DMAA

26 minutes ago, buster. said:

Did it not mention a 3rd party approach ?

Yeh looks like an informal question was asked in private and Clarke has done the right thing and given his answer privately whilst publicly asserting the fact that there has been no approach from the club.

I do wonder how we'd do with a 3-5-2 like below. McCrorie could be moved into midfield of course, you could play John on the left to be more conservative and Murphy could go up front or in a central position in front of the midfied.

I think we would be more dangerous on the counter with two up front too helping each other out and playing one twos with each other, making runs in behind and giving their back 3 no time at all to pass around and settle the play for Celtic.                         

                                                                               Alnwick

Tavernier - McCrorie - Alves

Candeias - Docherty - Dorrans - Holt - Murphy

Cummings - Morelos

It’s not an attractive job.

It would become more attractive if we were able to pull off the signing of a player like James McArthur though. That’s the one I really hope comes off, we need favours from fans like him (as with Murphy and Dorrans) to turn things around. 

Apparently we've been snubbed by Steve Clarke. Have to say I'm a little relieved we went for him first, and that takes away a little bit of the guilt in gambling on Gerrard

I think we're all in groundhog day mode by now and though and no matter who we appoint we'll lose to St Johnstone at home in September and all the chat from the pundits will be "why didn't they go for Tommy Wright"

1 hour ago, Frankie said:

 

Interesting that he's been described a boyhood Rangers fan! This isn't what people on here thought.

Ahead of the friendly a couple of years ago he'd mentioned "family Rangers connections" but someone in the forum had said a friend of a friend knew his brother and he was Celtic mad.

If true that means we could 7 Rangers fans in midfield, 8 if we sign McArthur.

Murphy

Docherty

Dorrans

Jack

McCrorie

Halliday

Arfield

Evening Times report Neil Camerons says,

"I spoke to someone close to Gerrard today who said “no chance” when asked whether this was a goer."

That's the most believeable thing I've read on the matter. He'd have to be a wee bit crazy to leave a perfect learning environment and jump right into the deep end at Rangers.

It just occurred to me that if Gerrard came, we would suddenly have a huge ally in Liverpool and would have a great chance at getting some quality loan players we would never otherwise have got near. Everybody at Liverpool would be rooting for him, he knows their youth players very well and they would be very keen to play for him. On our budget this could be the difference between a title winning team and a distant second place. 

McGregor goes straight into the starting 11 imo so a great signing considering he's free.

I'd like to see Alnwick and Foderingham sold now and a hot prospect (18-20) bought as a back-up who would be ready to take over when McGregor retires but good enough to be capable of stepping in. Not sure if our current youth keepers are at level.

12 minutes ago, buster. said:

I watched the Klopp/Gerrard exchange and I have to say I've come off the fence of 'undecided' and am going 'No'.

 

He just doesn't sound at all convincing or confident in himself and he doesn't appear to have the self-confidence in himself as a manager (compare that to Souness). IMO, he'd basically be cutting his teeth in an unforgiving enviroment and the probability of success would be low.

Have to admit I kind of felt the same. There's no time to learn at Rangers just now.

11 minutes ago, buster. said:

To me, Gerrard comes accross as a Liverpool version of Barry Ferguson

I was going to say that the counter argument to my post is Barry Ferguson. I'd love to have him as a motivational number 2 but he's clearly not management material.

For all we don't know about Gerrard as a manager there is plenty we do know.

• Tactics
  • He's had unfettered access to Jurgen Klopp for just over a year and says he's made full use of that
  • He's had all the management training Liverpool have to offer in that time too
  • He's had 1 season in what is probably still a league full of quality given the spending at that level these days and appears to have done pretty well
• Personal Qualities
  • Will command instant respect from the dressing room due to almost incomparable experience in the game
  • Is full of enthusiasm for the game and management which can go a long way
  • Captained Liverpool 12 seasons and England 40 times so possess the motiviational and leadership qualities we need

I'm leaning towards being keen to get him, though I'm still being very skeptical it will happen.

1 minute ago, Rousseau said:

That may be true, but what does he bring to get results? It has to more than just bring in good players and press. 

Yeh I know, there would have to be evidence from his work that he knows what he's doing. Again my gut says no because his appointment would be the definition of a gamble. If he did turn out to be a good manager though it would be great for the club in every way.

I'm undecided. It strikes me as stupid to play roulette again at such a crucial time in the club's history.

On the other hand Steven Gerrard is one of the biggest names in world football. You just can't argue that he would bring much needed positive attention to our club from around the globe. And crucially he could make a huge difference in persuading higher quality players to join. Playing under Steven Gerrard with the prospect of a run in Europe would be a huge draw to players all over the world.

15 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I want a modern, tactical coach

Maybe he's demonstrated this at the level he's at?

My head says we need a tried and tested manager. Preud'homme or Clarke maybe.

Can't lie though a part me would be pretty excited about a worldwide figure like Gerrard coming the club. He'd bring a draw to the club for players which currently isn't there. 

That said I don't believe a word of it. It's a rumour which has conveniently made a few quid for media outlets and bookies.

Whether he's a good signing all depends on whether he'll join on modest wages.

If so then it's a no brainer to have him competiting with another keeper for a couple of years. Quality added to the squad for free.

Very encouraging yet again from the academy. There needs to be space on the bench for at least one of those guys next season surely with other going on meaningful loans. Good to see Rossiter doing so well too.

https://rangers.co.uk/news/academy-news/academy-leicester-0-6-gers/

17 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

As for the stats. That's all nice and tidy ... when it works. If it means he gets the odd goal, but we still play poorly up front, stats start to get fuzzy

At the end of the day he wouldn't get into Celtic's starting line-up and would be battling for a place on the bench. He's not a player who's going to win the league with Rangers. He's very good at some things but I highly doubt he'll ever be very good all round so I hope we fetch a decent transfer fee for him this summer from some Championship club and use the money to take us to the next level.

Just seen this and noticed there were no Rangers goals nominated. Very surprised by this because I thought we had a few outstanding team goals this season. Windass vs St Johnstone and Windass vs Partick to name a couple.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/16180005.Celtic_have_cast_their_vote___but_which_strike_is_YOUR_goal_of_the_season_in_Scotland_/

I like Arfield and Kamara but our signings need to be judged on how much they improve the starting line-up by.

McArthur is a no brainer he walks into the starting line-up. Kamara has huge potential but I'm not sure he leapfrogs what we've got, Arfield is a great squad player if we can afford him for that.

I'd say after McArthur the top priority is 2 centre backs who walk right into the starting line-up with most of our money being spent there (£4-5m). We could probably do with one more out and out winger to compete with Candeias and Murphy, though maybe Arfield is being signed for this. Personally I prefer the Martin Boyle style winger who has pace to burn and gets behind full backs at ease.

This would be brilliant. I'm very near to the proposed new station in Robroyston too so could possibly get the train to the game and skip the traffic. There don't seem to be many Rangers fans around this part of town...

3 minutes ago, buster. said:

What you have is two of the teams at the top of the table dependent on celtic for their most creative player and unable to field him against celtic. Strikes me as against the spirt of the game.

Definitely. It gives Celtic a huge advantage as the top teams (Aberdeen and Hibs) are stronger against us but have to completely re-think their game plan when they play them. It's always been allowed but the extreme difference in wealth has exposed how unfair the system can be.

I've been excited about the prospect of getting Arfield and McArthur for free for a while, it would be a huge coup if we did.

Arfield isn't really a glamour signing, I haven't seen much of him but his style doesn't excite you straight away but lets be honest most of our players couldn't get near an EPL starting line-up never mind hold down a starting position over a number of seasons.

I'd like to see those two signed as well as Cummings and the vast majority of the rest of the money spent on centre back. It has to be quality of quantity this summer.

31 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

How long has Allan got left on his Celtic deal? I'd still take him: he's near the top of most creativity stats; he's the natural #10 that we're crying out for.

You're brave to admit that, but I agree. He betrayed us but it's not a perfect world and  a few successful years later it would be water under the bridge.

Surprised this is still generating discussion.

Looking forward to the design. And no doubt Rangers were able to negotiate far better financial terms with Hummel than they could with a bigger brand.

Hummel are a very well known brand anyway, everybody knows about them because unlike many brands they've been to most world cups!