Rangers title win will be a hollow victory

[SteveC 150]

I have taken off the headline, saying that our league win will be "hollow" as that may have distracted from what, for me, is an inarguable piece. ( http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/rangers-title-will-be-a-hollow-victory-1-3335530 )

 

 

by ALAN PATTULLO

Published on the

11 March

 

 

Rangers could be hours away from the League 1 title. The last but one objective in Rangers’ projected return to the top tier in successive seasons could be complete. Another mission accomplished if they win tomorrow night against Airdrieonians.

 

It will be deservedly so. Rangers have won 25 of their 27 matches. They have drawn the two others. They have scored 84 goals, conceding only 14. They are doing what we all expected them to do. They are doing what they should be doing.

 

But is the journey proving as gainful as hoped? Are Rangers making enough use of their journey back to the top flight? This question was first posed last season when a team of mostly experienced professionals – in several cases, internationals – made swift work of part-time opponents. Then, the same complaint was heard. Rangers are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. They are failing to take a prize opportunity to blood young talent in the first team.

 

More than one person has commented on the underwhelming atmosphere at Bayview earlier his month, when Rangers needed an injury-time penalty to secure three points against East Fife. It was a scuffed victory, set against a backdrop of yelps and shouts from the players that were heard from television screens across the land. It was as uninspiring as it was possible to be. Manager Ally McCoist admitted as much afterwards. He was happy enough with the result, just not the performance. It was far from what he had expected, he said. It was certainly far from what should be expected from what is still, at even casual glance, a team of Scottish Premiership-standard players.

 

For those with the health of Scottish football at heart, it is a slightly deflating experience to study the Rangers teamsheet each week. Doing so will stir far more painful emotions for Rangers fans, since it provides plenty of pointers towards why the club are still hemorrhaging money. Well-paid – some would say vastly overpaid – seasoned professionals playing far below their level is not the only reason why the club are reduced to casting around for loans. However, it isn’t helping. Much was made of how Rangers might negotiate their way back up the leagues when it was confirmed that they would begin season 2012-13 in the old Third Division. While clearly traumatic, some expressed the hope that this would at least provide them with the opportunity to rebuild from the bottom up; to resuscitate the club’s youth development programme.

 

Few can claim that Murray Park has been as successful on that front as was hoped. The most successful graduates are now playing elsewhere. Are there many coming through the ranks? Not on the evidence presented to date. Of the players used by McCoist on Saturday, most would not have seemed out of place in the Scottish Premiership. Indeed, several of them are not only Premiership players, but top end ones. Lee Wallace was one of Hearts’ best players before he made the switch to Ibrox, as was David Templeton. Jon Daly was regarded as a significant loss by Dundee United fans when he departed, while Richard Foster is the epitome of a dependable professional, though when he returned to the club he seemed far from essential to Rangers’ ambitions of winning the title.

 

Cammy Bell, meanwhile, had earned international recognition with Kilmarnock. On the bench, of course, is substitute goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, with the younger Scott Gallacher condemned to play reserve team football following his return to Ibrox after a loan spell with Airdrieonians. Defenders Craig Halkett and Lucas Gasparotto, who qualifies for Canada, are two players whom many expected to have been employed by now, but neither has featured yet this season – not for Rangers at least. Fraser Aird and Robert Crawford, who replaced Aird during last Saturday’s match, are sources of some optimism, as, of course, is Lewis Macleod, the currently injured Scotland Under-21 internationlist.

 

McCoist clearly does not believe others coming through at Murray Park are good enough. If he did, he would have fewer qualms about pitching them into the team, the way that Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara has done at a higher level.

 

It is unlikely that McCoist will be persuaded to do so next season either, in a league where teams need to know how to look after themselves, perhaps to an even greater extent than in the Premiership.

 

So has Rangers’ window for youth development now passed? Probably. They have other battles to fight in any case. But when they do take their place in the top flight, probably in two seasons’ time, the relief may well be tempered by a niggling sense of what else might have been delivered over the course of their exile.

[Doc 280]

Can't disagree with a lot of that. We've missed a unique opportunity to bring a bunch of youth players through and have them ready for the Championship and the SPL. Sorry Ally, another mark in the ledger against your managership.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

the sad thing about our journey back is that bar maybe 10 games most of our opponents have looked our equal more often than not

[Waltersgotstyle 297]

McCoist clearly does not believe others coming through at Murray Park are good enough. If he did, he would have fewer qualms about pitching them into the team, the way that Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara has done at a higher level.

 

Saddest part of the article - the fact that Rangers u20s are fighting out with Celtic for the title suggest to me that our youngsters must be some of the best in the country.

[der Berliner 3,239]

My cynical self says: "another article aimed at Rangers and McCoist, utilizing the easiest sitting duck option* about ... and one that rings a bell with the support". The point here is that there are a lot of factors coming into play that are easily cast aside by people wanting to make their point. Sure, Auchenhowie is there to breed young talent, but likewise it is the first team's training facility et al. Never gets a mention. We were forced to blood youngsters throughout last season, some came good, others did not. I assume no-one forgot how the months from January to May 2013 went? And to blame that solely on McCoist and the veterans is a touch beyond reality. The demands of the Rangers support is also quite considerable. They want success on all frontiers, demand quality displays and youngsters who step in and shine. If players are not up for that, well, you all have been about long enough to know what happens. Is there a difference between playing in the u20s and in front of a demanding, full-house Ibrox? I would assume it is. Quite a few of our talented youngsters grow far to big for their shoes as well. Methinks elfideldo can tell us much more about the possible first team additions here. That said, no Rangers manager that I have seen has been known for giving youth a bigger platform than McCoist did last season. What he had to make sure is that our prime objective - i.e. a return to the top flight - is being accomplished and with players able to go all the way. That is what Rangers supporters demand of him and the team first and foremost. Decent enough or even champagne football, youngsters coming through and long cup runs are all bonuses. And that is essentially it. Once we seal the title, either tomorrow or at the weekend, in mid-March, McCoist can trial youngsters to his heart's content for 2 and a half months.

 

And while we are at it ... the flak continues to go primarily our way. How many stylish and cool youngsters have the Hooped Horrors produced these last few seasons? Out of their own ranks? I hear people shouting for a Barca system or the like, but that is not football reality in 90% of the world. Ajax comes into the fray too. They got horsed 6-1 over two legs by Red Bull Salzburg in the EL, because Salzburg did what 80% of all "great" and demanding teams do in Europe, assemble squads of quality players and add the odd self-bred youngster every now and then.

 

So yes, we might have missed a chance here this season with McKay, Gasparotto, Crawford and McAusland, perhaps a few others too - even though the season's not finished. But on the other hand you can only work with the talent you have and it is very much up to debate how "good" that talent actually is. At the end of the day, you have to trial them with the first team on the field of play and no Rangers (or any other) manager (unless need demanded it) did so in meaningful games.

 

*Example required? Gallagher. Has played the odd game here and there, was good till September 1st (playing 3 games), no doubt about it. But once Bell was there, Gallagher would have been restricted to the bench and reserve games. How would he have to improved as a young goalie without playing? So he went to Airdrie for half a season (playing 9 games) and it was Airdrie's decision not to take him on for longer. Now, does Pattulo expect that we will use Scott just because he's back? What sort of answer is he looking for? I reckon that we will use either Simonsen or Gallagher once the title is secured, the former to earn his pay, the latter to get experience.

[calscot 0]

This just seems to be another ageism piece that earns its schilling on the popular myth that to develop a club and to produce players you have to put a load of youths into the team. I've asked for evidence so many times but no-one can provide it, it's all about faith in the religion of the unicorn.

 

The irony is that on the one hand our own fans criticise the management as in the youth competitions many teams have quite a few of their players playing regularly for the first team, then on the other they point out we have a great crop who seem to be one of the best in the country. How can you be the best in the country when you are not playing your player in the first team and other are? Surely the other teams should be more developed? If they are the best then is Murray Park doing something right or wrong?

 

Even when you look further along the chain you see that Rangers are a major producer of Scottish Internationals, as well as for Northern Ireland. How can that be?

 

I don't have the answers but I don't fall for a very flawed and simple argument that you have to play youth all the time and as I've pointed out before that the logic conclusion questions where do the over 25s play? A veteren's league?

 

I don't have the answers but it's obvious that it's more complicated than that and it limited by the fact you can only play 11 players at once, and Rangers are an exception where the pressures for not only winning but a champagne performance are huge. With the team half full of youngsters last season (although according to the arcticle and all the similar pontifications, this somehow didn't actually happen) the fans were not happy and while the results in the league were more than adequate, they were not of the type of thrashings expected. So who can blame the management for changing tack and a cold look at the stats shows that there has been substantial improvement.

 

Even when you look at the cups, our oldie team are still in both competitions (maybe just but you're either in or out), the one competition we're out of is the one we went out at the first hurdle due to being forced to play our youths as a result of some strange ruling.

 

The nonsense of this type of article is that the very flawed premise is treated as obvious fact and then the multitude of disciples all murmur their agreement of its veracity and its obviousness.

 

Yet asked to give an exemplar and everyone is stuck. The classic is Man U which doesn't make sense as they don't actually have a team full of kids and according to the Rangers criteria, never did. They ONCE had a team half full of young players but only ONE teenager - we've been playing with more than that. But then many people don't seem to understand the meaning of the first part of, "If you're good enough, you're old enough."

 

Another classic is Ajax, which ignores the amazing Dutch grass-roots football system that we just don't have in Scotland - and also ignores the amount of money they spend on players.

 

Someone once said the Dunfermline team had a maximum age of 25 and averaged about 21, I await with baited breath while they develop this team into one which will topple Celtic - which the article seems to be suggesting.

 

I actually feel sorry for all the over 25s that are left on the scrapheap and have to find normal jobs. People seem to be advocating a retirement age of about 26, but they never seem to realise it.

Edited March 11, 2014 by calscot

[calscot 0]

DB makes a very good point about the young keeper. Had we used him as a number 2 he'd have had one game. If we put him on the bench now he's not getting a game, so what would he be learning? It's totally erroneous and blatantly misunderstands the fact you can only play one keeper. It's a shame he didn't go out for the whole season but that's not Rangers decision.

 

However, it does seem to show that Rangers are far more practical about youth development than these misty eyed articles.

[26th of foot 5,829]

Alan Pattulo is a born'n'bred Hibby.

 

His club are truly stinking at this moment, in fact they have honked for several years now. Constant succumbing to a crisis torn Hearts appears to be their recent raison d'etre. Thus, a real crie de couer article from Alan on the plight of the cabbage and ribs would be worth reading. It's like arch Rangers hater, Ewing Grahame in yesterday's Telegraph; battering into Rangers again is the path of least resistance.

 

Both articles are accurate, but not worthy. We, the Rangers support know the facts, we live and breathe them every day. Informing us that the club's achievement is no achievement is bitter resentment. Another trophy bearing 'Rangers FC' is something they cannot accept with any degree of comfort. It is evidence of our continued existence.

 

As alluded to, our club could secure five cups in the next several weeks. I do not expect we will, but if the under 20s and the youths win the league and cup double, the likes of Pattulo and Grahame will have to re-examine their lazy conclusions. Don't hold your collected breath.

[Hildy 0]

Pay at the gate this week for a game that is being billed as a title decider.

 

That tells its own story.

[der Berliner 3,239]

Pay at the gate this week for a game that is being billed as a title decider.

 

That tells its own story.

 

Yep. Rather hastily re-arranged, midweek, and not regarded as a title decider up until the Pars managed to miss out on points. No more, no less.