ian1964 10,428 Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 by Andrew Dickson WALTER SMITH has hinted Rangers ARE in the market for a defender - but hasn't ruled out Lee McCulloch and Andy Webster providing long-term cover at the back. The Ibrox manager has found himself short of options in that department recently thanks to Madjid Bougherra's calf injury. With Webster on loan to Bristol City and not due back until January, McCulloch has been converted to a centre-half as a result and deployed there ahead of Christian Dailly. The experiment has been a relative success and the Light Blues have won both matches in which the former Wigan man has deputised alongside David Weir. Lee McCullochNow his immediate future could be in the back line as Smith looks to avoid shelling out more cash when the transfer window opens five weeks tomorrow. Gers chairman David Murray has said money will only be available to the manager to strengthen his squad in the case of an emergency. And while Smith is keeping tabs on the availability of certain players, he is keen to see if any of the men he currently has at his disposal can do a job for him. Indeed, if anything, his priority remains trimming his excessive squad and he has reiterated his desire to do that at the turn of the year. Smith said: "When we look at the number of players we have overall, there are 28 people in the senior squad and that is a big staff. "First and foremost, we must deal with that situation as we don't need that many players and we have to address it. "Understandably, some of the boys aren't happy they've not been involved as regularly as they would wish. "In all probability, our staff will be cut down more than anything else but that doesn't stop us from looking at one or two positions we miWalter Smithght need to fill as well. "Obviously, we have to do that in conjunction with people who may leave in the January transfer window. It may be we just go with the squad we have at the moment. "Defensively, Lee has come in and played in a position where he hasn't really played before except in the reserves over the last month or so. "He has done really well in that area and we are pleased with the progress he is making at the back. "Andy will also come back to us from Bristol City and that will alleviate our situation there too. We'll see what happens when his loan agreement ends." 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 It's pretty bad that after spending quite a bit of cash in the last two years on rebuilding the squad, we have so many gaps. We need a right back, left back, one or two centre backs, a right winger and a left winger. We seem to be mostly functioning by converting players to the positions we need. How is Webster doing anyway? I wish there was some database that listed all players ratings out of 10 for all their matches as well as a count of their MOM's, so you could just look them up and see how their form is. Perhaps we should do that with our own ratings for Rangers players... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 It's pretty bad maybe having to rely on a centre forward covering at centre back until the season ends. As for Andy Webster, what a total waste of time and effort! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Crikey, I totally forgot about Webster. So he is coming back in January! - Will that be to sit on the treatment table? Always had a bit of hope for him though but not so much now. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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