Numbers don’t add up for Rangers boss Ally McCoist

[ian1964 10,761]

YOU can’t blame Ally McCoist for not wanting to do the sums. Too many of the numbers might add up to ten if the Rangers manager puts his mind to counting the cost of the position the Ibrox club finds itself in.

 

Last week, chief executive Graham Wallace admitted that it would be a five-year mission to make the current Rangers competitive in the top flight. Which suggests there is little chance of the club challenging for a Premiership title much before Celtic should surely be homing in on a record ten-in-a-row. Moreover, Wallace stated that Rangers would need to scale the heights by living within their means. McCoist interpreted this as a top-flight Rangers operating with a £3 million playing budget while Celtic worked with ten times this figure.

 

This illustrates the monumental concern for Rangers supporters and McCoist. If the Ibrox club and Celtic both live within their means, then the near £30m Celtic can generate from the Champions League puts them out of sight of any domestic challengers. It is a vicious circle. Rangers need Champions League money to mount a challenge to Celtic in sustainable fashion. But they can’t obtain that income because this very Champions League money puts Celtic on a different level to them.

 

“The worry is Celtic are off and running with the Champions League money,” McCoist accepted. “That’s obviously a big concern. It would be wrong for me not to look at Celtic’s finances and not appreciate the gulf between the two, but what we need to do is concentrate on our own club at the minute. Celtic aren’t an issue for us at the moment. They’ve handled things well and fair play to them, but until we’re back competing against them then that’s when we’ll have to assess the situation. At this moment in time we can’t concern ourselves with Celtic. I don’t mean that in a rude way but they’re in a different place from us at the moment.”

 

How on earth Rangers get to that place before Celtic achieve an unparalleled decade of domination in the top flight is what gives followers of the Ibrox club sleepless nights. “I understand 100 per cent where the fans are coming from,” said McCoist. “We’ve lost £50m-worth of players. We could argue about valuations but that’s what we’ve lost and had to replace them with free transfers. It’s not rocket science. You’ve got no divine right at the best of times to challenge for the top league, so when you look at the facts and figures you shouldn’t be challenging all of a sudden. But that’s not to say we can’t bring in some more youngsters and if that’s what it takes to move forward then that’s what we’ll do.”

 

To plan to win a Premiership title with a crop of youngsters would be cock-eyed optimism, cautions McCoist. “You’ve got to get a blend. There may be exceptions but other than Manchester United I can’t think of too many teams that have had seven or eight youngsters come through and gone on to be a top-class European team. We’ve never, as long as I can remember, had seven or eight youngsters in the team who have come through Murray Park. You’ve got to get a balance. I think we’ve done fine in recent years when you look at the likes of [Alan] Hutton, [Allan] McGregor and [Charlie] Adam, [Chris] Burke and so on. I don’t think you’ll get too many cases like that Manchester United team. That said, it’s really important we get as many through as we possibly can.”

 

And hold on to them. When the old Rangers was liquidated, the likes of McGregor declined to have his contract transferred over to the new company then formed. McCoist has had plenty to say about the fact that the keeper and other high-profile players “headed to the hills”, as he put it at the recent agm. But he was more conciliatory when asked what McCoist the player would have done in 1992, had Rangers gone bust. “I don’t know what I would have done,” McCoist said. “It’s the easiest thing for me to say that I’m a Rangers man but I don’t know. I’m not going to look back and start criticising people. I wouldn’t want to move back into hypothetical 1992 situations.”

 

How McCoist must wish there was a Rangers currently enjoying the situation the Ibrox club did in 1992, though.

 

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/numbers-don-t-add-up-for-rangers-boss-ally-mccoist-1-3249510

[RANGERRAB 3,742]

LOL you really have 2 laugh at ex-celt@c view editor Andrew Smith don't you? He's genuinely worried about Rangers return to the top isn't he? If DK or Mike Ashley invest then his beloved hoops wont be able 2 go to their co-op bank for more any more cutprice loans or overdrafts liewell says doesn't exist will they ?

Another problem for Smith is I don't think it will be Ally in the Rangers dugout

[Zappa 0]

The Scotsman really let down their dwindling readership by employing guys like Andrew Smith to write football articles.

[Hildy 0]

At least we're seeing an admission that Celtic's attendance's have dropped. The article does not have the mark of a neutral perspective though - far from it.

[pete 2,499]

I was reading an article in one of the papers over the boxing day games and they couldn't help mention that Rangers also were playing against teams from the lower leagues. I think it was the Rhecord.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

we will need to get those 50 million quids worth of players back somehow.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

I think most fans would disagree and take the view that we have had a unique opportunity in the annals of Rangers FC to prove that the youth system works by fielding a team predominately of youngsters from the academy along with 2/3 experienced players and still be good enough to at least to win SPL 3 & 2 if not 1 (as the team gained more experience).

 

Consider:

 

:sg:

:jig:

:kh::lm::mckay:

:al:

 

:

 

If I was allowed to bring in one or two free transfers, I would go for Daly (because we do seem to be short of strikers but that might be down to my lack of knowledge of the young players), who can and should score for fun at this level and Mohsni, in my view the one who shows the most promise (if he can control himself at a higher level, which may be doubtful).

 

I have included Stoney only because I've heard good things about him but none of the rest of the current crop, only because I don't really know much about them.

 

I have included Hutton because I believe he could turn into a true leader though I realsie he's a controversial figure and many would prefer Crawford or Murdoch.

 

I have omitted Perry for reasons I don't think I need explain.

 

As of right now: Simonsen, Foster, Smith, Templeton, Shiels and Cribari are not in the team and not needed; Law hasn't kicked a ball since October; Black is much improved but did we really need him and his 6 cautions in the last 9 games, and the jury's out on Clark and Peralta in my opinion.

 

Stuttgart are the classic example of a European Club who have an excellent youth system:

 

VfB Stuttgart are well known for producing many fantastic young players through their youth system which has a very high reputation. The club currently has more than 60 players in all three Bundesligen in Germany. This makes VfB Stuttgart the most successful youth academy in Germany as no other club can match that number. In Stuttgart the main purpose is to produce top talent for the first team. They are able to keep a lot of players in house or trade their talent to other clubs. For that reason the club doesn’t have to spent high transfer sums for outside players, something which they couldn’t afford anyways so a good youth team is needed. Thomas Ahlbeck, youth manager, proudly named Mario Gomez, Sami Khedira and Timo Hildebrand as just a few examples for Stuttgart’s Talent-Schmiede. Exciting young players currently forcing a breakthrough in the first team include the likes of Raphael Holzhauser, Kevin Stöger, Daniel Didavi and Rani Khedira. Bruno Labbadia is very happy to be working with a club with such a successful youth system as it in turn gives him many options for his first team.

 

http://cfccod.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/vfb-stuttgart/

 

We have been drawn against them in the CL 3 times in the last 10 years and they have marginally the better record with a win at Ibrox in 2009 and two wins (2003 & 2007) and a draw in 2009 against us at home (Rothen to Bougherra - what a goal), when they qualified for the last 16 only to go out to Barcelona.

 

I once had the opportunity of putting this precise point to SDM and he said that Rangers fans wouldn't stand for the 2/3 seasons of no success that it would take to bring through a youth team to SPL level; methinks opportunity lost or almost lost.

Edited December 29, 2013 by BrahimHemdani
typo

[D'Artagnan 173]

I agree BD - furthermore I think we make the mistake at present on judging players as individuals rather than part of a collective unit ie a team. The title winning Dundee Utd team under McLean didnt have a team full of superstars - often players would be drafted in and played to their system.

 

Im not sure I have seen a system yet developed within our current team - we often play to the strength of Daly (which is fairly productive against defenders of inferior quality) but that effectiveness will decline as the standard of defender improves.

[Doc 280]

An interesting point BH. Perhaps that is an extreme example but it illustrates the point about how many youth players we have and why we should be making greater use of them. The question of whether these lads can really progress under Ally and the present coaching team is different though. I seriously think another manager would have seized the unique opportunity from the start in the 3rd division and got more out of these youth players.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

I agree BD

 

BD? Don't think my friend Bluedell is up yet!