Return to ground zero looms
Graeme Macpherson What’s the score?
RANGERS have endured more false starts in recent years than the 100m dash for athletes of a nervous disposition. If professional football is the accountancy basketcase that allows clubs to go into liquidation and yet go on as before – and history shows us there have been various examples of such a practice throughout England and beyond – then the one from Ibrox have evidently not made the most of their resurrection. If their vulnerability in the immediate post-2012 years left them open to opportunists and speculators who seemingly had their own rather than Rangers’ best interests at heart, then it was meant to be a fresh start once supporters of the club took over in March 2015. There was, and can be, no doubt that the motivations of chairman Dave King and fellow directors such as Paul Murray and John Gilligan are well intended and yet, two years on from their takeover, Rangers remain in a state of flux. Friday’s night loss to Inverness Caledonian Thistle laid bare the most galling of facts – that this is a team currently no better than the other 10 Ladbrokes Premiership sides battling it for the consolation prizes behind Celtic, and is arguably worse than Aberdeen in second place. The historical comparisons with Celtic will endure, but have no real bearing on current reality. Watching their great rivals from across the city move far away into the distance on their path to 10-in-a-row must sting but it ought not to be Rangers’ prime concern right now. Instead, the focus needs to be on putting the foundations in place for a more stable long-term future that may eventually lead to them challenging for domestic supremacy again at some point. Right now, there is a decent chance Rangers will not finish second, and a risk they could miss out on third. Fourth place would mean them needing to either win the Scottish Cup – or hope that Celtic do – to ensure a return to European football. Again, though, making the first round of the Europa League qualifiers ought not to be Rangers’ priority when there is so much more needing to be fixed in the bigger picture.
They have no divine right, of course, to be the second biggest club in the country, but the size of their fanbase and their budget mean they ought to be.
Mark Warburton used to point to Leicester City as an example that the teams with the greatest finances do not always prosper, an argument that has come unstuck this season when the English champions’ performances have become more commensurate with their budget. What Leicester achieved last year appears increasingly like the exception that proves the rule.
First, there is a big decision to be made about what Rangers do for the remainder of this season. Friday night’s defeat in the Highlands will only add to the calls for a new manager to be put in place immediately.
Graeme Murty may well be the most articulate and well-mannered man ever to become a manager but he has been thrust, perhaps unwillingly, into a situation not of his own making.
Squeaking past Championship side Morton in the Scottish Cup and backto-back away defeats to Dundee and Inverness suggests that, for whatever reason, the players are not responding to his promptings. Replacing an interim manager with another caretaker boss, though, may not be the solution.
Would any manager worth his salt agree to come in to take charge for just a dozen games? Unless it is someone on the brink of semi-retirement such as, for example, Walter Smith, it is hard to imagine too many capable figures agreeing to such a brief stint. If the start went smoothly, how many would then willingly stand aside to allow a new man to sweep in?
Instead, Rangers need to continue their thorough search for a new director of football and head coach. Even if neither is in a position to start until the summer, the club must hope that simply by announcing their appointments – especially if they are of reputable pedigree – it will appease supporters and give under-performing players stimulus to raise their game. The hope, then, for the board will be that the team can limp through to the end of the campaign and finish in a relatively respectable placing.
The new director of football, though, will have his work cut out. With many of the first-team squad under contract beyond the summer, he must hope that he can either cut deals to let a number of them go, or that the his new head coach can inspire those players to attain fresh heights, in a similar way to what Brendan Rodgers has managed this year at Celtic.
King and the rest of the board must also provide a sizeable but sustainable transfer budget, while an overhaul of the club’s youth academy must surely follow, given that no young player has been able to break his way into one of the weakest first teams in years. Having a visible and authoritative new chief executive would do no harm, too.
Rangers have endured trauma and turbulence like no other Scottish club over the past five years and more. They are approaching ground zero once again. This time they must get it right.
Making the Europa League qualifiers ought not to be a priority when there is so much more needing fixed