Half way there (time wise)

[BEARGER 1,830]

I'm not impressed at all, don't see us having a "way of playing football". We have better fitter players, that's a given but we don't seem to have a plan for the future.

[calscot 0]

I can't see how Eck could be our worst manager - you just have to look how he out performed Dick Advocaat. With the same players, he won five trophies in a row after they not won the previous five in a row under DA. He then went on to win a championship, a cup and get to the knockout stages of the CL on a fraction of the budget that DA had in his fruitless final year and a half.

 

I didn't enjoy Eck as a manager but he wasn't by any means the worst and while many enjoyed the first two years of Advocaat, you have to wonder about his real worth when you consider the budget he spent and how much that spending subsequently affected the club. Winning the league by a mile was no more unexpected than our results this season. Losing the league by a mile twice was not far removed from finishing a close second last season or this.

 

However, Eck finishing third puts him below McCoist as he didn't achieve the minimum which was at worst a distant second, whereas McCoist has never failed in that respect - he finished second despite a 10 point penalty and the most horrendous upheaval our club has ever had in its history. If you extrapolate his first half season results (even with being messed around by Whyte) he may have finished second by about 4 points to a team with a bigger budget, hardly a disgrace. People seem to measure him for not beating other countries' champions but all Rangers managers have had bad European results - without Whyte and HMRC around. He has yet to have the opportunity to redeem himself.

 

I can't see in any way, no matter how many excuses you make that any manager in Rangers history could be considered worse than PLG. You can talk as much as you like about what coulda, shoulda been but in the cold light of day his results were abysmal and he didn't win a single trophy which puts him below John Greig and Jock Wallace's second spell.

 

In my lifetime I'd put the pecking order as follows:

 

1. Walter Smith (2nd spell)

Due to the achievements to budget ratio winning the championship most year and discounting PLG's season only finished a close second once. And the memories of a European final.

 

2. Walter Smith (1st spell)

Amazing run of years where he won the championship every year except one, where he

finsihed second by 2 points. Then there's the amazing CL run and multiple cup wins.

 

3. Jock Wallace (1st spell)

Two trebles says it all - without the kind of financial help that Souness, Smith and Advocaat received.

 

4. Graeme Souness

Was aided by an amazing budget and the ability to sign top English players but he did have a very strong New Firm to beat where Alex Ferguson had only just left Aberdeen. We had a pretty good European cup run too.

 

5. Ally McCoist

Has not really proven himself yet; however, has not measurably underperformed in the league yet compared to those below him. His whole tenure is skewed by off the field events and makes it hard to judge. He will be judged more fairly when the club settles down - and he seems to be doing at minimum an adequate job this season. He may have more money to spend than rivals but that is nothing new for Rangers managers, and it's still not easy to churn out the results. There should maybe be an asterisk next to this one - the circumstances make this incredibly difficult to compare.

 

6. Alex McLiesh

See text from top of post.

 

7. Dick Advocaat

I can see how people can criticise McCoist for having more money than his rivals and let off Dick who lost badly to Celtic after the first two seasons despite having a budget that no Scottish team could ever really afford.

 

8. John Greig

After just missing out on the treble in his first season, he went rapidly downhill. Hampered by a lack of interest by the owners and a modest budget, and of course having to compete against Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean, he still should have done better but alas while he was a legend as a player, stepping straight from the dressing room to the managers office was too much for him.

 

9. Jock Wallace (2nd spell)

Never really got the budget he deserved but he still had more to spend than most and the team never achieved any momentum. Could not turn round a club that needed a kick up the backside which happened after he left.

 

10. Paul Le Guen

Really not much to say here. 0 trophies, struggling for second place with no competition, didn't have the stomach to even make a fist of it. The best you can say about him is some reasonable European results.

[compo 7,030]

I can't see how Eck could be our worst manager - you just have to look how he out performed Dick Advocaat. With the same players, he won five trophies in a row after they not won the previous five in a row under DA. He then went on to win a championship, a cup and get to the knockout stages of the CL on a fraction of the budget that DA had in his fruitless final year and a half.

 

I didn't enjoy Eck as a manager but he wasn't by any means the worst and while many enjoyed the first two years of Advocaat, you have to wonder about his real worth when you consider the budget he spent and how much that spending subsequently affected the club. Winning the league by a mile was no more unexpected than our results this season. Losing the league by a mile twice was not far removed from finishing a close second last season or this.

 

However, Eck finishing third puts him below McCoist as he didn't achieve the minimum which was at worst a distant second, whereas McCoist has never failed in that respect - he finished second despite a 10 point penalty and the most horrendous upheaval our club has ever had in its history. If you extrapolate his first half season results (even with being messed around by Whyte) he may have finished second by about 4 points to a team with a bigger budget, hardly a disgrace. People seem to measure him for not beating other countries' champions but all Rangers managers have had bad European results - without Whyte and HMRC around. He has yet to have the opportunity to redeem himself.

 

I can't see in any way, no matter how many excuses you make that any manager in Rangers history could be considered worse than PLG. You can talk as much as you like about what coulda, shoulda been but in the cold light of day his results were abysmal and he didn't win a single trophy which puts him below John Greig and Jock Wallace's second spell.

 

In my lifetime I'd put the pecking order as follows:

 

1. Walter Smith (2nd spell)

Due to the achievements to budget ratio winning the championship most year and discounting PLG's season only finished a close second once. And the memories of a European final.

 

2. Walter Smith (1st spell)

Amazing run of years where he won the championship every year except one, where he

finsihed second by 2 points. Then there's the amazing CL run and multiple cup wins.

 

3. Jock Wallace (1st spell)

Two trebles says it all - without the kind of financial help that Souness, Smith and Advocaat received.

 

4. Graeme Souness

Was aided by an amazing budget and the ability to sign top English players but he did have a very strong New Firm to beat where Alex Ferguson had only just left Aberdeen. We had a pretty good European cup run too.

 

5. Ally McCoist

Has not really proven himself yet; however, has not measurably underperformed in the league yet compared to those below him. His whole tenure is skewed by off the field events and makes it hard to judge. He will be judged more fairly when the club settles down - and he seems to be doing at minimum an adequate job this season. He may have more money to spend than rivals but that is nothing new for Rangers managers, and it's still not easy to churn out the results. There should maybe be an asterisk next to this one - the circumstances make this incredibly difficult to compare.

 

6. Alex McLiesh

See text from top of post.

 

7. Dick Advocaat

I can see how people can criticise McCoist for having more money than his rivals and let off Dick who lost badly to Celtic after the first two seasons despite having a budget that no Scottish team could ever really afford.

 

8. John Greig

After just missing out on the treble in his first season, he went rapidly downhill. Hampered by a lack of interest by the owners and a modest budget, and of course having to compete against Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean, he still should have done better but alas while he was a legend as a player, stepping straight from the dressing room to the managers office was too much for him.

 

9. Jock Wallace (2nd spell)

Never really got the budget he deserved but he still had more to spend than most and the team never achieved any momentum. Could not turn round a club that needed a kick up the backside which happened after he left.

 

10. Paul Le Guen

Really not much to say here. 0 trophies, struggling for second place with no competition, didn't have the stomach to even make a fist of it. The best you can say about him is some reasonable European results.

 

a good read and summing up

[Guest TravelingWilBEARy]

People who write off McCoist clearly don't remember him as a player.