Is Ally the Man for the job? - The McCoist Thread

[calscot 0]

When Smith came back he went out and bought David Weir, Christian Dailly and Ugo Ehiogu. Why?

 

To shore up a very leaky defence and compete for the title. And it worked, in spades. Rangers were by far the best team in Scotland for 4.5 years after Smith came back. Weir in particular was invaluable for us. He may not have brought a "return" but he brought us titles, trophies and a UEFA runners up place. You can develop kids all you like but what about actually winning stuff? I'd also say Weir was a great influence not only on the whole team but expecially on any youngsters around him.

 

We were never going to see any sort of return on them. Like you said we were 17 pts behind, the league was gone. Could we not have given an 18 or 19 year old a chance and say “here’s your big chance” Wouldn’t have cost anymore money.

 

I prefer trophies to sell on fees. We may have been 17pts behind but that's no reason to give up the ghost. We needed to show we were credible again and make the margin less embarrassing. Smith succeeded there. He also developed the team for the next season in that six months, one that were two games away from the quadruple. We should certainly have won the treble if Celtic hadn't cheated - and that would also have given us a better chance in the Europa final. I'm not sure a team of kids would have done the same for our club.

 

You seem to be perpetually living for the future and forgetting about today. Arsenal are a good example of the same thinking. They keep developing a team but it never seems to actually come to fruition.

 

Smith wasted millions of pounds. So for that matter did Advocaat and McLeish. Yes we were competitive. Yes we won stuff. But we need to get to the point where we are self sufficient and producing good quality youngsters on our own and only signing the odd player. Otherwise what is the point of Murray Park?

 

When you look at Smith's record, I think it was money well spent. McLeish didn't have that much to spend. But agree with Advocaat. The return for his spending was poor and it ended up being the ruin of us.

 

The point of Murray park is to have top class facilities for our first team to train. It's also there to develop young players. However, there is no team in the world that can produce a conveyor belt of players capable of being the best in the country. At best you'd hope for an average of one squad member per season but youths is a numbers game - you don't know who is really going to make it. Fleck is a good example, he was given a messiah type tag when he was 13 or 14 but as he got older, the gap between him and the rest closed every year until he was nothing special.

 

Just because you have state of the art facilities doesn't mean you can miraculously produce dozens of young players who are better than the best experienced players the country can offer.

 

I also think McCoist needs time. We need to support him. I only commented because you were discussing Le Guen 

 

McCoist will only get as much time as he gives himself. He needs to keep a minimum level of results to keep his job. When you're doing ok you give yourself another month or two where if you start doing badly you have a bit of time to turn it around. If you can't you're off. McCoist is definitely doing the minimum required but needs to show improvement over time. PLG didn't do the minimum, used up his time and showed that he wasn't even close to turning it around. He was the biggest disappointment of my life of supporting Rangers. He came as an instant hero and left as a zero.

 

Anyway, the best time to judge is at the end of every season - as long as you're not floundering half way through.

[54andcounting 0]

Ally could afford to drop another 30 points on top of the nine he's already lost and Rangers will still finish top.

 

That's how easy this league is.

[kuznetsov 0]

Ally could afford to drop another 30 points on top of the nine he's already lost and Rangers will still finish top.

 

That's how easy this league is.

 

and still some will drag up the same excuses to pardon his ineptness.

[forlanssister 3,062]

To shore up a very leaky defence and compete for the title. And it worked, in spades.

 

Strange thing is that statistically our best central defensive partnership that season was Hemdani and Svensson. So it didn't really work in spades at all.

[3909 04 0]

I haven't seen a game yet where that is the main tactics by Rangers.

 

Against Clyde a few weeks ago, the ball was passed back to Ross Perry who looked up and launched a long ball in the general direction of Jig from our 18 yard line. This was after eight seconds.

 

It may not be our "main tactic" but we use it far, far too often against inferior opponents.

[der Berliner 3,319]

Against Clyde a few weeks ago, the ball was passed back to Ross Perry who looked up and launched a long ball in the general direction of Jig from our 18 yard line. This was after eight seconds.

 

It may not be our "main tactic" but we use it far, far too often against inferior opponents.

 

BTW, if people look at any (sic!) clearance as long-ball-game stuff, the argument is lost. We hardly prefer that route and if you look at other teams (not least in Britain), this way of clearing one's lines is still the preferred option (unless you got real quality defenders and real quality midfielders). In this division, the old-style long ball to the quality striker amidst part-time defenders is a reasonable way to do it. And while we are at it, right now, our midfield is not exactly littered with quality-pass spraying people, so the odd long ball towards McCulloch is the shortest route to goal. As it looks, that will have to change, unless we use Kyle up there.

[3909 04 0]

BTW, if people look at any (sic!) clearance as long-ball-game stuff, the argument is lost. We hardly prefer that route and if you look at other teams (not least in Britain), this way of clearing one's lines is still the preferred option (unless you got real quality defenders and real quality midfielders). In this division, the old-style long ball to the quality striker amidst part-time defenders is a reasonable way to do it. And while we are at it, right now, our midfield is not exactly littered with quality-pass spraying people, so the odd long ball towards McCulloch is the shortest route to goal. As it looks, that will have to change, unless we use Kyle up there.

 

 

This wasn't a clearance, it happened straight from the start of the match. The ball was tapped from Jig to Shiels, back to Hutton, back to Perry then "boom". No Clyde player was within ten yards of Perry when he launched the ball, he could have passed it anywhere on the park. There was no need whatever for a hopeful punt at that stage of the match.

 

This was unquestionably a management instruction.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

 

I certainly realise that at times needs must. But any well run football club should have an eye on the future. Rangers should be able to bring through at least one first team regular every season. Not a superstar but someone who can play 30/40 games a season and perform consistently. Rangers really struggle with this. Going back to Walter Smith's first run who did he really bring through? Charlie Miller maybe? A few players got a chance McSwegan, Wilson etc. But as soon as the first teamers were fit back out they went.

 

Advocaat - Ferguson, maybe Nicholson. You could maybe give Ferguson to Smith but as I recall Smith wanted to sell him and Advocaat overuled the decision.

 

McLeish - maybe Steven Smith and Alan Hutton.

 

Le Guen -McGregor/Adam.

 

Smith's second run he gave a few guys a chance but none I would say were classed as first team regulars. Fleck/Ness/ Kyle Hutton

 

McCoist is a victim of circumstance so wouldn't include him

 

I think a club of Rangers size should be able to develop more first team players for themselves than they have done over the years and not be so reliant on the transfer market.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

smith gave extended runs to. Hutton, mcgregor, adam, Burke and others.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

smith gave extended runs to. Hutton, mcgregor, adam, Burke and others.

 

I would agree Hutton found himself under Smith. But McGregor was already No1 when Smith came back. Adam was consistently played on the left of midfield out of position. Burke never established himself under Smith, the closest Burke came to that was under McLeish.