As the bones are picked on Rangers’ potentially decisive Old Firm defeat to Celtic, the club’s January business and sporting director Ross Wilson will come closely under scrutiny.
Between the summer and January Rangers have sat and watched Celtic invest the bones of £25m without investing properly in the squad and that negligence has clearly came home to roost.
Much was made about Steven Gerrard’s complaints regarding the summer business and as the Liverpool legend made his return down south the purse strings have not been loosened.
This has put Rangers in a ridiculously difficult situation with a £60m European jackpot swing now heading in Celtic’s favour and Rangers staring down the barrel of a costly rebuild.
The board might’ve invested to get us 55 but there has been something of an arrogance surrounding Rangers – from the support included – heading into this season.
The squad needs investment and players need to move on and it’s going to be a costly summer for the club, something we’ll perhaps rue for a long time.
But had Rangers invested a little more in the summer or in the winter windows then this situation could’ve perhaps been avoided.
Rangers January transfer window currently stands as monumental Ross Wilson failure
January in particular will go down as one of the least productive transfer windows in our history despite massive investment coming into the club.
Rangers earned an initial £12m rising to £16m for the sale of Nathan Patterson, whilst the exit of Steven Gerrard and his backroom staff would’ve seen decent compensation coming into Ibrox.
Despite this, only Mateusz Zukowski – the Polish youth international right-back we’ve barely seen – joined on a transfer fee, and a nominal one at that.
Aaron Ramsey joined the club on loan from Juventus to monumental fanfare but by the time he’s actually in the squad the league season is all but over.
The midfielder also managed 90 gruelling minutes in Wales’ World Cup playoff clash with Austria, but barely lasted an hour for Rangers against Celtic, despite scoring.
There’s no doubt Ramsey is trying and that he has immense quality, but the player’s fitness is clearly an issue and by the time he starts kicking a ball regularly the season is likely to have been and gone.
At least he’ll be fit enough to score a club in the Premier League next season…
Then there is James Sands, the American international and versatile utility player who adds to Rangers’ numerable options in defensive midfield.
Rangers and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s insistence on two defensive midfielders on home soil has cost the Gers dearly and say what you like about Sands, but he is not and never was capable of having a title-winning impact.
Then there is Amad Diallo, the £19m Man United wonderkid who has scarcely been seen since he selfishly failed to square the ball for a tap-in during the 1-1 draw with Dundee United.
Undoubtedly the Man United teenager has talent, but we’re once again questioning the sensibility of this move given Amad has had virtually no impact on the squad, barring a goal in the 3-3 draw with Ross County.
These signings – James Sands aside – came in the final week of the window too and Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson must take responsibility for failing the club here.
The absence of Alfredo Morelos v Celtic only stood to highlight the fact that we’ve yet to find a solution to our over-reliance on the Colombian.
It’s not been good enough, but then again, the incumbent champions haven’t either and from top to bottom we’re now reviewing a shambles domestically when we should’ve built from a position of strength.
Meanwhile, the poor domestic form of a leading £7m Rangers star has contributed massively to the club’s downfall this season.
