Gersnet Article Ross Wilson – Director of Failure or the Fall Guy?

[Rousseau 10,600]

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The former Sporting Director has left to take up a new position at Nottingham Forest after three years at Ibrox.

 

I don’t want it to seem like I’m bucking out of having an opinion but I am genuinely on the fence about Wilson’s time at Ibrox and his overall legacy.

 

Whether you like it or not he helped identify players that took us to our first title in a decade and reach the Europa League Final; both monumental achievements considering where we were before his arrival.

 

However, the recent recruitment has simply not been good enough to bring us forward and it was the right time for Wilson to go.

 

I do think in the main though he has been treated rather harshly from supporters for things out with his control, none more so the situations with Aribo, Kent and Morelos.

 

Take Aribo, Wilson was being blamed for the fact that his release clause was only £10m – this is even though Wilson was not at the club when Joe Aribo signed that contract.

 

The fact that Wilson has managed to effectively recoup 100% of his release clause (with add-ons included) with just a year left on his deal is a small miracle.

 

Kent and Morelos are the other two glaring examples, with many people calling it a ‘dereliction of duty’ that they will be allowed to leave for free - but is that really Wilson’s fault?

 

The summer we had just won the league, we made two Bosman signings in Fashion Sakala and John Lundstram, who, considering the outlay on them you’ve got to say have been fairly successful signings for what they cost.

 

There was criticism that we never spent more, but did we have more?

 

Steven Gerrard was told the only way that we could spend money on more players was if he:

 

a) Sold players

 

b) Qualified for the CL

 

He did neither.

 

He decided after failing to qualify for the Champions League that he would keep Kent and Morelos and then left three months later.

 

Is it Ross Wilson’s fault that Steven Gerrard walked out on the club a few months after refusing to sell key assets?

 

Even moving forward, could we have sold both players the following summer?

 

Absolutely.

 

Would we have gotten anywhere near the real market value for them?

 

Absolutely not.

 

You would have been lucky to get between £10-15m for both players last summer with a year left on their deals, but the choice was let them go for that or keep them, have a go at the league and rake in more than double that for the Champions League qualification if you win it.

 

Clearly that has backfired, but people must surely understand the thinking behind that?

 

Also, you can’t sell a player if no one bids for them – it is a possibility that no clubs came in for either player so even if we wanted to sell, we may not have been able to.

 

Despite this, there are no excuses for the poor recruitment last summer.

 

We signed players on big money in positions we didn’t need to urgently fill.

 

Yilmaz for example, is good player, but was he really a priority heading into the season when we needed at least another striker and centre half?

 

Why didn’t we sign the likes of Raskin and Cantwell in the summer and wait until January? It also doesn’t help when guys like Rabbi Matondo have been a disaster and we will need to find another club in the summer for him.

 

The injuries have also been a massive concern, the new AI technology that has been brought in over the summer was on Wilson’s watch and there must be a link with that and the injuries sustained especially when you compare the injuries that other clubs with the same software have suffered?

 

One thing that really does annoy me though is a baying mob, there are several pros and cons (more cons) to Wilson’s time at Ibrox, but it doesn’t help when people just make things up about him because of a personal agenda.

 

We are one club, and we need to adopt a one club philosophy in which everyone is apportioned praise or criticism fairly and equally.

 

At the end of the day, if you believe that Wilson’s recruitment is the reason for the club’s failures this season, you need to accept that he is the reason for the club’s successes a couple of seasons ago – that’s your logic, right?

 

I hear people saying, the title winning squad was already there when Wilson took over – but it wasn’t.

 

A starting XI perhaps, but a title winning squad? No chance.

Roofe, Balogun, Hagi, Itten and even Calvin Bassey all had a part to play in winning 55, so much so that Roofe and Hagi were our leading contributors in terms of goals and assists.

 

Would we have won the league without our biggest goals and assists contributors being signed by Wilson? I don’t think so.

 

I laugh when you see the list of players that Wilson has signed and all but about two of them are deemed MASSIVE FAILURES for no reason other than they haven’t become a Rangers legend.

 

Cedric Itten a failure?

 

The man scored vital match winning goals that contributed towards a title, and we made our money back on him. We literally got his goals for free.

 

Kemar Roofe a failure?

 

The man was our top scorer during our title winning season, scored vital goals on our run to the Europa League final the following season and this season scored a goal that took us to a Cup Final. That’s worth £4.5m alone.

 

Of course, his injury record has been dreadful, but he has shown up in the big moments so how people can say he has been a complete failure is beyond me.

 

Ianis Hagi a failure?

 

He was our highest assists contributor in the year we won the league and scored winners against Braga in the Europa League, we made back his transfer fee for that game alone and despite his injury we would recoup a decent fee for him even now.

 

He is young, hungry, dynamic and will be a big player in the next couple of years – worst case scenario we will make our money back.

 

How on Earth can three players like that be deemed failures when their successes are there to be seen?

 

It is impossible that every transfer will lead to every player scoring 100 goals for Rangers and becoming a club legend, it doesn’t happen.

 

Football is a squad game, and it is squads that win leagues, not starting XIs as Celtic have shown this season.

 

Wilson has obviously had more misses than hits, but some people’s takes on what they deem to be failure is crazy.

 

For me, Ross Wilson is in the same boat as most of this Rangers squad – he has proved to be relatively useful for the recovery part of club’s history, but he hasn’t shown that he is good enough for the next stage in our history that regularly brings us success.

 

What we do have now is an operational player trading model, we can point to the sales of Patterson and Bassey and demand those types of fees in the future for players that we weren’t able to do before.

 

Wilson needs to be praised for this but it’s his recruitment in the summer transfer window that proved to be his downfall.

 

But the question is, what do Rangers do now?

 

I do believe there is a place for this kind of sporting model at a club like Rangers - it works for elite clubs around the globe, and we should always aim for that regardless of financial constraints.

 

I trust Beale with his recruitment and believe he has a great eye for a player, but it would be nice to have his knowledge of the English market complimented by someone who has experience of developing markets, a good hybrid.

 

The days of clubs being moulded in the name of one manager are long gone unless you plan on having a manager staying for years and years.

 

There is a risk that if you build a club in the name of one man you will be in trouble when they leave.

 

Mark Warbuton is a great example of how not to do that, he was clearly in charge of transfers and when he failed, you need to rip it up and start again, same with Pedro and then look at all the money that you’ve wasted.

 

Another example that I believe will eventually happen lies across the city.

 

Clearly Ange Postecoglou has done fantastic at Celtic, he is in control of everything at the club and it has led to initial success, but Ange Postecoglou won’t be at Celtic forever.

 

They have no contingency plan for his departure after hitting the luckiest jackpot with him when they couldn’t get their main target.

 

That’s what comforts me about Celtic’s recent success, it won’t last forever.

 

The club have shown that they don’t have a forward-thinking plan, they even brought Peter Lawwell back under the radar so clearly things haven’t changed there in an executive capacity since 2021.

 

In 2021, Celtic fans were baying for the board’s blood after one bad season and that’s all been forgotten about now that they have a successful team again.

 

The same executives are there, the same owner is there, the same structure is there – once Celtic become poor on the field again, this will once again lead to the Celtic fans baying for blood.

 

I don’t see that at Rangers to be fair, I see a club who are desperate for success and will do anything for it.

 

The board deserve criticism over the last few years, but they have been ruthless at times, sacking underperforming managers whilst Celtic hung onto there’s in Lennon for as long as possible because he was a friend of the board.

 

There is clearly no sentiment in the Rangers boardroom and recent developments show that we are not messing about, the time for action is now and a huge summer rebuild awaits.

 

It’s not 2015 anymore - this won’t last forever.

https://gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news/ca-category-blog/236-ross-wilson-director-of-failure-or-the-fall-guy

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,327]

A good article I'm inclined to agree with the overall message. 

 

Not sure i agree with this part though, Lundstram is a top earner and both would likley have had significant sign on fees.

 

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The summer we had just won the league, we made two Bosman signings in Fashion Sakala and John Lundstram, who, considering the outlay on them you’ve got to say have been fairly successful signings for what they cost.

 

[Bill 13,717]

34 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

https://gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news/ca-category-blog/236-ross-wilson-director-of-failure-or-the-fall-guy

I think the fence is the only honest place to be. Curate's egg comes to mind?

 

I'd need a lot more insight before I'd condemn or acquit.

[Malangsob 1,264]

My worry is this...you are always gonna find another guy who wants to try.

If Rangers were handin out paper apps to fill this empty slot there would be a line to Partick.

However, given our budget (small), our market (pathetically small), and our support (rabid, often illogical, often caustic), can we find a GOOD guy, no, a uniquely good guy? A transformational guy?

I contend the club won't...so chances are..in three years we are gonna be right back here pissin and moanin.

Because the overriding factors will not change.

Rangers support don't want a director, they want a messiah...because in the end...only Jesus could fulfil all of our desires. 

Some shit never changes.

In the end Wilson was a victim of his choices, and his conditions.

I think NF, lookin in from the outside could see that a man attempting to work in a madhouse, is almost always doomed to failure. 

 

[Scott7 6,002]

28 minutes ago, Malangsob said:

so chances are..in three years we are gonna be right back here pissin and moanin.

As long as three years? We salute your optimisticability.

[Scott7 6,002]

A nicely presented argument.  I’m leaning to an acquittal while not greetin’ about his departure.

[Bluedell 5,624]

3 hours ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

A good article I'm inclined to agree with the overall message. 

 

Not sure i agree with this part though, Lundstram is a top earner and both would likley have had significant sign on fees.

 

 

He's worth it for THAT goal alone!!!!

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,327]

57 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

He's worth it for THAT goal alone!!!!

Fair comment

[compo 7,030]

I will sit on the fence . Not Proven 

[ian1964 10,720]