Ross Wilson Appreciation thread

[craig 5,199]

Says it all itself really..... but....

 

Before Ross Wilson came in we had Mark Allen who did a decent job - but only since Gerrard, and then Ross Wilson came in have we looked completely organized in the transfer market and the direction we are heading as a club with a particular philosophy.  We have gone from transfer windows where we have asked, as fans "why are we signing him, we dont need that position strengthened" to, in this window, saying "we could do with a proper right winger, a creative midfielder and a centre half"...... and Ross Wilson has "listened" in that the positions we have strengthened are those exact positions, albeit Souttar isnt till July.

 

Looking at this window in particular though - what a window, in all seriousness.

 

1.  We sign someone who, IMO, is a world class midfielder in Aaron Ramsey - who was on a 6 figure per week salary at Juventus, and it is costing us a wage "still within the budget".  A creative midfielder who scores plenty of goals from that position

2.  We get in a right winger, Amad Diallo, a kid of 19 who Man Utd paid 37 million Euros for.  No doubt he has other offers but it is quite remarkable that we managed to get Man Utd to trust us with their young talent.  From one game already looks like he strengthens our first XI

3.  We bring in a centre half, John Souttar, who knows the league well, albeit in the summer.  Been one of the league's 3rd placed team's best players, knows the league, strong player - a fine addition to the squad and will give that position depth next season.

4.  We "lose" a fine young talent in Nathan Patterson - but Ross Wilson plays hardball and manages to get Everton to double their original offer and we secure £16 million for his services.  Good player, a loss, but a back up to our Captain...... but this one gets even better..... we then go and get in a replacement who is only a year older than Patterson, at a fraction of the cost - and a player who knows he will have to wait his turn to get a chance in front of the captain.  Masterpiece again as he brings in a player who is hungry, whilst losing a player who deserved to be playing first team football but we simply couldnt guarantee him it

5.  Squad fillers such as Bacuna and Brandon Barker have been moved on - wasnt going to get a chance because they weren't good enough sadly - so moving them on keeps the harmony of the club positive and intact

6.  Last, for this window, but certainly not least..... Ross Wilson has managed to keep our key players such as Aribo, Morelos, Kamara, Kent and even Goldson.  Retaining those players should not go unnoticed.

  

And, slightly earlier than this transfer window.... we lost our manager, the man who secured 55 in an invincible season.... and replaced him with a manager whose name is, continentally, every bit as big as the previous manager but who comes with a better managerial pedigree having won the league title with Feyenoord.

 

Has Ross Wilson had some failings as Director of Football ?  Sure, nobody gets these things right all the time.  Has he, largely, been a resounding success ?  Undoubtedly IMHO.

 

Ross Wilson may very well turn out to be the singular best signing our currect custodians have made to date.

 

Ross Wilson..... thank you  

[blueflag 386]

Well played, Ross and everyone else at Rangers. Time to do the talking on the pitch now

 

[Rousseau 10,602]

Hold on! I thought he was in over his head after McGregor's howlers at the weekend?!

[ranger_syntax 4,320]

I think that he is doing a good job.

 

The real test is retaining the league. Fail that and this window looks very different.

 

However I would appreciate it if he didn't "listen" to anything we said before identifying signing targets. 

[ranger_syntax 4,320]

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

Hold on! I thought he was in over his head after McGregor's howlers at the weekend?!

That's a low blow. 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,329]

The guy has done a good job i think. From getting a fee for Grezda in the early days to working some of the other deals he has. Bacuna didn't work out but it was a low risk deal the way it was structured and we managed to get him off the books pretty quickly with no real financial hit.

 

Gut feel he was probably quite restricted in some of the moves he perhaps wanted to make when Gerrard was here, the Lundstram signing as an example was something Gerrard pushed for. 

 

Under this management team who are used to the DoF model I expect he will have a bit more freedom to make calls on transfers. Supported by Andy Scoulding(i think he is still our chief scout) and the scouting team I'm confident for the future.  Or we could go out and just buy a bunch of wee Japanese guys.

[DMAA 3,658]

I would love to know the twists and turns that went on through that window. Diallo said talks with Rangers only begun last Monday. RW himself said Ramsey happened very fast. So you have to wonder what the plan was if those players hadn't come up, or worked out. This could be a very different discussion!

 

At the end of the day, he has done exceptionally well to bring both players to the club. And there's every chance he came close to other signings that would have been very good but they didn't work out. There's just no way for us to know, the main thing is we have come out of the window looking very good. 

Edited February 1, 2022 by DMAA

[compo 7,030]

He's won employee of the month a slap up meal for two in a Berni Inn 😀

[Bill 13,717]

It often presents a problem when a DoF arrives at a club with an established manager already in place, especially someone with such a high public profile as Gerrard. It can tend to lead to friction between the two, with the guy who actually runs the footballing operation being unduly pressured by a manager who thinks he does. My suspicions (and that's all it is) is that we now have a situation where Ross Wilson is visible to the entire staff as the man with the reins in his hands and a manager who is relaxed enough to focus all his energies on the players and results. On the other hand, if Wilson is to succeed then he needs his manager to succeed, which requires a happy manager who feels both supported and empowered. At last it feels like we've got a sustainable functional interface between the board and the dressing room and, as always, it all depends on the qualities of the person at the top.

 

Am I implying something that may have contributed to Gerrard's departure? No, but it's possible.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

5 minutes ago, Bill said:

It often presents a problem when a DoF arrives at a club with an established manager already in place, especially someone with such a high public profile as Gerrard. It can tend to lead to friction between the two, with the guy who actually runs the footballing operation being unduly pressured by a manager who thinks he does. My suspicions (and that's all it is) is that we now have a situation where Ross Wilson is visible to the entire staff as the man with the reins in his hands and a manager who is relaxed enough to focus all his energies on the players and results. On the other hand, if Wilson is to succeed then he needs his manager to succeed, which requires a happy manager who feels both supported and empowered. At last it feels like we've got a sustainable functional interface between the board and the dressing room and, as always, it all depends on the qualities of the person at the top.

 

Am I implying something that may have contributed to Gerrard's departure? No, but it's possible.

Certainly possible. I think the answer though lies most likely in the backing Gerrard has been given at Villa. 

 

Hard to turn that down given the lack of funds at rangers. He probably knew he had taken us as far as he could.