Change of times

[Gribz 854]

I was just thinking back to the mid to late 80s which was a scary 20 years ago now, and I look at the calibre of player we got back then.

 

We took England Internationals:

2nd keeper Chris Woods (only coz there 1st keeper, Shilton, was awesome)

Captain Terry Butcher

Full Back Gary Stevens

Classy Midfielder Trevor Steven

Classy Midfielder Ray Wilkins

Fringe Striker Mark Hateley

Fringe Striker Trevor Francis (albeit nearer end if his career)

Fringe winger Mark Walters

 

We took English top flight players:

Terry Hurlock, Nigel Spackman, Kevin Drinkell etc etc etc

 

Now can you honestly imagine this current Rangers era signing Paul Robinson, John Terry, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Andy Johnson, Shaun Wright Phillips (Ive tried to give the england equivelants to the 80s players)!!!

 

Not in a million years could we get this type of calibre now and overall id probably put the English players from the 80s in a better league of players than the current ones ive listed. The 80s guys were on the verge of a World Cup semi in 86 but couldnt handle the greatest player EVER in Maradona. Then they went onto the 1990 semi final to lose on pens, whereas the current players have failed miserably in recent tournaments.

 

So why?? The arguement those players saw Rangers as a platform to play in the european stage due to the english ban cant be used as those players could have played in the continent no problem.

 

The Scottish game has continued to go backwards while the English game has taken strides forward thanks to the Premiership and Sky Tv. But we are not helped when our nations football authorites couldnt run a bath never mind a football organisation. Why oh why do they still persist on having 4 leagues in a country with a small population is beyond me. And they invent rules that the rest of europe laugh at i.e. the split.

 

Our media dont help as they just want to slaughter the countries big 2 teams and not back them. Down south the media back there clubs when they go abroad as in the recent examples of Spurs and Man Utds trips to Spain and Italy.

 

Grass roots / Scouting: This is a huge problem which can be drawn back to the local councils who dont provide enough facilities for youngsters to kick a ball in school or after school. They would rather stick a "NO BALL GAMES" sign up and allow the kids to head home for hours upon hours playing the Playstation and eat sweets.

The scouting network of 95% of the clubs in Scotland would be aswell not exsisting. Only Hibs have really shown any desire to bring youth through and its work very successfully to an extent, but due to them not having the resources and fan base of Rangers or Celtic they cant build on this and take themselves to the next level. There players get bought of them as they need tha cash.

 

So Scotland on a whole needs to do something. It starts with discipline, interest, facilities, and on and on and on.

 

All these reasons has meant the Scottish game has went backwards and we wont go forward again unless drastic measures are taken.

 

Rangers really need an Atlantic or British league to take us forward again and once that happens we may see the likes of Butcher or Wilkins at Ibrox again.

[Frankie 8,570]

You make some good points mate and it's scary how far backwards we've went because of incomparable TV money and general inefficiency at the club.

[Gribz 854]

Yeah its as much a dig at Scottish Football in general as much as our own problems at Ibrox.

 

It was 50/50 whether to post it in here or Footy chat.

[pete 2,499]

Don't forget Rangers and Celtic worked with the SPL to try and f**k Sky and then scuppered the deal at the last moment. A bit like a keeper coming for a ball and getting stranded between wall and ship.

Who can blame Sky for pulling the plug on Scottish football. We should have done our homework before things became public or went the whole road and started SPL tv.

We cannot expect the same deal as the PL but to drop from 49mill to 8mill as then happened put a noose around our necks and only then the 75mill debt became extremely visible. Having a lions share of 49mill or 8mill is the difference of day and night.

If we had kept the Sky deal, that, mixed with the almost guaranteed CL money would have made us on an equal with most of the PL teams, so i guess it was a case of us shooting ourselves in the foot.

One positive point may be that Sky are not allowed a monopoly anymore, so Setanta are getting some PL games which may make Sky look at the SPL again.

 

The whole problem lies also with UEFA's policies of making the rich clubs and countries richer and the poor clubs and countries poorer

If UEFA keep up this policy then the chances of a team outside Spain, Italy,

or England ever winning anything again are getting smaller all the time.

If they want to keep more teams from every country then scrap seeding them so as the smaller teams also get a chance.

If you look at our Euro presence in the seventies and eighties we were up in the premier division although probably at the bottom of the league.

Now we are in the third division and not even near the top.

I feel if Uefa keep this system people will become bored watching the CL as i am now and they will be left with a financial nightmare once the TV channels desert them.

Maybe then we can get an even playing field.

[gisabeer 409]

we managed to sign english internationals because the english were banned from europe. they wouldnt have touched us with a shitty stick other wise.

[Falkirk Jim 0]

we managed to sign english internationals because the english were banned from europe. they wouldnt have touched us with a shitty stick other wise.

 

Spot on mate

 

The scottish game did boom at that exact time, but if the English teams hadn't been banned from europe, the boom just wouldn't have happened, at least not in the same manner!

[Gribz 854]

we managed to sign english internationals because the english were banned from europe. they wouldnt have touched us with a shitty stick other wise.

 

Nah i dont agree with that. As i said above those english players could have played on the continent no problem for european competition.

 

David Holmes and Graeme Souness did the business in bringing them up to Ibrox.

[stewarty 2,028]

I was a little young at the time to fully understand the goings on but I would say it was a combination of the Souness effect and also the English european ban

[Jon 0]

I agree with Gribz here, I think Souness and his reputation/standing attracted a hell of a lot of the players.

 

The ban will have helped but I think its largely down to Souness.