pete 2,499 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 http://www.ibroxnoise.co.uk/2015/04/fraser-airdremember-him.html One change under Stuart McCall has stuck out like a sore thumb. No, not Ian Black, he was ditched under McDowall. No, the most notable dismissal from the first team since McCall took the helm has been that of Fraser Aird. The young Canadian was a first-team regular under McCoist then McDowall, and if not a starter a certain sub. He was pretty much cast-iron match-day squad fodder, and his consequent demotion to the unders has gone bizarrely under the radar. I say under the radar as he was extremely prominent in recent months for mouthing off to the media with rather embarrassing comments and showing his youthful naiveté by making certain diatribes in public he might have been well advised to keep a lid on. Indeed, his stark departure to the youth team has been remarkable, with just one appearance on the senior subs’ bench (v Cowdenbeath) since the regime change. Where did it all go wrong for him? Let us not kid ourselves on; he had promise. When he burst onto the scene in 2012/2013 he looked very promising indeed. The winner at Hampden v Queens’ Park indicated this young lad had real potential, with pace and a keen eye for goal. Unfortunately, as so many under McCoist did, he went dreadfully backwards, and after initially looking skilful, quick, and dangerous, he quickly became a one-trick pony with no guile at all; his entire repertoire became to tap the ball past the defender and try to outrun him. He could not beat anyone with skill any more, his crossing went from woeful to embarrassing, and he simply continued to regress, yet, bizarrely, remained in the team. It was not till the Old Firm game that we saw the end of Aird. After having had as disastrous a first half as anyone else in the team, Aird was hooked off by then-manager Kenny McDowall. He has not played in any capacity for the first team since. McCall seems to have keenly observed that Aird was never properly ready for the first team, and certainly was not being coached correctly. He is now back under the watchful eye of Ian Durrant in the unders, a guy who, let us face it, has put through some remarkably talented players. As far as youth coaches go, Durrant is actually pretty good. Aird is clearly better off in the unders for now – the team is doing not badly, and recently beat Celtic at Lennoxtown. But his rise to first teamer followed by sudden dumping into the unders really has been stark, and one has to blame McCoist for both failing to coach him properly, and continuing to select him when he was clearly struggling. Here is hoping Aird has not been permanently ruined. A Rangers FC fan blog discussing everything relating to the club. This piece looks to me as damned if you do or damned if you don't. McCoist gave Aird a chance when we were all shouting youth should get a chance. If a player plays well in the beginning then do you drop him like a bag of potato's as soon as he has a few bad games or do you give him a chance to get his confidence up and back into form. I did not think that Walsh had a good game on Saturday but when is the tiime to drop him back to the youths? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whosthedado 1,703 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I was wondering about Aird the other day. I got to the stage I was moaning when he was starting every week, but surely he would maybe provide a spark from the bench? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,732 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Not just Fraser Aird, what's happened to Barrie McKay? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Not just Fraser Aird, what's happened to Barrie McKay? He's still playing with Raith,doing well seemingly? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 One trick pony prone to playing the invisible man. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,732 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 One trick pony prone to playing the invisible man. Aird or McKay? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Aird or McKay? Surely you can work that out! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Surely you can work that out! To be honest I was going to post the same but reversed. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) Frasier Aird is an extremely poor footballer. A 'winger' who is completely incapable of dribbling, skills and creating goals and he also rarely scores. I'm all for the youth getting a chance but we shouldn't have to play them over 80 times before we realise they do not have the necessary quality. It's not like Aird just doesn't quite come up to scratch, he offers absolutely nothing and should never have got anywhere near the first team. A club who rarely ever give youth a chance yet the one player who gets an abundance of chances is absolutely woeful. Only at Rangers! It's a shame we didn't put the same effort into Barrie McKay as he has far more natural ability. If he had been playing regularly the past three seasons who knows how he would be now? Given he's almost 21 it seems the boat has sailed now. We have had a lot of players in recent years where 90 minutes go by and you can't remember one single tangible contribution that they made. These players often seem to occupy the wide midfield areas. We rarely seem to know what to do in these positions, you get the impression rather than using these areas to attack, they are areas where we throw another body onto the park. We regularly see defenders, attackers and central midfielders occupying these roles. Sasa Papac playing wide left? Good God. As dependable as he was defensively the sheer idea is just comical. Both Lee McCulloch and Peter Lovenkrands used to regularly occupy the wide left area and I would rarely notice they were playing. The first was mainly down to a lack of ability, the latter was down to a mixture of inconsistency and poor management. Lovenkrands was much better when played through the middle. Aside from the fleeting, exciting appearances of Sone Aluko and Vladimir Weiss, we haven't had a consistent wide player at the club since Neil McCann. Even McCann I remember being frustratingly inconsistent, though those were the days when inconsistency didn't mean 10 + bad games for every good one! Edited April 28, 2015 by Ser Barristan Selmy 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgacus 8 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 It's all very well playing young players..but they need to be coached as well. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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