Do Rangers have a proper Footballing Philosophy?

[kuznetsov 0]

Rangers are probably playing the youngest team in modern history with half the team being home grown players which is something many have said would prompt them to be patient and accept a step or two backwards - however it's those very same people that are first to complain vociferously not just when we lose but also when we win.

 

Even the OP snidely only accepts that youths are playing by applying the context that it's through necessity rather than choice. Like the top clubs in the Premiership have "chosen" the same strategy...

 

Just another load of arrogant claptrap from someone who thinks he knows how to develop a club into one that will be world beaters for decades. Is the guy actually putting his amazing knowledge to work? Eh, no.

 

What is the main tenet of this philosophy? Banning the long ball. That's it. That's how a club recovering in the Scots 3rd division takes on Barcelona for European dominance. Or it will entertain the crowd while it creates exhibition football to sweep aside the SFL sides.

 

However, it could have denied us what was one of the best moves of the last match and a contender for goal of the season to open the scoring in front of an increasingly impatient crowd.

 

but that is a fact no matter how much you argue against it. it has been forced on ally, no way would he have chose to go this way had we been in the spl and with a squad full of internationals.

 

frankly your ignorance of our need to improve our standard of football is worrying. so much so that i would genuinely question whether you have our best interests at heart, either that or you know nothing about football.

[amms 0]

Why would Ally want to play route one football though? The Rangers teams he played in often had a 'big centre forward' but they could hardly have been accused of being too direct? Ian Durrant remains one of the most subtle and beautiful footballers I've ever seen, I can't conceive of an occasion where he would coach anyone to lump it up to the big lad, it simply wasn't in his make-up as a player why would it be as a coach?

McDowall was an agricultural, and at times brutal, journeyman centre forward who thrived on the physical side of the game, is it his influence? He seems to be rated as a coach by many people though.

 

I've also been frustrated by some of the football we've played this season. I really thought we'd try and pass teams to death, have them chasing shadows, giving away fouls and tiring themselves out. That's not how it's worked out though and I don't know why, on paper we look like we should manage that.

[Cotter 0]

If Ajax or Barcelona or Porto were in the Scottish third division and were desperate for promotion, as we are, they wouldn't play as many 17 year olds as we have been forced to. Extremely rarely do you see one player of that age in a top team never mind several, as we have been forced to play, since losing a generation of players.

 

The point I'm making is that with that amount of kids (they actually are KIDS) in the first team, we can't judge ally or indeed the club as a whole yet in terms of philosophy. The lads have been thrown in amongst a bunch of older, more physical and experienced players and have been asked to step up. The pressure is immense at rangers. I think they are doing ok all things considered and we should ask ourselves about philosophy two years down the line when the lads have 100 senior games under their belts.

 

Ban the long ball indeed. The OP is wholly ignorant of our situation.

[Guest John1872]

Rangers are probably playing the youngest team in modern history with half the team being home grown players which is something many have said would prompt them to be patient and accept a step or two backwards - however it's those very same people that are first to complain vociferously not just when we lose but also when we win.

 

Even the OP snidely only accepts that youths are playing by applying the context that it's through necessity rather than choice. Like the top clubs in the Premiership have "chosen" the same strategy...

 

Just another load of arrogant claptrap from someone who thinks he knows how to develop a club into one that will be world beaters for decades. Is the guy actually putting his amazing knowledge to work? Eh, no.

 

What is the main tenet of this philosophy? Banning the long ball. That's it. That's how a club recovering in the Scots 3rd division takes on Barcelona for European dominance. Or it will entertain the crowd while it creates exhibition football to sweep aside the SFL sides.

 

However, it could have denied us what was one of the best moves of the last match and a contender for goal of the season to open the scoring in front of an increasingly impatient crowd.

 

When writing about any topic, but especially Rangers, you can get those who love what you write and those who hate it. I have no problem with either, although I would be lying if I didn't say I prefer the former.

 

However, I do have to take issue with your personal attacks on being snide, arrogant and the bizarre accusation that I am "someone who thinks he knows how to develop a club into one that will be world beaters for decades. Is the guy actually putting his amazing knowledge to work? Eh, no. "

 

At no point did I state anything of the kind and far from being snide or arrogant, I was only giving a fair opinion.

 

You also stated that I had a philosophy that was, "banning the long ball. That's it." At no point did I mention any personal philosophy, so I'm at a loss to understand how you worked that out.

 

In my articles I have previously said that I believe Ally McCoist is the 'greatest Ranger' of all time, for how he kept the club together over the last few months. However, this does not mean that any criticism should be hidden or as others have suggested - he should be "cut slack".

 

If you want excellence, then you don't pretend the world is sunshine and rainbows when it is not. McCoist might go on to become Rangers greatest ever manager - and I hope he does - but if you are happy with the mediocrity currently on offer at the moment then that is where I would have to disagree.

Edited October 29, 2012 by John1872

[simplythebest 0]

If Ajax or Barcelona or Porto were in the Scottish third division and were desperate for promotion, as we are, they wouldn't play as many 17 year olds as we have been forced to. Extremely rarely do you see one player of that age in a top team never mind several, as we have been forced to play, since losing a generation of players.

 

The point I'm making is that with that amount of kids (they actually are KIDS) in the first team, we can't judge ally or indeed the club as a whole yet in terms of philosophy. The lads have been thrown in amongst a bunch of older, more physical and experienced players and have been asked to step up. The pressure is immense at rangers. I think they are doing ok all things considered and we should ask ourselves about philosophy two years down the line when the lads have 100 senior games under their belts.

 

Ban the long ball indeed. The OP is wholly ignorant of our situation.

 

Exaggeration for sure. Hegarty and Macleod were the only 'kids' in the team at Clyde for example. Perhaps some would argue Perry but he's 22 with a good number of SPL games under his belt, same with Kyle Hutton. Barrie McKay has been in and out the team, Fraser Aird only came in recently. There's Faure as well but he's got under 20 World Cup experience with France.

 

You'd think the majority of our line up was made up of 16-19 year olds going by some posts.

[Zappa 0]

There's certainly a lot of opinions and questions about the manager and his assistants flying around, but we should be careful not to think of a piece of writing like John's article as fact or even as over opinionated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there's often no such thing as 'right' or 'wrong'. Walter pretty constantly fielded players out of position and he was slagged rotten for it as well as our style of football, but he helped win us a LOT of silverware. In the time between the Kaunas blip and Walter handing over to Ally (with many other blips along the way), I witnessed quite a lot of bears going from saying they'd pay the petrol to drive Walter out of dodge to regarding him as the greatest ever Rangers manager despite the blips and often unusual selections/tactics.

 

It's a funny old game....

[simplythebest 0]

There's certainly a lot of opinions and questions about the manager and his assistants flying around, but we should be careful not to think of a piece of writing like John's article as fact or even as over opinionated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there's often no such thing as 'right' or 'wrong'. Walter pretty constantly fielded players out of position and he was slagged rotten for it as well as our style of football, but he helped win us a LOT of silverware. In the time between the Kaunas blip and Walter handing over to Ally (with many other blips along the way), I witnessed quite a lot of bears going from saying they'd pay the petrol to drive Walter out of dodge to regarding him as the greatest ever Rangers manager despite the blips and often unusual selections/tactics.

 

It's a funny old game....

Walter had a knack of getting results, Ally so far has struggled even with that. He'll most likely get us promotion but it would probably be a bigger challenge not to manage it, long term can he really be the man to get us back to the very top? That is the concern.

[Zappa 0]

Walter had a knack of getting results, Ally so far has struggled even with that. He'll most likely get us promotion but it would probably be a bigger challenge not to manage it, long term can he really be the man to get us back to the very top? That is the concern.

 

The difference is that Walter was already vastly experienced as a manager the second time around with us, but Ally is essentially just starting out as a manager, never mind in the hot seat for us. Quite a lot of fans are saying we need to bring in a more experienced manager (and in fairness some have also said that since before Ally took over!), but I completely disagree with that. I think Ally should be given the opportunity to learn the managerial trade as OUR manager and I think he deserves that chance even more after everything that's happened and now that we're playing in the 3rd division. He needs our FULL support though because not having our full support weakens his position on various levels and makes his job even more difficult than it needs to be. The manager not having our full support also makes the players' jobs more difficult because these things do filter into the dressing room when they needn't necessarily do so.

[simplythebest 0]

The difference is that Walter was already vastly experienced as a manager the second time around with us, but Ally is essentially just starting out as a manager, never mind in the hot seat for us. Quite a lot of fans are saying we need to bring in a more experienced manager (and in fairness some have also said that since before Ally took over!), but I completely disagree with that. I think Ally should be given the opportunity to learn the managerial trade as OUR manager and I think he deserves that chance even more after everything that's happened and now that we're playing in the 3rd division. He needs our FULL support though because not having our full support weakens his position on various levels and makes his job even more difficult than it needs to be. The manager not having our full support also makes the players' jobs more difficult because these things do filter into the dressing room when they needn't necessarily do so.

Ally has enough respect to not weaken his position, internet will get used to moan but there's hardly going to be demonstrations asking for his dismissal at games.

[Zappa 0]

Ally has enough respect to not weaken his position, internet will get used to moan but there's hardly going to be demonstrations asking for his dismissal at games.

 

I think you're underestimating the whole situation including the power of the internet.