Who is good enough?

[alexscottislegend 2,325]

I ask the question because it is now clear that the Unirea result was not some kind of freak result, but rather what we should have expected. I've been thinking about who is expendable and who we need to keep hold of for the time being. By 'good enough' I mean at the Euro level, not the woeful SPL standard.

 

Being ruthless I can only say the following are indispensable:

 

McGregor, Wilson, Papac, Davis, Mendes, Boyd and Fleck. So - we need a right back, a centre half to replace Weir and two wide midfielders. Everybody else in the squad is just not up to standard.

 

IMO only those 7 are good enough to from the core of our team. It gives me no pleasure to write off Thomson and Lafferty for instance, but what is needed now is a cool, hard look.

 

I have not even mentioned who would fetch a good transfer fee, because for me that is another matter entirely. I am just talking about what we should do with a clean slate.

[Zappa 0]

I started a thread about a month ago that's quite similar mate. Didn't get too many replies right enough.

 

The thread is here - Rangers players - who should stay & who should go

 

This was my list of who should stay & who should go -

 

STAY

 

Bougherra - Our best defender & a definite keeper, but we won't keep him.

Papac - Our 2nd best defender & worth keeping.

 

Davis - Our best midfielder & worth keeping despite his current form.

Mendes - Our 2nd best midfielder & worth keeping despite his current form..

Edu - Haven't seen enough of him yet, but worth keeping based on what we've seen.

 

Boyd - Our best goal scorer & worth keeping for his goals alone.

Naismith - Still young, but probably our best all-round striking talent at the moment. Needs to start scoring goals.

Novo - Great impact striker that almost always causes problems for defenses when brought on. Worth keeping imo.

Fleck - Needs to be given a chance in attack/up front because he is not a winger.

 

 

GO

 

Weir - Once very good, but has no pace, no agility, poor distribution. Time to go.

Broadfoot - Could be kept as back up cover, but we need better quality.

Whittaker - Good player, but not a good right back. Prone to lapses of concentration/fuck ups & gives the ball away in dangerous areas constantly.

McCulloch - Good enough for a poor Rangers side, but not good enough for a good one. Get rid of him.

Thomson - Proving to be injury prone & appears very slow coming back to form on return from injury. If he's not back to top form by January, I wouldn't be disappointed to see an offer accepted.

Rothen - Has a mountain to climb if he wants to earn a contract here. As it stands he'll be going back to PSG at the end of his loan.

Beasley - Showed signs of real talent, but now totally out of the picture & is as good as gone now anyway. At least we only payed around �£750k for him.

 

Lafferty - I'd bite anyone's hand off that was offering anything over 65% of what we paid for him.

Miller - Poor ball control, shot shy, has proven to be an asset on the odd occasion that he turns up. How such a brutal footballer can show the occasional sign of genius is beyond me. Not worth keeping though. It's a sad indication of the state of football in our country that this guy has been & continues to be the national team's 1st choice striker.

 

EDIT!! .....NOTE:- This was before Wilson came into the team, so ignore the comments about who is our best & second best defender.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Zappa

[alexscottislegend 2,325]

Apologies for that. Please feel free to merge. I forgot about Naismith. Just cannot make my mind up on him. Novo I would keep, but I meant certain first team starter material. For me he's the ideal sub. I think we'll get quite a lot of unanimity actually.

[Zappa 0]

No need to be sorry mate, just thought I'd point you to the thread because I did a search for it anyway so I could post my list of who should stay & go. Tbh, it's not worded exactly as I'd word it now, just a month later, but it's not far off. Apart from a wee change of wording here or there, the only thing I'd really add is Wilson in the 'STAY' section, but I can see us losing him if a big offer came in like something over �£3m. Hope we can keep him though!

[maineflyer 0]

I started a thread about a month ago that's quite similar mate. Didn't get too many replies right enough.

 

The thread is here - Rangers players - who should stay & who should go

 

This was my list of who should stay & who should go -

 

STAY

 

Bougherra - Our best defender & a definite keeper, but we won't keep him.

Papac - Our 2nd best defender & worth keeping.

 

Davis - Our best midfielder & worth keeping despite his current form.

Mendes - Our 2nd best midfielder & worth keeping despite his current form..

Edu - Haven't seen enough of him yet, but worth keeping based on what we've seen.

 

Boyd - Our best goal scorer & worth keeping for his goals alone.

Naismith - Still young, but probably our best all-round striking talent at the moment. Needs to start scoring goals.

Novo - Great impact striker that almost always causes problems for defenses when brought on. Worth keeping imo.

Fleck - Needs to be given a chance in attack/up front because he is not a winger.

 

 

GO

 

Weir - Once very good, but has no pace, no agility, poor distribution. Time to go.

Broadfoot - Could be kept as back up cover, but we need better quality.

Whittaker - Good player, but not a good right back. Prone to lapses of concentration/fuck ups & gives the ball away in dangerous areas constantly.

McCulloch - Good enough for a poor Rangers side, but not good enough for a good one. Get rid of him.

Thomson - Proving to be injury prone & appears very slow coming back to form on return from injury. If he's not back to top form by January, I wouldn't be disappointed to see an offer accepted.

Rothen - Has a mountain to climb if he wants to earn a contract here. As it stands he'll be going back to PSG at the end of his loan.

Beasley - Showed signs of real talent, but now totally out of the picture & is as good as gone now anyway. At least we only payed around �£750k for him.

 

Lafferty - I'd bite anyone's hand off that was offering anything over 65% of what we paid for him.

Miller - Poor ball control, shot shy, has proven to be an asset on the odd occasion that he turns up. How such a brutal footballer can show the occasional sign of genius is beyond me. Not worth keeping though. It's a sad indication of the state of football in our country that this guy has been & continues to be the national team's 1st choice striker.

 

EDIT!! .....NOTE:- This was before Wilson came into the team, so ignore the comments about who is our best & second best defender.

 

Bugger all has changed, still couldn't disagree with one name...... except Mendes.

[elderslieblue 0]

To the O.P.............................never mind Europe because Rangers have already given up on it. [and I've been saying that since they started moving on anyone with any talent over 3 years ago].

 

Our ambitions stretch as far as winning the SPL. When there were 2 Scottish representatives it went as far as just qualifying for the C.L.

 

The squad we have are good enough to win the SPL. Any other debate is worthless.

[Super_Ally 0]

How many fans deserve to stay?

 

How many of them do their best for Rangers every time they turn up at Ibrox?

 

Doesn't excuse the players. But I reckon it's a valid point. Do you turn up and support your team (or do you boo after a few minutes because you're not watching 1970 Brazil?)?

 

Don't get me wrong, of course we question the players. But judge yourself by the same high standards. Do you embody everything it is to be a Ranger? Or do you sit on your hands and bitch and moan at the pub?

[ian1964 10,724]

The Stuttgart fans showed how to support your team last night,they were immense

[alexscottislegend 2,325]

How many fans deserve to stay?

 

How many of them do their best for Rangers every time they turn up at Ibrox?

 

Doesn't excuse the players. But I reckon it's a valid point. Do you turn up and support your team (or do you boo after a few minutes because you're not watching 1970 Brazil?)?

 

Don't get me wrong, of course we question the players. But judge yourself by the same high standards. Do you embody everything it is to be a Ranger? Or do you sit on your hands and bitch and moan at the pub?

 

We've been here before. I can recall being one of the 5,000 (yes, 5,000) who saw us defeated 1-0 by Morton in a league game in the seventies. Gers fans have always been, shall we say, 'choosy.' Bit like Tottenham fans in fact. And I'm worried we'll end up like that. If the SPL is our ambition now, heaven help us. We would have no need of 50,000 every week.

[Bluedell 5,627]

We've been here before. I can recall being one of the 5,000 (yes, 5,000) who saw us defeated 1-0 by Morton in a league game in the seventies. Gers fans have always been, shall we say, 'choosy.' Bit like Tottenham fans in fact. And I'm worried we'll end up like that. If the SPL is our ambition now, heaven help us. We would have no need of 50,000 every week.

 

Is it fair to compare today's Rangers support to the support of previous generations?

 

What was the highest number of season tickets sold in a season prior to the mid 80s? I'd imagine it was around 5,000. We now have over 40,000 season ticket holders, and there is an inbuilt loyalty factor that comes along with that.

 

Yes, crowds may fall a bit due to the fare on offer, but I can't see them falling down to these levels for a while.