Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I know the subject of a recognisable footballing philosophy may have been covered over the course of various threads but I thought it was pertinent to bring it back to the table after Swansea City's historic win the English League Cup yesterday. When Rangers dropped into the 4th tier many fans (myself included) saw it as great opportunity to reboot the footballing side of our great club. With a short term transfer emarbgo imposed and limited transfer funds/wages at our disposal, Rangers couldn't spend in the way that most fans have been used to over the last 3/4 decades. While many fans might have seen our new found financial status as a negative, I for one. thought it would be herald a new brand of long term thinking inside the corridors of Ibrox. A footballing vision would be the key to our rise back to the top. Long term planning would be on the table for the first time in years without the immediate pressure cooker Old Firm rivalry. After nearly 2 seasons of baffling tactics and some one dimensional football under Ally, I fear that we are not going to learn much from our spell in the lower leagues of Scottish Football. Yesterday I watched Swansea pick up their first ever trophy under Michael Laudrup. This was almost 10 years after they nearly dropped out of the entire Football league. I use the Swansea example as they are a club that have recently set out a vision for what they want to acheive and (almost as important) how they want to acheive it. Their current manager and their last 2 managers have established an ethos of passing and possession football. They've gained plaudits, have risen into the lucrative EPL and have more than held their own using this admirable philosophy. This was in turn driven by a Chariman with a vision and the balls to stick by his guns. They didn't spend buckets of cash to do this and are one of many recent examples of what can be acheived by teams adopting a vision. If you're not too busy sealing commerical opportunites (or at least talking about them...), please take note Mr Green. Much could be learned from Swansea City. Our crowds have been out of this world this season but you simply cannot keep asking the fans to pay decent prices for a poor, poor product. Loyalty is one thing but IMO we also need something to believe in 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Absolute joy to watch. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amms 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Ooh, a thread about playing football, how novel! Great post, Swansea are, quite rightly, being held up currently as an example of how you run a football club. I mentioned them myself in an article several months ago, and like you say we are in danger of missing an opportunity here. The interest in short term capital is the single biggest issue at Rangers for me just now, with owners not looking beyond the next couple of years. That's not an 'anti-Green' position, simply my view of where we seem to be as a club. That aside the expectation level at Swansea allowed them to do this. They've never won anything, have spent most of their history out of the top flight and barring a brief spell in the early 80s have never troubled the top of the table. This atmosphere allows for experimentation, for time to be spent on development and for set-backs to be accepted. I recall an interview with Alex McLeish about his time as Rangers manager. He called Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith and they apparently both gave him the same advice "just win". It was telling of the mentality around our club and also the expectation. Up until this season second place in the top league was failure, that puts us in a very small group of clubs in the world. I wonder if our support would allow us to develop like Swansea, or if after a couple of bad results the knives would be out for those in charge. Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever find out. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuznetsov 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 to think ally said michu wasnt good enough for us last year too. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDGE 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 The Swansea story is remarkable and brilliant! They've lost managers to better clubs (better at the time) and despite this, continued their progression. It goes to show if the infrastructure is in place then despite setbacks, you can still prosper. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Sadly amms, you are spot on. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuznetsov 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 (edited) Ooh, a thread about playing football, how novel! Great post, Swansea are, quite rightly, being held up currently as an example of how you run a football club. I mentioned them myself in an article several months ago, and like you say we are in danger of missing an opportunity here. The interest in short term capital is the single biggest issue at Rangers for me just now, with owners not looking beyond the next couple of years. That's not an 'anti-Green' position, simply my view of where we seem to be as a club. That aside the expectation level at Swansea allowed them to do this. They've never won anything, have spent most of their history out of the top flight and barring a brief spell in the early 80s have never troubled the top of the table. This atmosphere allows for experimentation, for time to be spent on development and for set-backs to be accepted. I recall an interview with Alex McLeish about his time as Rangers manager. He called Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith and they apparently both gave him the same advice "just win". It was telling of the mentality around our club and also the expectation. Up until this season second place in the top league was failure, that puts us in a very small group of clubs in the world. I wonder if our support would allow us to develop like Swansea, or if after a couple of bad results the knives would be out for those in charge. Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever find out. we had that chance and proved that will not happen. we are wasting it. expectations are down, ambition is lowered, dropped points are now acceptable, defeats are now acceptable. we had a chance to develop and blew it. Edited February 25, 2013 by kuznetsov 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 (edited) Good point amms but do you not think we are in a unique position that allows for a balance of just winning and experimentation. I genuinely feel that we could still win these leagues and develop a football ethos at the same time. I sometimes see the "we can't all be Barca" argument when this subject pops up (not from you I may add) and for me that misses the point entirely. At the moment I would merely settle for a team that can bloody pass the ball and enjoys possession. It might not be groundbreaking but let's face it even that would be a huge jump from what we've had to endure under Ally. Oh and I would fine any player that plays more than than 3 high aimless long balls.... Edited February 25, 2013 by Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 we had that chance and proved that will not happen. we are wasting it. expectations are down, ambition is lowered, dropped points are now acceptable, defeats are now acceptable. we had a chance to develop and blew it. Think amms is trying say would we accept dropped points and poor performance if we had faith that the club and manager had a clear goal and a way of achieving that by playing good football. I would say until we can get rid of Them if that means another league outside of Scotland nothing will change with the support. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumshie RFC 0 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I said exactly the same thing yesterday when I was up at my dad's watching the game. Swansea really are a joy to watch and it shows what can be done on a small budget. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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