David Murray ââ?¬â?? The Master Of Missed Opportunities

[CammyF 8,013]

Whilst we were dominating Scottish Football in the early 90ââ?¬â?¢s, Rangers were ââ?¬Ë?richerââ?¬â?¢ than clubs like Manchester United and after our fantastic European adventure in 93, we were better placed to win the European Cup than teams like Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea etc. It can be argued that those ââ?¬Ë?bigââ?¬â?¢ English clubs were still adjusting to life in the ââ?¬Ë?newââ?¬â?¢ English Premiership and life back on the European stage after years of exile. However, we defeated the English Champions home and away on the way to the inaugural Champions League group stages and were only denied a place in the final by the corrupt French Champions. So what happened to this fantastic opportunity? Well SKY TV arrived and financed the EPL, UEFA changed the goal-post regarding the CL and the 3 foreigner rule, and IMO David Murray allowed Walter Smith to stay on as Rangers manager for too long and the team that drank together, stagnated together.

 

After securing 9-in-a-row Walter Smith decided that he would leave Rangers the following season and if we are honest, it was torture watching that aging team limp towards what would have been a historic 10-in-a-row, Now the nostalgic and romantics amongst us would argue that that team/squad deserved the chance to etch themselves into history. However, after a season that started fantastically (who can forget the moody Italian Marco Negri scoring with almost every touch he had ââ?¬â?? well, it seemed that way, then weââ?¬â?¢d watch him sulk back to the half-way line!). I know that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you have to ask why SDM allowed Walter Smith to continue even after he had handed in his notice. Looking back to Graeme Souness, as soon as Souness indicated that he would be leaving for Liverpool, SDM showed him the door and booked him a taxi to the airport. So, why did Walter Smith not get the same treatment? Would a change of manager after securing 9-in-a-row ensured that we would have continued our domestic dominance and recharge our European challenge as this had faded since the halcyon days on 92/93? Weââ?¬â?¢ll never know, but Iââ?¬â?¢m sure a change of manager would have seen a change in fortunes as the season draw to a close. Walter Smith, rightly or wrongly chose to stick with the mainstay of the 9-in-a-row team who were clearly running on empty. We actually had 2 chances to win the league that year and blew them both (losing at home to Motherwell and away to Aberdeen) after defeating Craptic twice in a week in the Scottish Cup and League. We were famously to lose the league and both domestic cups that season but perversely, that season was to give me the possibly the proudest moment in my Rangers supporting life. As we stood at Tannidice, the deposed Champions and the 10-in-a-row dream in tatters, knowing that the manager and majority of players would be leaving, we reacted ââ?¬Ë?the Rangers wayââ?¬â?¢. The fans stood to a man (woman and child) and sang of their love for Rangers and applauded the players/manager from the pitch. Rangers, dignified in victory and defeat.

 

Now it is worth reminding ourselves that at this stage in our history, we were still financially sound ââ?¬â?? and that our bitterest (sic) of rivals were still recovering from being on the brink or extinction. We were, in all honesty, going into the 10-in-a-row season, 10-15 years ahead of them off and on the pitch - all that was about to change. IMO, this is SDMââ?¬â?¢s greatest crime, allowing such a change in such a short space of time. SDM must have known that our debt was about to spiral out of control and should have put measures in place to ensure that we stayed ahead of the game. To his eternal shame, he didnââ?¬â?¢t and all our current ills can be traced back to this point in our history.

 

SDM appeared to have pulled of a mater-stroke by appointing Dick Advocaat as our new manager. DA signed a whole host of exciting players like Amato, Gio, Numan and erm, Bert Konterman! After a shacky start and a thumping at the hands of Craptic, DA�s team gelled and played some wonderful football that saw his reclaim OUR title and win a glorious treble. Plenty other domestic success came or way along with some very credible performances and results on the European stage. Everything in the garden appeared rosy, oh how we were mistaken. DA started to lose the plot and Craptic under a new regime (on and off the pitch) stole our thunder and DA had to fall on his sword. He was replaced by Alex McLeish, an appointment that had a lot or Rangers fans shaking their heads in disappointment. To AM�s credit, he managed to match Craptic�s 2nd most successful manager on the trophy count (including a treble) whilst having to sell our better players, reduce the wage bill and replace them with inferior quality. Any money we made was put to servicing the debt whilst our financially sound neighbours had money to invest in their team.

 

However, we were offered a ââ?¬Ë?chink of lightââ?¬â?¢. Martin Oââ?¬â?¢Neill was leaving Craptic and leaving them in a min-crisis. We had snatched the league title from under their noses for a 2nd time and their aging squad was to be dissembled. This was an opportunity for us to strengthen from a position of being the champions, but again SDM refused to back his manager with the funds required to forge ahead to domestic dominance. Once again, we were left in our rivals shadows and AM was sacked and replaced by PLG. Again, we have hope but alas, it was to be false hope and SDM didnââ?¬â?¢t back his new charge with money either.

 

So after 2 disastrous domestic campaigns, can our leader take a possible opportunity to put us back where we belong? Or will he once again, miss a golden opportunity? If the (strong) rumours are to be believed, Gordon Strachan will leave Craptic in the summer and return to a role in the EPL ââ?¬â?? most likely at Manchester City. Crapticââ?¬â?¢s form over the closing half of the season hasnââ?¬â?¢t been particularly good and only our woeful results under PLG have stopped us from mounting a serious challenge in the league and cups. So what will our esteemed leader do this summer? I think heââ?¬â?¢ll do what he has done in the last 5 summers, give his charge a minimum transfer budget to sign players who are expected to replace the ââ?¬Ë?betterââ?¬â?¢ players in our squad. The early indications donââ?¬â?¢t look promising, but surely a brilliant business man like SDM can smell an opportunity and would do what ever it took to put his ââ?¬Ë?businessââ?¬â?¢ back on top? I wouldnââ?¬â?¢t bet on it, this summer will be another missed opportunity for SDM and for Rangers.

 

Cammy F

[Gribz 850]

Good read.

 

I'll raise a few points though. I think there was a difference between Souness' departure and Smiths. Wasnt Souness about to leave us in the lurch while Smith announced he was leaving after bowing down to a big of fan pressure?? I also think Smith earned the right to stay on that season from SDM as he wasnt walking out on Rangers to another club like Souness was.

 

We didnt take 10 IAR for a few reasons. The first error was Smith going public on leaving although I think this was maybe to prevent fan pressure. But this should have been kept between Murray and Smith. The next massive error was allowing Advocaat have a say on who would and who wouldnt be part of his plans. That let to a half fit Paul Gascoigne being moved on to Middlesboro at a crazy time. Andy Goram stated himself on a interview last week that if Gazza had stayed to the end of the season it would have made the difference as a half fit Gazza was still better than most in the league.

We did win those 2 games against Celtic in both tournaments and it set it up nicely. But wasnt it a defeat at Kilmarnock and not Motherwell Cammy that put us behind? Then we also lost at Pittodrie.

 

Anyway it was the end of a era and by far the most fond memories I have of Rangers.

 

Advocaat came in and built a scary team who were a match for most in Europe. Only Valencia outclassed us but they went onto the CL final that season. We were better than Munich, Parma and PSV and were so unlucky not to progress that season.

 

But then Advocaat lost it. He sold off our whole midfield. 2 players wanted to leave (Gio and Reyna) but 2 were Rangers through and through and wanted to stay (Albertz and Tugay). They were replaced with Nerlinger who got the Ibrox injury jink straight away, an aging duo of Latapy and Caniggia. But we had no solid midfielders and we have struggled with this positions since that days.

 

Il jump to the present now and Smith in his 2nd spell has his work cut out.

 

This summer is going to be huge, bigger than last, to see if Smith gets the backing of Murray and a bit of cash to spend. Smith has practically sorted the defence out but the keeper, midfield and forward positions are still in free fall and are probably at the lowest standard I have ever seen - infact no probably about it.

 

Signing average SPL players like Gow, Thomson and Broadfoot is not filling me with any confidence but I think they may be ok for squad players as long as a few quality players come in during the summer. Smith did this at the back with Weir and Ehiogu, they are a pretty decent standard.

 

But a 3rd season without a trophy or not even getting close to one wont be tolerated.

[Frankie 8,552]

Great stuff Cammy - will get this on the main site today...

 

[gisabeer 409]

Walter does have his work cut out. we are paying the price for dms blind loyalty to DA with the cheque book and its taking us a helluva time to recover. DA did get it right for a short space of time cammy but lost the plot eventually lost when he sold off the likes of tugay and more importantly Albertz. Reyna and Vanbronckhorst left on there own accord.

 

If we are to point the finger at anyone for the mess were in we should blame Dick Advocaat for grossly over spending on players and their wages. Flo was the straw that broke the camels back. From there on in we have been in dire straits.

 

When PLG came in with his monumenatal reputation all and sundry hailed his capture like the second comming, and it was a fantastic singing by DM. What we didnt know though was that the arse would fall out of his pants at the first fence and hed do a runner. what financial backing he had i cannot comment on but he seemed pretty sure of himself when he stated that he hadnt spent it all at the start of the new season. And as suprised as i was at his signings I still backed the guy, well hey this was paul leguen and he must know what hes doing. How wrong we were. We are now further back than we were at the end of this season thanks to this prick.

 

Re enter walter. Hes dropped 4 points since his return and stablised the ship. thats what was required and thats what we wanted. full marks there then. Is he going to make us into a leading force in europe? No he isnt. What he will do next season is put up a credible fight for the league. As for europe forget it. We are so far behind on that stage that it will take years to claw back.

 

Theres a lot of things im not happy with at Ibrox right now but there are also a lot of reasons why we are in such a mess. to point the soletary finger at DM is in my eyes unfair. Yes he was a fool to bankroll DA like he did but DA let us down as did paul leguen. To Alex Mcleish I take my hat off for having the balls to take on such an unforgiving job and delivering two league titles.

 

God only knows where we will be this time next season but i genuinely believe we have hit rock bottom on all fronts and the only way from now on is up.

[Jon 0]

Some great reading there guys

[CammyF 8,013]

Gisabear, why should we blame DA? It isn't him who signs the cheques. SDM has shown since DA that he can say 'no' to players identified by the manager.

 

The blame of overspending rests with one person and one person only and that is Sir David Murray. SDM is the 'boss' so is held accountable for the finances of the club and is responsible for the vast majority of the ills we face at this time (selling of the assets, his refusal to properly fund YD, his 'dignified' silence approach etc, etc).

 

Cammy F

[juffery 0]

That was a cracking read Cammy.

 

I think wee Dick gets too much stick. Yes it ended badly and yes he was the manager who spent 12 million on Flo. But he brought us Van Bronckhorst, Numan, who was one of the finest players I've seen in Scottish football and Mols, made us a competitive force in Europe, won trophies. What more do you want from a manager?

 

As for the current situation, I think SDM will have to release money in the summer. I expect something around 6-8 million plus whatever Walter rakes in from selling players.

 

As for Walters appointment, in the short term it has worked well - what I'm hoping is that McCoist is being groomed to take over. I have a feeling that he will be a great manager and I'm glad he's here and glad he's basically doing an apprenticeship.

 

I seem to have said this the last two close seasons, but my hope for next year is to build the squad. Let Celtic have the title, concentrate on building a strong unit that wil be together for the next 5-7-10 years. The nucleus is there - we have the best young left back in Scotland, a goalscorer, a reliable keeper.

 

Rome wasn't built in a day and the 9IAR squad wasn't built in a year. We need to have patience and a bit of faith. But if SDM doesn't back Walter this summer, we're fooked!!!

[calscot 0]

I don't think I subscribe to this theory of slowly building a team for the future while being rubbish for a while.

 

I think recent history has shown it's best to get in there spend a wedge of dough and get team winning from the start.

 

Souness, Smith, Advocaat and O'Neil have done that.

 

The secret though seems to be not to break the bank and then to back off the spending and keep a consistent squad.

 

Advocaat broke that rule and it ruined Rangers for a while.

 

O'Neil did it right but perhaps kept the same team too long - but he still left Celtic in a financial position to improve the squad.

 

Souness is difficult to judge as he left too early but Smith showed how you can sustain a winning team by augmenting the squad by a few quality players a season.

 

Strachan seems to be starting to do the same kind of strategy. A few cheap players along with a couple of expensive ones every season.

 

However it's probably not the managers that choose the strategy but the board.

 

And that's where we're failing. Since Fergus, Celtic have been quite prudent with their spending - splashing out when necessary and holding back when needed to afterwards. They have also concentrated on increasing income to give the manager a reasonable budget every year.

 

Whereas DM lost control of the spending and now won't spend reasonable amounts when it's absolutely vital.

 

Rangers need one more, one time cash injection to spend on a decent squad and then only need to maintain that squad for years without needing to over spend.

 

We should not be afraid of debt to do it, we should just make sure the debt is totally manageable.

 

However, with DM talking about selling up you can see why he's reluctant to have any debt at all.

 

It's time for him to commit to Rangers properly for another 5 years or so or leave NOW.