What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger

[Frankie 8,145]

Northampton_Loyalist examines the positives behind the club's challenges and suggests prudence may indeed be the long term solution we want for a successful club.

 

http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/2010/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284:what-doesnt-kill-you-can-only-make-you-stronger&catid=1:articles&Itemid=67

 

I have never been a subscriber to this particular saying, there are plenty of things that won't kill you but will significantly weaken you. In Rangers' case though, I firmly believe that what we are witnessing is both necessary and serving to lay the foundations that we have craved for so long.

 

Some of the biggest gripes of the internet loyal have been the failure to build for the future, the wasting of money on expensive players and the lack of youth development. Well, we are seeing them all being addressed and whether that change in attitude has come through rational thought or through forceful intervention, the end is the same; we are working towards a club capable of standing on its own two feet and moving into the modern era.

 

Scottish football is dying. It may sound melodramatic, it may sound like a case being over-stated but the game in this country has been in decline for an age. What happens next will be down to the clubs that ply their trade here. Those clubs can either remain so tied up in a small minded mentality: preferring a guy with a fancy name over a guy with potential, preferring a hatchet man over a technically gifted player and preferring a 'seasoned pro' (read for seasoned pro, journeyman) over a hungry youth; or they can accept that as a smaller nation we need to develop what little resources we have to the fullest and we need to spend what little cash we raise wisely.

 

A decade or so ago Rangers spent the best part of �£12million on a single player. The move, in hindsight, was clearly more about ensuring that the name 'Rangers' was seen as one of the big players in European football rather than making us one of the big players in European football. Today, we have seen 17 or so players leave and one single loanee come in over the last two years. Go back in time, take that �£12million and set up a youth scouting network, hire the best youth coaches and fill the academy with young guys who are prepared to work hard. Where would we be today with the money for Flo spent in that manner rather than the way it was? There can be no guarantees, clearly, but I would wager heavily that we would have been well on the road to building a reputation as a club in the mould of Ajax.

 

The Ajax model has never been solely about filling their first 11 with players. The methods they use create a constant stream of players with differing levels of ability. The very best play for Ajax before big money moves, some forge careers at that great club, the rest filter through the leagues and all command fees for the club that nurtured them. Ajax benefits, the Dutch league benefits and ultimately the Dutch national side benefits.

 

Rangers today have a youth program that threatens to provide us with a plethora of players but flatters to deceive in the majority of cases. Hutton aside we have seen very few players make the step up to first team duties despite many being heralded as 'the next best thing'. Of the current crop there appears to be a handful that have a chance in the game and the truth is that there will never have been a better time to be a youth player at Rangers.

 

The departure of Kevin Thomson has been met with much gnashing of teeth and that is understandable. What is not understandable is that those complaining loudest have often long been critics of the model employed by the club. Let's be blunt for a second. Thomson is a good player. He has had a couple of terrible injuries and has a debatable mentality in terms of on-field discipline. He has performed remarkably well in the heat of Old Firm battle but his general performances have been of a lesser standard. �£2-3million (depending on who you believe) for a 'good' player in the last year of his contract and who was one of the top earners at the club is good business. Rangers still, despite severe cuts, spend too much on wages. That is not because we have a huge squad, clearly, it is because we over-pay some of our players. We over-pay certain players because we were in competition with other suitors when buying them and so had to meet certain demands. Thomson was signed at a time before the financial hens came home to roost, there was reported interest from other clubs and we were in the process of building after a disastrous period. His wages cannot today be justified, recession or no recession.

 

We need to live within our means. Murray or no Murray, finding a buyer willing to subsidise the football club is an impossible task and that means, whether we accept the fact or not, that we can only spend what we generate. The models used by Murray clearly did not do this and so those models need to be discarded and new ways of looking at the world put in place. Today we have a smaller squad backed up by kids, we have a wage bill that is nearing levels we can sustain and we still have the spine of a team capable of beating anyone in Scotland. All of that is exactly what so many have demanded for an age and now it is here, we do not like it. Rangers will come out of this mess far stronger than we entered it. We are going to be forced to blood youngsters, we are going to be forced in turn to find youngsters. We are going to be forced into financial prudence, we are going to be forced to maximise every single revenue stream available.

 

If Rangers can weather this storm, blood some kids and keep a core of players better than the competition then we will see the club, quite literally, a decade ahead of our competitors. Celtic are currently locked into a cycle of needing to spend to catch a club spending nothing. Every single penny they lay out in wages and transfer fees is a gamble. We have witnessed one season of that gamble not coming off and with a rookie manager and a spineless team they are wagering the house again. There will, absolutely, come a time in the near future when Celtic and the rest of the SPL wake up to the realities of Scottish football and are forced into doing exactly what we are doing now. Clubs in this country simply cannot afford to keep on spending large amounts of cash on average players and stay afloat, particularly with Champions League football becoming ever more difficult to achieve. When that time comes we will have already been through the change and depending on whether we gripe and groan or see this as a chance to create a future for ourselves we will be able to sail away from the rest for a good long while.

 

This is absolutely the perfect time to take the leap and change the club. We had the monkey of several Celtic titles in a row hanging over us, 2 in a row for us has destroyed that. Two consecutive years of Champions League cash has allowed us to keep some players we might ordinarily have lost and while we have a spine of proven winners, when better to forcefully bring through some kids?

 

With the little money we are told we have available, and with money from sales added, I want to see young, hungry kids, guys with technical ability over brawn and pace, guys who, if needs must, can be sold at a profit down the line come in. I want to see the senior pros at the club shoulder the responsibility of carrying the club through troubled waters and making the job of inexperienced guys that much easier. I want to see a focus on bringing in youth coaches with the ability to train the talent into rather than out of a kid. All of that is achievable, all of it is viable and if it happens we will see the club start the process of turning this nightmare into the best thing that ever happened to Rangers FC.

 

The fans play a part in this, a huge part. Charlie Adam's father complained of not wanting to watch his son at Ibrox because of the abuse the boy took. That has to stop. We ARE going to be seeing kids make mistakes. We can either aid them by being supportive or we can hinder them by amplifying every error tenfold. We need to stop groaning every time a player tries something that doesn't work and we need to stop complaining when the ball is not moved from back to front in a few seconds. In short we need to create an atmosphere where youth can flourish.

 

If the club moves in the manner expected we will have some tough years ahead but we will come out of it stronger, short term pain for long term gain. While the coming season is worrying indeed, the thought remains that handled correctly, these 'bad' times could be the making of the club.

[Frankie 8,145]

I think this is a fair analysis of the situation but we have to be careful not to over-egg the prudence while reducing our ambitions...

 

A CL win may be unlikely but we should be more than capable of competing in the group stages at least. Similarly, it is important we remain successful domestically while working within the club to find the innovation and investment which funds improvement - financially or otherwise.

 

In the stadium, the fans do have their part to play in this. Off the pitch, we should also be more involved.

 

[Zappa 0]

Good article.

 

We already have a pretty good youth academy, but improving it could determine the club's future and improving it involves many things, most notably our scouting. I'd like us to have people out there in numbers cherry-picking some talent from the likes of the UEFA European U19 Championship qualifying group games taking place across Europe from 28th September through till the 30th of October. A month crammed with games where the best U19s in Europe are playing for their countries seems like an ideal chance for hungry scouts to feast. We just need to get the hungry scouts in...

Edited July 19, 2010 by Zappa

[ascender 352]

I think its a realistic model/way for us to run the club, make money and continue to be successful, although we might need to look at the longer term view/bigger picture for a few years to get things up and running.

 

The support (or otherwise) of guys like Adam has been a problem for a while. Hopefully the current problems will galvanise our support and see that now more than ever we need to get behind the younger lads.

 

The other issue I can see is that our scouting network has been derided by fans and those "in the know" for as long as I can remember. Have there been any signs of an overhaul of the scouting side of things?

 

 

Mike.

[metlika 0]

 

The other issue I can see is that our scouting network has been derided by fans and those "in the know" for as long as I can remember. Have there been any signs of an overhaul of the scouting side of things?

 

 

Mike.

 

Ewan Chester left

[wabashcannonball 0]

The pressure that the club is under to win win win, to finish in front of selik, to win everything, means that the truth is there is no chance of any of our present incumbents giving youth a chance, or even taking the opportunity/risk, whatever you want to call it.

[rbr 1,247]

The pressure that the club is under to win win win, to finish in front of selik, to win everything, means that the truth is there is no chance of any of our present incumbents giving youth a chance, or even taking the opportunity/risk, whatever you want to call it.

 

I have to agree whole heartedly with this , even going back years when we were in the midst of NIAR when mediocre teams from across europe used to give us a spanking as long as we beat Septic everything was rosey .

 

Now the million dollar question is how do we change that attitude whilst allowing young players to grow . We have seen with Charlie Adam that when pressure is taken of young players then they flourish and develop , maybe not the best example I used but he is now valued very highly and rightly or wrongly was very highly praised from outside Scotland when ever he played C/L football , we are so blinkered in our approach we are nearly blind , how we change god only knows but change we must

[wabashcannonball 0]

I have got to be honest here rbr, it is that way because the vast majority of the fans won't tolerate it being any other way.

It would take a very special sort of manager to change that, and they would need the board to back them, unlike with PLG.

Change is not something that comes easily to our support.

[rbr 1,247]

I have got to be honest here rbr, it is that way because the vast majority of the fans won't tolerate it being any other way.

It would take a very special sort of manager to change that, and they would need the board to back them, unlike with PLG.

Change is not something that comes easily to our support.

 

 

But is that a cultural thing , is it just us , or does it go deeper . I am not sure I have the answer but agree that it will take a greater will than is currently at the club from the very top down .

 

Right that's twice I have found myself agreeing with you , , who is this and what have you done with wabash .....:box:

[wabashcannonball 0]

But is that a cultural thing , is it just us , or does it go deeper . I am not sure I have the answer but agree that it will take a greater will than is currently at the club from the very top down .

 

Right that's twice I have found myself agreeing with you , , who is this and what have you done with wabash .....:box:

 

 

Wabash, being in the Autumn of his years, has realised that there are things far more important in life than fitba'. Despite what the late great Shanks claimed.