Chris Burke. Was it a mistake to free him?

[John Barr 0]

I have been watching with interest a lot of the Championship in England. More than anything it is because of my beloved Scunthorpe.

 

However, i like watching all the other teams and i think most of the teams have very high quality players in there that Rangers should be tapping up.

 

Anyway, i noted the magnificent progress of Scotland reserves, erm i mean Cardiff City and an old name in particular keeps popping up with assist after assist and good attacking play and trickery.

 

I for one feel Cardiff city must be thinking they have got an absolute cracker for nowt.

 

So, with that in mind, was it a mistake to sell him given that we need a flair player to hold up the ball, start attacks, whip down the wings throwing deadly balls in, and generally take the piss out the oppsition.

 

I was at Chris Burkes first team debut against Killie? when he beat about 4 players on the right wing and thumped into the net.

 

At that time i thought we had cracked it with the youth players. But i'm not sure why he never continued on from there because he certainly has the ability and has shown that, albeit, in dribs and drabs.

 

Should we have let him go, especially now we see another team benefiting from one of our youth products?

[Norris Cole 0]

During 2003/04 I was convinced Burke was going to be a star for us, but ultimately he was one of those naggingly frustrating players who undoubtedly had something, but injuries and lack of confidence did for his Ibrox career. Which was a real shame because when he properly broke on to the scene during that season he was a real throwback to the old days of out and out wingers which you hardly see these days. I think he was the sort of player the fans were willing to come good, but in the end it wasn't to be, and selling him was probably best for both parties. I always liked him despite his inconsistency, and hope he finds success down south.

[Zappa 0]

I had massive hopes for him because he's a real talent, but injuries ruined his career imo. He might still see the big time again like he did for us in between injuries, but only if a half way decent EPL side picks him up. There's other factors involved with Burke though & asides from the rumours about him, there's his wage demands. I'll never forget genuinely thinking he was the best winger in Scottish football at one point & him scoring along with Boydy in their joint debut for Scotland. At the end of the day I wasn't too sad to see him leave due to him being so injury prone, but I think we should have gotten some decent money for him, just like Adam, Gow, Furman & many others we've let go in recent years. We just haven't been able to secure the right transfer amounts for players for various reasons & I'm not 100% sure who is to blame. Is it Bain? If not, who's fault is it? Can we even blame anyone? I'm not even certain of the point in laying the blame at someone's doorstep, but if it's mainly one man's fault such as Bain, then I think it would be justified & whoever it is should be held accountable for their poor performance.

[Gribz 743]

The only mistake was we didnt free him earlier.

 

He was promising for a while but never got over being someone who was promising. The odd glimpse of quality was always overshadow by injury, illness and being taken off the ball too easily.

 

Fair play to him if he is doing well at Cardiff, but with hindsight Im glad he is off our books.

[Zappa 0]

The only mistake was we didnt free him earlier.

It could be argued that the only mistake was allowing Martin Bain to have anything to do with it (as is the case with many of our transfer dealings). Our used car salesman type CEO was undoubtedly the coordinator & lets not forget that at the same time, in the same window, he was also screwing up our chance of offloading Beasley to Schalke. We could have done with losing Beasley at that point (considering his wages) even if it was on a free, but no, the deal was a mess & who was to blame for it?

[calscot 0]

Burke seemed to have a bad attitude throughout his time at Rangers and never seemed to be up for the cause.

 

I thought we should have said goodbye to him when he greedily demanded 13k a week but instead we ended up wasting over a million quid on someone who did almost nothing for us.

 

Since that contract he seemed to either be perpetually injured or just not putting much effort on the pitch. He never fought for the ball and was too easily brushed off it and had the incredibly annoying habit of falling over every time someone breathed on him - including times when he was in a very promising position with the ball. He never tracked back to defend and most of his crosses were woeful. After about half an hour he'd fade out of the game and hide somewhere that no-one could see him.

 

All he ever did well was every now and again he would dribble past a couple of players before delivering a shit cross, a poor shot or just fall over.

 

He may become the best player in the world for another team, but there is no way at all we should have kept him.

 

The guy certainly has talent, but he couldn't be bothered using it at Rangers.

[Frankie 8,150]

Burke is the kind of player who could improve elsewhere if he gets a regular game and applies himself to the sport.

 

However, we could ill-afford the patience required to allow him to develop at Rangers.

[John Barr 0]

Good replys lads.

 

It's looking like the fair concensus is to be rid of him and try to forget it.

 

And i agree wholeheartedly with all your comments on his bad habits and poor play.

 

However, it is still very annoying to watch someone TRY when they stopped trying for a club he was supposed to support and who paid him a fortune and nurtured him.

 

I also agree with the poster who said it was a bit of a bad deal getting virtually nowt for the likes of Gow, Furman, Burke and Adam.

 

If it were down to me and i was in theat club i'd find out who was behid the deal on behalf of Rangers and sack their ass. Completely lousy and again just looks like Rangers have been panicking trying to get shot of players to get the wage bill down.

[maineflyer 0]

Burke had the ability to be special but if we're honest, that was never going to happen at Ibrox. The chemistry between player and club never really looked right.His attitude frequently left much to be desired and I don't think Smith was ever going to give him the personal backing it would have taken to turn things around. Too much baggage on all sides.

 

As for Bain, a complete arse of a man - but criticising him is a bit like flogging a blind man with no arms or legs, too easy and never likely to provide any real satisfaction. Surely anyone who would employ Martin Bain, let him earn over half a million pounds in a year, and give him day-to-day management of the club for so long must be more worthy of our attention.

[UCF2008 0]

As for Bain, a complete arse of a man - but criticising him is a bit like flogging a blind man with no arms or legs, too easy and never likely to provide any real satisfaction. Surely anyone who would employ Martin Bain, let him earn over half a million pounds in a year, and give him day-to-day management of the club for so long must be more worthy of our attention.

 

I don't really get your point .

 

Much like the playing and coaching staff (and UNLIKE the owner), if his performance is poor and the support let their feelings be known, then sooner or later he'll be replaced.