ââ?¬Å?Winning isnââ?¬â?¢t everything; itââ?¬â?¢s the only thing!ââ?¬Â�

[Super_Ally 0]

A famous sports’ quote, mistakenly accredited to legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, but one of my favourites. It defines my stance on sporting endeavour.

 

I admit it. I am everything that is “wrong” with the modern Rangers fan. I spent the 90 minutes of today’s match berating the team for not being able to do the basics competently. As you may expect from my opening gambit, my patience only began to wear thin after we meekly surrendered the lead. My ire only subsided once Papac, one of the few to earn his wages today, secured a vital victory. Allied to the fact that Celtic only managed a goalless draw at home to Motherwell, today’s victory allowed us to return to the summit of the SPL. With that permutation of results I went from resembling eye-ore to a grinning Cheshire cat.

 

I’ve always been obsessed with competition, with victory. I remember in primary 4 my teacher had us compete in a maths game in which each time you answered a question right you got to take a pace forward and the winner was the one who got to the end of the ladder first. I had to win at that, I loved competing with and beating my class mates.

 

Growing up as one of four brothers, even eating dinner was competitive. It was like a monkey’s tea party and it didn’t matter if you ended up wearing half your dinner, because if you cleared your plate first you got first choice of desserts and hence the biggest portion. Much like my attitude to supporting Rangers. It doesn’t matter how we get there, so long as we are the ones parading the trophies at the end of the season.

 

My dad has a favourite story of playing beach cricket on holiday and how we almost managed to make the game interesting as accusations of cheating led to my brothers and I wielding the bat and stumps like weapons in a cross between the Ashes and the UFC, but I think you get the picture now; I like winning.

 

There is an argument that this short-sighted thinking is what holds us back. I am not convinced. There is plenty that holds us back, playing in the SPL for starters. My enjoying being top dogs pales into insignificance in comparison to the real issues. We have the likes of Cammy and MF, perhaps rightly, arguing that it was better in their day (sorry guys ). No doubt if you spoke to their elders they would chastise these two whipper-snappers for the very same thing.

 

The fans are right in that we are nowhere near the quality of the team that went to Barcelona, or the legendary Nine in a Row team. I often hear how the quality is declining on a yearly basis. Nonsense. Was the team that Smith took to Manchester in his first full year back in charge worse than the team of the previous two years? No. However, there is an obvious decline to this point from 10 or 15 years ago.

 

What went before, though, should not prevent us from enjoying the present. Admittedly, it is difficult to enjoy performances such as today, when we were dominated by a team assembled for a fraction of the cost, but I will enjoy any casual glance of the league table reading Rangers in first place.

 

“You can only beat what is put in front of you”, as that old maxim goes. In this two-horse race, in respect of a full league campaign, that means not only winning the Old Firm games, but collecting more points in the rest of the fixtures than Celtic do. Whilst I may be accused of having a parochial view, it must be remembered we can only challenge ourselves on a grander stage by being top dogs in Scotland.

 

And one thing Walter Smith brings is domestic dominance. Just a few short weeks ago Celtic travelled to the South Side with talk of an insurmountable 7-point lead at the top of the league. Predictably Smith sent them home with a confidence sapping dent to their title challenge.

 

Smith’s teams may not play with the attacking freedom of Guardiola’s Barcelona or a classic Brazil team, but they are not short of many other qualities befitting the status of Champions. Already this season we have shown we are capable of winning after suffering a setback. Something I was never confident of under his recent predecessors.

 

Vitally, like all great sides who end the gruelling league season with the title, this current Rangers team know how to win when they are not playing well. Admittedly we have demonstrated that far too often for the fans liking, but it is an essential quality of a team wishing to challenge for top honours in a 30-odd game season. No team can complete a full set of league fixtures without throwing in the odd poor performance. It is the teams who manage to turn no points into 1 or 1 point into 3 when suffering this drop-off in their level that will emerge victorious.

 

I opened this piece by saying that I am everything that is “wrong” with Rangers fans at present. But I make no apologies for that. There are some fans that cannot and will not let go of the ideal. The idea that on paper we are far superior to our opposition and so we should demonstrate our superiority in every encounter. Whilst they should be applauded for their stance, realists will acknowledge that sport never works out like that. I am happy that we will demonstrate our superiority come the end of the season, as shown by a brief glance at the league table and the trophy count.

 

Of course better performances and demonstrations of silky football would be preferable. But winning is the ultimate aim. Everything else is secondary. Winning in football is an absolute. The team with the most goals takes the points. I have never been a fan of subjective sports such as gymnastics or diving where the winner is decided by no absolute criteria, but merely opinion. The minute real sports are judged on aesthetics and how pretty you look whilst playing the game is the minute that pure sporting competition dies. I have no desire to watch a game where the winner is subjective. The arbiters of our game show a worrying inconsistency in officiating contests that deal in a relative black and white. Would you expect parity with our rivals if suddenly there were rewards for artistic interpretation?

 

In real veneration of Vince Lombardi; “show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”. As long as we are winning, the debate over the quality of football should continue. It is only when we are no longer emerging victorious that debate becomes redundant and discussion of the real issue (“why aren’t we winning”) would emerge. Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing!

Edited October 18, 2009 by Super_Ally

[Norris Cole 0]

You know, you really don't have to run to Wattie's defence every time we play poorly

[Whosthedado 1,499]

You know, you really don't have to run to Wattie's defence every time we play poorly

 

Just as well because you would be out of breath by now:fish:

[biggordy 0]

Everyone agrees that the quality of Scottish football has been slowly declining.

We have merely matched this. We are also suffering financially as are most other teams therefore, we have "cut our cloth" accordingly.

I would argue that Walter's brief is to make sure he just has to stay ahead of the rest by any means possible, bar financial.

As long as we reach Champions' league every season the he has fulfilled that brief.

That, at the moment, is the height of our ambitions.

[maineflyer 0]

Everyone agrees that the quality of Scottish football has been slowly declining.

We have merely matched this. We are also suffering financially as are most other teams therefore, we have "cut our cloth" accordingly.

I would argue that Walter's brief is to make sure he just has to stay ahead of the rest by any means possible, bar financial.

As long as we reach Champions' league every season the he has fulfilled that brief.

That, at the moment, is the height of our ambitions.

 

And that in a nutshell is what distinguishes the current Rangers FC from its more illustrious predecessor. It'd not just money, it's about lost pride.

[Super_Ally 0]

You know, you really don't have to run to Wattie's defence every time we play poorly

 

Ha ha.

 

It's not defence of Walter. There is no defence for being outplayed by St. Johnstone.

 

Just an honest admission from me that I prefer winning at any costs (well within rules ) to any every consideration of the game.

[Bluedell 5,329]

Just an honest admission from me that I prefer winning at any costs (well within rules ) to any every consideration of the game.

 

So we allow Bougherra back in the team to increase our chances of winning, or do we make a stand against his liberty taking which could cost us a win?

 

I go for the latter, and don't agree with this win at any costs. Our club has certain standards which need to be adhered to, which are more important than winning.

[Super_Ally 0]

So we allow Bougherra back in the team to increase our chances of winning, or do we make a stand against his liberty taking which could cost us a win?

 

I go for the latter, and don't agree with this win at any costs. Our club has certain standards which need to be adhered to, which are more important than winning.

 

I think Bougherra will have "served his time".

 

We're not strong enough to drop him atm. As I said in the other thread we had Alexander and Edu to come in for the Scotland pair. McCulloch for Boogie in Europe?

 

Not saying it's right, just being a realist.

 

Regards the win at all costs. I tried to qualify that statement. I don't mean the Celtic version of win at all costs with constant diving, complaining when people dive against you, hypocrisy, cheating, manipulation of the press, officials and deaths of former employees.

 

I mean that winning is more important than everything else. I would be happier if we won every game but never played well again, than if we played well but were ultimately unsuccesful. Of course good performances tend towards good results. But as Derek McInnes will testify, that is not always the case.

 

All i'm trying to say is that winning is all important. Discussions of whether or not we did it with pretty football are only important if the result is achieved. If we get beat the first consideration is not the performance, it is the result.

 

Contrary to what many who spend too much time watching sky would like to believe there is absolutely no remit for Smith to play nice passing football. Sure he'll appear to give consideration to this argument in the press, but frankly unless we are winning the manner of the performance just doesn't come into it. It is a very, very distant second. Do you honestly think Smith comes under any pressure from his bosses (the board) when the football doesn't look great, or when matches and trophies aren't being won?

[Bluedell 5,329]

I think Bougherra will have "served his time".

 

You may be right but he hasn't been punished yet. The biggest punishment he could get would be to omit him from his CL shop-window, which is what he deserves.

[maineflyer 0]

So we allow Bougherra back in the team to increase our chances of winning, or do we make a stand against his liberty taking which could cost us a win?

 

I go for the latter, and don't agree with this win at any costs. Our club has certain standards which need to be adhered to, which are more important than winning.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. The willingness to flaunt standards of conduct at Ibrox has contributed greatly to the decline we've suffered these last twenty years or so. Short term winning at any cost is like building your house on the beach .... it isn't going to be there for long.