Does anyone want Ally to STAY?

[calscot 0]

I'm not sure if Ally is the man to take us to the top but I do think that if he's that bad a manager it shouldn't take totally ridiculous and absurd comparisons to criticise him. I will say he's a far more competent at managing than most here are at making a convincing argument that he's not.

 

A juicy one is that he should be as good in the cups as Celtic - eh where are they this year? Given the difference in league and budget - never mind accounting for the extra premium you pay for SPL players to play in league one, their early exit in the League cup is far worse than us losing the Challenge Cup final. Our runs in the Scottish Cup are incomparable when you consider difference in budget.

 

Another is bemoaning that Bayern don't play as bad football as us - really? You're comparing a team where the highest paid player is on £10m a year while our whole team are on £6.5m? Do you not think that pays for better quality? When we had Advocaat did we think that lower SPL teams were playing great football? No, we've being saying Scottish football is gash for pretty much ever - but now we have a team full of those standard of players, actually worse as the SPL weren't so relatively poor compared to the top of the game as we are now. There is also a lot of slagging off Ally's wage when Pep Guardiola's is on £14m. There's a well paid Limo driver.

 

People are even talking about the SPL playing great football which is incredibly surprising news to me (I must admit I haven't watched it since they voted us out). However, it seems Yogi, renowned for his footballing philosophy, is doing a great job with ICT. Perhaps we should be contacting him or even Mowbray as a replacement.

 

I really get the impression that people don't know the state of Scottish football at the moment. Many started supporting Rangers when we had one of the highest paid squads in Europe, but now we're like a top English League One side - or the old 3rd Division and that's the standard of football we should be expecting. Even Celtic are of the standing of old Division 2 side, at best near the top and that's where we hope to be in two years' time.

 

For me, losing a cup final to a lesser side is bitterly disappointing but hardly abnormal for the OF - or any top side. The fact is your quality shows in the league but the cups are one off games and a bit of a lottery, and so with the league tied up as expected the season will now be defined by the Scottish cup. To not win this in our current state is no great omission when you consider the Advocaat side that failed and plenty of previous Rangers sides with a far more differential budget. However, we are Rangers and the loss of the Challenge Cup highlights the need to win something else.

 

I think people also forget where our players come from - Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Kilmarnock, QotS etc and most of them were not even chosen, they just happened to be available for free. We're an average SPL side paying double the wages or more due to first, being Rangers, and second, having to compensate for the league we're in. SPL sides, apart from Celtic don't expect to win trophies every year and neither should we until we're back at the top. We SHOULD expect to win the league and have done so as easily and quickly as anyone could have expected. The trouble is we're spoiled and used to that expectation.

 

So looking at Ally with a rational eye, you see a manager that has continually had one hand tied behind his back but still done a passable job. The problem is that he's not doing an exceptional job, especially in the cups. At Rangers we look for top class excellence in all departments and if Ally wants to stay he needs to show this potential, and the only way he can do that now is to win the cup. Otherwise, he's easily replaceable by all the other passable but nothing special managers that so many on here have a hard-on for.

 

However, the caveat, is that they could make us worse.

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

Who said we should be as good as Celtic in the cups? Stop making things up

 

Another point is Bayern don't play as bad as us?

 

You're at the windup, you have to be.

[TheTinMan99 0]

In reference to your previous points.

 

SPL teams don't win league titles because they have far less resources than the old firm. Simple as that. I don't watch any SPL games but in Walter's second stint, plus our first season under Ally, we were regularly out passed by SPL teams. In fact I remember a particular spell under Walter where week in week out we were getting played off the park and struggling to get victories. So, we got 'passed off the park', but still invariably ended up winning. Wonder why that was? Does the great passing side not always win?

 

We don't have any option other than route 1 football? Please explain that ridiculous line of thinking. At any level of football it is possible to play correctly. Simple pass and move. Nobody is expecting anything great but if half decent kids teams can do it, there's no excuse for a group of professionals resorting to horrific, moronic route 1 tactics. All it shows is a lack of ideas and intelligence. Do you not understand how percentage football works? It clearly is the right tactic, especially in the leagues that we have been in lately. Our players are simply not good enough to play this pass and move tactic you crave so much. Comparing to kids games is just ridiculous.

 

It's not my fault there is no scouting network, it is the club's fault. Many of us have been shouting for over 10 years to get a proper scouting network in place, along with an overhaul of the rest of the archaic infrastructure at the club. The only long term scout we seem to have had is Ewan Chester over two stints and he is completely useless. I never said it was your fault, I said it wasn't Ally's fault. How can he do his job properly, with zero transfer budget, and zero scouting system? How will any new manager deal with this?

 

Our players are not vastly superior? Well yes they are. Our players are upper SPL players playing against part-timers in the third tier. Wake up. Upper SPL, haha. You say that like it means they are of a decent standard. Any decent Scottish player is in the English Championship, or the lower half of the English premiership.

 

You honestly seem to think that playing route 1 football somehow gets success in the Scottish game, as if the same collection of players playing an intelligent passing game would somehow be inferior, when in reality they would be vastly superior. Absolutely clueless. You think we are playing route one, we just pissed 2 leagues, and yet you don't think it's successful in Scottish football? You try playing an intelligent passing game against inferior players who's only hope of stopping you is to snap you in half. You're living in a dream world if you expect to see that kind of football at Ibrox anytime in the near future. We play like we do due to our quality of player, and due to the fact that it works. No need for me to return the compliment and call you clueless. You do a good enough job on your own with each passing post you make.

 

Please don't continue this conversation. I'm bored trying to educate you about football.

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

Please don't continue this conversation. I'm bored trying to educate you about football.

This is so ironic, given you know absolutely nothing about the subject whatsoever.

 

1. As I have previously pointed out, the old firm always win due to their vastly superior resources. Even if we did play very poor football, we won in spite of that due to having vastly superior players, players often earning £20k + per week against players struggling to earn a grand a week. WInning trophies playing poor football does not equate to winning trophies BECAUSE you play poor football

 

2. Players like Templeton, Macleod, Law, Shiels etc are not good enough to play a simple pass and move game? Absolute nonsense. If our dire tactics 'clearly are the right tactic', why do we continually get embarrassed in cups. Why on earth would frequently losing possession be a better tactic than intelligently maintaining it? Route 1 football is never the superior tactic at any level whatsoever. If you watched more football you might get a grasp of this.

 

We illustrated against Dundermline at Ibrox 2 or 3 months ago that our players are very capable of playing a decent passing game.

 

3. He has plenty resources to be playing watchable football in part-time leagues. He has the second best squad of players in Scotland but they struggle to scrape two passes together. These teams find a way to not resort to basic, mind numbing route 1 football to win. We illustrated against Dundermline at Ibrox 2 or 3 months ago that our players are very capable of playing a decent passing game.

 

4. Upper SPL still means they should be wiping the floor with any lower league sides.

 

5. Do Scottish teams not try and get physical with Celtic, how do they manage to cope? Do little teams all over the world not try and stifle out the bigger clubs through strong tactics? It happens in big leagues too.

 

You're away with the fairies.

[simplythebest 0]

I think it's getting to defending the indefensible stage, I don't think anyone believes that McCoist is the one single thing wrong with the club but he's a massive thing that's wrong and regardless of scouting and transfer budgets our footballing future is going no-where under him.

[TheTinMan99 0]

This is so ironic, given you know absolutely nothing about the subject whatsoever.

 

1. As I have previously pointed out, the old firm always win due to their vastly superior resources. Even if we did play very poor football, we won in spite of that due to having vastly superior players, players often earning £20k + per week against players struggling to earn a grand a week. WInning trophies playing poor football does not equate to winning trophies BECAUSE you play poor football

 

2. Players like Templeton, Macleod, Law, Shiels etc are not good enough to play a simple pass and move game? Absolute nonsense. If our dire tactics 'clearly are the right tactic', why do we continually get embarrassed in cups. Why on earth would frequently losing possession be a better tactic than intelligently maintaining it? Route 1 football is never the superior tactic at any level whatsoever. If you watched more football you might get a grasp of this.

 

We illustrated against Dundermline at Ibrox 2 or 3 months ago that our players are very capable of playing a decent passing game.

 

3. He has plenty resources to be playing watchable football in part-time leagues. He has the second best squad of players in Scotland but they struggle to scrape two passes together. These teams find a way to not resort to basic, mind numbing route 1 football to win. We illustrated against Dundermline at Ibrox 2 or 3 months ago that our players are very capable of playing a decent passing game.

 

4. Upper SPL still means they should be wiping the floor with any lower league sides.

 

5. Do Scottish teams not try and get physical with Celtic, how do they manage to cope? Do little teams all over the world not try and stifle out the bigger clubs through strong tactics? It happens in big leagues too.

 

You're away with the fairies.

 

lol. We can debate all day about which one of us is the most clueless. The only thing for sure is, Ally has forgotten more about professional football than either of the two of us will ever know. Both as a player, as an assistant manager, and now as a manager. I agree that the football is absolutely dire to watch. I just disagree about how we got in this position, and what we can do about it.

[pmu 0]

Agree there tinman but it looks like the bits that ally has forgotten are the important ones..theres nothing like ex players who think they know "the game" because they played it. Honestly some of them are thick as shite and haven't got a fucking clue, but hey they know better than us mere mortals..

[TheTinMan99 0]

Agree there tinman but it looks like the bits that ally has forgotten are the important ones..theres nothing like ex players who think they know "the game" because they played it. Honestly some of them are thick as shite and haven't got a fucking clue, but hey they know better than us mere mortals..

 

While I agree that there is many an ex player that you describe, I don't think Ally is one of them. He served a solid apprenticeship under Walter, both for Scotland, and Rangers. Whatever your opinion on Walter, he knew how to deliver trophies, especially league ones. I do think your average ex-pro has a better idea about professional football than your average punter.

 

It's much easier to manage Rangers from the comfort of a forum, than it is facing the reality of the job. Having played in our 9IAR row teams, do you honestly think Ally can't see how shite we are? This is what you get when you spend less than a million in transfer fees in the space of 2 years. Journeymen footballers, who are just not very good, or entertaining to watch. No amount of tactical nous in the world is going to make them better players, who look like they couldn't care less.

 

The board must be loving the hysteria for taking the heat off them for a week, which ironically, they and their predecessors have created.

[simplythebest 0]

Blaming lack of investment in the Scottish Lower leagues, where we're still spending about 7 million in wages and paying the manager 800k (400k now, still plenty)...

 

Seems some are so wrapped up in hating the board they're blind to the real problems with our actual football management. If the likes of SOS and UOF had any consistency they'd be organising protests to change the manager.

[pmu 0]

Agree ally probably can see how shite we are. Just dont think he understands or accepts responsibilty for his role in creating it. His answer to fix it.. is er spend more money. I live in peterhead and recently they have been playing ten times better football than allys team..