Outgoing Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson might’ve left for the Premier League and Nottingham Forest, but he also leaves the Gers squad in quite the predicament.
The Ibrox side are preparing for a summer of change ahead and it is a quite remarkable mess that the club’s playing staff has found itself in heading into the final few weeks of the season.
Improperly reinforced, with legions of expensive crocks propping up the wage bill, the Rangers squad is both incapable of putting up a Premiership challenge and unbefitting of the support who cheer for it.
That’s a support who have been largely ignored over the last 48 months and who – in the most painful I told you so – are now set to see the squad finally dismantled.
But it is set to come at a huge cost and anyone whose been watching Ross Wilson’s work at Rangers must at least recognise the situation the club’s team finds itself in.
Ross Wilson leaves Rangers squad an uncertain mess
Once the club’s two top assets, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are about to walk out the door for nothing. That’s the same Ryan Kent who cost £7m.
Veteran players, who should never have been awarded new deals in the summer, are also edging closer to an exit as the club weighs up offering new contracts to Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield.
Whatever happens, signing one or any of these guys down isn’t exactly going to enhance this troubled squad.
Then there is expensive crock Filip Helander – also finally on his way out the exit door – whilst Kemar Roofe, Ianis Hagi and Tom Lawrence are all earning but not contributing.
The players signed by Ross Wilson in the summer too are clearly not up to it, with Ben Davies, Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo failing to convince anyone outside of the former Rangers director’s office.
Ben Davies cost £4m and looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, the £5m deal for Ridvan Yilmaz looks stranger by the second, whilst the high wages and £2.5m fee splurged on Rabbi Matondo looks poor in retrospect.
That’s an £11.5m splurge which has actually taken the squad backwards, and not forwards.
Ross Wilson can talk about keeping players on their toes by letting their contracts tick down, he can talk about luck with injuries, hell, he can even talk about being best in class.
But how anyone with even a passing interest in football can look at this Rangers squad, and the subsequent results this season, and claim he’s done a good job in this regard is an insult to our intelligence.
