A calm, rational analysis from Richard Wilson

[Frankie 8,153]

Well worthy of your time this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38975026

 

With the departure of Mark Warburton, Rangers have effectively hit the reset button on the club's football operations.

 

The process has now begun to identify the profile and individuals for two key positions at Ibrox, with a view to recovering the ground lost as Warburton faltered in his last 14 months as manager.

 

When Warburton was appointed in the summer of 2015, Rangers did not have a full executive team or board of directors in place, and the priority was to find a new manager.

 

Now managing director Stewart Robertson and director of finance and administration Andrew Dickson will lead the search for a director of football and a head coach.

 

There may be an interim manager in the meantime, but there are a number of issues to be addressed once Rangers make permanent appointments.

 

Player recruitment

 

A scouting network and a recruitment strategy will be the responsibility of the director of football rather than the head coach, and critical to the team's development in the short and long term.

 

There will now be a recognition at the club that, while responsibility for first-team training and performance should solely belong to the head coach, recruitment must be run separately, with the head coach having a final say on transfers in and out of the club.

 

Warburton insisted upon the appointment of Frank McParland as head of recruitment, but he was effectively part of the management team and departed at the same time after failing to build a scouting network.

 

Rangers have a limited budget in historical terms, albeit one that is significantly greater than the resources available to every club in Scotland bar Celtic, and the money needs to be spent more wisely. This requires combining traditional scouting methods with the accumulation and analysis of data - to bespoke parameters - from the first-team to academy sides.

 

The board's recruitment strategy was to sign younger players who can be developed at Ibrox and sold for a profit, to work alongside graduates from the youth academy and more experienced players where required.

 

That approach will be re-emphasised and a database of players built up to allow more flexibility in the market - rather than chasing one target for each position and being potentially exposed to a premium price - and better value for money by increasing the club's knowledge of foreign players.

 

Rangers also need to be better at signing the best young or developing players in Scotland, since they tend to move out of reach financially once they are lured to England.

 

Assess the squad

 

The current squad has not been capable of the consistency or decisiveness to deliver Rangers' ambitions.

 

Despite signing four centre-backs, Warburton never established a partnership able to play the high line that he wanted, or be commanding enough to reliably defend set pieces.

 

Wes Foderingham has improved as a goalkeeper, but doubts remain about his consistency.

 

With the defensive midfield role never adequately filled - Andy Halliday is better suited to playing further forward, Jordan Rossiter has never been fit and Matt Crooks was sent out on loan - and 37-year-old Kenny Miller the regular centre-forward, it is the spine of the team that needs to be strengthened first.

 

Two centre-backs, a strong, assertive and shrewd central midfielder and a striker who can lead the line and hold up play are the key positions to be filled.

 

Variety has to be restored to the squad since Warburton signed a number of players of a similar profile - Harry Forrester, Josh Windass, Jason Holt and even the loan players, Emerson Hyndman and Jon Toral, all share the same attributes.

 

The latter two will leave at the end of the season, while Holt has the potential to develop further. Windass has shown flashes of promise, but Forrester has been unreliable.

 

In attack, too, Rangers have become muddled. Martyn Waghorn has regularly scored goals but bridles against being played on the right, while Joe Garner, with three goals so far, is yet to deliver as a striker or a £1.7m signing, and Joe Dodoo has been peripheral.

 

Renewing the squad will require clever business in the transfer market, not least in moving on players who do not have a future at the club.

 

The McKay question

 

If captain Lee Wallace and Miller, who wants to sign a contract extension, are most likely to stay at the club because of their contributions on and off the field, there is a third player whose future remains less certain.

 

In terms of ability, winger Barrie McKay is a prospect, given his excellent first touch, acceleration, ability to run with the ball and range and pace of passing.

 

Yet, he is out of contract in 18 months and has not delivered the same number of goals (two) or assists (four) as other players in his position in the Premiership such as Celtic's Scott Sinclair (14 goals and five assists), Hearts' Jamie Walker (11 and three), Aberdeen's Niall McGinn (eight and four), St Johnstone's Danny Swanson (seven and six), Aberdeen's Jonny Hayes (five and 10), or Celtic's James Forrest (four and five).

 

Either McKay is persuaded to sign a new contract and his development progresses or Rangers cash in on a player who has a market value that could be used to re-invest in the squad.

 

Similar decisions need to be made about Rob Kiernan, Danny Wilson and Waghorn, who are all out of contract in the summer of 2018.

 

In terms of players who are out of contract in the summer, Miller wants to remain at Rangers and pursue his coaching career, while fellow veterans Clint Hill and Philippe Senderos are more likely to leave.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Frankie

[Gribz 743]

It would be interesting to see a poll about having a DoF. Im not a fan of this process but do admit it can work at certain clubs. But I always see a potential clash of opinions between the head coach and DoF.

 

I also like the thought of having a Football Manager at Rangers, maybe its just tradition. I do get the points that a background set up and a review of such things like scouting network needs done but that can be done by the day to day management with Manager input. At the end of the day I always think the players coming in should be the managers choice.

 

All other sections are spot on.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Gribz

[26th of foot 5,838]

Tom English will be demanding why BBC Scotland are allowing calm analysis of the Rangers situation? A man in a constant fit of pique will be haranguing new BBC Scotland Director General, Donalda MacKinnon to rid PQ of, 'the Token'.

 

A'hm tellin' ye, there'll be fulmination in the Gang Hut this week!

[der Berliner 3,254]

Barrie McKay, who essentially just turned 22, has been playing lower tier football for the best part of his career. He is now up against one to three better quality defenders (as he is our main assist-thread) who usually give more when playing against us. To compare his stats this season (where his fellows on the park CONSTANTLY manage to squander the chances he creates) with the likes of Sinclair (ex. ManCity / EPL / 27 years) is stretching it a little, while those others usually don't face the attention Barrie gets.

 

We saw against teams that don't know him - e.g. RB Leipzig - how he can skipp past defences. He sure has to add a few goals to his games, but essentially he is a young winger.

 

The rest is just the usual stuff. 18 months ... which tends to suggest that there is absolutely NO hurry, despite what the journos make us think - as we can demand what we want for him essentially to the last day of his contract (in theory at least). Whether he will sign or not is not solely up to us, but also who may come in for him and what he thinks of it. So we can try and try and try as long as we want ... and he (and his agent) can just say: let's wait till summer. That is the status quo, no matter what the journos will tell us - or we think. In terms of Barrie, we are still very much in a win-win situation.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Tom English will be demanding why BBC Scotland are allowing calm analysis of the Rangers situation? A man in a constant fit of pique will be haranguing new BBC Scotland Director General, Donalda MacKinnon to rid PQ of, 'the Token'.

 

A'hm tellin' ye, there'll be fulmination in the Gang Hut this week!

 

Richard is clearly no right in the heid for their mentality, a wish Rangers could help him out of his misery, put old Jimbo T out to pasture.

Edited February 16, 2017 by aweebluesoandso

[ian1964 10,419]

As opposed to his colleague who is suggesting Rangers audited accounts are fraudulent!

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by ian1964

[StuGers 477]

It isn't hard to see why the BBC are banned from Ibrox - you have their head sports employee for Scotland openly calling audited accounts for the club fake on his Twitter. Unbelievable.

[Davie P 4]

It isn't hard to see why the BBC are banned from Ibrox - you have their head sports employee for Scotland openly calling audited accounts for the club fake on his Twitter. Unbelievable.

 

I was trying to follow it on Twitter last night. My cursory overview was that English was intimating that King and other Directors (who have stated that they receive no remuneration for their services) may have their costs included (and hidden ) within the playing staff salaries. Could be wrong though, I was trying to watch the Champions League matches at that time!

[Uilleam 5,443]

English seems to be one of those simpletons who confuse what one wishes to be true, with what is true. It is a dangerous trait, in any line of work, not merely in sports' writing.

The other evening on Radio Scotland he opined that a (any) resignation had to be put in writing, which we know to be patent nonsense. Yesterday he sent out "Tweets" in which he cast doubt about the veracity of Rangers' audited accounts. At face value, these communications appear to libel the Directors of the Club, and the Auditors. If they do, I sincerely hope that they take action.

We should note that the impact of such calumnies may be significant, if, eg, The Board wished to have a shares issue.

[alexscottislegend 2,073]

Wasn't the appointment of Jim Traynor meant to counteract the meddling of such as English? Why do we not hear of him? Has he resigned?