Rangers scout Frank McParland a golden nugget hunter?...

[ian1964 10,416]

...His style of recruitment has backfired on Mark Warburton.

 

GORDON PARKS says the Light Blues' recruitment policy is the sum total of a one man band.

 

FOOTBALL management was once described to me by a lower league gaffer as ‘a bit of a bluff.’

 

His belief was if you sound as though you know what you’re talking about then it’s half the battle.

 

In the week that Steve McClaren somehow managed to return to employment at Derby 17 months after being found out by the Rams, then maybe he has a point.

 

There have been a host of people in the game who lack substance and talent when it comes to picking a team.

 

A basic lack of depth and knowledge which is compensated with an ability to appear you’re in complete control – it’s a talent in itself.

 

There are some who excel in the business of bluff that the more failures they rack up, the higher they rise.

 

Which brings us nicely to the numbers game currently being played at Rangers by Mark Warburton.

 

The jury is out on the Ibrox gaffer and at Hampden this afternoon we will discover just how credible the Englishman is for the job.

 

The tactics, system and players he’s been using since the start of the season have been picked apart by the experts and are clearly not fit for purpose.

 

It all starts and ends with the players. A club which demands to be labelled one of the world’s biggest has a recruitment policy which is the sum total of a one man band.

 

It was with extreme caution that star chaser Frank McParland arrived with Warburton as the man who was a golden nugget hunter with the midas touch.

 

That Rumpelstiltskin approach to recruitment and all the promises of being able to spin straw into gold should always be taken with a pinch of salt and so it is proving.

 

McParland’s geographical pool from which he trawls appears only to sit near the M62. If it’s not Liverpool guys he’s shipping up then they hail from Manchester, more often than not share the same agent and it looks a touch on the lazy side.

 

Jordan Rossiter was the feather in his cap but the English Under-19 skipper apart, there hasn’t been much evidence with any of the other signings that McParland’s eye for a player merits the trumpet playing his arrival was met with.

 

The fact Kenny Miller is the first name on the Rangers teamsheet this afternoon tells its own story.

 

Clint Hill will be the only summer recruit who is in with a chance of starting this afternoon, another hint at the recruitment failings.

 

The only decent signing has been Josh Windass who arrived with little fanfare but he more than looks the part.

 

It’s by default that Warburton’s side will look more last season than new edition at Hampden and it’s a back to basics approach which offers them the best hope of pulling a result out the bag.

 

Five weeks ago Rangers were humiliated by Celtic, a side that operate on a different level and a quality of player which should ensure today’s League Cup semi-final is a formality.

 

That’s why Warburton must show his managerial ability and lessons will need to have been learned.

 

When a win at Inverness is hailed as a turning point then you sense trouble and Rangers have been unconvincing since the start of the season.

 

There’s always a bottom line when you are trying to make your way as a boss and it starts and ends well before the soundbites.

 

It’ll be the names in the hat rather than anything magic which will determine whether Warburton’s managerial career merits, respect and credibility.

 

It must start with a display against Celtic and some evidence that the naivety on show against the Hoops five weeks ago is history – it’s time to call his bluff.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-scout-frank-mcparland-golden-9105838

[jhunter 0]

Largely spot on

 

the summer recruitment has been a disaster.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

I agree JH. The summer signings have with the exception of Kranjar been at best largely ineffective and at worst a complete waste. MW has been given a free ride over his transfer signings when in truth, any other manager would be getting dogs abuse.

We are largely playing the same side as last year, I'm sorry for most who are cheerleading MW, and I'm not slating him, I'm simply pointing out that if it was anyone else, people would be on the Valium!! It's bad management in that department.

You can argue most of the blame is at Mcparlands door, however MW is paid to be the manager, the buck stops there.

Edited October 23, 2016 by cooponthewing

[ian1964 10,416]

Hatchet job is the way I read it.

 

The new signings haven't worked out yet!,Windass,Crooks,Dodoo & Rossiter are very talented young players who could develope into quality players but all have had injuries,is that the fault of the manager?,as for our CB situation MW did try and address the problems but failed to get them!,Barton might have worked out and Kranjcar was beginning to show progress!,Garner has yet to find his feet.We are not in a position to go out and buy the top quality players that everyone wants!.

There is no doubt in my mind we are heading in the right direction since MW came in,it's just not happening quick enough for some!,until we get some cash investment we will have to sign players on the cheap!.

Edited October 23, 2016 by ian1964

[ian1964 10,416]

Mark Warburton targets future for Rangers beyond Old Firm rivalry

 

After a 5-1 defeat by Celtic earlier in the season, revenge in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup is only part of the manager’s plans for the club

 

Ewan Murray - The Guardian

 

 

 

It is debatable whether Rangers actually relish their Sunday afternoon instant shot at redemption. The dust had barely settled on Celtic’s 5-1 demolition of their Old Firm rivals in September when the pair were drawn together in the semi-finals of the League Cup. Stung by what he regarded as wildly excessive coverage of Rangers’ woes at Celtic Park, Mark Warburton pointed to the personnel overhaul he implemented during the close season as a mitigating circumstance. Now, pressure returns to the Rangers manager as he seeks to demonstrate even small measures of progress during the intervening weeks.

 

As is typical, Warburton’s pre-match analysis is not opposition-specific. “Our focus has been, every week in the league, to try to get a better level of performance and a more consistent level of performance,” he explains. “This is another chance, against another very good team, to win a semi-final. There is no motivation required for the players. Whoever we are playing, this is a cup semi-final.”

Rangers in Scottish Cup final after beating Celtic in penalty shootout

Read more

 

Warburton, not unreasonably, points towards a domestic record that is not as bad as many would portray. The key point, as ever in Glasgow, relates to comparison; the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, relatively lavish spending and the immediate return of Champions League football automatically makes Rangers seem like poor relations.

 

“We have played 14 competitive games this season, this will be No15. We’ve lost two,” he says. “I’m not happy drawing games but we can bed in players. There’s a number of players that have been introduced to the squad and it’s a natural process. We knew what we had to do in the summer. We took a gamble at the start of last season. We had a really lean squad. You could reel the team off every week. We had players who played a lot of minutes and by the time the Scottish Cup final arrived, we were running on empty.

 

“There was this talk that I was making a statement at the time by naming only five subs. We had nobody else, simple as that. The squad size was a gamble. What did we learn? We needed greater depth and quality within the squad and that’s why we increased it by two this year.

 

“We are in a stronger position now. When you lose a game or draw, you have to keep your head down. But the fact is that we are gelling a number of players together, players are getting used to how you play and the demands.”

 

Surely the last stand of one of those pre-season signings came in the last derby. Joey Barton’s switch north has proven a disaster for Rangers, to the point where the only talk now is of when and how a parting of the ways will transpire. In a high-profile incident the week before last, Warburton was removed from a press conference while refusing to answer questions about the suspended midfield player.

 

“Whatever business you’re in, sometimes you can’t talk about things,” Warburton says. “You can sit there and they think you’re avoiding the question or you can say: ‘They’re going through a process here’, which any other business would do. But that doesn’t sell papers or get listeners on a radio show. The point is sometimes clubs will [speak] or if they can’t there’s a reason why. They’re not avoiding the question or chickening out. They’re just doing what they have to do.”

 

Barton was not named in a subsequent answer, but it was clear Warburton wanted to dismiss any sense that he resents players who might be prone to speaking their mind. “The first message to the players on the first day at the club was: ‘If my sessions are rubbish, knock on the door and say: ‘I didn’t get that session, it didn’t work for me.’’ No problem,” says the former Brentford manager. “If you say: ‘Oi, gaffer, that was rubbish,’ I’ll give you what for. It’s how you relay the message. If the session didn’t work and they tell me, I quite like that because I then have to tweak. If the food’s not right, I tell the chef. I don’t go in and say: ‘Oi, that lunch was crap.’ I say: ‘I’m not so sure about chicken today, chef.’ Same message but it’s how you tell it.

 

“The players know most because they’re involved in the game: 99 times out of 100, the first question I’ll ask at half-time will be: ‘What are your thoughts, gents?’ They’re involved in it. I’m watching from the sidelines.”

Celtic surge to Old Firm win over Rangers thanks to Moussa Dembélé hat-trick

Read more

 

Rangers will inevitably draw on their victory, also at Hampden Park, over Celtic in last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final. Win or lose, though, it is hard not to get the impression Warburton is uncomfortable with one fixture defining his reputation. “We knew the significance of that game and that win, because of where the club had been for four years,” the Rangers manager admits. “But the record books don’t show that we had a great semi-final and then lost the final. They show that we lost the final.

 

“What we have to do is focus on ourselves. What does that mean? It’s about us laying strong foundations here. We have to get it right. We have to get the academy right. We have to be producing players to come into the team to impact on the balance sheet in two or three years’ time. We have to get the staffing right, get the infrastructure right. We have to.”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/22/mark-warburton-rangers-celtic-scottish-league-cup-semi-final

[BalooBear 7]

Hatchet job is the way I read it.

 

The new signings haven't worked out yet!,Windass,Crooks & Rossiter are very talented young players who could develope into quality players but all have had injuries,is that the fault of the manager?,as for our CB situation MW did try and address the problems but failed to get them!,Barton might have worked out and Kranjcar was beginning to show progress!,Garner has yet to find his feet.We are not in a position to go out and buy the top quality players that everyone wants!.

There is no doubt in my mind we are heading in the right direction since MW came in,it's just not happening quick enough for some!,until we get some cash investment we will have to sign players on the cheap!.

 

You hit the nail on the head Ian I couldn't have said it better myself.

[ian1964 10,416]

You hit the nail on the head Ian I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

No mention in that article about the humiliating performances by them in Europe!,or their recruitment policy!,bitterness is oozing out of it!.

Edited October 23, 2016 by ian1964

[laudrup11 0]

Hatchet job is the way I read it.

 

The new signings haven't worked out yet!,Windass,Crooks & Rossiter are very talented young players who could develope into quality players but all have had injuries,is that the fault of the manager?,as for our CB situation MW did try and address the problems but failed to get them!,Barton might have worked out and Kranjcar was beginning to show progress!,Garner has yet to find his feet.We are not in a position to go out and buy the top quality players that everyone wants!.

There is no doubt in my mind we are heading in the right direction since MW came in,it's just not happening quick enough for some!,until we get some cash investment we will have to sign players on the cheap!.

 

Agree with Ian

The new signings need time to settle and come to terms with playing for Rangers.

Obviously we'd all have loved them to click & gel together as quickly as last seasons side but it is still way too early to be writing them all off

[the gunslinger 3,366]

So we're just looking at this year.

[der Berliner 3,247]

IMHO, a lot what is written today serves only one puprose: fill the pages. Even the people writing this (apart from those of that certain warped mentality so evident in Yahooland) will, if put to question, say that it is the end of the season where you can start analysing good or bad signings.

 

With regard to the above: which of those signings were "solely" down to McParland? I would hazard a guess and say: Rossiter and Dodoo. Now, how can you fault McParland for Rossiter's injury? Or MW not playing him straight away, after the lad had played during the summer?

 

How could you fault McParland if our gaffer decides not to start Dodoo when he signed, or straight after injury?

 

As for the rest, what does the author know about who signed Hill & Co.? Why is he blathering on about trumpets and hysteria when essentially it was people like him who were providing the air? It's not like we or the club went all bananas when they arrived. Some were optimistic, some were not, but we sure did not welcome any of the players we signed like we did stars - i.e. real stars - of the past.

 

IMHO, trolling of the highest standard.