ian1964 10,618 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 00:00Wednesday 05 August 2015 LOOKING back to recent years, when Rangers had the heart “ripped out of it”, isn’t of interest to club legend Richard Gough. In contrast, looking to the back, and the defence fashioned by Mark Warburton in his new-look Ibrox side, hold great appeal for the 53-year-old. Gough was at his old stomping ground on Sunday as Peterhead were brushed aside 3-0 in the League Cup. He is convinced he watched a Rangers rearguard that provides the foundation upon which Warburton’s team can mount a challenge for major cup success, not just promotion from the Championship. And so taken by right-back James Tavernier was the Rangers nine-in-a-row captain that he believes the 24-year-old could bring a return to the pre-liquidation days when multi-millions could be made from players moving to the English top-flight from Ibrox. James Tavernier reminds me of Gary Stevens because he is very quick Richard Gough “I always remember Graeme Souness saying ‘good teams are built from the back’ and he got in Chris Woods, Terry Butcher, myself, Gary Stevens. We were so solid you could have fielded four of our back five and found us hard to break down,” said Gough. “It looks like Mark Warburton has done something similar with his rebuild of Rangers. His defence is certainly not a Scottish Championship back four. It’s a level above that at least. Danny Wilson is an excellent defender, [Rob] Kiernan is a good user of the ball. “The right-back – even though we haven’t seen him defend yet – looks a crowd pleaser who will get a few goals. He reminds me of Gary Stevens because he is very quick. From what I’ve seen of him, he’s better than most of the right-backs I’ve seen in the Premier League. Someone will come and take him for three or four million. If he keeps playing like that then he’ll not be here in a year. That is the lure for a Tavernier. Rangers are on the TV every week, he’s at a big club so will be seen. If you do well at Rangers and in the big games, you will get a move. “The goalkeeper [Wes Foderingham] looks good too. He’s a big strong boy and a good user of the ball. He can build from the back. And [Martyn] Waghorn up front looks a good signing too. “There were seven new signings in the team against Peterhead. The four new defenders looked good, while Lee Wallace has always been a machine. As a football man, that’s what you need – a good goalkeeper and back four. Plus, Andy Halliday looked very good sitting in there [in front of the back four]. They’ve scored nine goals in two games and the team is still to settle. Things are looking optimistic at Ibrox again.” “Dave King has been quiet but the noise level going down is a good thing,” Gough added. “We are talking about football now. Not long ago, Rangers wasn’t a football story. It was about what was going on in the background. It’s great to see people talking about football again. The season starts for real on Friday [against St Mirren] and let’s see what happens. Rangers can win a [major] trophy this season, 100 per cent. You need a bit of good fortune but you see Inverness doing it and St Johnstone do it. There is always a chance in the cups but for Rangers this season it’s hugely important to win promotion.” Gough, of course, was a backer of King in his bid to take control of the club. He admitted yesterday there was much agonising, much “to-ing and fro-ing” before he agreed to back the season ticket boycott after King phoned to ask him do so. Gough believes that starvation tactic has been vindicated – even if what allowed for the boardroom takeover that took place in March was the simple act of those seeking control buying up sufficient shares to win a vote at the general meeting. Gough, to his credit, doesn’t pretend that chairman King’s stated willingness to cover the sizeable shortfalls in the current funding model means it is a straightforward case of the good times being ready to roll again. “Progress is maybe going to be slow, with a bit-by-bit approach, but the management team now look like a good fit. It is still very early days, of course, and it’s not going to be a quick fix,” Gough said. “It’s just a natural progression. But I think we’ve been on the right track back from March. And getting the trust of supporters with 32,000 season tickets, that’s incredible after what happened. The supporters have given that trust again. There can’t be many places in the country would do that. There is talk about getting 40,000 for St Mirren on Friday, that is incredible to watch a Championship game.” http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/richard-gough-tips-james-tavernier-for-4m-move-1-3849599 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Celtc want 11 for van dyke a guy destroyed in Europe regularly. Why would we sell in a year for 4. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,459 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Celtc want 11 for van dyke a guy destroyed in Europe regularly. Why would we sell in a year for 4. What they say they get for their players and what they actually get are completely different. They often seem to include sell-on fees & signing-on fees in their inflated figures just to keep the guillible green'n' grey hordes happy 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 (edited) We have only just signed him, I'm not sure why there is any talk of selling him. We have to remember the level we are playing at as well. Tavernier is looking very good but I don't see anyone spending millions on a player based on his performances in the Scottish second tier. Plus he played for a lot of English lower league teams and doesn't seem like he ever found his groove there. Let's just enjoy having some good players instead of talking up what they might be worth and how little chance we have of keeping them... Edited August 6, 2015 by Ser Barristan Selmy 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinstein 294 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 The defence looks to have holes in it to me. They've still to show they're above Scottish Championship level 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 745 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 The defence looks to have holes in it to me. They've still to show they're above Scottish Championship level Still early days with only 2 competitive games been played for a group who hadn't previously played together. They will only get better especially with Mentor Weir. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 The defence looks to have holes in it to me. They've still to show they're above Scottish Championship level Fair comments but 4 out of 5 are new players in fairness. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Why is Gough advertising our players for sale when we're only two games into the season? In any event we can all see that Tavernier has a great engine and quality going forward but so did Foster, the question about defenders is, can they defend? There has to be a reason why Tavernier had 7 loans in 4 seasons (the last 6 in League One) before coming to us during which period he played less than 100 league games and I don't think it was all down to a learning curve for a young player. Similarly whilst Kiernan has shown he can pass out of defence I am not yet convinved he is a better overall defender than McGregor (or Zaliukas for that matter). He had no less than 9 loans in 5 seasons before coming to us and played most of his football in League Two for the likes of Accrington Stanley, Burton Albion and Southend. In those 5 years he didn't play more than 17 games of first team football for any one club in a season and 116 league games overall. So he averages about 23 league games a season. They may well develop into a commanding defence (and I did like Wallace's interview and it's clear he has stepped up his game) but I think talk of a new "iron curtain" or speaking about these players (and Foderingham) in the same breath as Woods, Stevens, Butcher, and Gough himself, not to mention Graham Roberts, is more than a little premature. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Celtc want 11 for van dyke a guy destroyed in Europe regularly. Why would we sell in a year for 4. The difference is Van Dijk is actually playing in Europe. Sure, he gets destroyed but playing at that level usually means a premium price. He also is a Dutch internationalist. Further, the numbers thrown around for Celtic players are very frequently miles from actual values or truth. I'm with SBS though, we shouldn't even be discussing the lad leaving - we should be building a team, not bringing them here for a year and selling them on - keep him, develop him, make him a star, then sell him on for REAL money. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Why is Gough advertising our players for sale when we're only two games into the season? In any event we can all see that Tavernier has a great engine and quality going forward but so did Foster, the question about defenders is, can they defend? There has to be a reason why Tavernier had 7 loans in 4 seasons (the last 6 in League One) before coming to us during which period he played less than 100 league games and I don't think it was all down to a learning curve for a young player. Similarly whilst Kiernan has shown he can pass out of defence I am not yet convinved he is a better overall defender than McGregor (or Zaliukas for that matter). He had no less than 9 loans in 5 seasons before coming to us and played most of his football in League Two for the likes of Accrington Stanley, Burton Albion and Southend. In those 5 years he didn't play more than 17 games of first team football for any one club in a season and 116 league games overall. So he averages about 23 league games a season. They may well develop into a commanding defence (and I did like Wallace's interview and it's clear he has stepped up his game) but I think talk of a new "iron curtain" or speaking about these players (and Foderingham) in the same breath as Woods, Stevens, Butcher, and Gough himself, not to mention Graham Roberts, is more than a little premature. The only comparison that Gough made between Tavernier and Stevens was that he is quick like Stevens, nothing to do with his quality of play or standard as a player. We really need to take a step back at times and read what is actually said. He made no comparison to the current crop of defenders to those you mention - all he said was that Souness believed you build from the back and that it seems that Warburton is doing the same. He mentions himself, Butcher, Woods, Stevens etc simply to say that they were so strong defensively that you only needed 4 out of the 5 of them to keep a clean sheet most of the time. No mention of a new "iron curtain". No comparison between the yesteryear and current defenders - yet here we are bemoaning him of doing exactly that. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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