Next Seasons Newbies

[Gribz 850]

So thats Kirk Broadfoot joining Andy Gow in signing pre-contract terms with us for next season. Scott McDonald looks likely aswell.

 

I really hope my doubts are proved wrong but im far from optimistic about these 3.

 

I also think Scott Brown will follow.

 

It looks like Walter see's something in them - fair enough - and he may be trying to mould a young squad who play as a good team but time will tell. The 1 aspect which is improving is the amount of Scots in the squad - we can field a full team and the bench. But id still rather be going for the likes of McCulloch, McFadden, Webster (permanent), aling with an experienced striker with a half big name like Fowler.

 

With the new signings coming in, we will have to ship out players. Rae is a cert to go, and it doesnt look like Novo will be offered a new deal, but id have Novo ahead of McDonald. I can see Sebo and Buffel also been shown the door.

[craig 5,199]

I see McDonald, Gow and Broadfoot as cheap squad fillers.

 

WS has said on a number of occasions that we have a very small squad and given I think that we all recognise that we don't have a ton of money to spend on bolstering the squad I think, at least with Gow and McDonald, they have proven themselves in the SPL and would be decent squad players.

 

I haven't seen much of Broadfoot but again he will be a cheap squad filler and given his age he will no doubt be one for the future.

 

I tend to disagree that with these guys signing people will have to go - you can bet that the combined wages of these 3 will still not come close to what Klos was earning - so we could have these 3 as ADDITIONS to the squad without it costing the club any more in wages than they currently pay.

 

Obviously we will also need another keeper - but Klos' wages might even cover that 4th player !

[Super_Ally 0]

In a related topic, I was in uni early today and the latest I had seen was Broadfoot in talks but nothing signed yet. Anyway one of my mates (a Tim) came in and told another Tim that Broadfoot had signed for us and expressed his disappointment as "Celtic were after him". Second Tim had a dig at us by saying something along the lines of look at all these big guns Rangers are bringing in.

 

Well, we've signed Broadfoot, Thomson and hopefully Brown. They may not be "big guns", but Celtic wanted them and we got them instead. Shouldn't be knocking our signings when they were Celtic targets who have chosen us instead.

 

It's a positive point for next season imo anyway. We may be in a period lacking in success and yet the young players available in Scotland are still picking us over them.

[Leppardized2001 0]

The way I look at it is that Walter will be looking to offload some of PLG's disaster buys in the summer eg Sionko/Sebo/Papac and look to replace them with 3-4 quality experienced players to supplement the young Scottish players he's signed uptil now. With the likely sale of Buffel and retirement of Klos he should have the wages available to do this. The likes of Broadfoot/Gow etc will be squad players who he will hope can develop into dependable 1st team perfromers.

 

The 3-4 quality experienced players I have in mind would form the 'spine' of the team ie goalkeeper, a centre half, midfielder and striker.

 

Malky

[Super_Ally 0]

The way I look at it is that Walter will be looking to offload some of PLG's disaster buys in the summer eg Sionko/Sebo/Papac and look to replace them with 3-4 quality experienced players to supplement the young Scottish players he's signed uptil now. With the likely sale of Buffel and retirement of Klos he should have the wages available to do this. The likes of Broadfoot/Gow etc will be squad players who he will hope can develop into dependable 1st team perfromers.

 

The 3-4 quality experienced players I have in mind would form the 'spine' of the team ie goalkeeper, a centre half, midfielder and striker.

 

Malky

 

Agree he will be looking to offload some of the duds, although I would be interested in giving Papac one last chance. However with Weir and Ehiogu coming in and doing well, Webster to regain fitness ( I think we will be signing him permanently, infact I think there is something "suss" about his transfer to Wigan but that's another story) and Svensson ahead of him. Not to mention Broadfoot coming in, he could well be off.

 

However his last showing, albeit 45 mins on for the injured Ehiogu before the European tie, was very impressive.

[CammyF 8,017]

I think Weir has stated that he intends to end his career at the end of the current season - maybe WS can change his mind, but we need defensive cover so Papic or Svensson may stay.

 

Like Gribz, I am not overwhelmed by the recent signings and the names being banded about for the summer do not impress me either. Can a team of players like Smith, Hutton, Burke, Adam, Boyd etc ensure we win back OUR title? I am not confident that they can.

 

With Prso and Novo looking likely to also leave in the summer, we need a major cash injection to ensure that those who leave are replaced by BETTER players and with such a young squad, we'll need some experienced players in their to help them out.

 

However, I won't be surprised if all we sign during the close season is players like Broadfoot, Gow, McCulloch (who I rate), McDonald et al. It wouldn't surprise me if we lose out on Brown due to the continued penny-pinching.

 

Cammy F

[Super_Ally 0]

 

However, I won't be surprised if all we sign during the close season is players like Broadfoot, Gow, McCulloch (who I rate), McDonald et al. It wouldn't surprise me if we lose out on Brown due to the continued penny-pinching.

 

Cammy F

 

It would be worth the cost of the ticket to see McCulloch doing to Lennon what he did to Morgan of Sheff Utd.

[Wija 0]

Also we might expect Lee McCulloch... who I think would be a good signing.

[ian1964 10,720]

I think Weir has stated that he intends to end his career at the end of the current season - maybe WS can change his mind, but we need defensive cover so Papic or Svensson may stay.

 

Like Gribz, I am not overwhelmed by the recent signings and the names being banded about for the summer do not impress me either. Can a team of players like Smith, Hutton, Burke, Adam, Boyd etc ensure we win back OUR title? I am not confident that they can.

 

With Prso and Novo looking likely to also leave in the summer, we need a major cash injection to ensure that those who leave are replaced by BETTER players and with such a young squad, we'll need some experienced players in their to help them out.

 

However, I won't be surprised if all we sign during the close season is players like Broadfoot, Gow, McCulloch (who I rate), McDonald et al. It wouldn't surprise me if we lose out on Brown due to the continued penny-pinching.

 

Cammy F

 

I don't think any of us are exstatic about these signings Cammy, but in your third paragraph you hit the nail on the head, MAJOR CASH INJECTION, but i don't see that happening, hope i'm wrong, but when you've no money i think what WS is doing is trying to build a team, obviously, and he is trying to get the best young Scottish players available and i don't see this as a bad thing, as the days of big signings are gone then i don't see what else can be done, but hopefully we can get in a few experienced players to help the young guys gel.

[CammyF 8,017]

I don't think any of us are exstatic about these signings Cammy, but in your third paragraph you hit the nail on the head, MAJOR CASH INJECTION, but i don't see that happening, hope i'm wrong, but when you've no money i think what WS is doing is trying to build a team, obviously, and he is trying to get the best young Scottish players available and i don't see this as a bad thing, as the days of big signings are gone then i don't see what else can be done, but hopefully we can get in a few experienced players to help the young guys gel.

 

What else can be done is capturing experience players on Bosmans. AM had some limited success in this market (Frank De Boer, Prso, Boumsong (if we are to believe the mint that he was a bosman!!!) etc).

 

Craptic have done this with Vinger of Castlemilk, why shouldn't we be looking at bringing decent, experience European players in on Bosmans? Klos will leave at the end of the season freeing up �£35K per week on wages - more than enough to secure a Vinger of Castlemilk type player.

 

Unfortunately, having a team full of 'promising' Scottish youngsters isn't going to see us dominate Scottish football for decades nor will it see us progressing in Europe, especially in the CL.

 

Rangers IMO should be setting our sights a lot higher.

 

If Rangers had, when DA left, invested heavily in the youth academy, we would be bearing fruit at this point. What I mean by that is setting up academies world wide and bringing the best players from all over to Ibrox. We would still be in the same position on the field, but we would have a shit load of players ready to break into the first team.

 

Unfortunately, David Murray doesn't do 'forward thinking'

 

Cammy F