Changes Afoot
After the gargantuan chaos during the opening week of the year, events at Ibrox have calmed down in terms of the incessant upheaval plaguing the club.
The appointment of Walter Smith as manager, plus Ally McCoist in the assistant role and finally Kenny McDowall as first team coach has altogether restructured the managerial composition of the outfit from the ground up. It has also installed a cogent direction to the club as a whole, with a hierarchy who have the club’s best interests at heart, given two of them are former Rangers men, once again back at the club they love.
As a result, the distinct consequent uniform nature of the club is conducive to a real parity over proceedings.
One of the first signs of this was the reinstatement of Barry Ferguson on Saturday as club captain, with Smith asserting his full support of the Scotland captain, stating he was categorically the best captain at the club.
Disappointingly, during the game against Dundee Utd itself, which Rangers won comfortably 5-0 to get Smith’s second reign off to a flier, there was substantial booing for the captain, particularly in the first 25 minutes of the match. It is always a much maligned notion to boo your own player, but perhaps it was inevitable given the outright controversy surrounding Ferguson in light of former manager Le Guen’s departure. Still a sad thing to hear, nonetheless, and one wonders how many of these fans were the same ones chanting Barry’s name at the top of their lungs during the previous game against Motherwell.
The booing thankfully disappeared when choruses of ‘Oh Barry Barry’ rang out among the majority of the faithful.
In other news, the January window is open, and the first acquisition Smith has officially made is to bring in the second former Hearts player in a week to arrive in Glasgow, in Everton’s David Weir. Andy Webster preceded him, but it is slightly ambiguous as to whether Smith himself sanctioned that signing. Even more unfortunate in Webster’s case is his immediate injury ruling him out for a month and maybe longer. As for Weir, the 36 year old Scotland international is a well-respected player, who might not bring the glamour the fans would want, but is a steady ship, and very experienced, and who should be able to shore up the flimsy defence still haunting the side, never more evidenced than by Saturday’s shaky display against a Utd side who recently found themselves crushed 6-0 by Falkirk.
There have also been many other players linked during this January window, namely Paul Hartley, Scott Brown, Kevin Thompson and Alan Gow – quite clearly the club are endeavouring to overhaul the squad with some suitable enhancements. The budget for such moves is conspicuous by its absence, but all that matters is gaining quality however much such a transaction should cost.
As an unrelated aside, Le Guen has now taken over the reigns at Paris Saint Germain, as expected. Now that he has left Rangers, and all these changes are occurring, it is safe to say things at Ibrox are just starting to fall into place.
The appointment of Walter Smith as manager, plus Ally McCoist in the assistant role and finally Kenny McDowall as first team coach has altogether restructured the managerial composition of the outfit from the ground up. It has also installed a cogent direction to the club as a whole, with a hierarchy who have the club’s best interests at heart, given two of them are former Rangers men, once again back at the club they love.
As a result, the distinct consequent uniform nature of the club is conducive to a real parity over proceedings.
One of the first signs of this was the reinstatement of Barry Ferguson on Saturday as club captain, with Smith asserting his full support of the Scotland captain, stating he was categorically the best captain at the club.
Disappointingly, during the game against Dundee Utd itself, which Rangers won comfortably 5-0 to get Smith’s second reign off to a flier, there was substantial booing for the captain, particularly in the first 25 minutes of the match. It is always a much maligned notion to boo your own player, but perhaps it was inevitable given the outright controversy surrounding Ferguson in light of former manager Le Guen’s departure. Still a sad thing to hear, nonetheless, and one wonders how many of these fans were the same ones chanting Barry’s name at the top of their lungs during the previous game against Motherwell.
The booing thankfully disappeared when choruses of ‘Oh Barry Barry’ rang out among the majority of the faithful.
In other news, the January window is open, and the first acquisition Smith has officially made is to bring in the second former Hearts player in a week to arrive in Glasgow, in Everton’s David Weir. Andy Webster preceded him, but it is slightly ambiguous as to whether Smith himself sanctioned that signing. Even more unfortunate in Webster’s case is his immediate injury ruling him out for a month and maybe longer. As for Weir, the 36 year old Scotland international is a well-respected player, who might not bring the glamour the fans would want, but is a steady ship, and very experienced, and who should be able to shore up the flimsy defence still haunting the side, never more evidenced than by Saturday’s shaky display against a Utd side who recently found themselves crushed 6-0 by Falkirk.
There have also been many other players linked during this January window, namely Paul Hartley, Scott Brown, Kevin Thompson and Alan Gow – quite clearly the club are endeavouring to overhaul the squad with some suitable enhancements. The budget for such moves is conspicuous by its absence, but all that matters is gaining quality however much such a transaction should cost.
As an unrelated aside, Le Guen has now taken over the reigns at Paris Saint Germain, as expected. Now that he has left Rangers, and all these changes are occurring, it is safe to say things at Ibrox are just starting to fall into place.
posted by RangersMedia @ 5:40 PM
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