Short-termism or Realism?

[Super_Ally 0]

As Walter Smith has seen off yet another manager across the city, Tony Mowbray�s ultimately disastrous reign draws certain parallel�s with that of Smith�s predecessor at Ibrox. Paul Le Guen arrived in Govan to much fanfare and acclaim. The relatively youthful manager came to Scotland with a mightily impressive C.V. from his time at Lyon where he continued their domination of French football whilst punching above their weight in the Champions League.

 

The job that awaited him at Rangers was markedly different to that of the French cracks. Rangers were not, at that time, top dogs in Scotland. Indeed we had fallen quite low under Alex McLeish after a couple of years of fantastic success. Le Guen was charged with returning us to the top of the pile in the SPL whilst utilising the nous of a more tactically and technically gifted foreign coach to elevate our performance and results on the European stage.

 

The oft debated question on internet forums such as Gersnet was whether or not our fans had the patience to accept a couple of years of obscurity and a lack of trophies whilst the Frenchman modernised the club; changing attitude and habits and attempting to develop a conveyor belt of youth talent to supplement the squad. Clearly with the global economic crisis affecting the banks generosity putting greater strain on our finances allied to the fact that our income is dwarfed by that of Europe�s other top leagues (even the Championship has a far more lucrative t.v. deal than that of the SPL) a change of tact and direction was required. David Murray and many fans believed this bright young manager was the man to facilitate this change.

 

Where this plan falls down, and this is something that confuses me, is how short term failure leads to long term success. We have seen over the last two years how badly we depend upon the Champions League bounty to break even or turn a small profit. Without the short term success, we do not have the financial clout to put in place the long-term vision for the club. An effective and efficient scouting system and a productive youth and modern youth academy requires considerable start up and running costs.

 

Part of PLGâ��s master plan, and that too of Mowbray it seems, was to dismantle the current squad. Weed out the bad influences and those who would hinder the endeavour to completely rebuild and reinvent their respective clubs. Recent media reports suggest Celtic wasted somewhere in the region of �£20 million on Mowbrayâ��s vision including payments to West Brom for his and his assistantsâ�� services, financing his transfer dealings and his subsequent pay-off.

 

PLG�s net spend was minimal and he graciously turned down his right to a substantial pay-off. However, he also did not spend all available cash when the problems with the team were easily identified and rectified immediately by Smith. So to successfully revolutionise a team and a club as a whole requires an enormous amount of finance currently not available to the Rangers management team.

 

If our ultimate aim is to build a club and a team capable of sustaining itself and punching above its weight in Europe as the likes of Ajax and Porto have done previously, how then do we achieve that. It seems blindingly obvious that if this reconstruction requires serious financial muscle and Rangers rely heavily on the Champions League fortunes to prop up our balance sheet that our long term target must be made up of series of short term successes. Winning the SPL title year-on-year (as much as that is possible) and securing passage to the CL group stages must be the cornerstones, the pillars of this strategy.

 

Walter Smith may operate with a tried and trusted strategy, a pragmatic approach that many view as safety first. A potential 6 trophies in 3 full season�s in charge including likely back to back titles will allow us to firstly stabilise, and if success is built upon, strengthen our financial position and build towards a more exciting and profitable future.

 

This idea that we must take several steps backwards to take a large step forward has never added up when analysed rationally. It makes far more sense to build from a position of sense. It is doubtful it is even possible to prepare for long term and greater success without these short term victories.

 

Walter Smith may not be the man to lead the club towards this future vision, but when he hangs up his manager�s clipboard he will leave the club in a far stronger position for a forward thinking bright young manager, like a PLG, to realise the club�s lofty ambitions.

[Dr Preston Burke 0]

In a 2 team league, no fanbase will ever accept 2nd best because there's supposedly a long term plan in place. The PLG and Mowbray tenures have proven this. There would never be an exception. Against SPL dross, you should be able to play well and win almost every week.

Edited April 4, 2010 by Dr Preston Burke

[Super_Ally 0]

In a 2 team league, no fanbase will ever accept 2nd best because there's supposedly a long term plan in place. The PLG and Mowbray tenures have proven this. There would never be an exception.

 

I quite agree.

 

It was a favourite topic of conversation when PLG arrived and in fact often since, that I have never understood. I've never qutie figured out how this getting worse in the sort term can posisbly make us better long term.

 

Lots of little steps forward rather than bigger steps backwards for me. E.g. When Smith returned, immediately saw the CB's were shite and brought in Weir/Ugo to shore us up. Easy when you know how.

[metlika 0]

When PLG left we were struggling badly, were we third at that point? If he stayed if could have been another 3rd place which for us is awful, second is not better but to get 3rd 2 years in a row would have been a disaster. His signings barring one or two were also crap, finances weren't great either but we were still struggling from previous era's mainly the Advocaat one. I also felt PLG underestimated the league and thought he would walk it.

 

We need stability and not a complete over haul as that just leads to more problems.

 

So overhauls are bad, look at them before Mowbray left. I wouldn't say PLG was trying to completely overhaul the squad as he hadn't made enough signings but he did alienate the Scottish contingent and they know what it is like to play for us where as the foreign players didn't.

[Frankie 8,151]

As Smith has proven, there is no reason why a manager can't rebuild as he goes along - ensuring competitiveness and success at the same time.

 

Quite simply PLG did neither and arguably just didn't sign the right players. Mowbray was guilty of the same mistake - while also allowing players to leave that he should have perhaps kept until May at least.

 

Sure there were other factors but in many ways they have nobody to blame but themselves.

[Gers4Life 0]

I believe they sold their best players in McDonald, Robson, guys that could get them goals and create things, its true frankie they really sold themselves down the swanie and moybray went with the untried and untested which cost him his job.

[Super_Ally 0]

As Smith has proven, there is no reason why a manager can't rebuild as he goes along - ensuring competitiveness and success at the same time.

 

Quite simply PLG did neither and arguably just didn't sign the right players. Mowbray was guilty of the same mistake - while also allowing players to leave that he should have perhaps kept until May at least.

 

Sure there were other factors but in many ways they have nobody to blame but themselves.

 

I still think we'd have won the league, but I don't think they'd have been quite so pathetic if they had a few more scots in their team who had been there and done it before and know what it is to play for the Old Firm.