'Groundhog Day' for restless Rangers fans

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Banners reading â??Less time tweeting, more time trainingâ?? were unfurled by Rangers fans in the BF1 section on Saturday during the dismal 0-0 draw against Stirling Albion at Ibrox.

 

It was a dig at some Rangers players after Kyle Hutton, only a few days after the home defeat to Annan Athletic. caused a minor furore among the support by tweeting that he was going home from training just after noon to watch DVDs.

 

It wasn't helped when Darren Cole followed with a joke tweet -- or possibly a jibe at the complaining support -- that he "just got a text from Ads their mate we are in training tomoro at 7am - 11pm." This was followed by the hashtag â??#easyseshâ??, as in an easy training session.

 

It was all ill-advised at the time, and after the fans had to sit in sub-zero temperatures watching one of the worst performances ever seen at Ibrox, it looks even less sensible.

 

After the match, Rangers manager Ally McCoist said, â??I thought it was a disappointing 90 minutes for everybody, to be honest. Anybody who was watching it will agree it wasn't a good game at all. We just have to get over the line, thatâ??s what we need to do. I said at the start of the season we needed players and Iâ??m not going to change my tune on that. We had seven or eight players out today and that will tell you where we are. I'll probably go down in history as the only Rangers manager who struggled to fill a bench.â?

 

That is all true. It is a makeshift team, with injuries, and more importantly the handicap of a transfer registration ban and problems in the summer of 2012, which ensures McCoist is unable to pick his own squad.

 

However, there can be no denying that the players at his disposal are still superior to the opposition, yet they often look unfit, disorganised and struggle to play any sort of passing football.

 

Not just against Stirling Albion, but nearly all season. Except for a good spell in late November and December, where it looked like the team had come together, it has been embarrassingly bad.

 

Like the Bill Murray character in â??Groundhog Dayâ??, this has all been seen and heard before, but this is why the support is so frustrated. Nothing changes and itâ??s the same woeful football week after week.

 

Why does McCoist persist with a team formation that patently doesnâ??t work? Why does he not experiment, even slightly, with anything other than one up front? On Saturday, he may have been short of players, but he could still have mixed it up on the park.

 

Why were four defenders and two holding midfielders needed against Stirling Albion? Even when substitutes were made, it was like-for-like in a positional sense and there was no attempt to change how Rangers played.

 

There should be no hiding how bad the team has been recently, yet calls for McCoist to be replaced are premature. He has to be given the chance to build his own team and develop his own style of football. Only then can he truly be judged.

 

However, itâ??s no exaggeration to say that the loyal Gers support are becoming disgusted with players on thousands of pounds a week struggling to beat part-time players, or amateurs in the case of Queenâ??s Park.

 

The nightmare scenario is that this is the style the Rangers manager will persist with, and it's just that he doesnâ??t have a Steven Naismith or a Nikica Jelavic who can do something special.

 

Though the SFL3 title will be won, the season will end in disappointment and a feeling a chance to rebuild with a planned footballing strategy has been ignored in favour of grinding out wins.

 

Whatever the truth, there is no doubt McCoist still has the chance to lead a footballing revolution at Ibrox with the fans by his side. But if he doesn't recognise this is what they desire, and not just beating part-timers with a long-ball game, then itâ??s doubtful the support will stay with him.