Indicative stats.

[wabashcannonball 0]

In the present financial climate I don't see how any Rangers manager can be expected to compete well in the CL.

 

What justification is there for us to be expecting to beat richer teams from far larger countries with better pools of talent? Just what reason is there to expect a Rangers manager to be able to beat the likes of Stuttgart and Seville and sack him if he fails? Why should we be better than them when we've hardly any money, play in a very poor league and have a dearth of local talent to draw upon from a very small population?

 

Unirea may not be richer but when you take the relative economies into account they are capable of employing top talent from Romania and the eastern block who are at least equivalent to the player market we are constrained to. They are Romanian champions, and you have to remember that Romanian teams have been excellent in Europe over the last 5 years and are currently 8th in the UEFA rankings, compared to our 15th. Internationally they are 14 places above us.

 

Rangers generally have a very poor record in Europe and from our whole history, two of our best six European runs have been at the helm of our current manager.

 

The manager should be mainly judged on his domestic record and if people on here would be sacked for doing as poorly as Smith they must be doing a fantastic job in an very unforgiving company.

 

The question is, can you really sack the manager with the best record in the country?

 

Will we be sacking subsequent managers who don't produce even better results?

 

Just how good will we be while sacking a manager pretty much every season?

 

Will we be able to cope with the contract payoffs and just who will we be able to attract?

 

If you were a very good manager in demand, would you be happy take a job where the manager was sacked after the success of the last couple of seasons?

 

So what should the minimum, easily measurable, key performance indicators for a Rangers manager be?

 

It's all very well to dislike a manager for his tactics, style of football, and team and position choice, but to say he should be sacked as some kind of obvious conclusion after winning and competing so much in every domestic competition he's been party to, just doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Could someone explain it to me in a non-sarcastic and enlightening way?

 

I think the post from another place says it all really, Smith is a manager who has had an easy ride a lots of money to enjoy that ride, he has been found out by the majority now, what goes around comes around, you forgot to mentiom he has also presided over Rangers two worst ever Euro runs.

[Guest BillyMac]

we all know that the pot is empty and to let smith and the backroom staff go would probabbly be the wrong thing to do but for me it is the wright thing to do there a lot games ive been to with walter in charge that ive left feeling perplexed at the team selection and tactics I do know that iam not alone in this, i will be going to the game on saturday but not full of confidence that we will win and win well

[elderslieblue 0]

Calscot..............I don't think anybody seriously expects a Rangers team to beat the likes of Barcelona nowadays.

 

However, they should be able to handle the basics of football. Controlling a ball, being able to find a team mate with a pass, talking a throw-in, etc.

 

We're talking about guys who're earning VAST amounts of money here. [not as much as Messi or Ronaldo, but still a fortune by the standards of the average working man].

 

[Totti 0]

The problem isn't tackling. The stats actually show we have a higher tackling percentage. The key stat is simply possession. Sevilla pass pass pass. We hoof hoof hoof. Tackling and defending isn't the problem, creativity and working as a team is. Simple.

 

PS - Calscot, still at it I see. Nobody is expecting us to mount a challenge for the champions league but we should be getting more than 2 points ffs. A manager who can get us passing the ball around would be a start.

 

Let's not forget Gordon Strachan, a manager with limited ability, took a mediocre Celtic side to the last 16 of the CL twice.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Totti

[calscot 0]

I think the post from another place says it all really, Smith is a manager who has had an easy ride a lots of money to enjoy that ride, he has been found out by the majority now, what goes around comes around, you forgot to mentiom he has also presided over Rangers two worst ever Euro runs.

 

Which were they?

 

Kaunas was bad but first round exits are common in our history. The worst I remember was Viktoria Zhizkov (sp?). There is the slight mitigation that we played them before we'd kicked a ball in competition that season whereas they were in the middle of their's and you're always going to get the odd bad cup result in knockout competition.

 

I suppose the question is would you rather have a long run of mediocre European runs or a great run then a couple of bad ones?

 

If you mean CL points then it's hard to compare with previous managers but the financial differential is the worst it's ever been. If you factor in the bad luck then it's pretty indicative of the situation.

 

I find it strange that people argue we were lucky in the UEFA final run but do not factor in the bad luck we've had this season which has been far more obvious. There is a case that bad luck cost us 6 to 8 points in the CL this year.

 

The Seville game could easily have been a draw had the referee been decent. We could have quite plausibly won the home game against Unirea had our luck been better and could easily have won the away game if not for the bad luck of a poor decision by Novo. Better luck in front of goal could also have easily won us the Stuttgart away game.

 

Better luck could therefore have qualified us for the next round...

 

So do we count luck or don't we?

 

I think if you count up our record over the last 3 years where luck should have evened out, the results probably average out to be par for the course for our club.

 

If you take our domestic form over the last 3 years it's probably a bit above average.

 

The reason I'd find it hard to sack Smith is that results-wise he's doing the best we've done since the first two years of the Advocaat over-spend. Three previous managers have not managed to come out on top of Celtic, while Smith has.

 

I'm reluctant to throw that away for a gamble on someone who would have to take the current squad and current budget, have no money to build a team and stay on top.

 

But could those who want to sack Walter really sit across a desk from him and tell him in a convincing way that he'd not been good enough and is fired? You may be able to do it but how awkward and difficult would it be to look him in the eye and tell him that?

 

I could easily have looked Advocaat, Eck and PLG in the eye and convincingly sacked them at the time of each departure. Their positions were untenable - but for Walter that is just not the case.

 

Whatever his bizarre selections, formations and tactics, in the end it somehow works, and that's where the arguments are lost. PLG was even more bizarre but he didn't get the results he needed to say in a job, yet many of Walter's critics would have preferred we kept him.

 

Many of the current arguments are equally unconvincing - like the dumbing down of the Romanian champions who only beat us and drew with us mostly with luck even though they come from a better footballing country.

 

To me that suggests that most of the arguments against Walter are not very logical or consistent, it's more of a case of personal taste - but that is not something the board can easily fire a manager for - unless he is not the taste of the vast majority of fans.

 

Like I've said before, when WS's results reflect what his critics say, he'll be fired soon enough.

 

If the team really can't pass or tackle or be creative or control a ball then we'll eventually start slipping down the table, then you'll get the big protests and I think Walter will be dignified enough to walk before he is pushed.

 

Until then, with the current chaotic situation where a new owner may be on the horizon, what do people really want the board to do? And do they really expect a decent manager to take the job under those circumstances?

 

Walter has helped pave the way for a new manager under a new owner by working without a contract, to me it makes by far the most sense to keep him on until the ownership situation resolves itself and it would be unfair not to let him finish the season while he is in the hunt for the title.

 

I think we'll have a new manager next season but I'm pretty sure the complaints will be of a similar nature. With the current finances and abysmal state of Scottish football, it's pretty hard to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

[wabashcannonball 0]

that below is only surpassed by this seasons haul of 2 points.

 

Worst home defeat = Rangers (Rangers 0-4 Juventus)

Worst away defeat = Rangers (Rangers 1-4 Juventus, Rangers 1-4 Ajax)

Least points achieved = Rangers, 3 points (1996, 1997)

Least wins achieved = Rangers, 0 wins (1996)

[Totti 0]

Fc Zurich got more points than us this year ffs and had a harder group.

 

WS will leave Rangers with a huge shadow over his legacy. He's been exposed.