Unfinished business

[pete 2,499]

Unfinished business

Buying young and selling big. Assistant manager Ally McCoist explains the Ibrox club�s recruitment strategy to Michael Grant

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IT WAS breakfast time in the lounge of a golf club and Ally McCoist was in the mood to talk about two of the great loves of his life. Not the 18 holes he was about to play at The Carrick Club near Loch Lomond, nor the roll and sausage in his hand which he put away quicker than a short downhill putt. McCoist's topics were even closer to his heart than that: namely goalscorers and the future direction of Rangers.

 

Rangers' number two made himself comfortable and then elaborated at length on a recent throwaway remark by Walter Smith. The manager had described the arrival of Kyle Lafferty as a revealing one for the club. Smith had said that given the restrictions on their spending, an outlay of �£3 million on an unproven 20-year-old was a large calculated gamble for Rangers, and also the sort of speculative risk they would take more often in the future.

 

The template is Dutch. Ajax have been synonymous with excellence in their internal youth development for nearly four decades, although Rangers' planned strategy is closer to PSV Eindhoven's. PSV made a reputation for spotting exceptional prospects, signing them and selling them on for big profits.

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They took Ronaldo from Brazilian football when he was only 17 and were also the first European club to sign his fellow Brazilian star, Romario, when he was just 22. PSV were Eidur Gudjohnsen's first major club and they were also quick to recognise and sign Mateja Keman, Arjen Robben, Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young-Pyo.

 

McCoist was not making any claims that Lafferty was in that class, or that they will be as successful as PSV have been, but the methodology is the same: identify an emerging young talent and invest in signing him, have short-term success while he is in the team and then a significant transfer fee when he is sold on to a bigger or richer club in the medium term.

 

Lafferty is on a five-year contract and, even if they would not publicly say so, the ideal scenario for Rangers would be to develop him into a major talent who would be sold on for a substantial profit after around three years.

 

"There's got to be a realisation amongst the fans that times have changed with the Old Firm and Scottish football," said McCoist. "But I don't see why, in an ideal world, we can't be a team like maybe Ajax or PSV Eindhoven. By that I mean competing at the top level in Europe most years even though you effectively have to sell your best talent to survive. I think these kind of clubs have managed it perfectly.

 

"The financial situation down south dictates everything really. We can't afford to compete with these guys; the likes of Fulham, for players. So you have to look at it and see how you can go around it. We'll try and nurture them and keep them coming along. Ajax and PSV have been going to the likes of Brazil and getting Ronaldo and Romario as young kids."

 

The danger of the PSV approach is obvious: big money can be spent on a young player who doesn't turn out to be as good as expected. Besides, Lafferty would not be in the SPL if Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal had wanted him. Arsenal have just spent �£5m on a player who is three years younger, Aaron Ramsey from Cardiff City.

 

Rangers, and Celtic for that matter, are not realistically in the market when the likes of a Ramsey or Theo Walcott emerges in England. That makes it all the more difficult to identify those players who might go on to be big names who can be sold for a profit. Smith struck gold when he signed a teenage Rino Gattuso in his first spell at Rangers, only for him to be sold by Dick Advocaat long before blossoming into an eventual World Cup winner.

 

"Obviously it's a gamble," McCoist went on. "There is a fear factor to a certain degree but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives and it's a gamble we have to take. We can't go out and get the finished product at �£12m. That's impossible. We can't afford it and we can't compete with the top clubs. You have to find another way of doing it and this is one of the ways. I think it's a gamble you might see the two Old Firm clubs taking more often."

 

Lafferty's prospects of making an impact at Ibrox are encouraging because of his pace, athleticism and technique, said McCoist, but he also made a point of praising the attitude the young Northern Irishman - and fellow new arrivals Kenny Miller and Andrius Velicka - brings to the club.

 

"The impression I get is that they're really keen to play for the club. That might not sound important but it's massive to me. You get players who go from club to club and effectively it's just a job for them. But these guys want to play. I think it's important. I like Velicka, he always did well against us. He seemed to play his best against the Old Firm and I just hope that continues; that he's a big occasion player."

 

Miller is going to have to be a player for every occasion. McCoist cannot have been so out of step with many Rangers supporters since the very start of his own playing career. Many fans are set against Miller coming back to Ibrox after undistinguished goalscoring records at Wolves, Derby County and specifically Celtic, but McCoist could not be more enthusiastic. He sees Miller bringing the work-rate, pace, movement and attitude which the attack was lacking last season. He would pick him before Kris Boyd, James McFadden or any other Scottish forward.

 

"He's a better player than his goals show, a far better player. Intelligent people will know there's more to Kenny than goals, far more. You wouldn't buy him for his goals. But you'd buy him for his forward play and contribution to the team. I would look to improve his attempts on goal. I'm really looking forward to working with him because he's totally unselfish. I don't want to take that away from him but if he could just be a bit more selfish "I hope the fans give him a fair crack of the whip, that's all you can ask for. Just treat him as a Rangers player on his form. The Old Firm is a tough place to play. There's a graveyard full of centre-forwards and strikers who didn't make it for Rangers or Celtic. It's about how you handle it. I've got no problems about Kenny's attitude and desire to do it, which I think will see him through.

 

"He's good enough and anyone who says otherwise is talking nonsense. Of course fans are entitled to their opinion and that won't change. I think fans are having a go because he played with Celtic and some are blinkered in that way. Time will tell if he's good enough but in my opinion he's the best all-round Scottish striker at the moment. Boydy's got his goals, Faddy's got great talent and a wee spark but pound for pound you'd have Kenny starting in your team before anyone."

 

McCoist would still like to see Rangers sign "someone with a bit of dig" in midfield. Given their determination to uncover valuable young talent, Rangers have plenty of digging ahead.

 

For this to work we need to get the scouts off their arses and if Walter Smith is the man to lead the way is also debatable, given his record in actually playing young players. Davie Weir? I rest my case.

[alexscottislegend 2,064]

^ You yourself have mentioned Herenveen as a role model for us and there's no doubt for me this is the way forward for RFC. It's either about finding promising young talent and selling them on when the time is right, or we have to be content with 30+ signings looking for a last payday - and I for one don't want see Ibrox become an elephant's graveyard. Disagree about Weir and Dailly though - they're just there as squad players. Don't see why Aaron Ramsey is outwith our reach though - we could probably guarantee him first team football which is something he might not see at Arsenal for years. Walcott flits in and out and his club still get linked with big name players.

[pete 2,499]

I suppose if you look at the Gow case, we paid +- 400.000 in wages and we can get 750.000 back for him,so it was good business. The flip side of the coin is that no young player in his right mind will join us because they know they will never get a chance.

[stewarty 1,876]

I suppose if you look at the Gow case, we paid +- 400.000 in wages and we can get 750.000 back for him,so it was good business. The flip side of the coin is that no young player in his right mind will join us because they know they will never get a chance.

 

Unless the signing of Lafferty, and this article signal a change of transfer strategy. In which case, it can be used to try and lure some of the talent that flies under the radar of the big teams, but who have the potential to develop into big stars in the future.

[alexscottislegend 2,064]

I suppose if you look at the Gow case, we paid +- 400.000 in wages and we can get 750.000 back for him,so it was good business. The flip side of the coin is that no young player in his right mind will join us because they know they will never get a chance.

 

If that's truly the case, then it's really depressing. A sign of hope is the Lafferty signing, plus there have been strong intimations that young Fleck will get his chance.

[Cotter 0]

I would expect us to make a formal approach for Marek Suchy if Coisty is serious about the calculated gamble approach.

[pete 2,499]

I wonder when this started because we backed out signing McDonald over about 250.000 quid, Brown was the same about 250.000 too short. Huntelaar is another example, we wouldn't pay 4.5 mill and he is now worth 3 times that amount. Our hearts are not really in this or we have people who can't judge talent\prices.

[craig 5,198]

I wonder when this started because we backed out signing McDonald over about 250.000 quid, Brown was the same about 250.000 too short. Huntelaar is another example, we wouldn't pay 4.5 mill and he is now worth 3 times that amount. Our hearts are not really in this or we have people who can't judge talent\prices.

 

Agreed Re McDonald. Do you mean Scott Brown ? If you do then SDM said that the fee wasnt the problem, it was the wage that was the problem - SDM wouldn't break the new wage structure for him.

 

Huntelaar would have been a fantastic addition.

[calscot 0]

Pete for every player you mention there is another that we paid a lot for and got little in return and another we've not paid for who did nothing (Brown may even be a case in point). No-one can predict the future.

 

In good management you put your estimated value on something and stick with it otherwise your spending gets out of control and your decision making becomes very clouded.

 

It's the same when going to an auction, you have to have a maximum number in mind for a lot or you can get sucked in and pay way over the odds and maybe get yourself into financial difficulty.

 

When looking at two of your examples, there would have been an outcry if we'd paid 1M for McDonald and there was even derision about even bidding for an SPL player who had risen very slowly and without fanfare to his peak at Motherwell. We signed Boyd and Naismith instead who both seemed (and still do) to have more potential than the helicopter Sunday man.

 

As for Brown, 4M was too big a chunk out of our budget and I think right now we should be pleased at missing out on him. He may turn out to be a legend for Celtic but right now it looks like far too big a gamble.

 

It seems clear that our ceiling for buying up and coming talent is about 3M, any more is too big a gamble and a reduction of any profit.

 

I think you're being a bit unfair here.

 

Rangers may not always sign who the fans want but lately we've been doing not bad and we certainly better results than at any time this decade -

and some of the fans' alternative choices have been cringeworthy.

[calscot 0]

I suppose if you look at the Gow case, we paid +- 400.000 in wages and we can get 750.000 back for him,so it was good business. The flip side of the coin is that no young player in his right mind will join us because they know they will never get a chance.

 

So MacGregor (young for a keeper), Hutton, Broadfoot, Whittaker, Burke, Thomson, Davis, Adam, Niasmith and Boyd never got a chance last season?

 

Cuellar, and Beasley are old age pensioners and Fleck and Furnman never got a game?

 

You don't think Webster, Smith or Lafferty will get a chance next season?

 

We may have played Weir but how was that a mistake?

 

I'm confused about your very negative attitude that just doesn't seem congruent with who played for the team last season.