Deja Vue?

[CammyF 8,677]

Then when he just about punched our weight (but not above) in the CL, he ruined it by winning nothing and unforgivably finished 3rd in the league. Not only that, he did it with a brand of football which was painful to watch. Ultimately he even left us with a team that had little merit in it and we're back to a rebuilding job again.

 

Is it any wonder he's not so fondly remembered?

 

That can be labled against the last 3 managers - both DA and WS left us in a shambles without covering themselves in glory in Europe (remember AEK, Grashoppers, Strum Graz et al) and not winning domestically.

 

So why is AM targetted more than WS and DA?

 

Cammy F

[pete 2,499]

That can be labled against the last 3 managers - both DA and WS left us in a shambles without covering themselves in glory in Europe (remember AEK, Grashoppers, Strum Graz et al) and not winning domestically.

 

So why is AM targetted more than WS and DA?

 

Cammy F

 

Under WS and DA we played a Brand of football that at times took our breath away. Under AM it was the players that looked breathless.

We did possibly hold on to them both too long though. Well that goes for all three.

[Dunn_1873 0]

Alex Mcleish Holds a great record of managerial trophies won at Ibrox.

And dont forget it.

[calscot 0]

That can be labled against the last 3 managers - both DA and WS left us in a shambles without covering themselves in glory in Europe (remember AEK, Grashoppers, Strum Graz et al) and not winning domestically.

 

So why is AM targetted more than WS and DA?

 

Cammy F

 

Walter Smith received a lot of criticism for our European performances post 93.

 

The criticism meant he even agreed to leave leave the club after he'd won about 7 championships in a row, the latter ones quite convincingly. The 92/93 run was so good he wasn't far away from winning it, making us think he could do it again and that gave him a lot of leeway.

 

In contrast, Eck left his best (which wasn't anywhere near comparable to 93) till we already wanted rid of him as he took us through our worst ever sequence of results without a win. It was too little, too late. Eck had won nothing two seasons previously and while he won the league the season before, it was hardly convincing.

 

DA started with a bang and made us look a consistent, credible force in Europe. We looked like we could do very well given a bit of luck but we seemed to get the opposite against the likes of Parma (the first time), Bayern and Monaco. Who can forget the thrashing doled out to PSV and Sturm Graz as well as great wins against Leverkusen, Parma and Monaco. His only bad losses were against Valencia (a great team) and Fenerbache. But he stopped winning the league and so he got it in the neck and was forced out even before he had the chance to take us further in Europe. He lasted less than Eck.

 

So all three managers got the pelters.

 

I think WS had the hardest treatment really as he didn't do much wrong at home until he'd already decided to leave. It was his latter European record which drove him out and his development of very poor tactics which when questioned he infamously replied, "what's a tactic?"

 

DA went from hero to zero very quickly after he lost the dressing room and it's hard to forgive his spending policy which put us in financial danger.

 

But Eck gets it the worst for being the only manager who had a team that looked like permanent underdogs to Celtic while just not cutting against European minnows until it was too late. He also finished third while going 10 games without a win while playing consistently the worst football seen at Ibrox since the Souness revolution.

[calscot 0]

Alex Mcleish Holds a great record of managerial trophies won at Ibrox.

And dont forget it.

 

And his record would have looked a hell of a lot better had he left a year earlier.

[calscot 0]

PS Am I the only one that thinks putting all things aside, Rangers comparitive spending in the SPL (even if less than it used to be) should ensure them at least half the trophies? To be considered a very good manager you have to win more than that IMO. Obviously the league has great weighting to the cups, Eck won two SPL's out of five (one handicapped by DA but he didn't do any better in the second half) averaging over 10 pts a year less than Celtic, while winning half the cups - so I'd say that makes him average at best.

 

Eck won 5 of his trophies in the first year and a half which made him pretty good then although spoiled by his European perfomances.

 

He only won 2 trophies out of 6 after that which is well below average, suggesting he just didn't have the staying power.