Record Back Page - Ally, I Need New Players

[Frankie 8,662]

Is that a requirement of a Rangers manager?

 

Are you being serious?

[rbr 1,266]

Is that a requirement of a Rangers manager?

Definitely

[der Berliner 3,807]

Are you being serious?

 

More like realistic.

 

Thing is, we have been a buying club for decades, and will sooner or later become one again. No matter how much we all want to rear players from the youth into top notch quality, either for our glory or to bolster our finances, our squad strategy will remain signing the best of what is available in our strata and at our level. You would of course hope that we unearth a few more Macleods or McKays, no doubt about that. Much like previous managers have unearthed a McGregor or Hutton or Ferguson. Yet, much of our success these last few decades have been achieved by full grown and well established players who were not required to get any better than they already were. Be it Laudrup, Albertz, Gascoigne or Numan. Thus the question remains: was this ever a requirement of a Rangers manager? You would obviously hope that he does it nonetheless, as any decent manager would try to.

[Frankie 8,662]

Realism should tell us that paying up to £800K per annum (and associated perks) for a manager should mean the very minimum he can do is implement a vision of how his team should work.

 

Although he can't (always) set the budget, he can select the players within it and should be able to improve and nurture them via the coaching team of his choice (including himself). Subsequently, he should be able to form these players into a cohesive group playing a style of football appropriate for the opposition and competition. Moreover, he then needs to take responsibility for their ongoing performance and make changes where and when required.

 

I'm not saying this is easy or that the standard of player doesn't affect the above but to suggest it's unrealistic to expect a manager to be able to improve his players - any player, from Foster to Messi - is a line of thinking I'm struggling to see.

[buster. 5,257]

Is that a requirement of a Rangers manager?

 

 

Let's look at what actually tends to happen,........the vast majority go backwards.

 

That reality certainly isn't a requirement of a Rangers manager but has been balanced by throwing money we don't have at the perceived solutions that actually tend to firefight rather than build any secure base.

 

The overall equation was generally similar when Walter Smith was in charge but differed in that his management added a significant amount to coming out with a short-term positive result.

 

When you lack the managerial skills within that equation, then to come out with a positive result, you'll need extra finance, which we don't have.

 

 

This is a problem that we've had for many years and needs to be addressed or we aren't viable as a business.

[craig 5,199]

Being realistic ? Seriously ?

 

So a managers job isn't to get the best out of his players or to improve their performance levels ? Oh man, where to even start with that !

 

Now it is acceptable for a Rangers manager to not improve the players at his disposal ? Good Lord.

 

With comments like that maybe we really should just turn off the lights !

[craig 5,199]

Being realistic ? Seriously ?

 

So a managers job isn't to get the best out of his players or to improve their performance levels ? Oh man, where to even start with that !

 

Now it is acceptable for a Rangers manager to not improve the players at his disposal ? Good Lord.

 

With comments like that maybe we really should just turn off the lights !

[Scott7 6,167]

A manager should be able to identify a player's weaknesses or strengths but it's the job of the assistant coaches to teach the players how to compesate for weaknesses and enhance strengths. The manager won't have time for that and might not have the particular coaching skills.

[Rangersitis 0]

How Lionel Messi was transformed at Barcelona - thanks to late-night phone call from Pep Guardiola

 

Barcelona striker was given a new lease of life as a 'false No 9' thanks to a flash of inspiration from his former manager

 

A fascinating new study of Pep Guardiola by Spanish journalist Marti Perarnau reveals how a plot hatched by the manager in his training ground office just hours before a crucial Clasico game against Real Madrid changed Lionel Messi's career forever.

 

May 2, 2009. The Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Barcelona against Real Madrid. The scene was set for Pep Guardiola to unleash his secret weapon.

 

Ten minutes into the game, with the score at 0-0, Pep gave the nod Lionel to Messi and Samuel Eto'o. The two players had to swap positions. Eto'o, usually a centre-forward, moved to the right wing and Messi, a right winger, took up position in the centre of the field - but playing deeper, more like an attacking midfielder. Christoph Metzelder and Fabio Cannavaro, the Madrid centre-backs, were lost. They had no idea how to counteract the change.

 

Whilst researching this book I had the chance to meet Metzelder over dinner in Dusseldorf. That astonishing day was still fresh in his memory. "Fabio and I looked at each other. 'What do we do? Do we follow him to the midfield or stay deep?' We didn't have a clue."

 

 

The false 9 would go down in history as one of the more extraordinary of Guardiola's innovations, not because he invented it but because he was able to redefine the position through an exceptional player like Messi. How did he do it?

 

It was the day before the match - a holiday Friday. Guardiola had stayed at the stadium to study his opponents. This was a well-established routine, which he continues today at Bayern. He spends two days analysing the team they are about to face, looking for strengths and weaknesses. He reviews entire matches as well as sections of the videos his assistants have picked out for him. Domènec Torrent and Carles Planchart, who are now at Bayern, provided this kind of information for him back then, too.

 

The day before the game, he shuts himself in his office, puts on some gentle music and thinks about his approach to the match. Where should they attack their opponents? What is the best way to dominate?

 

"I sit down and watch two or three videos. I take notes. That's when that flash of inspiration comes - the moment that makes sense of my profession. The instant I know, for sure, that I've got it. I know how to win. It only lasts for about a minute, but it's the moment that my job becomes truly meaningful.'

 

When he talked about this moment of magic he was probably thinking back to May 1, 2009. To that moment when he showed the world that he had found a new way to beat Real Madrid. Having watched a previous match between the two teams, Pep noticed how much pressure Real's midfielders Guti, Fernando Gago and Royston Drenthe put on his own players, Xavi and Yaya Touré. He also noticed the tendency of the central defenders, Cannavaro and Metzelder, to hang back near Iker Casillas' goalmouth. This left a vast expanse of space between them and the Madrid midfielders.

 

It was 10pm and Pep was alone in his office. Everyone else, including his assistants, had gone home. He sat in that dimly lit room imagining Messi moving freely across that enormous empty space in the Bernabéu. He saw him face-to-face with Metzelder and Cannavaro, the two players frozen on the edge of the box, unsure whether or not to chase the Argentine. The image was crystal clear and he picked up the phone and dialled Messi's number.

 

"Leo, it's Pep. I've just seen something important. Really important. Why don't you come over. Now, please."

 

At 10.30pm there is a gentle knock at Pep's office door and a 21-year-old Leo Messi comes in. The coach shows him the video, pausing it to point out the empty space. He wants his player to make that space his own. From now on it will be ‘the Messi zone'.

 

"Tomorrow in Madrid I want you to start on the wing as usual, but the minute I give you a sign I want you to move away from the midfielders and into the space I just showed you. The minute Xavi or Andrés Iniesta break between the lines and give you the ball I want you to head straight for Casillas' goal."

 

It was a secret between the two. Nobody else would know about the plans until Pep explained to Tito Vilanova the following day in the team hotel. Just minutes before kick-off, Guardiola took Xavi and Iniesta to one side and told them.

 

"When you see Leo in the space between the lines down the middle, don't hesitate. Give him the ball. Like we did in Gijón."

 

That day in May 2009, the strategy worked perfectly and Barça destroyed Real Madrid, winning by six goals to two. Messi had become a false No 9.

 

If it's good enough for them.......

[Frankie 8,662]

A manager should be able to identify a player's weaknesses or strengths but it's the job of the assistant coaches to teach the players how to compesate for weaknesses and enhance strengths. The manager won't have time for that and might not have the particular coaching skills.

 

No-one is saying the manager has to do everything. However, he is responsible for putting together and leading the coaching team.

 

if a player (or indeed a coach) is unable to do what is asked of them, then it's down to the manager to address that.