It's a long, long summer

[calscot 0]

You know we've signed about 11 players - a whole team but somehow the close season has really dragged.

 

I don't think any of us are sated yet, but could that be to do with the signings being mere snacks rather than gourmet meals...? And we were pretty much starving to start with!

 

However size of the squad has a less starved look to it; it was verging on anorexic under Le Guen.

 

I think we need two good players for each position and an extra understudy just in case. The latter can be a decent youngster, oldster, squad player, utility player or a player that has a few good positions. Under Le Guen most of our team fell into those categories.

 

However it's been the making of a few, with MacGregor, Hutton, Smith, Burke and Adam all holding down a place at some point. Hemdani has also come out of his squad/utility player persona to grab a first pick spot.

 

We have a new fitness coach so it will be interesting in the new season to see if the squad get more fit or less than under le Guen. He may have some good methods but I reckon he needs to learn more about motivation which is also a huge factor. It seems to be something that Walter excells at.

[Super_Ally 0]

You know we've signed about 11 players - a whole team but somehow the close season has really dragged.

 

I don't think any of us are sated yet, but could that be to do with the signings being mere snacks rather than gourmet meals...? And we were pretty much starving to start with!

 

However size of the squad has a less starved look to it; it was verging on anorexic under Le Guen.

 

I think we need two good players for each position and an extra understudy just in case. The latter can be a decent youngster, oldster, squad player, utility player or a player that has a few good positions. Under Le Guen most of our team fell into those categories.

 

However it's been the making of a few, with MacGregor, Hutton, Smith, Burke and Adam all holding down a place at some point. Hemdani has also come out of his squad/utility player persona to grab a first pick spot.

 

We have a new fitness coach so it will be interesting in the new season to see if the squad get more fit or less than under le Guen. He may have some good methods but I reckon he needs to learn more about motivation which is also a huge factor. It seems to be something that Walter excells at.

 

 

Pretty fair assessment.

 

Unfortunately can't see any "gourmet" players coming in. I think we've probably spent out budget near enough; �£2.37mil Cuellar, �£2.25mil McCulloch, �£700k Beasley. That's what �£5-5.5mil. I didn't expect our budget to be any more than that.

 

There's a chance Whittaker and Naismith may join.

 

I agree its an improved squad from PLG's in terms of size, quality and morale. It looks like WS is trying to build a team and foster a team spirit as we can't afford to supplement it with big names.

 

It will be interesting to see the impact of Adam Owen (if we can reliably gauge his impact as supporters) being a Sports Scientist myself.

 

Totally agree that WS man-management is vastly superior to PLG, perhaps with experience he will learn to improve this aspect of his management and also a little humility.

[Gazza_8 233]

Calscot, where the fook do you get your ideas from? Talking about our signing as food. Crazy!!!

 

DM won't spend the cash he obviously has to allow WS to bring in a few gourmet meals (mmmmmmm curry). Until he either leaves or has a change of heart we're stuck with corned beef sangers.

[stewarty 2,010]

Calscot, where the fook do you get your ideas from? Talking about our signing as food. Crazy!!!

 

DM won't spend the cash he obviously has to allow WS to bring in a few gourmet meals (mmmmmmm curry). Until he either leaves or has a change of heart we're stuck with corned beef sangers.

 

Curry? Gourmet meals?!?

 

Next you'll be telling me that a cheesy beano is cordon bleu!

 

:fish:

[Gribz 850]

Gourmet meals / Snacks - good way of putting it but its true at the end of the day.

 

Cuellar and McCulloch are a bit more of a snack IMO, id say they were a good home cooked meal. There fee's are a bit more worthy than a sandwich anyway. And Darcheville on a free isnt a bad deal.

 

These are the 3 I expect to make us stronger and maybe Beasley when I see him. The last few seasons we have had half a team of SPL average run of mill players with a few good players who can play at a higher level and its those better players who have made the difference in us finishing 2nd last year rather than 3rd for a second season in a row. If we had taken Ferguson, Hutton, Hemdani and Prso away from the squad and continued with average players then we would have struggled to finish in the top 4.

 

But if Smith can pull out at least 1 more signing who will be a first teamer then it rids some of the average players then we will jump from the band of being 3rd / 2nd to challenging for 1st.

 

We should never have let Lovenkrands leave, I think he would have fitted straight into this team now and would have been the final piece of the attacking jigsaw, but if Buffel comes good then things may be a lot better.

[calscot 0]

Cuellar and McCulloch are a bit more of a snack IMO, id say they were a good home cooked meal. There fee's are a bit more worthy than a sandwich anyway. And Darcheville on a free isnt a bad deal.

 

I'll probably agree with you there, but I want a good home cooked meal every day!

 

 

But if Smith can pull out at least 1 more signing who will be a first teamer then it rids some of the average players then we will jump from the band of being 3rd / 2nd to challenging for 1st.

 

I agree we could do with another first teamer but I already think we have a squad capable of challenging for 1st. We only lost the league last season due to dropping points against the bottom six. I doubt that will happen again next season.

 

I don't think we can challenge because the squad is great, but merely because with WS we look at least as good as Celtic, if not better, and we're streets ahead of the rest of the SPL.

 

We should never have let Lovenkrands leave, I think he would have fitted straight into this team now and would have been the final piece of the attacking jigsaw, but if Buffel comes good then things may be a lot better.

 

 

Lovenkrands is a good player but he never gave his all for Rangers and that has been our downfall for the last few years: not enough players giving 100%.

 

He also wasn't adaptable enough and Walter has been pointing out how important it is to have players who can play in more than one position.

 

In the end Lovenkrands plays far better in a team who counter attacks, a tactic Rangers rarely use in the SPL. It's too much of a luxury to have someone good for the CL but pretty poor at home.

 

I for one, don't pine for his return; I would rather we found someone who suits us better.

[ian1964 10,720]

Lovenkrands is a good player but he never gave his all for Rangers and that has been our downfall for the last few years: not enough players giving 100%.

 

He also wasn't adaptable enough and Walter has been pointing out how important it is to have players who can play in more than one position.

 

In the end Lovenkrands plays far better in a team who counter attacks, a tactic Rangers rarely use in the SPL. It's too much of a luxury to have someone good for the CL but pretty poor at home.

 

I for one, don't pine for his return; I would rather we found someone who suits us better

Agree with that,PL is a luxury player whereas McCulloch will graft all day for the team

[calscot 0]

I think that's the thing with McCulloch. The risks are low with him but then the pay-off has less potential.

 

If he was a financial investment, he'd probably be a high interest savings account - good but modest return and pretty much consistently guaranteed.