Another Glasgow Rangers season done and dusted. Another season of abject failure by our own high standards. The tone was set early on when we were blown away in the Champions League (CL) qualifier by PSV (who we beat the previous season) as well as losing 3 out of our first 7 matches.
So where do we go from here? Another rebuild is the obvious answer.
We started the Scottish Cup final with:
6 x Michael Beale signings
2 x Philippe Clement signings
2 x Giovanni van Bronckhorst signings
1 x Mark Warburton signing
Now, I’m not saying all were signed under their recommendations, but they were signed under their tenure. Rangers currently have the highest wage bill in Scotland, but this can be reduced with the departure of some high earners. A chance to say goodbye to some who have contributed very little over the terms of their contracts in regards to availability for games and trophies won.
A lot of Rangers supporters feel that a nucleus of quality Scots who know the league are a necessity, while others feel that value for money can be achieved elsewhere. Some will say a mixture of both. And that’s the conundrum.
We have a foreign coach who will have his own ideas. Although, I think Alex Rae would have some sort of input.
I’ve never hidden my opinion on Lawrence Shankland – that we should be aiming for a higher quality player, but as domestic trophies are our bread and butter, will players like Shankland, Barron, Miller etc take us to the next level?
As there is money to be made in European football, a club the size of Rangers, with limited revenue streams domestically, needs to be looking at the Europa League (EL) every season. Not to just get destroyed in the CL every season and take the money and run, but grow the club year on year.
So we are in a catch-22 situation. We all loved dominating domestically under Graeme Souness and the late great Walter Smith. And we’ve all loved the recent EL Thursday nights where we have at times punched above our weight and brought much needed revenue into the club, but we need to find a magic formula where both scenarios are a possibility.
We all know we are never going to win the CL in the current financial landscape. And even our magnificent EL run, with Seville possibly being looked at as a one off as the big 5 leagues start to take all European competitions seriously.
Recruitment this summer is going to be crucial or we run the risk of falling further behind domestically. We signed 12 players this season and we should possibly only keep Sterling, Butland, Diomande and look to keep Cortes and Sima permanently for the right money.
The previous year, we signed 9 players, whereby I would only keep Raskin. There is a player in Yilmaz, but for me his injury record is a concern. In 2021 / 2022 we signed 8 players and only Lundstram is left, who is thankfully leaving.
That’s 3 seasons with 29 players signed permanently or on loan and we would potentially only have 6 players I would keep. We can’t build a title or cup winning squad with that turnover of players.
Now we will be left with some players we don’t deem good enough as not all will be picked up by other clubs. So it then falls on the manager to enhance the squad with his own signings and try to get a consistent tune out of those that are left from previous incumbents whilst trying to give some of our youth an opportunity.
The $64,000 question is – How long do we, as fans give Clement to get it right?
Or will this coming season see more of; Sack the manager, Sign more players, Rinse and Repeat?
Written by MrPotatoHead May 27 2024 14:48:45
