Smith starts the weeding out

[pete 2,499]

GERS SACK DOC AS FLOP DEFENDER HEADS HOME

Exclusive by Keith Jackson

 

RANGERS doctor Ian McGuiness was dramatically sacked last night - days after calling for champagne to celebrate the demise of Paul Le Guen.

 

McGuiness' dismissal was the first act of manager-in-waiting Walter Smith's January clearout which has also seen flop defender Julien Rodriguez jet back to France for signing talks with Marseille.

 

McGuiness, a close friend and confidante of axed captain Barry Ferguson, was told of the decision to sack him by chief executive Martin Bain. But the man who issued the order was Smith who also gave his blessing to Rodriguez's imminent return to his homeland.

 

Rodriguez was brought to the Ibrox club by Alex McLeish but struggled to hold down a first-team place under Le Guen. Now the former Monaco captain hopes to secure a move to Marseille in the next 48 hours. By removing McGuiness, Smith has fired a warning shot across the bows of Ferguson who counted the medic among his closest friends at the club.

 

The pair were so tight that McGuiness stunned colleagues inside Murray Park last Thursday when, moments after Le Guen's resignation was announced, he celebrated openly and suggested the bubbly should be cracked open.

 

The sacking will be a clear warning to Ferguson and others in the crisis-hit dressing room that the days of cliques and whispering campaigns are over.

 

 

Record Sport understands Le Guen was unhappy with McGuiness' influence behind the scenes and believed him to be too close to a number of top-team stars, especially Ferguson. McGuiness was banned from the team bus and the dugout as the Frenchman struggled to impose his authority.

 

McGuiness strode back into position on the touchline at Dunfermline on Sunday, standing shoulder to shoulder with caretaker boss Ian Durrant.

 

But now Smith has gone one step further than Le Guen even before officially taking over the reins.

 

Smith knows how crucial it will be for him to unite the players he is about to inherit if he is to have any chance of hauling Rangers out of their ever-deepening crisis.

 

The removal of Fergie's trusted mate signals Smith's intent to clamp down on anyone deemed a threat to team harmony.

 

I think all that is coming out now Shows PLG was was indeed fighting dressing room cliques.

Unfortunatly the instigator seems to be getting away with it.

If Murray knew this then it is diabolical that he never backed his manager.

[Trailio 0]

Yeah the more i read the more I can see we are rotten from the core. What chance did PLG have with all this going on in the background.

 

Although I'm not particulary keen on the appointment of WS, I am confident that he will rid the club of this bile and we can start to build from the ground up.

[Gazza_8 233]

Although I'm not particulary keen on the appointment of WS, I am confident that he will rid the club of this bile and we can start to build from the ground up.

 

Me neither. We can wave goodbye to good european nights we've had in recent seasons.

[Gribz 850]

I think Walter's team will be better prepared for Euro nights after his spell with Scotland.

 

His team went to Norway and won superbly, was unlucky away to Italy and he has beaten France at home. I think he'll have a different approach this time round.

[calscot 0]

Me neither. We can wave goodbye to good european nights we've had in recent seasons.

 

I dunno about that, he's proven with Scotland he can now do well in Europe...

 

If he can engineer a win against a France team who haven't been beaten in a qualifier for donkey's years then he must have learned a lot since he left Ibrox.

 

Just don't let him go back to that crappy 5-3-2 system that coincided with his failures in Europe. He needs to remember his fantastic run when he used a 4-4-2 in 92.

 

He also has to stop buying the likes of Clelland and Bollan.

[pete 2,499]

We beat these teams with 10 men behind the ball and hit them with a sucker punch.

That was his tactics in out games in Europe with Rangers as well,so i suppose that is what we will be getting.

[calscot 0]

If it works then I won't complain.

[Guest loyal and blue]

I think all that is coming out now Shows PLG was was indeed fighting dressing room cliques.

Unfortunatly the instigator seems to be getting away with it.

If Murray knew this then it is diabolical that he never backed his manager.

These are all side issues Le Guen was S###E

[Trailio 0]

These are all side issues Le Guen was S###E

 

Once the dust has settled PLG will only be remembered for his results and agreed they were shit. But we will never know how good things could have been if he'd had a united dressing room, a captain that supported and respected his decisions. And players that were open minded enough to give his new ideas a chance. We don't know how much this in fighting affected the other players and general morale/confidence within the squad.

[Falkirk Jim 0]

I think Walter's team will be better prepared for Euro nights after his spell with Scotland.

 

His team went to Norway and won superbly, was unlucky away to Italy and he has beaten France at home. I think he'll have a different approach this time round.

 

Yeah, i think he will be better prepared now too .... but let's get realistic for a second guys!

 

Our club is rotten to the core at the mo, and it needs someone like Smith to try and put that right (with proper support from DM) We are struggling to be the 2nd best club in Scotland at the mo, so fuck european football as far as im concerned, lets get back on top in Scotland first!