Defoe deal is a sign Rangers now believe they CAN win the league
SAYS GORDON STRACHAN
HAVING wounded their great rivals with a single shot last week, Rangers are now wheeling in the heavy artillery.
Jermain Defoe, formerly of West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, a winner of 57 England caps, has agreed an 18-month loan deal from Bournemouth.
Steven Davis, a man who has worn a Northern Ireland jersey 107 times and who counts Fulham and Aston Villa among his old clubs, is poised to rejoin from Southampton in the coming days.
For long-suffering fans of the Ibrox club, there is no longer a need to rely on Google for crumbs of information about what have often amounted to shot-in-thedark signings. This feels like old times again.
In the wake of the long-awaited win over Celtic which has blown the league race wide open, there has been a rush to further, decisive action from the club’s hierarchy. Scottish football’s arms race just got serious again.
‘For the Rangers board, that result will say to them: “This is working” — and they’ll be thinking: “We better back these guys”,’ former Celtic and Scotland manager Gordon Strachan offered yesterday.
‘Maybe if they had seen a performance similar to the Dundee game, they’d not fancy putting that much more money into it — but the display against Celtic will awaken the Rangers money men.
‘They’ll be thinking: “Listen, we’re not far away here, let’s put a bit more in and go for it”.
‘What’s been created from the Celtic result, and the performance in particular, is players are now thinking that they can go there and win the league.
‘That’s thrown everything up in the air and given an impetus to anything Rangers want to do.’
As a lifelong supporter of the club, Davis (right), in all probability, would have begun negotiations to return to Ibrox regardless of the result last Saturday.
But pushing the boat out to cover a percentage of Defoe’s £90,000-a-week salary would have seemed sheer folly had Steven Gerrard’s side lost the game.
Rangers may still be just off the pace in the league but, without question, the capture of the 36-year-old is designed to quickly make up the ground.
Whatever obvious concerns there may be over a player who hasn’t started a league game this season and hasn’t scored since March 31 last year, from a distance, his capture makes much sense.
With 20 goals to his name already this season, Alfredo Morelos has often been the sum total of Rangers’ goal threat. Title-winning sides spread the load more evenly.
‘He’s a top player, even at his age,’ Strachan said of Defoe. ‘But does he want to come all the way up to Scotland to play second fiddle to Alfredo Morelos? If so, great, he’s perfect for that — coming on and getting you a goal when you need one.
‘I’m not so sure if Steven has to change his style of play and go with two strikers, though.
‘Morelos will stay for the rest of the season, definitely. There’s enough going on there for him. You saw him celebrating at the end of the (Celtic) match.’
The joy of Morelos and his cohorts didn’t just stem from ending a grim run of 12 winless games against Celtic.
Victory legitimised Gerrard as a manager in a way Pedro Caixinha or Graeme Murty never were purely because they failed to win the famous fixture, but also the players he’s trusted.
More significantly, though, it allowed Rangers to go into the winter break with the sweet scent of success in their nostrils. ‘They’ve got the sniff of something happening,’ Strachan said. ‘Because it is now absolutely a genuine title race. ‘Before the game, just keeping the league going until the last few matches would’ve been success and progress. ‘But, after beating Celtic, they’ll wanting more. People will be thinking they can win the league. And they can, by the way. ‘So it’s a different sort of pressure on Rangers. But that’s what you get at a top club.’ It said much for the way the Ibrox side performed on the day that, despite playing 38 games stretching back to the Europa League qualifier with Shkupi on July 12, Gerrard’s men looked hungry for more. The only concern for the manager will have been the scope for momentum to be lost over the coming fortnight. ‘Did anyone see that performance coming?’ Strachan pondered. ‘I didn’t and I don’t think fans of either club did. ‘I didn’t see Rangers being more powerful and having more energy. ‘Because, if you look at their recent displays against Dundee, Hibs or Hamilton, they weren’t inspiring. I’ve seen them play decent in Europe, but their league form didn’t suggest that kind of performance.
‘It was the kind of performance that even the coaching staff, as much as they believe in their team, couldn’t have dreamt of.
‘They couldn’t have expected so many attempts on goal, that much possession, and that much confidence in an Old Firm game.
‘It was strange to watch. I’ve never seen Celtic in an Old Firm derby being out-muscled and pressurised the way they were.’
Strange was one word for it. Even allowing for a number of personnel issues, less charitable supporters of Strachan’s former club might have called it weak, turgid and deeply worrying.
Because while Celtic’s astonishing run of success in the fixture was bound to come to an end at some point, no one surely predicted it would hit the buffers with quite a thud.
‘It was an eye-opening experience and it bothered me a wee bit how much Celtic were overpowered,’ said Strachan.
‘Since Moussa Dembele went, — and they were without Tom Rogic and Kieran Tierney, and Odsonne Edouard for most of the game, too — they’ve lost a lot of power in the team.
‘When you look at their front six, in modern-day football, it’s technically gifted but lightweight, especially if Scott Brown is out.
‘Playing Callum McGregor at left-back meant they missed him in midfield and in wide positions — that’s one of Scotland’s best players over the last two years. Rangers really attacked those weaknesses in the Celtic team.
‘I think that has to be addressed by the manager looking elsewhere.’
The only comfort for Celtic is that the derby defeat took place so close to a transfer window.
If there is a sense that failings in the market over the past year invited disaster, Strachan believes the fightback will begin imminently.
‘There’s been players in the team regularly for a year-and-ahalf now who need a wee break and someone to come in and inspire them,’ he said.
‘Players like James Forrest, Tierney and McGregor. They’ve played well, but need someone else to come in and take over for a bit.
‘Celtic have gone backwards, compared to their standards of the last two years, and it puts the impetus on their business this window.
‘A month ago, it wouldn’t have been so important to get bodies in, because they looked comfortable and were playing well.
‘Now, if they don’t sign a striker with a physical presence, they give even more momentum to Rangers.’
raNGErS were last night closing in on a stunning loan deal for former England striker Jermain defoe.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is prepared to let the 36-year-old leave in search of first-team football, with an 18-month arrangement looking likely.
rangers are also in discussions with Kilmarnock’s Jordan Jones and dundee midfielder Glen Kamara with a view to securing them on pre-contract deals.
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