Rangers set to discover soon if they can keep Arsenal kid Gedion Zelalem...

[JTP 0]

The fact is he will keep playing these boys all season as long as they are performing because it's the only way we will CONTINUE to draft the best youngsters from the EPL back for season long loans.

 

That's fine by me. Certainly until we are in a position where our youngsters are equally as good and we don't need to go to the loan market.

[Oleg_Mcnoleg 50]

We're 8 points clear with almost 3/4 of the season left, the league is already won. Playing players on a weekly basis who we won't have next season is a complete waste of time. Instead we should be playing one of our own, anyone at all, regardless of age or if they are inferior. I would prefer to be playing a younger player who can develop, but anyone who will still be here next season will benefit from getting regular game time. The more our players play this season, the more integrated they will be in the new system and with the new players.

With respect, is it fuck! I'd have thought we'd be much further ahead given our record.

In terms of playing Murdoch or whoever, MW has said that they will only play if they're good enough which is as it should be. I'd like to see Murdoch, Thomson, etc too but they'll have to be good enough. That said, I'd imagine we will see more of them as the season progresses for the reasons you state.

[craig 5,199]

And what happens when the league is officially won? Do we still continue to develop other teams' players at the expense of our own? If we go 11 points clear this weekend will you still want to see us playing on loan players?

 

I want to see the best XI players on the pitch that we employ, whether on permanent contracts or on loan.

 

You take a very simplistic view of things - what happens if we play one of our own simply because he is "one of our own" and he is out of his depth and gets pelters from the stands - what about his development then ? Is that really development or a career hindrance ? And don't say it wont happen because we have plenty of history of getting on our own team's back - even the other week when 1-0 down at HT to QotS, whilst having had 9 wins on the trot in the league and having won 13 of 14 games in total, there were boos from the stands.

 

I find you to be an intelligent poster SBS, but you seem to flat out refuse to accept that it just might be the case that the players we have in reserve simply aren't good enough to step up to the 1st team. Remember, the vast majority of the development team are not Warburton's players - so it could quite easily be simply that none of them possess the abilities that he seeks for 1st team appearances. Which, in turn, could be why he is happy enough having loan players playing right now. I would suggest that we wait until next season before assessing whether loan players makes any sense for us.

 

It looks to me as if Warburton came in, assessed what we have, didn't think it was good enough for certain positions, decided to utilize the loan market to get what he wanted. I would hope that next season our team is full of players on permanent contracts unless we can get someone in the loan market who can be that "star" player, someone with the ability to create magic.

 

Either way, for me at least, I don't mind using loan players, so long as you are only talking about 2 or 3. If you look at the loan players he has brought in only Zelalem pretty much commands a weekly starting berth. Ball has only come in due to Wilson's injury (and actually looks a better player than both Wilson & Kiernan to me) whilst Oduwa has had his fair share of splinters from starting on the bench.

[Bruno55 0]

Also, some fans are up in arms that we should be playing our own players instead of zela/oduwa does that mean the same for Dominic Ball? Should Wilson play before ball? We're going to have to get used to the way the magic hat does business, he's taken loan players with every team he's been with. Personally im loving the beginning of our journey, yes the 'beginning' the being operative word. Let's be honest last season broke our hearts. (Again)...

[Anchorman 0]

We're 8 points clear with almost 3/4 of the season left, the league is already won.

 

I think you argued with yourself in that statement - 8 points with 3/4 of the season to go is nothing, especially if we lose on Sunday. I seem to remember us surrendering a 15 point lead with only 1/4 of the season to go - not that many years ago!

[Bruno55 0]

I've a sneaky wee feeling the magic hat will play all three, Kiernan ball and wilson on Sunday any thoughts?..

[pete 2,499]

I've a sneaky wee feeling the magic hat will play all three, Kiernan ball and wilson on Sunday any thoughts?..

It has not been in his modus operandi until now so I doubt it really. It would certainly be a surprise move and maybe be a smart move giving us 5 in midfield.

[colinstein 294]

everyone who plays for us is our player. Doesn't matter if it's a 6 month or 2 year contract. We need to get our heads round this because we'll be depending on loans from the EPL for the foreseeable future. Get used to it !