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Rangers are weak on the pitch and weak off it


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NEIL LENNON insisted last night Rangersâ?? cash crisis has weakened them on AND off the pitch.

 

The Celtic boss confessed he doesnâ??t miss the rollercoaster of Old Firm games since Gers were reinstated to Division Three.

 

Lennyâ??s verdict comes as his Hoops prepare to face Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League, while their old rivals face a long haul back to the big time.

 

The Northern Irishman said: â??I donâ??t think Rangers are as strong on the pitch and I donâ??t think theyâ??re as strong an institution as they once were.

 

â??I donâ??t know the ins and outs, but I look at their team and it has been significantly weakened because of the big players who have gone.

 

â??Weâ??ve got stronger. Weâ??ve got better on the pitch and the revenue weâ??ve brought in this year will leave us financially stable for a long, long time.â?

 

Lennon revealed he shed no tears over the disappearance of the Glasgow derby.

 

He said: â??Everybody misses the build-up to the game itself and the raw energy those matches bring.

 

â??But as a boss I donâ??t miss them because theyâ??re not a very nice experience at times.

 

â??When you win, you just feel a pressure release and when you lose youâ??re in a very dark place for two or three days.

 

â??The supporters love all that theatre. Me? Iâ??m happy without it.â?

 

Two men were jailed for five years last April for sending suspect packages in the post to Lennon.

 

And he reflected in an English paper: â??I think those guys getting put away has become a deterrent for anybody else.

 

â??Things havenâ??t been as bad for me, which has made life a whole lot easier.

 

â??Without the Rangers-Celtic thing thereâ??s been more banter than anything sinister.

 

â??At times when the teams are competing for things there seems to be much more of an edge to the sectarian element.

 

â??But I was well looked after security-wise. I had to put up with a bit of **** here and there, but as long as the security people tell you that you arenâ??t in imminent danger, you just have to get on with things.â?

 

Lennon was last night named Sky Sports Manager of the Year. Sky explained:

 

â??Lennon has defied the odds in the Champions League.â?

 

And the delighted Hoops boss tweeted: â??Thank you Sky Sports for a very unexpected accolade.â?

 

But now, after all the excitement over Juve and his award, Lennon will focus on the SPL and the visit of Ross County to Parkhead today.

 

Almost three years have passed since the Staggies shocked Celtic in a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.

 

Earlier this season, County came within seconds of beating the Hoops in Dingwall and Lenny hailed the progress of one of the countryâ??s youngest senior clubs.

 

He said: â??I think itâ??s a great club. They have a great set-up and a good young manager in Derek Adams who has done wonders on a really limited budget.â?

 

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/feeds/smartphone/scotland/4710132/Lenny-Rangers-are-weak-on-the-pitch-and-weak-off-it.html#ixzz2Fl6W10rG

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Really? We're weaker on the pitch? Give us a few years and we'll see who's the stronger team Neil. Also, we're debt free.

 

Hardly an "exclusive" article. Infact, it doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

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Of course we are weaker on the field we are playing a team full of young boys who will hopefully progress into a strong team once we have climbed the leagues,but off the field we have the best stadium,training facilities,no debt,money in the bank and the largest crowds in Scotland .Piss off Lennon and mind your own

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There are a few things to point out about this. The first is obvious, Lennon's usual lack of class in getting involved at all. The second is of course that he is correct about us being weaker ON the park, albeit the point is totally irrelevant and not worth mentioning. Of course we are weaker, why wouldn't we be? but the real point is how strong will we be when we get back to the top? The third point is for me the most interesting though, is Lennon suggesting that the old regime at ibrox was stronger than the one we have now? really? the regime who took us to the point of destruction? Lennon sticking up for Murray? If he believes Rangers "aren't as strong an institution" as they were then he's kidding himself on. If anything we are stronger and more together as hopefully he and the rest of the Scottish game will discover over the next few years.

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After what Rangers have been through in 2012 of course we're weaker on the pitch than we've been in decades. No team could lose the number of players that we did (with next to no financial compensation) and not be. Lennon is simply stating the obvious but in a way intended to rile us and make his own support feel better about the miserable one-horse race that they are conducting in the SPL. Whether we're weaker off the pitch now is patently rubbish. Given where we are and the illegal restrictions that have been placed on us we are on far firmer ground financially than we have been in years. The fact is that Rangers fans have done this by packing Ibrox at every opportunity and showing everybody that the club might be wounded and kicked from pillar to post but it will never die. Celtic may monopolise a joke league for a few more seasons and guarnatee themselves a pot from the CL but the fact is they will need every penny of CL money because their normal gates are plummeting and the value of the SPL TV contract is only going to fall until there is a sense of genuine competition again.

 

Rangers can ride out this storm and come back stronger than any of imagined in the dark days of June-July. Then we'll see how well (or not) Celtic have spent their windfall.

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Is it not a case that he was asked a question rather than went on a rant?

 

I hate the guy as much as the next Bear but I think at times we dig for stuff that isn't really there and it makes us look as bad as them at times when it comes to the obsession crap

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