game, and that game being one we were never likely to do well in anyway. That’s the sort of reactionary, short-term thinking that led to us making various mistakes in the past, and it means we miss the progress that’s being made. There have been various clubs demoted due to financial issues over the years, but I can’t think of one who has went through what we have (years of being ripped to shreds), have had as much upheaval in various areas of the club as everything had to be rebuilt, yet still be expected to win trophies and compete for a league all because they have a great history. We will get back to where we used to be, and there’s a fair argument to be made that the board are looking to go beyond that in many ways, but it needs more time than many seem willing to give it. If we chase huge investment and blow millions on players just to try and win the league in Scotland to stop Celtic doing ten in a row, we’re being utterly negligent given everything else that the club needs to fix and put in place.
And that segues into probably the biggest reaction from the weekend, the notion that our board aren’t doing enough. This also seems to be based purely upon the gap between ourselves and Celtic, the belief that we should be closer to them despite everything that’s happened. It’s a difficult position for me to understand, because on one hand you have a club who are having to build from pretty much the ground up, and doing so with numerous obstacles and limited resources, who are being compared to the club who have had stability for years, a risk-free run for their first team for half a decade, and have everything in place to continue their growth with little or no pressure being placed on them for the foreseeable future. There can’t be many people outside of fans of Rangers who believe we should be closer to them right now than we are, and yet that’s the barometer.
I’ll agree that finishing third this season is a disappointment, especially given the money we spend on players as compared to Aberdeen. I do think that has mainly happened due to the change of manager and lack of continuity, which was pretty much forced upon us by Warburton’s actions. We dropped a load of points under Murty that put us too far behind Aberdeen which we would have been unlikely to drop had the changes not happened. Similar has happened since Caixinha came in. We’re going to qualify for the Europa League qualifiers, and we’ll be looking at a load of changes to the first team again, so there’s some excitement to take into next season.
As mentioned above, though, if our board decide to chase instant success rather than the gradual, manageable improvements we’ve seen of late, we’re making a mistake. Whilst the first team needs huge improvements, we also require:
A Director of Football – this is absolutely key, and this season has shown that
Upgrades to Auchenhowie – it’s coming up for 20 years since that was built. No one can tell me it’s still “state of the art”
Improvements to Ibrox – the stadium is being improved, but more is required
Investment in Youth – again, we’re making improvements there, and more resources would boost that further
Better Fan Engagement
An Answer to our Merchandise Problems
And overall, a better foundation to work from. If you’re demanding a challenge to Celtic right now, and asking the board to spend loads on players, I fear you’re misunderstanding just where we are and what work is required. Everyone at the club, from Dave King down, has made mistakes this season, but that doesn’t mean we’re not on the right road. We’ve had loads to overcome, and some challenges have arisen as we’ve been facing the ones we already knew about, so let’s not forget just how all of that affects the first team and the results, the part most fans care about more than anything else.
This is a learning experience for Rangers, and that includes the fans. The position we’re in is completely alien to us. That tells us that our judgement of it has to be something new as well. It feels a lot like these are our Stuart Slater, Carl Muggleton, Wayne Biggins years and we’ll face what will seem like an eternity to turn this around. If we were to stop ten in a row, it would be a momentous achievement given everything that’s going on, but it can’t be the sole focus, the driving factor behind our decisions, because that’s far too short-term and far too reactionary. I started this piece by asking if the seemingly majority reactions from Saturday were justified – as laid out above, I don’t believe they are. We need to understand where we’re standing before we can make a journey to elsewhere.
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