Morning everyone,
I can’t remember if ever, the last time Glasgow Rangers was going into a semi final and at this moment in time this morning, I have no feelings for it whatsoever. I have absolutely no idea what team will turn up tomorrow. Will it be a fighting Rangers going all out to get into the final or will it be the same mentality of the past few weeks?
All be it second half against Celtic was better, but are we going to see any fight from them now until the end of the season? I honestly don’t think anyone on this forum could possibly answer the question as none of us know the real answer as to what team turns up tomorrow.
I imagine if the team come out fighting tomorrow from the off, I along with everyone else will no doubt get a lift and we’ll all be shouting and cheering them on. But if they start with a lacklustre performance, I may stop watching and I never do that.
I have seen a few posts on some wanting young players for the future. Some want experience just now to help win things. To me it’s a fine balance between the two that we need and I expect the managers over the last few seasons have been trying that with players like Matondo, Yilmaz, Diomande, Cortes trying to bring in a bit of quality with loans from the premiership in Sima and Silva. Then more experienced players like Dessers and Lammers, Danilo and Butland.
We keep talking about player trading models; bring in the young to sell for profit. This may happen with Cortes down the line and when we complete the Diomande transfer it may happen with him and Yilmaz. Hoping we will make profit on Lammers. I’d be happy to get the money back, along with Dessers. Hopefully, get the money back on both, but this could be a tall order. 😳
But on the flip side of the coin, with the player trading model, we may see a big profit on Butland, who is 31 depending what the contract is he signed and what and if any release clause is on it. But it shows it’s not all profit on the young players. We can make profit on older players (hopefully) as well, if we’re bringing in ones who are quality on free transfers.
The problem we have seen over the vast amount of seasons is we’re bringing in a lot of players who don’t really work out. I think we could name 30+ since the days Gerrard walked through the door until now and that’s not an exaggeration. We have had a few exceptions in Calvin Bassey, Aribo and our very own Nathan Patterson where we made some good money from. But let’s honest folks, it’s nowhere near enough and the Board themselves will say it’s not been nearly enough.
So the question is why has our transfer dealings fallen way short? With a club of our size and stature, we have been doing well in Europe over a number of seasons, yet it doesn’t bring clubs knocking our door down wanting to buy the players who have overall performed well in Europe.
Whereas Celtic, in my opinion, have been much more successful. The players might not all work out for them, but they have been doing better than us. Why is that? How are they finding players who hit the ground running more often than us? And can more often make profit and find it easier to sell? Yet they’re abysmal in Europe?
This for me is going to be a big summer in terms of players walking out the door and Philippe Clement (PC) and Nils Koppen trying to sell a few for profit in order to bring in quality. I fear this summer maybe bigger than we think if we do go onto be 2nd again this season. Celtic, I fear will just go out and spend big and be out of reach. I don’t think at this moment in time we have anywhere near the funds they have to spend and our money over the past good few seasons has been more than not gone down the toilet.
People may laugh at this, but if you were PC And Nils etc. and had a hand tied behind your back with a support shouting from the rooftops for success on the Park whilst your biggest rivals are out spending and continuing to win league titles and getting Champions League money, what would you honestly do? Especially if they get another offer.
We have stood by and stood still far too long relying on the main principle of players in our defence. It’s been needing looked at for quite a while now along with a real playmaker in the middle and a real poacher up front. Would Danilo have been the player we needed? I don’t know as I’ve yet to see him get a run of games. He’s another player badly injured.
One last note, some say it can’t be done, but I say it must be done. A minimum of 10 players need to be leaving this summer with potentially a minimum of 6 quality if not more to come in. But I’m doubting it as the money isn’t there, which leaves us where?
Written by Thestigno1 April 20 2024 10:17:43
